Puerto Vallarta (Día Dos): Meandering and Eating
April 16, 2009
We decided that our first full day in Puerto Vallarta (or PV, as the cool kids say) should be all about getting a feel for the area. No frenetic do-as-much-as-possible schedule for us! Oh no! This was about relaxation!
So we got up and went for a nice morning run (vacation or not the marathon is still happening Sunday!) on a track that was, quite conveniently, right across the street from our hotel, showered, and then consulted the map to figure out how to make our way to both the Malecón (boardwalk area) and the playa de los muertos (supposedly the best beach in the area… just don’t focus on the name too much [means beach of the dead!])
While we were headed down there we stumbled upon a Huichol shop. The Huichol are an indigenous ethnic group that makes some really neat artsy stuff – both creatures that are covered in little beads (example) and pictures that are made by sticking string into wax (example). It was all pretty neat!
After the stop we ended up on the Malecón seriously hungry! We hadn’t had breakfast and it was already noon (and I don’t know about you but running eventually makes me hungry)! We walked around and decided we totally felt like paella and the Bodeguita del medio had it! (note: yeah yeah I know there’s a branch in Palo Alto so it’s not taco stand authentic but whatever).
We went to their open-air second floor and looked over the ocean while I sipped a most delicious pina colada and had absolutely delicious paella. Daayyuum it was tasty. So tasty that I couldn’t even eat dessert! So you know I was seriously full!
After that we continued our way down the Malecón until we thought we saw the playa de los muertos, at which point we wanted to walk up some of the streets to see a bit more of the area. On our way we found a little candy shop which I most definitely made us stop at. We got these little dulce de leche soft treats and some stuff for Chris’ lab. And of course, like everywhere else, everyone was totally shocked at Chris’ Spanish. When we were buying the goods this other woman started talking to us in English and when Chris responded in Spanish she interrupted him with “oh gosh you look so American, I thought you guys were from there not here!” At which point he explained the whole story. And, to my credit, I totally understood like 99% of the conversation! My Spanish ain’t too shabby either you know!
Oh and I forgot! There are some super interesting sculptures up and down the Malecón. I think my favorite was Sergio Bustamante’s “In Search of Reason” [to see the whole piece, click the link]. I’d never seen his stuff before but I totally dig his style. It all has this surreal, magical, slightly mathematical-geometric (and maybe slightly dark) feeling to it. But all that withstanding, I still wanted Chris to pose like a dork next to it [see right]. 
After getting some treats we found an Internet cafe. Chris wanted to check on some work stuff and we also wanted to quickly research what tour/adventure things we wanted to do. We thought one water and one land sounded good. Earlier in the day we had signed up with Chico’s dive shop for a snorkel trip to Los Arcos so all that was left was a land one.
Vallarta adventures advertised pretty much everywhere and their website was good so we ended up choosing the “outdoor adventure” option there. Here’s their website’s description:
“Your adventure begins with an exhilarating speed boat ride that takes you to Boca de Tomatlan, a secluded beach at the edge of the jungle on the southern shores of Banderas Bay. From here, an exciting off-road expedition aboard our 4×4 Unimogs will take you 2000 ft above sea level to our base camp in the heart of the Sierra Madre Mountains. 
Then, you’ll take a fascinating mule ride higher and further into the sub-tropical forest, where you’ll begin a series of thrilling zip lines, rappel down waterfalls, cross jungle bridges and splash through streams and natural river pools on the Outdoor Adventure Circuit.”
We thought that all sounded super fun and exciting so we signed up!
After that we made our slow way back to hotel, put on our swim suits and tried out the pool. The pool water was a little too warm for my taste (not really refreshing, you know) but we had a fun time floating around. The highlight, though, was unquestionably when I tried to get out of the pool. I jumped up from the water to try and give myself enough umpf to get out on the side and basically my bottoms totally fell down by ass. Not like a little pushed down, I’m talking full-on mooning. The entire pool (full of kiddies and groups of guys playing volleyball) was subjected to my neon white butt. And, because I was so shocked in a this-is-happening-in-slow-mo way, I sort of like stayed half-way out of the water for way longer than necessary. But soon enough two women behind me started laughing and explaining all the traumatizing bathing suit experiences they’ve had, too. At that point I felt better and eventually harnessed the courage to get out (really really slowly.)
After all that (and a shower) we took a taxi down to Fajita Republic for dinner.We realized upon our arrival that the real action was happening a little further down than we’d made it on our walk that day.
Dinner was yummy (not paella-amazing but tasty), though I didn’t find their pina colada to be nearly as scrumptious as the one I had earlier. Though, I was introduced to the idea of jicama covered in lime juice and some sort of red peppery powder on it. Different and a must try!
After that we walked around the area (zona romántica) a bit more before just walking the whole way back to the hotel.
Day two, a success!
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Don’t think they’re the same restaurant, but the PV one has better Paella AND singers who serenade you.
I’ll give the nod to PA for their mojitos, however.
Why are you making out with that merman’s elbow? Aside from that — and the mooning — it seems like your vacation made a lot of sense. Oh, and it looked super fun happy awesome, too! =)
You are definitely the prettiest mermaid! Come to think of it, your mermaid paintings always have the bare butt thing going on. Are you sure this was an accident? Hahaha I can barely wait to hear about the zip lining and the donkey ride