Puerto Vallarta

Looking back at our rental villa from the beach

Actually, we're staying in the little town of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (500 points in scrabble, and extra credit if you can actually pronounce it) about 15 miles north of Puerto Vallarta...still on Bahia Banderas but away from the hustle of the big town. We're about 20 minutes from Sayulita, another sleepy but exceptionally pretty little Mexican hole in the wall. Been exploring by local bus and on foot for the past few days, and finally broke down and rented a car to add a little mobility to the adventure.

PV is the same latitude as Hawaii and I must say that the similarities are striking. Same beautiful, sunny, balmy weather, and what we've seen of the countryside could be Maui or the Big Island. Lots of swaying palms and, somewhat surprisingly, fields of pineapple. Maybe a little more humid but not bad. Besides, if it gets too warm we have the option of just jumping in the pool to cool off.

The flight down from Portland was uneventful, but the delay getting thru customs and immigration at the airport was a real pain. Seems that about 5 planes landed at once so the lines getting thru stretched to infinity and moved at a snails pace. Was nice to finally get thru and on our way.

Here are a few photos of the early explorations:

Looking out towards the beach from our back door - can just see PV off in the distance across the bay.

One early discovery was one of our neighbors - a big green Iguana sunning himself in a tree near the Marina.

The town of La Cruz is pretty tiny, but it does have a nice little plaza. On Sundays (and other times too I think) there's a little open-air farmer's market.

The Marina is about as big as the town and is popular with sailors both domestic and international. Just to the left of the photo is a local fish market where the locals bring their catch for sale every morning. Can get some very nice Mahi, Red Snapper (Huachinango), and other filets for grilling at a very reasonable price.

We bought some cheap snorkeling gear the other day and plan to explore some of the little beaches and villages up and down the coast during the next week or so. Will try to remember to bring the camera...