Home from Puerto Vallarta

I'm back . . . survived the heat . . . it was an interesting trip!!!

Lee and I left on Saturday morning at 8:45 on the local long distance bus. We arrived in Puerto Vallarta about 5pm. Taxied to the Villa del Palmar (my parent's time share resort) and checked in. They gave us a room with a king-size bed, and although PV is the gay capital of Mexico, and most people we met assumed we were a gay couple, we requested a different room, with twin beds. No problem, we were up on the 8th floor with a view of the tennis courts and the mountains . . . it was a very nice studio suite with kitchen facilities. By the time we were settled in, it was too late to do any exploring of the area, so we just checked out the beach and pools, then had a nice dinner in the restaurant.

The next day we got on the bus and headed into Centro to get a look at the town. We did not bring our laptops, and the internet cafe at the resort was $9.00(!!!) per hour (as opposed to $1.00 in town) so the first think we did was check out email. Then we wandered around a bit, getting mildly lost, but finally finding the Malecon. It was very hot and humid so wandering the streets wasn't as pleasant as we had hoped and we didn't feel like spending too much time, always rushing to the shady side of the street and checking to make sure a shop was air conditioned before going in! We found a nice place (with air conditioning!) for a leisurely lunch, then wandered a bit more, managing to find the Huichol shop that Lee had seen several years ago. We spent several hours in there (yes, it too was air conditioned!). Lee and I both bought some art, although hers was a "bit" more than mine, which was 60pesos (less than $6 Cdn). Just as we were ready to leave, the sales clerk asked us if we could do her a small favor . . . if we could attend a Time Share Presentation, I could have my $6 purchase for free and Lee would get an 85% discount on hers!! Well, what were we to do? Modeste was so nice, and she asked so nicely, and her little baby was sick, and it would be such a huge favor to her, and they'd give us a lovely free breakfast . . . and well, we were sucked in . . . we said yes, we would go to the time share presentation. In all honesty, I was very curious, I'd never been to a time share presentation. So, we were picked up from our resort two days later and taken to the "Westin Regina" resort in the Marina area. I should have known, right from the start that this adventure was doomed. I think all of you know of my obsession for anything orange . . . well, this place was Pepto Bismal Pink . . . everywhere you looked, bright pink!!! Ugg!!! The sales person we were handed over to was terrible! He said he had been selling for 12 years, but judging from the way the talked to us, I'd say he hadn't sold many places in that 12 years! He didn't know much about the place, he didn't ask us the right questions or give us the right info, he didn’t know the software program at all . . . he was just awful! After 2 hours of him (yes, he even ate breakfast with us!), we told him we were not interested (Modeste promised us we could leave after 90 minutes, so we had given him extra time) so he handed us over to another fellow, who was rude, arrogant and belligerent. We were about to walk out when he called over "the boss" . . . now this guy was slick . . . it was how I had expected the first guy to be . . . I might even have bought a time share from him (just kidding!!!) . . . we managed to escape from him, but not before we got money for a cab back to our resort as Modeste had promised. The whole thing was a very interesting experience. Not one I'd ever want to experience again, mind you!! Oh, nearly forgot! The next day we went back to Modeste's shop to tell her thank you for the discounts . . . and they told us that she would not be getting her commission "because one of us only worked part-time" . . . and that we should therefore pay the full price for the art!! Well, we got out of there pretty fast, the art was already packed away at the hotel . . . and we marked it all up to a new and different experience! Oo la la!!!

Although we both enjoyed the adventure of Puerto Vallarta . . . we have decided to never holiday again at this time of year, unless we go somewhere cooler. The heat and humidity just made it so we couldn't enjoy getting out and about. PV is also much more expensive than we are used to in Mazatlan. It is a resort town and the tourists will pay those prices. One interesting experience, we grabbed a taxi home from Centro one evening and I paid him 100pesos for a fare of 50pesos . . . he handed me a US$5 for change . . . he said he did not have pesos!!! I didn't want US money as I have no use for it at all in Mazatlan . . . so the porter changed it for us. But it just goes to show that PV is all about the tourist!!

The trip home on the bus was another adventure. The first half of the trip was through the mountains, up, down, around . . . ugg . . . my stomach did not like it too much!! For the second half, we thought we'd try a different bus line . . . it cost a few dollars less, and they promised us it was a First Class bus . . . well, I'm sure it was Economy because we stopped in every little village along the way, had five stops at inspection points, for immigration, police, I don't know what else . . . twice we had to get out of the bus, get our luggage out and have it inspected. (I've learned the secret, as the inspectors are all young boys, keep a box of tampons at the top of your bag . . . as soon as they see it they slam it shut and tell you to move on!!!). When finally we got to Mazatlan there was a gruesome accident where someone had been run over by a truck, the streets were blocked and traffic at a stand still . . . when we finally moved by, we could see the covered victim under the truck . . .

And now we are home again . . . and the most exciting thing . . . while I was gone, they got the internet fixed up and I actually have it in my apartment now!!

Sorry this was so long! Let me know if you made it to the end!!