Sunday, October 5th, Erin and I rented a Nissan Tzuru and drove north along the coast, stopping in Punta de Mita, Sayulita and finally San Blas. It was really fun to have the car and sight-see on our own. Here’s a corny video we made along the way:

We didn’t find much in Punta de Mita except for a small, dirty village so we just drove around for a short time and then got back on the highway. Sayulita was a really great little village. It is a little touristy, but it’s far enough away from Puerto Vallarta that there aren’t throngs of tourists. It is well known for surfing.

We stopped at the world-famous Choco-banana and had, what else, a Choco-banana. It’s a delicious frozen banana dipped in chocolate and served on a stick. Yummy!

We wandered the beach and shops for about an hour, ate lunch at a burrito shop and then continued our drive north.

When we arrived in San Blas, we asked around about a boat to take us through the mangroves. Fortunately for me Erin speaks fairly fluent (rusty) Spanish, since most people we met there spoke as much English as I speak Spanish. We hired a boat to drive us through up the river through the mangroves.

Our guide was very friendly and pointed out wildlife for us to photograph. We stopped at an island restaurant (barely) and had a beer and visit with a crocodile.

Well, she might not be quitting her day job too soon, but she sure does have fun!

S.F. Open Studio
Sculpture/Photography/Jewelry
October 18 + 19, 2008
11am – 6pm
www.javierperezstudio.com

“Cloud Dreaming” 19″ x 16″ x 8″ Clay/Underglazed

Saturday October 4th we got up and walked to Victor’s in the Marina for breakfast. It was nice to eat and look out over all the sailboats and yachts. From breakfast we caught a bus to Wal-mart where we stocked up on food for the week. We were getting really tired of eating heavy, expensive breakfasts.

After our shopping trip we relaxed by the pool for most of the day. Saturday evening we went downtown for dinner. We had heard that Puerto Vallarta is really hopping on Saturday nights, but we didn’t find too much excitement. I was amazed at the police presence everywhere. Check out the gun. These guys don’t mess around!

Along the Malecon (boardwalk) are many statues, restaurants and people. Most of the artwork is designed to be sat or climbed on.

We ate dinner at The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.

Friday, October 3rd Erin and I walked to Wal-mart (they have Home Depot too now) and picked up a disposable underwater camera and then took a taxi downtown, where we learned that we had missed the last water taxi to Yelapa. Erin was really excited about going out on the water that day, so we decided to spend the extra money and hire a private boat.

Here’s a short video of our adventure:

Normally, Los Arcos and Yelapa would be two independent destinations. Since we had our own boat, we were able to go both places on the same trip. At Los Arcos, which is a Mexican National Park, we were able to snorkel around the boat and through the caves. The water was a little too murky to see very far.



We arrived at Yelapa around 3pm where we layed on the beach for awhile to catch some rays and have a snack.

Yelapa is a small fishing village that is accessible only by boat. Everyone we talked to told us how there was no electricity and it was a very laid back place. It was nice, but we saw electricity everywhere. People were watching TV in most of the huts we walked by. We also were greeted immediately after stepping off the boat by the same pan-handlers we found in Puerto Vallarta. I bought Erin a shell necklace and earings, and also paid a guy $5US to get the picture with an Iguana.

We tried hiking up to a waterfall we’d heard about, but we had to be back at the boat by 5:00 and we ran out of time. I’m sure we were very close when we turned around.

After a tiring day at sea, we spent the night in our room watching TV and eating room-service pizza. Yummy!

Thursday, October 2nd was our 2nd day in Puerto Vallarta. We got up and took a taxi to town (Marriott is located in Marina Vallarta, about 10 minutes from downtown). After breakfast we explored downtown on foot and tried our best to avoid the timeshare and jewelry sales that are found on every corner.

We got to see the famous Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.

Our afternoon was spent relaxing in the hotel pool.

And for dinner we walked over to the Marina and had some great food at an Argentinean restaurant.

Wednesday, October 1st Erin and I flew from San Francisco (SFO) to Puerto Vallarta, MX for the start of our honeymoon. It was a nice short flight (3hrs 20mins). A quick taxi ride to the Marriott CasaMagna Hotel and we were settled into our great room on the 7th floor overlooking the pool area and the ocean. We arrived late in the afternoon and we were pretty exhausted from the wedding and all the travel, so dinner was in the hotel sports bar.