Puerto Vallarta & Mazatlan
Land at last!!
Tuesday, February 2nd, we finally found land at Puerto Vallarta. John figures he knows how Columbus felt when he spotted land.
We took a cab with Jen into the downtown area right after the ship docked at 9am. Kinda sorta a typical tourist trap. McDonald’s, Hard Rock Café, Senor Frog’s, Diamond’s International, Del Sol and dozens of small shops selling ceramics, silver, t-shirts and hats, Mexican Fire Opals and on and on. There are many sculptures on the sidewalk next to the beach. The beach had several large, detailed sand sculptures as well. There are condors or vultures, pelicans and, oh yeah, forgot to mention, on the way down some of our group saw pods of dolphins and some whales breaching and blowing.
Shopping was successful Tuesday. We found the obligatory Christmas ornament, a pair of silver napkin rings that involved serious haggling, a really nicely painted ceramic cross that will end up being yard/fence art, and a pair of woven leather ‘mules’ (shoes without a back) for John.
Katherine, Nancy and Norma went on a morning excursion ‘swimming with the dolphins’, something that Nancy has dreamt of doing for years. And…it was all they expect and more. Then, after lunch, Colleen and Jen left on an excursion that entailed a zip line trip through the jungle canopy. They returned to the ship shortly before dinner and reported that they had had a frightening and fabulous time. Bruised elbows, rapid breathing, wide eyes, stumbling speech all described their condition arriving back at the ship. It was both the most frightening thing and the most exhilarating thing that Colleen had ever done. Colleen and Jen were proud of each other for completing the zip line, though we wonder what would have happened if someone wanted to back out mid-trip. The dolphin excursion folks were as excited as the zip line folks.
We left PV at 7pm last night and arrived this morning at 7am in Mazatlan. Colleen and John went into the “Golden Zone” as new Mazatlan is called. The “Golden Zone” had the usual cruise ship shops listed above as well as side streets with lots of small shop on the side streets that had better prices. We found the same napkin ring that we bought the yesterday, after haggling, at $15.50 less! The cruise ship shopping guides try to convince passengers that if “you like it, buy it”! We did yesterday and thought we had a good deal. Not so, but how would we know? If we were to pass something we liked, we couldn’t possibly know that we might see it at the next port.
Purchased today…a ceramic sun with rays that look like hair in the wind, a small ceramic butterfly, both of which will soon be hanging in the back yard as “fence art”. John found a nice silver tie tack that was a really cheap deal, if indeed it is .950 sterling silver. We aren’t able to discern grades of silver, but we also aren’t willing to spend a lot on jewelry on trips. That was not always the case. We have made a couple of bad purchases in the past, items that fell apart after a few years. It’s always scary spending much in a place that we probably won’t visit again.
Katherine, Nancy and Norma had a great experience today. Golf carts are used in Mazatlan as cabs, $10.00 US to the Golden Zone, up to four passengers. They had a golf cart for 5 hours for $25.00 each and got a guided tour of the whole town. The driver would ask what they wanted to see and then take them there. Or, what do you want to buy, and find it for them. He took them by the mansions on the hill, and the beach where he waited while they played, and to a favorite restaurant of his for lunch. All this and they had paid in advance! Rookie tourists and they got away with it. A really sweet deal!
Colleen and John
Tuesday, February 2nd, we finally found land at Puerto Vallarta. John figures he knows how Columbus felt when he spotted land.
We took a cab with Jen into the downtown area right after the ship docked at 9am. Kinda sorta a typical tourist trap. McDonald’s, Hard Rock Café, Senor Frog’s, Diamond’s International, Del Sol and dozens of small shops selling ceramics, silver, t-shirts and hats, Mexican Fire Opals and on and on. There are many sculptures on the sidewalk next to the beach. The beach had several large, detailed sand sculptures as well. There are condors or vultures, pelicans and, oh yeah, forgot to mention, on the way down some of our group saw pods of dolphins and some whales breaching and blowing.
Shopping was successful Tuesday. We found the obligatory Christmas ornament, a pair of silver napkin rings that involved serious haggling, a really nicely painted ceramic cross that will end up being yard/fence art, and a pair of woven leather ‘mules’ (shoes without a back) for John.
Katherine, Nancy and Norma went on a morning excursion ‘swimming with the dolphins’, something that Nancy has dreamt of doing for years. And…it was all they expect and more. Then, after lunch, Colleen and Jen left on an excursion that entailed a zip line trip through the jungle canopy. They returned to the ship shortly before dinner and reported that they had had a frightening and fabulous time. Bruised elbows, rapid breathing, wide eyes, stumbling speech all described their condition arriving back at the ship. It was both the most frightening thing and the most exhilarating thing that Colleen had ever done. Colleen and Jen were proud of each other for completing the zip line, though we wonder what would have happened if someone wanted to back out mid-trip. The dolphin excursion folks were as excited as the zip line folks.
We left PV at 7pm last night and arrived this morning at 7am in Mazatlan. Colleen and John went into the “Golden Zone” as new Mazatlan is called. The “Golden Zone” had the usual cruise ship shops listed above as well as side streets with lots of small shop on the side streets that had better prices. We found the same napkin ring that we bought the yesterday, after haggling, at $15.50 less! The cruise ship shopping guides try to convince passengers that if “you like it, buy it”! We did yesterday and thought we had a good deal. Not so, but how would we know? If we were to pass something we liked, we couldn’t possibly know that we might see it at the next port.
Purchased today…a ceramic sun with rays that look like hair in the wind, a small ceramic butterfly, both of which will soon be hanging in the back yard as “fence art”. John found a nice silver tie tack that was a really cheap deal, if indeed it is .950 sterling silver. We aren’t able to discern grades of silver, but we also aren’t willing to spend a lot on jewelry on trips. That was not always the case. We have made a couple of bad purchases in the past, items that fell apart after a few years. It’s always scary spending much in a place that we probably won’t visit again.
Katherine, Nancy and Norma had a great experience today. Golf carts are used in Mazatlan as cabs, $10.00 US to the Golden Zone, up to four passengers. They had a golf cart for 5 hours for $25.00 each and got a guided tour of the whole town. The driver would ask what they wanted to see and then take them there. Or, what do you want to buy, and find it for them. He took them by the mansions on the hill, and the beach where he waited while they played, and to a favorite restaurant of his for lunch. All this and they had paid in advance! Rookie tourists and they got away with it. A really sweet deal!
Colleen and John
posted by Colleen and John | 8:47 PM
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