When we were in the 41st ward of the Bountiful Heights Stake, Roy started a scout fundraiser. We held it every year. The ward members would donate goods, and Roy, the auctioneer, would auction them off. We also served dinner and asked for donations for that. This fundraiser continued on after we moved out of the ward. In March, Nick invited us to join him for this annual activity. One of their friends in the ward had donated a week in their family's condo in Puerta Vallarta. We won the week for $400. We were told that it was really fun to go for New Year's Eve as the city put on a great fireworks show. So, here we are. Nick, you should totally try and win it this year if it's offered again. We're having a great time!
It was a little hard to leave right after Christmas, knowing that the family was still celebrating, but we packed our bags and had Jennie take us to the airport at 4:00 am the morning of the 27th. That is pretty early for me (for dad and Caitlyn, too), but we managed. Other than the early hour, the trip was uneventful. When we arrived we followed the instructions of the condo owner--pass up all the taxi offers, leave the airport, cross the street, and catch a taxi there--it should be a lot cheaper. When we got across the street we saw a restaurant. The cooks were shaving the meat off a big fish that was cooking rotisserie style. They then put the meat on the grill, toasted a tortilla, and wrapped large portions of the meat into the tortillas. It looked like beef, but we found out it was Marlin. We opted to drag all our luggage into the restaurant and sit down. We were very glad we did, the sandwich was delicious. In fact, we are planning to exit Puerta Vallarta in the same way--only we will drop off our luggage before we order our sandwiches.
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| These guys making the marlin "tacons" (big tacos) seemed to recognize us when we returned for lunch before catching our plane home. I think it's because Roy had taken their picture. |
The condo was decent--especially for being in Old Town. The best part is that it's at the top of the hill, so we get an excellent view of the city--and a lot of good exercise!
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| Our view |
After resting and unpacking, we walked a little way down the hill from the condo and found a restaurant called Si Senor. It happened to be on the list of recommendations from the condo owner, so we went in. This has turned out to be our favorite restaurant so far (although the Marlin sandwiches are right on top with it). We had guacamole & jicama tacos. Roy had a chili relleno. I had a salad with grilled vegetables (it came out beautifully presented, all stacked up on a couple of pieces of lettuce--it was delicious!), and Caitlyn had a quesadilla. Everything was delicious and the owner or manager was very friendly.
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| Quesadillas are always safe, so Caitlyn orders them a lot. |
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| I wouldn't post this awful picture of me but I wanted to show off this salad. It was grilled vegetables on top of a couple of lettuce leafs. I couldn't believe how beautifully this salad was presented. |
We spent our first evening grocery shopping and the next morning at the Farmer's market getting fruits etc. to supplement our shopping trip. It was a very fun morning mingling with a lot of people from the area as well as plenty of tourists. Puerta Vallarta is obviously a travel destination for the Mexican people as well as American's and Canadians. The Farmer's market didn't have any papaya, so we went on a search for a fruit stand. We finally found one and bought some papaya, mango and pineapple. We were pretty tired from traveling so when we finally got back to the condo we had a rest before going to dinner at Melissa's, just a little further down from the restaurant we went to the night before. Melissa's is our 2nd favorite restaurant so far. I had a delicious seafood soup, complete with very tender octopus. I actually loved the feel of the tentacles in my mouth. Roy had Ahi tuna and we had a couple of yummy appetizers to share. Caitlyn had coconut shrimp.
One of my favorite things about Mexico is fresh papaya: Note how few seeds were in this papaya, but it was delicious. We had papaya every day. We also enjoyed mango, pineapple and jicama while we were there.
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| We finally found a water bottle to keep me happy! |
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| This is at Melissa's. I had seafood soup, and I'm not sure, but it looks like Caitlyn may have had a quesadilla. |
We are getting adventurous in our church attendance. We joined the local ward for Sacrament meeting--all in Spanish. They asked me if I played the piano and I said I could do it passingly well, so I became the pianist for the day. We stayed for an English Sunday school class where we discussed the Come Follow Me program and the experiences we'd had so far. The teacher made no mention of the chapters in Revelation we'd been studying--she was from Utah--she lives 6 months out of the year there, and 6 months here. There was another couple from the states with a severely disabled son. They bought some acreage down here and live 2 hours away, but they attend church every Sunday. They are the leaders of the Young Men and the Young Women. The husband played some sort of professional ball and they retired here--I'm thinking it's because they knew they would have a lot of service opportunities.
We had bought our Sunday dinner at the Farmer's market the previous day, so we cooked it in our Condo. We had homemade pasta and sauce with green beans. We had bought enough homemade gnocci for a small taste, also. We kept our Sunday low key and went on a walk on the beach front in the evening, watching the waves until it got dark.
Monday we had an excursion planned so we got up early, took a taxi and got on a boat. We were able to snorkel, "hike" to a waterfall, and spend time on a beach. The boat was fun and the crew kept us entertained.
The next day we went to a beach on our own and had at least as much fun. Our snorkeling was better, too--more fish and a lot fewer people. This happened to be New Year's Eve, so when we got back, we ate dinner and went down to the beach to watch the people. That was fun and entertaining--all the various outfits, etc. We also sat on the steps by the beach to watch the waves again. About 10:00 we hiked up the hill to our condo and went to bed and watched TV till 11. We planned to get up and watch the fireworks when we heard them go off, and we were glad we did. None of us had ever seen anything like the display here. We had a fabulous view on our balcony. There were at least 100 boats/yachts and one cruise ship in the water right in front of us. They were parked there to watch the fireworks. A little before midnight people began to send off luminaries. Fireworks were going off all around the shoreline which curves in a half circle so we could see everything. At the stroke of 12 all the boats began honking and everyone was making noise to welcome in the New Year. And it was all over within 30 minutes.
Today (Wednesday) we had quite the adventure. We were signed up for a whale tour. We started with a morning walk in search of a bakery we never found. When we were done with that we caught a taxi and headed to the port. We were over 30 minutes early from check in time and an hour early from departure. This turned out to be longer as the weather turned and it began seriously raining. The boat that was coming to get us made sure they had rain ponchos. They asked us if we wanted to attempt the tour in the rain--telling us that it was a little bit rough. They sorely underestimated the waves. We got in the boat, put on rain ponchos and were soaked within minutes. The driver was going qfast because he wanted to get where he wanted to go and in doing this, we were riding the waves and then crashing down. It was super hard on our bodies! Finally, he stopped the boat and said, "I don't think we should go further" everyone on the boat was in agreement. He then headed toward a port where he had first picked up people. Since it was so rough, they bussed us back to the port we come from. Our adventure took us almost all day and we didn't do anything. Still, we had to admit it was somewhat exciting. After we got back to the port we went to the mall for lunch, and then Walmart for a couple of needed items. By the time we got back we just wanted to shower and get dry and warm. Since Si Senor restaurant was so close and we enjoyed it so much, we went back again. This time I tried their Molcajetes (like fajitas), Roy had a steak, and Caitlyn had coconut shrimp--again. It's 9:00 and it's still raining heavily, complete with thunder and lightening. We're glad we didn't have the lightening when we were out on the boat.
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| You can't tell from the picture how hard it was raining, but it was pouring down in sheets. |
(I am writing the rest of this letter on January 7, 2020 following our return home)
We got up early Thursday morning to try the whale tour again. Arrival time was 7:30 and the boat left at 8:00. Thankfully, the weather had settled and we had a wonderful excursion. The highlight was a mother and her baby (and another female escort). The baby was curious and came right by the boat. The mother was also right there, we could just make her out beneath the water. Then the baby gave us a show and jumped out of the water. It was pretty exciting. I could have watched for whales all day, but the boat was a small one with no facilities, so 3 1/2 hours was plenty.
Friday's tour was a lot like Monday's, but the music was louder and more overbearing, and we didn't get to see as much and our snorkeling spot was really rough because of the storm. Caitlyn got a lot of attention though, from all the hombres on board. She was told many times that she was beautiful and had beautiful eyes. She was asked if she had a boyfriend, and she even got an invitation to go to bars with a group of kids. Thankfully she's very grounded and was not at all interested in this.
We had one final day that we spent on the beach. Beaches in Mexico are exactly like I remember them from 2008 when we went with Nan and Bruce and grandpa Cook. You sit on the beach and all the people try to sell you stuff. You get to sit on lounge chairs as long as you buy food and drink. We found on this trip, as we have on others that it's a lot cheaper to get a boat on the beach to go out and snorkel--it's also a lot quieter and it doesn't take your whole day. We went out for an hour and had a good time.
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| Jieun, I love my fashionable pants! |
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| Virgin Pina Colada |
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| On the main drag in Puerta Vallarta |
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| Caitlyn loved taking pictures of her and me. I asked her why she didn't put dad in the pictures, so she took the camera and tried to get Roy in a selfie and he completely ignored her. She said, "That's why."
All good things must come to an end. Here we are on the way home--waiting for t
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