Puerto Vallarta Day 6 The End!! We've Had a Great Time!!

Well yesterday (Saturday) was adventure filled.  We worked out, travelled downtown to old Puerto Vallarta and the shopping (better for woman), came home, cleaned up, and jumped a boat for an hour long ride on the ocean to a remote jungle area for a Polynesian Cutural Arts type Mexican show called Rhythms of the Night.  After the show they had a wonderful candelight buffet dinner for everyone.  Got back to the hotel around midnight. 

The girls would really enjoy the shopping at this place.  Down on the boardwalk the prices are fixed but up two streets up you could barter at the shops.  Heidi didn't have the heart to do so.  She needed Kelly there with her China experience.

Beautiful boardwalk things along the ocean.  Temperature all day 85!!  Understand we're coming back to snow on Wednesday!

This is the famous Cathedral Our Lady of Guadalupe.  There was a wedding in progress!  Fun to watch with all the Mexican trumpet and guitar players right in the church.  I have some little video clips too.

So we came home, showered, rested a bit, and then caught a taxi to the Marina to catch the boat to the Rythms of the Night dinner show.  It departed at 630pm and got us back around 1130pm.

This pirate ship was avialable too ride on.  They had a great show, shot cannons, and put out to sea.  We saw it every day from our hotel.

This is our little cruise boat.  It is a double decked catamarran that really moved on the water.

They had an open bar, all kinds of chips, dips, veggies, cheese, etc.  It was all included with show and dinner in the price (100 $ US per person).  They played all kinds of rock and roll, and with people drinking as much tequilla and alcohol fruit punch they could handle, it didn't take long to have a rocking boat load of people.  It was too loud for me!

I thought the place we were going to was an island, but I was wrong, just a place along the shore cut into the jungle.  It was all lit up with torches.  Very little real light, although it was very safe.  As we got to shore, I sniffed the air, and said, "Smells like a boy scout camp to me."  A black dude next to me said, "Oh no, that the torches."  We got in about 30 yards, and there were the campfires....boy scout camp for sure....the show was very, very good.  It was a portral of an Aztec wedding.  They wouldn't let us film any of it for commercial reasons.

This is what it looked like from the boat on approach to the shore.  You can see  the stage below prior to the show.  Looked like a Mayan temple.  The music was all done with drums, flutes, big sea shells, guitar, it was wonderful.  I honestly spent more time watching the musicians than the show, but the costumes were amazing.  Much like the show at Hawaii, but probably not quite as good.  Heidi thought it was too sensual of a show.  No nudity, but the dancers did some things that wouldn't be seen on an LDS stage like the Polynesian center.

  No posts tomorrow.  We'll be on the bird back home!  I have lots of pictures from this past week that didn't get posted.  Today we had a little Sunday service in our room, and just layed around writing Stefan, doing this post, and sleeping.  It was a great day.  Ah yes, and yet another marvelous sunset on the ocean.

Puerto Vallarta Day Five

Well, we had an adventure today. We took a taxi through town for 20 minutes up into the mountains to play a golf course in the jungle. We got to see real Mexico. The poverty was astounding to me. To contrast our resort with what the people live like really was an eye opener. Heidi took photos most all day. I don't think I saw one car without big dents or parts missing.  Amazing what they let people drive in down here.  This golf course was designed by Jack Nicklaus and is up in the hills. The jungle is very dense, and we continually wondered how they must have bulldozed and cleared the course. The Champions Tour played here in 2002. Bruce Summerhays, a member at Oakridge was on the leaderboard. They still had the scores posted to look at. The wide farewares were typical Nicklaus design, with elevated greens guarded with lots of bunkers. I love his course designs.  Amazing flowers, trees, and wildlife.

We started the day with a workout after breakfast, and sitting as we were planning what to do, Heidi noticed an iguana sitting on the top of the light post from afar. We actually thought it was a statue until it moved. Then we noted two of them. Ugly critters, these are huge ones.  They can really climb.

Iquanas everywhere. On the cart paths, on the greens.

Lots of strange plants, and real Mexico. The jungle is so thick. We wondered about the Book of Mormon People.

The black tanks are individual apartments attop (Casitas). The are water filters.

I could not help but think of Kade, and our friend Daniel serving in Mexico. What humble poor people.

I'm sure it was even more so in Peru where Alan served.

No sunset shots today, no ice cream cones. We had a wonderful dinner on the beach to end the day though.

. PS The golf course was much easier than the course we played at the Marina next to the hotel. Easier to shoot a good score. Temps in the low 80s with nice breeze. Cool in the shade.

Love you all. We're hoping to go to an island today