Brenda & Ken's Mexico Travels

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Yelapa

Wow tomorrow we are finally going to Yelapa! I love Yelapa, I love the people of Yelapa! Yayyyyyyy!

We set out on a new adventure, a trip to the canopy to visit the Puerto Vallarta Botanical Gardens. It was well worth the 30 minute drive. It might be cut in half in a taxi since they drive like Italian racecar drivers!

We were so glad we decided to make this trip, the gardens were beautiful! We were smack in the middle of the rain forest pretty far up in the mountains behind Vallarta. I encourage anyone who heads to Puerto Vallarta to take a trip to the Botancal Gardens.

There are many exotic plants and flowers to enjoy year round. The trails are easily accessible, but try to wear shoes with good traction be it sandles or tennis. I wore a pair of flip flops and did okay but my feet were hurting me towards the end due to no arch support.

We decided to hike down to the Rio Swimming Hole. The path looked okay at the beginning, then we started go down stairs, lots of stairs you'd see the end then the path would snake around and there were more stairs! My feet were starting to hurt, mostly because I was not wearing proper shoes. Was there no end in sight? Finally we get to some levelish ground, there are some big boulders that the path winds around. We gently step through and around them, me looking closely at every log because it looks like a crocodillo! Plus keeping my eyes peeled for snakes. We finally get to what we guess is the swimming hole, not very clear as you can see from the picture above. Lots of bugs and mosquitos. They had heavy rains the day before so that probably accounts for the murkiness and bugs. I was so freaking hot by then, if I had on my swimsuit crocodiles be damned I would have jumped in. Seriously, I thought I was going to die right there in the middle of the flipping jungle!! Ken and the girls were eyeing the trail that went up high over some boulders because it led to the waterfalls, I said go ahead I will be happy to just sitting here on this old bench beneath this tree which has cougars and snakes living in it waiting to pounce on some weak human once they were left alone. So off they went to the waterfalls. I was sitting there trying to cool off and it just wasn't happening. Not like AZ when you get in the shade it's cool, here it's as hotter! So I decided to just get a head start and start hiking out of there. This way I am not holding them up when they come back from the waterfall. So I headed out. I forgot to bring a bottle of water with me and thought I was going to pass out a few times. I finally made it to the last set of steps and looked up to see the restaurant with it's cool refreshing beverages cheering me on! So I kept going. Every three steps I had to stop to catch my breath and fan myself off. Damn why didn't I bring a bottle of water? I kept myself going because I knew there were people up there cheering me on as they watched me stumble up that damn hill! A cool refreshing drink awaited me.... had to keep going....

I made it....... yet to live another day!

There is a nice restaurant at the botanical gardens Hacienda de Oro, a very pretty hostess and our waiter/bartender Rudolof. He was so nice. The minute he helps you into your seat he brings the ladies a scented flower for their hair. Ours were gardenias, so sweet smelling. He then brings you a rolled up washcloth which as been chilling in an ice chest. You open it up and it feels like heaven just kissed your hot sweaty face! He then takes your beverage order and food order if you are going to eat. We just had breakfast before we arrived so we were not hungry. They have the most delectable drinks and a fine food menu. Homemade icecream or milkshakes are available too. The view from this over the canopy restaurant is breathtaking. There is a nice breeze that comes through which makes you feel so welcome to stay forever. The pretty hostess allows me to take a photograph of her in her traditional dress.

The beautiful hostess.

Rudolfo and myself

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Shopping on the Rio Cuales

The girls and I have been wanting to go shopping on the riverwalk. Ken finally relented and took us. First off was to find a parking spot. It's hard to find one in town even in the slow season. I could not imagine having to find one in high season! Then Ken gets to show us that he does not have any skills at parallel parking! So embarassing for him everytime. I keep saying we should take a cab! It's only around 50 pesos for a cab for all four of us.

We take the malecon route since me and the girls like the slow pace he has to travel and we get to see the crowds and goings on.

Trinity met a small parrot name Jueves, he was so cute and friendly. The owner and artist took her out of the cage and let Trinity and Sarah hold her. The people are so nice there.

Puerto Vallarta has sculptures everywhere you can imagine. They are amazing and fun to photograph.

We did some shopping..

We had drinks but didn't eat, I hope they don't starve!

The River Cuale was ooookay, not what I expected. Personally I would never go there again this time of the year, too hot and too many pushy sales people! I know this is the slow time but I cannot handle being approached every 4 feet by someone throwing stuff in your face!

Monday, June 14, 2010

The Marina

Our condominium Bay View Grand is located in the Puerto Vallarta Marina area. It is about a one mile trek to the marina and it is worth it once you get there, many nice restaurants to choose from. Not so many timeshare sharks! Timeshare sharks are heavy here in Puerto Vallarta. They are a very colorful group of people trying to make a damn good living getting you to take a look at the timeshares available in PV. They have creative ways of setting the hook. Say for example you are wearing an Oceanside T-shirt, they will start the conversation with, "Hey are you from Oceanside? I've been there before" etc and so on. They call it a game, and if you have a week or so in PV it might be worth a few hours of your time to play the game. They make these tempting offers for example, $400 US dollars cash to go take a look or say tickets for four of you to go on the Pirate ship or Encounters with the dolphins. If you plan on doing these things it may well be worth your while to let them pick up the tabs. If you already own timeshares then the offers will almost double!

This is a timeshare resort thate we checked out.

Only a million bucks if you want it fulltime! Around 50 grand for one week a year!

Our Timeshare Shark (Can't remember his name)

Boats docked in the Vallarta marina.

Friday, June 11, 2010

A Trip to the Zoo

All I can say is wow! You cannot go to Puerto Vallarta without a trip to their zoo. It is the only zoo that I know of which allows you to interact with the animals.

The ride to the zoo took about 30 minutes. We went up about 1300 feet in elevation, so you can imagine the road had a few twist and turns. We were passed by many drivers who were familiar with the road. We did see some soldiers going the opposite direction. I am getting used to seeing masked men with large weapons in trucks along the highway. It must get awfully hot wearing ski masks!

The cost to enter was $50 per person which included food to feed the animals, and 30 minutes with the baby cubs. Ken did not pay for the priviledge so he just watched us from a far. The bag they make up has pictures that describes what each animal likes to eat. There was one that they called a cookie and we could not find anything that looked like a cookie. They had carrots, peanuts, pellets, bread crumbs. To tell you the truth by the time we were heading out of there the food was starting to look good to me!

Our first little occupent was this cute female monkey with her baby. She took the peanut right out of your hand. The male seemed a bit more timid, he wouldn't take food from either of us girls. Ken went to give him a peanut and he came right down and took it from him. Go figure.

This camel liked the goodies we had for him.

The flamingos were something else, they were pretty far away when we first approached their area, but as soon as they saw us them all came running up to us. Making loud noises and practically jumping on you for the food. They were not afraid of people that's for sure.

This giraffe could easily step over the barrier between him and us, but was happy to remain in it's area. There was a young women ahead of us with her husband and I watched as she fed it a carrot from her mouth! Very courageous, nobody in our group would do it, I tried to get them to so I could get a picture, but no takers.

All the animals were so friendly, except maybe the crocodile. I have to mention there are some kind of biting bugs there that linger for several days after. It took me about 2 weeks for mine to clear up and to stop itching. They sort of remind me of chigger bites.

This little goat freaked me out. I was just looking over the wall to see what was in there and he jumped up right on the wall!! I was taken by surprise and screamed! ha ha He was too cute. It's really strange how they mix some of the animals together, for example in here they also had guinea pigs and rabbits.

We finally reached the baby cats! There were 2 Siberian tigers 1 month old, and 2 lion cubs 25 days old, and 1 leopard 3 months old. We had such a wonderful time holding these babies. The tigers were quite a bit more aggressive then the little lions.

There is something so awesome about being able to hold and pet these wild animals. If you ever get the chance to do it, take it, you won't regret it. It was hard to leave all these wonderful experiences behind, but it was time to go home. Too bad these babies wouldn't fit in my purse!