Puerto Vallarta

March 4th, 2015 - Wednesday - Puerto Vallarta

Today we plan to meet up with fellow Jazz pilot George Matthias and his wife Kim. They have a condo unit here and we had hatched a plan to get a personal tour from them. We wanted a bit more local type food with a real Mexican ambiance… that was the plan.

Off the ship and towards the big Mall and Walmart we quickly found them, got acquainted and before long on to a bus for a ride towards the old part of town and the beachfront malacon. The buses are both old and new… just depended on which one came along. Ours was a lot older and in rough shape with a bumpy ride, squealing brakes and the smell of brake pads… just what George wanted us to experience! The driver was nothing short of aggressive and he heard about it from some of the locals… we just hung on! Just what George wanted :-)

After about a 20 minute ride we arrived at our destination. It was short walk down to the beach front walkway and the smell of BBQ wafted all around us. Sand castle and lots of locals selling their wares…art, silver bracelets, hats, food on a stick etc…

Walking along the malacon in old town.

Our day was to be filled with short stops for appetizers and cerveza. We managed to get an easy geocache and introduced Kim & George to the hobby. We continued down the malacon to one of their favourite spots, the Cheeky Monkey. We grabbed a table upstairs and enjoyed the ambiance of the walkway and the great views.

Kim, George, Kris & Kelly at the Cheeky Monkey.

Cheap drinks and food came quickly but we tried our best to not fill up… this was an endurance event :-)

We continued down the walkway taking in the great views and amazing sights. Next up was a walk up the hill to another geocache but it was “missing” again… arghh. Kim then successfully guided us to the only craft brew place in town, the Los Muertos. We enjoyed several pints and split a huge pizza. Not really Mexican but amazing flavor.

At the only brew pub in town! Los Muertos.

Next was a walk back towards the malacon and a spot right on the beach at the Sea Monkey. We just soaked up the ambiance and enjoyed a $1 Corona. I think I know why George likes it down here :-)

At the Sea Monkey bar on the beach... see a trend here! :-)

I know this is hard to believe but as we continued our walk we started to get hungry with all the great aroma’s from the beach bbq’s & various restaurants. George has a place in mind but it didn’t open until six o’clock. We arrived early and got a table right out front. Good thing because this place, Ponchos Takos was super popular and a line up quickly started to form just to get seated. They had a huge pork called Al pastor which is thin sliced pork (with seasoning sauce in between) rotating around a fire of hot coals. We all had that pork stuffed into a flour tortilla along with several levels of hot sauces with a cold Corona… fantastic!

Dinner at Poncho's Takos! You can see the Al pastor cooking in the background.

Off to catch our bus back to the mall and the ship. This time the bus was much nicer with plush seats and a great ride. We soon found our way back and after a big thank you to Kim & George, we left them as they need supplies at Walmart for their trip home to the condo.

We headed to the ship but stopped for one more shore drink and wifi at the local cafe at the sea port. Kelly was feeling no pain as we expertly guided her to the big white thing! We had a great day and really enjoyed the local tour. I highly recommend “Jorge's Adventure Tours”!

Back on the ship we met up and headed to one of the shows at the Phantom Theater. It was the liars club and you had to guess what a specific word meant… two of the three answers were false. Kelly bombed:-)

A short stop along the way to listen to the band in the dance room (dance fail) and then to play some three card poker in the casino. We sat down and played for 30 minutes and all three of us did well with Kelly getting a three of a kind to add to her winnings. The dealer changed and with that so did our luck… couple more hands and we called it a night as we left with enough to cover Nick & Nora’s for the next two nights! Score!!

Off to bed exhausted.