First Experience Part 2

[mbliving]

Friday, up early and went to the Marina Pier to get our tickets for the snorkelling trip to Los Arcos aboard the Vagabundo. Per the brochure, it was a 4 hour adventure, snorkelling and going to Mismaloya. Perfect we thought. It didn’t waste a full day and our son shouldn’t get sick on the short boat ride. WRONG! We were already at sea when the captain (?) welcomed us all aboard and proceeded to discuss the whale watching adventure..As it turned out, they changed the brochure and I guess a few of us had an old one, lol. I thought it was an odd mix of people on board. We spotted a few whales but we were told that they just calved so they wouldn’t let us close. What we did see were about 6 other boats and ours chasing the whales around. My daughter and I were pretty disgusted by that and I do remember the warnings on this board about it but like I said we were suppose to be snorkelling. After 2 hours out, my son started puking over the side of the boat. I gave him gravol and the poor kid was sick and green the rest of the trip. Well, to top it off I guess hes not used to gravol and he was sleepy and dozy the rest of the day. We had plans to go to town and eat but we decided to stay at the resort the rest of the day because he just wasn’t too well. Live and learn. Theres always Saturday and it was a beautiful sunny day.

Saturday morning we woke up to my daughter throwing up. I previously posted about hair braiding and sunstroke so I wont go into it again here. She was in bed for the rest of the day. She insisted the rest of us go into town anyways which we did for just a short time because we were worried. Bought a few things, was surprised how aggressive the vendors and flea market people were. Found out how cheap my son was and how he would just say no to everyone until they met his price, lol. I tried that and they walked away. He bought a few soccer shirts which are quite expensive here. One was for a Mexican team, he received a lot of attention when he wore that one. Stopped for a drink ( 5.00 CAD for a margarita), can’t remember where but we were on a second floor and could see the ocean, very nice and enjoyed a Mariachi band. 50 pesos a song.

Sunday, our daughter was abit better so we went to town again…checked out Los Muertos which was still very rocky. We passed CyC’s but it was very quiet in there (2 people) and hubby wanted to go to the Burro bar so we went there for drinks. $5.00 CAD again for a small Chi Chi, ouch, where do you guys drink? But we enjoyed the people watching and the atmosphere there. Hopped the bus and went to Mismaloya next. LOVED it out there, so green, so tropical, so peaceful feeling. We walked around for quite awhile and checked everything out. Ended up walking 1000 steep steps (well, it seemed like 1000) to John Huston’s Restaurant to have a snack, drinks and to check out the scenery from high up. Very lovely up there. It was getting late and we planned to go eat in town but our daughter was starting to feel sick again so we grabbed a taxi and headed back instead. Good thing the Melia has good food and we go to a lot of restaurants at home so we weren’t too disappointed but I was still craving a Chimichanga.

Monday was beautiful and sunny so we stayed by the pool/beach for awhile and then went to town to do some power shopping as my daughter wasn’t up to it before. We bought a few things but we all found that we really don’t like bartering. I prefer to go into a store with prices so I can leisurely look at things and not feel so pressured. This was the only thing I did not care for in PV. We felt like we couldn’t talk because every 3 steps taken going down a street we were interrupted by vendors, restaurant owners and timeshare sharks. I found that even if something caught my eye, I didn’t ask a price because I didn’t want to be badgered about it. Some people love this, I know my Aunt does and she goes to PV every year but it wasn’t for us.

Tuesday, it was time to go home already. We learned a lot this trip. We will go again for sure but we now know to plan out excursions to smaller towns maybe. And go to town only a few times. For some reason, we couldn’t get to Yelapa easily, we were told that most of the boats were being refurbished. Our travel agent didn’t recommend it at all until things were better. We probably would have enjoyed that. We loved the scenery (Mismaloya area especially), the mountains, the weather, the ocean, the cobblestone streets. Sitting on the balcony looking across the ocean to the city lights with a Miami Vice in my hand. The Marina was a nice place to stay, a quick bus ride to town and we would stay there again, we would stay at the Melia for sure or maybe go to Nuevo which we saw during the boat trip. The beaches looked very beautiful there and visit Bucerias and some of the smaller towns around. I think with the hectic pace of our day-to-day life right now, we enjoyed the warmth and R & R most of all. Centro seemed busy, noisy and a bit hectic..all the stuff we were trying to get away from this time around. I called it lil’US due to the American prices on stuff, the fact that the vendors kept trying to give me change in US money and some of the American restaurant chains. But we had a great time, the kids loved it even with their getting sick, lol. And I can’t wait to try it again…this time armed with a bit more knowledge and a lot more experience. Oh,, and go for a Chimichanga first just in case.

[castawaymike]

Oh My, why would you ever want to go back to P.V. To me it seems like 90 % of the time was a bad experience. One of the most negative posts I have ever seen on Vallarta, especially tied to her other post on sunstroke. Mike

[mbliving]

Well, we had a lot of bad luck out there and made a few wrong decisions but we still managed to have a great time and I know we'll laugh about some of it soon. But even with losing 3 days to sickness, we still enjoyed the rest. I would go back for the scenery, mountains, ocean, weather,atmosphere, for the small towns I've seen pictures of that I know we'd love but we'll just stay away from the flea market areas, lol. Shopping is not my favorite passtime anywhere. The report was truthful, my opinion only and hopefully somewhat informative to those who haven't been. I had no idea that the American influence was so strong there, it took me by surprise. More of a don't do what we did sort of report .

[slippery- pete]

did you expect there to be more of a canadian infuence here? i've had dozens of annoyed tourists in the past complaning of why there is no canadian tv shows on tv here. my answer, why would anyone WANT to watch canadian shows? lol

[mbliving]

Yikes!! Why would anyone want to watch TV on thier vacation period. Although the kids caught a few cartoons in spanish, they enjoyed them and picked up a few words too. Nooo I didn't expect Canadian influence either, just Mexico. Not really knocking it but was just quite surprised to see price signs stating US dollars and to receive change in American Dollars instead of pesos. I didn't expect that at all. Although it was helpful that alot of the locals knew some English

[anni]

I think maybe accepting and adapting to a strange country is better than having a negative experience. When in Rome . . .