Our first trip to PV! Sorry it's so long. Part 1

[nmathis]

Our 1st trip to PV! Sorry so long!
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This will be a long report, but, it will have our musings along the way. Our first experience was the airport. No problem except the airline chewed up our luggage a bit. As we were warned by you good people, we prepared for the barrage of OPC's. It was an experience. We jumped into a suburban taxi with five other folks. In the taxi, we met some people who actually know people we know on Cape Cod. TO WEIRD! We were charged $6.00 US each. $42.00 to take 7 people to Nuevo. We stayed at the Mayan Palace, where my brother-in-law owns a couple of timeshares there. The hotel was GORGEOUS! Our room was a 2 room suite facing the ocean. Sliding glass doors opened to a balcony that overlooked the grounds, a lake, a super large pool and of course, the ocean. We had dinner at one of the three restaurants on site.

Monday, Jan. 21

We took a bus into town. The ride was quite the deal. It was packed! It cost 10 pesos to get to the downtown area. We walked down to the Malecon. It was beautiful. Filled with restaurants and stores and the interesting sculptures along the wide sidewalk. We needed to go to Pacific Scuba, on Juarez. This is where my wife and I felt overwhelmed. All the traffic, all the people, the high sidewalks and the narrow streets. An accident happened about 15 feet from us. This was not what I expected. We found Pacific Scuba. I chose them because they don't believe in cattle car diving. They have a 4 to 1 ratio of divers per divemaster. I spoke with Lara the owners wife. She was knowledgeable and very personable. After discussing my wants, I felt thoroughly comfortable diving with them.

We continued on Juarez to the Rio Cuale. This was a very attractive area. The restaurants along the river. We stopped and had a drink at Le Bistro. A very trendy and beautiful restaurant. They had taped jazz playing in the background. Here is where we ran across something we had never been told about. In the restrooms, there were signs telling us NOT to throw toilet tissue or anything else into the toilets. We were supposed to use the trash can for that. Mighty strange indeed. I assumed that their systems couldn't handle the load. So to speak. I noticed this at a number of restaurants and bars. We walked back towards the malecon and came across our first mercado. As soon as we strolled in, we were met by people selling their wares. We couldn't even look around without someone pushing their items on us. This took some getting used to. I understand that they are only trying to make a living, but after a while, we got with the program. My wife was pretty shrewd. When she wanted something, she was able to barter to a lower price. I laughed when she tanked on some pill boxes she wanted. As we made our way towards the malecon, we went down a couple of depressing streets. Trash, roads torn up and kind of smelly.
Please don't hate me, this was our first trip to anywhere. We have a lot to learn.

We walked and shopped the Malecon. It was beautiful. I saw a number of restaurants I had seen recommended on the BB's. I kind of felt at home. We had a fabulous meal at La Dolce Vita. We watched the sun go down as we ate. Ask to sit upstairs. They open it around 6pm. The meal with drinks, dessert and tip came to $45.00 US. As we were eating, some people at the table next to us, were talking about Rhode Island. It turns out that they live about 1/2 hour from us! Small world. We ate and talked, it was very enjoyable.
After we ate, we people watched for a while. We then hired a taxi to take us back to Nuevo. The price was $130 pesos. This was an experience, we had heard about the busses, but this was unexpected. He took off like a shot. It was kind of funny when I noticed he had no dash board lights. I got nervous though when he put on his seatbelt. We got back to the Mayan and emailed the boys back home.

Tuesday Jan.22

We made plans to go the pool and to attend the prime rib dinner they were serving that night. We came in from the pool and filled out postcards, firmed up some plans to go on my first dive. My wife was going to go along as a snorkeler.
Dinner was good, conversation was great. Then took a walk on the beach. The Mayan was charging $40.00 pesos for 1/2 hour on the Internet. Major ripoff.

Wednesday Jan. 23

We met Pacific Scuba at 8:45. I met Javier, (the owner) Erick, (divemaster) and Paco (the 16 year old captain). Going along with us was another couple. The boyfriend had taken a hotel scuba class and was going to do an open water dive. The girls would snorkel. The boat ride out to Marietas Islands was good. Erick helped us spy out some whales in the distance. We only saw 6 skimming the water. 1 1/2 hours later, we were there. It was like a fortress. All rock. Erick showed us the bird life. The water was a clear blueish/ green. I had never seen water like that in my life! We dropped anchor and we could see straight to the bottom! There were myriads of fish in the most brillant color. We dressed and dropped over the side. The visibility was about 60 to 80 feet. I am used to diving in 10 to 20 feet. The bottom was full of walls and a few tunnels. There was a loud crunching noise down there. I am assuming it was brine shrimp. While we were down, Paco was entertaining the girls by bringing up things and fish from the bottom. It was a great dive. After the 1st dive, we broke for lunch. Then it was time for our 2nd dive. We rode to the rear of the Island. We dropped back in. This dive was different. There were not as many fish, although, Erick did find a pregnant seahorse. I really enjoyed swimming right over rocks and then seeing the floor open up to a desert. I did see an ugly Moray Eel. A couple of striped worm/snakes. Good dive. I was happy. On the way home, we spotted a couple of Devil Rays. I was really hoping to see some Manta's and dolphins. But today was not the day.

We went to Brasil's in the Paradise Mall in Nuevo for dinner. They also have a restaurant in PV. The mall also had a Domino's, Mc D's, Guido's Italian, The Jungle and a couple of others. Brasil was and interesting restaurant. As opposed to serving a buffet, they serve you some of everything that is on the menu. This was all you can eat for 140 pesos. As you eat the first couple of courses, they deliver and slice off more food directly to your plate. They had like 3 apps., 4 salads, and 7 or 8 types of meat. After dinner, we stopped and picked up some cheesecake for later.