Puerto Vallarta Baby-Moon 2008

Easy trip to Puerto Vallarta and a quick drive from the airport.  We learn that it costs $20 to get from the Airport to our hotel, but are told that when we go from our hotel back to the airport it will only be $5!

We settle in, have a good lunch at the hotel and get ourselves geared up to relax.  Not something that we're very used to! 

We headed over to the Marina for dinner.  It's a great spot about a 5 minute walk from the hotel.  Tons of restaurants to choose from - so great to have that nearby so that we didn't have to eat at the hotel the whole time.  We ate at "Fajita Banana" which was super and really cheap and you didn't HAVE to eat bananas (much to Steve's relief)!

Friday we spent the morning exercising and sitting by the pool, and then were itching to get out and explore the area. 

Mid-afternoon we took a bus from right in front of our hotel to the center of Puerto Vallarta.  It's sooo easy to take the bus and much cheaper than a taxi!  We got off right in the Malecon area which is a boardwalk along the ocean.  Lots to see and shops to poke in.  We stopped by the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe and were disappointed - wasn't as interesting as we'd hoped.  We walked over to the Playa des los Muertos.  That is quite a site!  The beach itself isn't anything to write home about, but there's tons of activity and lots of people watching to do.  The beach is lined with bars and we partook in one for a little rest.  A virgin drink for Fiona, but Steve ordered a beer and ended up getting 3!  For only $5 for the 3, he couldn't complain and valiently finished all 3.   

We then walked back to the Malecon to watch the street performers as the sun go down.  Dinner was at Xitomates or something like that.  I couldn't find it listed in Yahoo! Travel, but was delicious!  Just off of the main drag and super tasty.  A bumpy bus ride home at the end of the night.

We booked a day trip to find some nice beach because unfortunately the beach near our hotel isn't great.  We booked it with Puerto Vallarta tours and the tour itself was pretty cheesy, but was a great way to spend the day.  We swam, snorkled, had a great lunch and Steve took a try at holding a monkey!!  We also did a nature walk to explore the area. 

We passed "los arcos" on the way which are National park designated. 

Dinner again at the Marina - this time at a steak place that I can't remember the name of, but it wasn't very good anyways.

Not much to say for this day!  A day by the pool and naps and excercise.  I think this is the first day we've ever vegged out for a WHOLE day on vacation! 

We had dinner at the well known "Nikki bar" which is also a dance club, but were disappointed by the lack of excitement there, expensive food and drinks and mediocre food in general. 

A photo of our room in the hotel - a great spot to chill :)

Our last full day here!  Time went by too quickly!

We organized another boat trip with Puerto Vallarta Tours, this time to Yelapa.  Same boat and crew as last time, but totally different trip.  A stop to snorkel and swim along the way (water was freezing!!) and then we had a few hours in Yalapta.  It's a tiny hippy town that only has boat access.  Might be a nice spot to stay for a night if we were doing a longer trip.  The town was interesting and beach was beautiful.  We didn't swim as the water was too cold and we'd had our freezing dip for the day, but we enjoyed the scenery and beach bar service.   

Photos are of the town of Yelapa, the beach there and Steve & I on the boat on the way home.

We ventured on another bus trip into town for dinner and ate at this excellent tapas restaurant well out of the way of the tourist area.  Nice!

Tuesday was only a half day, but we made the most of it.  A good bit of excercise in the morning with some time at the pool.  Lunch at a greesy spoon near the hotel which was excellent!!

Overall a great trip.  Not our usual style of relaxing, but I think did us both well!