ON the Road Again...... January 19, 2015

Welcome back - it's Mexico part 2.



What, can we say...we enjoyed our 1st road trip so much we decided to come back down again.,.What? We can hear some of you say,... You guys are on the road again? That's right after a month home we are south again. The kick start to it all was a birthday celebration in LA. Why bother heading back to cold, snowy Canada. So, we booked one-way tickets to Puerto Vallarta and plan to explore the area.  Not sure where'll we end up on this trip, but we are sure the journey will be fun!  So, happy reading......

To all our family, old friends and the new friends we've already made so far - we are both well after our first 10 days away. Our 4 day stopover in Los Angeles was very special as we helped our 90 year old cousin celebrate her milestone birthday with close family and friends. It was terrific reconnecting with all of them!  Once the celebrations were over we spent a day exploring Universal Studios. The Shrek 3D show was awesome and, well the Tranformer ride....that was fun too!! Took an Uber car service across LA to the airport. With a promotional sign up, only cost us $19 and the car came with a driver.

After leaving LA, we have been exploring Puerto Vallarta city and surrounding beaches of Yelapa, Mismaloya, Las Animas and Boca Tomatlan.  All of these beaches are either a windy bus ride away or a 15-35 minute boat ride away.  

They are all small bays with a handful of residents residents...beautiful!! Yelapa has tons of places to stay and fairly easy to get to... From the airport it's a .75 peso ride to Old PV centro..,from there hop on the Boca Tomatlan bus for .80 pesos and get a water taxi for 70 pesos to Yelapa. And in less than 90 min from the airport and for 95 pesos (or abt $8 Can) you can be in a pretty remote spot away from the hustle and noise of PV.  A river empties into the bay, and with the jungle vegetation, it looks like a downsized version of the movie Apocalypse Now. Seems actor Dennis Hopper and Bob Dylan stayed in Yelapa. If the hallucinogens didn't turn their crank, then the lush jungle, humidity and bugs would do the trick. Google it. Electricity only arrived 8-10 years ago. Coastline is lush and rugged, with no real road access south of PV. The water taxis that service the remote beach spots cram about 30+ people on 7 benches or so, with all the junk people need to live out there - food, fridges, suitcases etc. 







 Met a great family at Mismaloya. Father and son work for warming-trends.com. They install custom designed outdoor gas fireplaces.  Scored several cooling sleeves for our beers.

Easily found a place to sleep after getting off the plane and taking the local bus into Old Town PV.. stayed several nights in Villa Del Mar until hotel told us they were booked up. Moved on to the Azteca Hotel for several more nights. Both hotels offered clean, basic stays, safe, family run hotels for around $36.

One evening here in PV we spent with a friend from Vancouver who walked us around the town after a lovely Italian dinner.  Such a nice visit.  We really like the old town of PV and can certainly see why so many people choose to winter here or live here full time.  As always, we have met some very interesting people in the hotels, on the beaches or in the restaurants. It seems to be like Spring Break for adults here. Party all the time!  Very interesting mix of people. Ann-du-lay pub (Andele) is quite the party place for the older crowd. Good old rock n roll, shots all around, a chance to ride a donkey and dance on the bar - even go motor boating..;)

After nearly a week in PV we have moved north to the beach town of Sayulita. We were there very briefly a few years ago but wanted to explore it a bit more.  We'll probably spend a few days here before moving north again.  There was just a festival here on the weekend so it is still quite busy. Finally found a great place, block off the beach for 800 pesos/night or $65.

We are well, the weather is warm, the people are great and we are enjoying not having to shovel snow... good luck to those that do!

Take care all of you!  Drop us a line and let us know how life is in your corner of the world.

Hugs to all of you!