By Land or By Sea: Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Karen and I were both very excited to get to Puerto Vallarta, friends of ours from the bike tour, Walter and Geri spend their winters about 20 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta. We had contacted them before we left and made arrangements to spend the day with them. The ship was scheduled to dock around 10:00 am, but got in earlier. Karen wondered out and took some pictures of Puerto Vallarta from the ship.

Here are some other boats as we are pulling into the city.

Here is the Holland American ship we saw all week.

Different view of the city

Here are some partially built high rises. This area was booming until the recession hit and now there are many building that sit half built. If you are looking for some real estate in Mexico, not is the time to buy.

This is a pirate ship - I think you can do that as an excursion.

The beach – with a boarder of foam type block.

Here is a close up of the blocks.

This looks more tropical.

For the crew the highlight of this port is the nice, close Walmart. Rex our room steward told me he gets off the ship once a week to go to Walmart here.

We got off the ship and quickly found Walter and Geri. It was so nice to see them. Karen had spent 9 weeks with them over the summer, but it was September when that time was over.

We let them be our guides for the day. First they took us to walk down the touristy section.

Here is the beach.

Another view.

Here are some very cool sand castles.

It is amazing to see all the details that go into them!!

This is the touristy walk.

Here are Karen and I on a little bench. In the back is street in town.

A view up the street.

This is me with Walter and Geri walking.

Here is a building on a corner.

Each Mexican city, village, town has a square in the middle that is the hub of the communities social interaction. In Puerto Vallarta, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church sits on the square. Karen and I walked up to get some pictures.

Here is another picture of town as we were moving from the touristy section to where the local’s go.

Walter and Geri brought us to one of their favorite places to eat, a lovely outdoor place. They had great Margaritas. Here is Geri showing off all our drinks.

After lunch we headed up to Walter and Geri’s. Here is some of the traffic.

During the bike tour, Walter and Geri took their motor home across North America and during the day Walter would park it along the route and it served as a rest stop for the cyclists. Early on the tour Walter had watermelon for the cyclists one day. It was such a big hit, he started having it every day and it earned the nickname “Waltermelon” Everyone on the tour stopped to visit Walter at the motor home (I even did when I drove the route.) Well after the tour Walter and Geri turned in that motor home for a new one. It is gorgeous!

Here is their sign outside.

Walter, Geri and I inside. Yes those are marble counter tops!!

We found this on their counter – so true for them!!

This is their seating area outside. Their set up is so great – I could totally live there.

After visiting at their place for a while we walked down to the beach and then into their town’s square. We wondered around the market and visited the stall where the school children sold things. I bought a bag for my niece and a little case that is perfect for my ipod.

They showed us the local school and told us how the kids only went to school half the day, some the morning and the rest in the afternoon because they didn’t have the resources for all the kids to go to school all day. They also told us how they and their neighbors were raising money to build an orphanage. It is amazing what they have been able to do. We drove over to where they are building the orphanage and we could see the progress they were making. The stories of the children and how they were just abandoned by their parents broke my heart. In fact the whole day really touched me. I know I am very fortunate to live in the United States and that is one thing this trip really helped me realize – both by seeing the real Mexico, not just the touristy spots and in talking to Karen about life in Canada. I kept going back to that great American spirit and drive. That you can do anything, if you work hard and make good decisions you have the opportunity to be successful. I can’t even imagine what those kids who only have the opportunity to go to school half a day can hope and dream to aspire to. What their standard of a better life is compared to mine. It made me really sad for them and so very thankful for the opportunities I have been blessed with.

After seeing their home, Walter and Geri took us back to the ship. Here they are with the tracker that also crossed North America over the summer.