Adventures Exploring PV

Jon: well, today we ended up sleeping in until noon, which was totally ok with me :).  First order of business was to buy me a hat, since strolling around in the sun was starting to cook the top of my head.  We got ourselves a delicious lunch of half a roast chicken and a stack of tortillas for a whopping 40 pesos (a bit less than $4), then decided to wander the streets of old town Puerto Vallarta.  Mostly we were left alone in old town, but once we hit downtown PV, seems like all we said was "no gracias!'.   Everybody wants to sell you something!

Downtown is kind of nice, there's a walkway along the water, and everyone seems to think we'd like a nice ice cold tequila.  So after strolling through downtown a little and getting tired of it, we decided to hop on a local bus and see where it would take us.  The bus driver tried to short change us 10 pesos, I guess we looked gullible, he wasn't too pleased when I told him he owed us another 10 pesos.  Anyway, so there are hundreds of these buses running through downtown, and I think every driver is in training for the Grand Prix.  They've mastered the art of the gas/brake/gas/brake, and the ride is akin to a chiropractic treatment :).  We didn't really know where the bus was headed but we decided to ride it to the end of the line.  It took us through a little suburb/town called Las Juntas.  That was a lot more like the real Mexico.  Narrow, potholed gravel roads, and a surprising number of buses ran through this area, which meant drivers had to stop and talk to each other in the middle of intersections, holding up traffic despite the honking behind them.

After about half an hour of driving through the countryside and wondering where we were headed, we ended up on a little beach sort of settling, a cluster of ramshackle restaurants.  We decided to hop off and check out the beach a little.  The bus driver told us the next bus came along in about half an hour.  Turns out the buses run on mexican time, and the bus drivers aren't so good at estimating time.  We had stray dogs sniffing at us to see if we had food, Mariachis serenading passing vehicles looking for a ride.  Eventually the bus came, after about an hour and 15 minutes, which we were kinda glad for since we didn't relish the prospect of walking a few hours back into town along the beach.   A few minutes into the ride back into town, a boy of about 8 or 9 hopped up and started serenading the bus, which I found rather amusing, since that would never happen in Canada.  After which he canvassed the bus with hands out.  A great way to make pocket money I guess.

Back in Las Juntas, the bus driver passed a street vendor selling corn and decided to stop and buy one, while holding up traffic again.  And off we went again.  It amazes me how close these drivers race after each other, to quote a description I read, they drive so close the paint is touching.  One minute, they're racing after each other, next they decide to pause on a whim.  The rules of the road are barely a suggestion :).

On the street corners there always seems to be a corner store with a thick blue band and a yellow stripe (Corona).  Cheaper than water around here.  Then on the middle of a barren country road the bus driver stops, an oncoming bus and tells us we need to transfer to that bus.  Hmmm, we already didn't know where we were going and we transfer to an empty bus.  Anyway, this driver was doing an even better impression of Michael Schumacher.  We eventually hit the highway going back to Puerto Vallarta, which made us feel better, since it was getting dark and we had no clue where we were :).  Weaving in and out of traffic, these drivers essentially drag race each other, grinding gears and hammering the brakes at each stop.  We're definitely not in Canada now :).  We end up bypassing downtown, its now dark out, and we are wondering again where we are going since we're headed up a hill overlooking the city.  As luck would have it, we completely bypassed downtown, and ended up 2 blocks from our hotel.

Michelle: Last night and today we are already testing the limits of our immune systems and seeing if they will hold up against genuine Mexican food, so far so good! We are being very careful with what we eat and from where, keeping an eye on hygiene practices etc. We'd love to shop at the supermarket but until we reach Guadalajara we don't have the use of a kitchen. Gourmet meals will have to wait ;)

We enjoyed venturing out of the tourist area and not really knowing where we were going. On the rickety old bus we got chatting to a couple from Kentucky and were laughing at all the things that you would never see back in the States or Canada that are just common everyday life here. It sure is a different world here, that's for sure. Our destination in the middle of nowhere was pretty nice, the beach was lovely and as we waited for what seemed like ages for the bus we watched a man working incredibly hard to salvage just a few pieces of wood from a pile of rubble, probably from a fire. In the hour or so that we watched he had rescued only 4 or 5 pieces of wood and we couldn't help but comment on how much more they are willing to work for a few bucks. Labour is cheap .The buildings are made from every kind of wood imaginable, one of the restaurants even used wood pallets as part of the wall. There's not the same kind of waste like there is back home, no Canadian or Australian that I know would work that hard for the timber, they'd just head down to Home Depot or Bunnings and get new stuff. You can definitely say that the Mexicans know how to recycle, everything from car parts to cardboard boxes to old couches all seem to find a home for themselves long after we would throw them out!  

 Like Jon said, we had an interesting, harrowing ride on the bus and can only imagine what it will be like on Saturday when we head through the mountains to Guadalajara and they have a windy open road instead of city traffic to deal with... should be great fun with my travel sickness, even by the end of today's run I'm sure my stomach was in my throat it had been bumped around so much! Speed bumps are just a way to get air, not for slowing down! It's pretty funny really, but the comfort is that even though they wont stop for anyone or anything and road rules don't seem to exist, except one: If you're bigger you go first, everyone else will give way to you... the bus is probably the safest place to be simply because it is bigger! That's what i'm gonna have to tell myself and convince myself of each time I take my life into my hands and go for a ride  :)

First Days in Puerto Vallarta Photo Album