Cruisin' the Mexican Riviera

We have returned home.

The Mexican Riviera was wonderful. On Saturday April 26th we flew into LAX. Stayed overnight at the Quality Inn in Long Beach. Met our youngest son David and his family the next morning in line to board the ship. We cruised with Carnival on board the Pride. Gorgeous ship. Great crew. Spoiled us all rotten. Food, more food and fun. The kids had a wonderful time. They're favorite sport was flying down the water slide.

The first stop was on Wednesday April 30. We were in Puerto Vallarta from 8 am until 10 pm. We all went on an excursion of the jungle. It took us up into the mountains to an old town called Mismyola. Here we stopped at a local place where we were able to swim in the pools formed by the river. John, David, Julie and the kids went on a guided hike into the jungle. Mom and I stayed behind at the small restaurant. We watched as some men put a new roof made of palm leaves onto one of the sections. It was very interesting to watch them work. The beams consist of re bar placed horizontally over the top of large poles that looked like bamboo. The palms were stripped down about half way, then the next two sets of leaves were loosened and then threaded through the re bar and twisted together to create a knot. The roof section being done was about 10' x 10'. It will take 2 men 2 days to complete. The palms were left in the river to stay flexible until needed. This was very interesting.

When the hikers all returned we had lunch. When we had first arrived the owner of the cafe came out to the patio with a tray. On this tray he had an assortment of food that would be prepared for you. He had red fish, prawns, crab, lobster, chicken breast filet and kabobs. The kabobs were made of either chicken, beef, shrimp or a combo. We ordered the combo platter. It had all of the seafood items on it. It was great. The food was all prepared on a BBQ grill as there is no electric here. We were then treated to a free shot of tequila. We were given a black mustache and a Mexican sombrero to wear. David was the first one to go, he took the first shot and as he was bringing his head down the waiter took off the hat and below that was a smaller hat. He then had to have another shot to have the smaller sombrero removed. It was great.

John and I followed after David. Then we had to get back on the bus for the next stop in the tour. We went down to the Tequila Factory. We were shown how the agave plant was still hand processed. It was very interesting. We were then treated to more samples. There were 5 different types. This brand is only sold in Mexico. We brought home a bottle of the Mango flavored. I really liked the coffee flavored one. Julie bought a bottle of that flavor.

We were then taken to a vista point for pictures. I was breath taking. Along the way there were vendor stands with clothes, shoes, jewelry and leather goods. All hand made and beautiful.

We saw the spot where the original movie Night of the Iguana was filmed. Steven Spielberg's home. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor have homes here also.

We finished out our day with shopping. By 6 pm we were back on board and exhausted. We had alot of new treasures to bring home.