Vacation – Part 2 – Puerto Vallarta

There was a last minute change in the itinerary that I’m pretty grateful for.
We were supposed to have 1 day at sea after Cabo and stop in Acapulco the following day.  Instead we stopped in Puerto Vallarta the day after Cabo and then had 2 days at sea skipping Acapulco.  Not sure the reason behind it, but I loved Puerto Vallarta.  MJ’s been to Acapulco before and said she really liked Puerto Vallarta much better.

Once we got off the ship we decided to be adventurous!  Not like all the other Americans who had shore excursions booked through the cruise line or all the other ones who hired drivers.  Oh no.  We decided to take the city bus!  Had MJ not spoke Spanish, I doubt I would’ve done it, but we made it to where we wanted to go.  In one piece.  The only gringos on there.

We got off at the malecón (Spanish for boardwalk).  We didn’t walk too far before we ran into a man who was trying to sell parasailing trips.  Whoo hoo! I was interested. Nalani was too, but only if she could go with someone.  We saw some of those in Cabo so we knew it was possible but this particular operation didn’t have that option available.  We haggled for a little bit with price and then he said the kids could go up with an instructor.  SOLD!
…did I mention it was Friday the 13^th?

We headed over to the beach where we were going to launch from and they started suiting Nalani up.  That is when we were told they didn’t have a way for them to go up with an instructor and the guy who sold us the tickets was long gone.  Both kids immediately refused to go.  I was so bummed because I didn’t want everyone to have to hang around just for me.  But very surprisingly within a few minutes Nalani decided to do it!  I couldn’t believe it.  She was already strapped up so within a few minutes she was up in the air!  I must admit it was a bit nerve wracking watching her float off into the air but she LOVED it.

Kian was still a little hesitant about going but finally decided to.  He didn’t have quite the same experience.  I think he enjoyed it OK, but doubt he would ever do it again.

 This is something I’ve always wanted to do this so I was pretty excited.  Not really nervous.  Perhaps I should’ve been since this was not your typical American “sign this wavier and make sure all the safety gear checks out” kinda place.  Really all I was thinking about was being sick the night before and “SCREW YOU CANCER, this is MY day today and I’m going to do something AWESOME”
It was pretty amazing.  I didn’t quite sit back on the harness enough as I went up so there were a few moments where I felt like I was going to plummet 100 feet to the ocean, but I really didn’t care.  It was so peaceful. Almost like a hot air balloon ride.  Loved it.

After we walked the boardwalk for a bit.  Wished we had more time to check everything out.  Very nice walk though.

I wish I had gotten better pictures of the bus we caught to go back to the boat.  More worn down than the first, busted out windshield and it appeared that the driver only had one eye.  I’m not even sure because they were so jacked up.  Drive and bus reflected each other nicely.  And if that information isn’t scary enough, not only do they drive VERY close to each other there, it’s a kinda free for all at intersections that don’t have signals.  Terrifying and thrilling all at the same time!