Travel Journal: Puerto Vallarta: Jan 11-18: Day trip 1

Eye catching isn't it?

One of the things I enjoy most about going to small Mexican towns is seeing how much color is everywhere!

Bernie had gone fishing up the coast on a half day boat off Punta Mita and luckily he got lots of fish.

 

He said he found the dock after driving around trying to find the right boat dock, in the dark, in an area 45 nerve racking minutes up the road from our resort. I was invited to go too but wasn't game for the outing. 

After he got back with some of his fish (he gave most of the fish to the captain to distribute to whomever in the area wanted them)  we had the chef cook them for us.

The chef was so dismayed that he hadn't brought back ALL the fish with him.

He did a gorgeous job of cooking the fish and everyone in the restaurant, customer and staff stopped by to take a gander!

 

The fish were delicious.

The chef did himself proud with four kinds of sauces to use.

 

 Bernie said  he wanted to drive me back to the area to show me where he had fished.

And on the way, he wanted to visit the semi "famous" Sayulita, which has featured greatly in Mexican surf safari lore.

I was game for that...and so a few days later we jumped in our rental car and headed north, winding along the coastline and slightly inland then back out to the coastline again.

It didn't take long to see a surfer once we got into Sayulita.

The small sleepy village of legend hardly fit the old descriptions any more.

Traffic was heavy and parking was impossible!

While Bernie grumbled about how congested the area was, I was grooving on all the delicious colors all about the town.

Oh to be a carefree 20 something renting that top palm roofed third story area with a bunch of  surfing friends.

Tables of colorful beaded bracelets and necklaces set up along the street: Gorgeous.

Felted stuffed animals could be purchased to make a festive personal zoo!

"Casa del Chile Relleno"

Imagine it at night with the green spotlights lit and the caged green bird chirping loudly over the bar music.

It was mid January and yet a lighted reindeer still perched on a wall.

Now why don't we ever paint walls vermilion and pink like that?

Every shop seemed to have a green bird chirping away.

I admit that the tightly woven wall hangings/rugs tempted me.

With the right adobe style home they would be terrific.

Heck, they could be the guiding purpose behind an entire home decoration scheme.

Need to rent/buy a DVD?

The shop is strung up between two palm trees.

Next trip...I am going to buy a pile of these cut work items and string them over my patio in summer.

Or maybe under my bedroom ceiling.

Wouldn't that be a cheery sight to wake up to each day?

Wouldn't you think a hot climate would chose pale cool colors?

Nope, they dig in with the brightest colors they can find.

American towns looks so dull by comparison.

Mermaids brings thoughts of my daughter.

The dangling "Eye of God" string work brings thoughts of childhood craft times when making them and adding sequins and glitter was the finishing touch before hanging on a Christmas tree.

I guess this was CD recycling?

I liked how they sparkled and twirled in the breeze.

Before we walked around the town we did park for a tiny bit by the ocean and walked around.

Beach chairs and umbrellas were set up and rent able by the day.

I needed to use the potty before walking on the beach; the restroom had a young boy sitting out front with neatly folded piles of toilet paper.

 Toilet usage with tissue was 8 pesos, (about 60 cents)

No paper was provided in the stalls, nor were there any seats, but the toilets did flush!

What a business!

Shore birds sunned themselves at the water's edge.

Even the rocks seem to have joined in on the Mexico color code.

I wondered who had picked out all the oyster meat...man or beast?

We gawked at a woman getting some kind of spa treatment on the beach.

Her treatment administrator seemed to have gotten a bit of a treatment himself.

I had to laugh at the tent on top of a roof.

Well, if you can rent tent space in nice weather, why not?

You could likewise rent a horse...

Mid January and the trees had pods instead of flowers.

Still interesting to see.

From there we went to where Bernie and the boat's crew had gone for lunch after fishing all day.

He had come home raving about the place and saying we HAD to go there for lunch.

He didn't have to ask me twice...

Open walls, colorful seating, palm roofs, beach front.

Perfect.

Margarita with a star fruit shining from the salty rim.

I'm going to remember that extra touch.

A seafood dish called ceviche is one of my secret addictions.

 Lime juice is used to "cook" raw fish; in this case it was a mix of octopus, shrimp, crab and avocado.

Here's a recipe if you haven't had ceviche before. 

This order came in a glass that was the size of a baby's head.

Could of been a meal in itself.

I ordered crab tacos.

And then butter fried shrimp.

The seafood was fresh caught, that was for sure!

A vendor passed silently by balancing a tray of bread and pastry on his head.

 

I could of reached out and touched the painted branches next to the beach shower.

(I've never seen painted branches like that before...fun!)

A girl in a long dress was intent on gathering seashells.

Not sure what made a shell a keeper...but she and her sister had gathered quite a few shells already.

They looked and looked, then they moved on along down the beach.

Next came a brother/sister pair.

They seemed less interested in gathering shells than playing games.

Funny how so many kids had float rings and yet I never saw any kid go in with their ring and paddle around.

Mid meal...in came the mariachi singers.

The young lad on the snare drum wearing a huge hat and Crocs had me smiling.

Oh so serious.

He kept beat really well!

Another vendor looked in on us, displaying her armful of beads.

Oh my...they must have weighed an awful lot.

Then this guy peeked up at us.

Do you see it?

GO BEAVERS!!!

How funny is that to see a guy in an Oregon State University hat in Mexico!

It was fate: he was selling cigars and Bernie had been looking to buy cigars.

Bueno!

Now the meal was pretty good.

I always ask to see the dessert menu whether I feel like dessert or not as I am always curious to see what dessert might be.

Bernie said he wasn't interested in dessert.

 I took one look at the menu and ordered two desserts anyway.

A coconut ice cream served in a coconut shell was my first choice.

And a mango ice cream beautifully served in a mango skin was my second choice.

The ice cream was to die for.

Bernie discovered he actually did have room for ice cream after all.

I wondered who was creating this awesome delicacy and wishing our Trader Joe's would import their creations.

Too bad I had already eaten a full meal or I would have work my way though the entire ice cream menu.

Sweet Corn ice cream?

Apple ice cream?

Pineapple ice cream?

Orange ice cream?

Yes please!

After we waddled out of the restaurant we drove around the area a bit.

I saw a cat sleeping behind a drying fish net...

Girls having fun wheeling around town...

Evidence that once a circus or something with a tiger was once in town?

(It is fun to guess what stuff says when one doesn't really speak Spanish that well.)

And then...whoa!

Who should pull up next to us but the fishing boat's captain!

Bernie was quite taken by the guy who explained he was a Christian and quite serious about his faith.

They hit it off immediately.

While Bernie in the white car and the captain in the brown car chatted away in the middle of the street, I hopped out and roamed around taking pictures.

Dogs up on the roof: Why not?

They live above the butcher shop.

A meat delivery had just arrived and the meat was being butchered right there in the back of the delivery truck.

A street dog was nearby sleeping and I suppose waiting for scraps.

Across the street a posse of young boys were enthralled with video games.

(I actually thought it seemed like a lot more fun to be playing like this instead of in a family room with cozy couches and such.)

Middle of January and the Christmas "tree" is still up.

Isn't that fun?

Just decorate whatever tree happens to be growing outside!

I still do not know what the black jug like things are that are on the roofs everywhere.

Water?

Fire protection water?

Gas?

A gate to lock and a court yard beyond.

Breezy functional art.

And speaking of breezy:

No glass in the windows, but a satellite dish is nearby.

Priorities seem mixed to me, but what do I know about such things in Mexico?

On the way back to the resort we passed this crouching panther created in beads atop a billboard.

A child being driven on a motorcycle sans helmet or seat belt.

(Hard to see...and yet I am sure everything turned out just fine.)

Chinese influence in Mexico?

In front of a night club a two story high obese Marilyn Monroe struggled to hold her skirt down from the breeze below.

(That made me laugh...especially since my pants seemed to be getting a bit more snug with each passing day...hey, a few more meals and that could be a sculpture of me!)

We wondered at the collection of items being offered for sale at this place.

What was the connection between the items?

And then we were at our turn off and back on the road to Bel Air and the beach.

Just in time for another sunset swim in paradise!

 

To be continued....