Puerta Vallarta

Since my time in Mexico is coming to an end, I decided it was now or never to go on vacation...to lovely Puerto Vallarta. I was quite surprised when some of my friends back home said they had never heard of the city. FYI: it is located on the pacific side of Mexico and is the #2 tourist spot, behind Cancun. I took a midnight bus from Leon and arrived in Vallarta at 9am Friday.

The first day I spent very leisurely: wandering around downtown, shopping, and walking the beautiful boardwalk (called the malecon). Even though it is not tourist season right now in Vallarta, there are plenty people trying to take advantage of gringas (white people). The constant harassment from people selling things was the only downside to my trip, however. And since there were not many tourists, the beaches were practically empty. I spent only a little time sunbathing - for fear of getting burned - and am proud to say that I look perfectly sunkissed! haha The other great thing about Vallarta is all the fresh seafood. I had some delicious shrimp fajitas that were so fresh, I could still taste tiny pieces of sand in my meal!

Saturday was a lot of fun: I learned to scuba dive! I booked my class through a very well established company called "Vallarta Adventures." Actually, I booked a day trip to a beach (called Las Caletas) owned by the company and learned how to scuba there. About 100 or so people took a one hour boatride to the private beach. The ride was really nice (they had an open bar!) and the entire Mexican staff spoke English. In my scuba class I met a girl who graduated from UM a few years before I did! What are the chances? It was really nice to talk to her throughout the day. Scuba diving itself was really cool - although I must admit it was more difficult than I thought it would be. One of the reasons for my initial trouble was that I kept floating to the surface because I didn't have enough weight around my waist. Consequently, I had to hold the hand of my hot Argentinian diving instructor to keep from floating the the surface - ha! Not a bad experience ;-) Once additional weight was added to my waist, and I got accustomed to breathing underwater, it was a really fun time. We saw all sorts of underwater creatures: colorful fish, manta rays, pufferfish, snakes, eels, a turtle, starfish, and jellyfish!

I returned on Sunday to Leon for my final week in Mexico. Yes - in 1 week exactly I will be in my house in Ann Arbor, Michigan! Stay tuned for at least one last update.