Puerto Vallarta Mexico Malecon

Nicholle visited from Alaska to escape the dreary winter and see some SUN. Unfortunately, her arrival coincided with a hurricane storm that had hit the Pacific Mexican coast, bringing with it loads of unseasonal cold rain for us!  Normally we can go an entire winter (“dry season”) without more than 1 or 2 rain episodes…but instead we had rain for nearly a week!

In an effort to see some sun and fun…we jumped in the van for a road trip to Puerto Vallarta and Bucerias to visit some friends!

We started out by parking near the Puerto Vallarta malecon (paved walkway by the ocean)…

There were some beautiful sand sculptures out for everyone’s enjoyment!

One artist was still at work…

And another guy was watering the sculptures, presumably to keep them from drying up and blowing away! They had donation boxes for the sculptures, which we were happy to contribute to!

Behind Ella and Nicholle in the previous photo you can see some Valadores (Pole Flyers) climbing up to do their Mayan pole flying show for spectators (click on link to see a video we took of a similar show in Tulum).

Next, we found a little rooftop restaurant to eat in and we watched the sun go down.

The bathroom sink at the restaurant had no wall or window behind it…just a straight view to the ocean!

We went into a Huichol art shop, which displayed the most fantastic native Huichol beadwork that I have ever seen!  This entire jaguar is made out of SEED BEEDS!

Look closer!

With the sun down and the breeze blowing, we made the slow trek back to our car.

All of a sudden we heard someone call our name. “Huh?”  There was our friend Jeffrey who had visited us just a few weeks earlier in Ajijic!!  Another Alaska business owner (well, we’re former…)!!  We had planned on meeting up the next day…but there she was with two other gals from Skagway!  It was great to catch up while the kids played…

Ella and Maiya flank the group, and Rosetta (Jeffrey’s daughter) is holding Ella’s hand. The other two girls?  Just two random locals who our girls started playing with. That is one thing I absolutely LOVE about traveling with kids…they make friends without reservations!