Day 4 - Puerto Vallarta

Day 4, - Friday, April 17, 2015

Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico

Puerto Vallarta was our second and final stop in Mexico.  We can’t count how many times we have been here, but we always enjoy this classic Mexican tourist city.  PV is located on the Pacific coast of Mexico about 200 miles south of Mazatlán.  It is famous for its warm, semi-tropical weather, beautiful beaches and classic red-roofed building, many of which are perched on the side of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range.

Our arrival was scheduled for noon and we took a leisurely breakfast in the dining room at about 8:30, much later than our customary dining time.  As usual, many of the passengers on the ship were on deck 10 watching the difficult parking job that the captain has navigating the Legend of the Seas into this snug harbor.  We now understand how the captains earn their keep.

The sanitation standards are tighter that we have ever witnessed before.  There is no self-service at the buffet in the Windjammer and there are no salt shakers are on the table.  Each time you enter or exit an event or meal, crew members are there to dispense Purell. Everyone on the ship is really doing their best.

As soon as we were free to depart, we disembarked to a nearby internet café where we posted our latest blog entries and checked our email.  Internet, of a sorts, is available on the ship, but it is slow, unreliable and expensive and we, as well as most of the crew and many of the guests, prefer to wait until we can get a shore-side connection.

The port of PV about five miles north of the Central Business District, so we chose to ride the city’s public buses, something we normally do here.  The fare was 7 pesos each, about 50 cents US. The ride is reliable, the drivers are skillful, the buses are rickety and the suspensions must have been originally installed in the days of the Conestoga wagons. Combine that with cobblestone streets and you can imagine the seat and spine massage we got by the time we reached downtown.

The Central Business District takes up a long strip parallel to the Malecon, or waterfront promenade.  The city has made many improvements to this area since our last visit two years ago.  It is clean and safe and has a multitude of places to eat, drink and purchase tourist goods. We spent several hours walking and made no significant purchases.  One difference we noticed was that there were fewer tourists than in previous years.

Our bus ride back to the ship was similar to the inbound ride.  There were a few items of note.  At one red light, our driver took time to send a text.  Soon after that, a young man boarded the bus carrying a plastic guitar and began serenading the passengers on the bus for tips.  Neither his voice of playing showed a promise of going to Nashville.  We have seen this type of activity on Puerto Vallarta’s buses during previous visits and no one seemed to pay much attention.

We arrived back to the ship by 4:30 and had a little time to relax in our rooms before dinner.  We have been very pleased with the quality of the meals and the service onboard the Legend.  WE have also learned to limit our intake of calories to that our dress clothes will still fit us by the end of the day.

Dinner was up to it usual high standards.  The evening show feathered a former member of the Lettermen.  He was not just an excellent singer, but was a real showman.

WE then took a romantic walk around the outside decks and tried some night shots on our smart phone to share with our friends from back home.

We checked our pedometer on our smart phone at the end of the day and found that we had exceeded 5 miles today, even though we weren’t wearing the pedometer at all times.

Hasta manana!

Day 5-6  

These two sea days were a time for the passengers to relax, but a time for us to work, as we normally only give our presentations on days we are not in port. We were up early to rehearse our show, but had time to relax on deck before our noon show.

We were unsure how many guests would attend a show that would conflict with their lunch time, but were pleased that the main show lounge was over half filled.  Our lecture, Guatemala, Land of Eternal Spring, turned out to be a real hit.  We received very positive responses from dozens of guests whenever we left our rooms and felt like real celebrities.

We relaxed and read on the deck and enjoyed the amazingly calm blue Pacific the rest of the day. Following a scrumptious dinner of roast chicken breast, we skipped the evening show and spent our time strolling the outside decks, enjoying the tropical breezes as we passed the lights of Acapulco in the distant northern horizon.

Sunday dawned another exquisite day.  There was little motion on the ocean and the morning skies were friendly.  We were warmly greeted by our tablemates at breakfast as if we were somebody important, even though we don’t regard ourselves that way.

We had enough time to rehearse for today’s lecture, Mayas and Mesoamerica, and were very pleased at the turnout for our noon show.  Apparently, it was worth some people’s time to wait an hour to eat!  The response from the audience was enthusiastic and we really felt that the many hours we have spent researching and developing the programs had paid off.

While lounging on the Promenade Deck with our books, we were surprised to see a very large school of dolphins, playfully following the ship for ten or fifteen minutes.  This was a much smaller variety of dolphin that we are normally see.  Some were mothers being followed by their babies.  What a treat!

Prior to dinner, we attended the evening show, which featured a talented pianist, Elliott Finkel, who entertained the audience with a variety of music.

Another perfect day.

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala tomorrow.