Adventures in Central America: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

On a not especially cold, but definitely snowy December 7 my family and I parked our car at the Edmonton airport and took a Flair flight direct to . . .

. . . Puerto Vallarta, Mexico! This is the view from our hotel--we are on a quiet street on the edge of the Centro neighbourhood, just a block from the lovely Isla Cuale (a little car-free island in the Rio Cuale) and two blocks from the bay.

Our suite is unexceptional, but the hotel does have a nice rooftop with three little pools and a lovely atmosphere and view.

Besides the rooftop of our hotel, we have been enjoying the malecon along the bay, with its lovely views and eclectic public art.

Twice we ate breakfast on the malecon--not the cheapest place to dine, but certainly a lovely spot!

The beach of the Zona Romantica has also been a popular spot, especially for the kiddo. 

The beach is nice enough in the day (well, in the morning; in the middle of the day it is too hot!), but especially lovely at sunset!

Besides the waterfront, the streets of Puerto Vallarta are also interesting and full of colour and life, although again best avoided in the middle of the day when the "real feel" highs are hitting the mid-30s!

Isla Cuale is nice at all times of day, because even in the afternoon it is well shaded.

Perhaps not surprisingly, tacos have been our favourite meal, and we found a few restaurants that we really enjoyed. These are the seafood ones--shrimp, marlin, and so on--yum!

We just happened to pick Dec 7-12 as our dates to visit Mexico, but what great dates they are because December 12 is the feast day for Our Lady of Guadelupe, and the days leading up to it are full of celebrations, involving, of course, decorations in the cathedral (Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe) . . .

. . . fireworks, music, and processions leading to the cathedral at all times of day and especially in the evening. 

Here is some video of the dancers in the photo above.

This was another dance group:

Many of the groups are accompanied by girls dressed as Our Lady of Guadalupe or else large pictures of her. 

So, for the most part, we have filled our days with visits to the malecon and beach, little walks in the city and Isla Cuale, rooftop/pool time, eating tacos, and enjoying the festivities for Our Lady of Guadalupe. 

On Sunday though we added somewhat to our "routine" with a short Uber drive outside of the city to hike along a stream. 

Our objective was the Palo Maria waterfall, but we eventually lost the trail and gave up. Instead we settled for a swim in this lovely pool, which we had all to ourselves for ten minutes or so. 

As we waited for our Uber back into town, this procession passed us by, apparently en route to the cathedral. They still had seven kilometres to walk!

They seemed intent on singing the whole way!

This morning, our last day before flying home this evening, I climbed up to the Mirador el Cerra de la Cruz which is the hilltop behind the cathedral. 

The lookout point is not very far in terms of distance, but it is a steep climb!

There are some great views from the top!

It was a lovely few days in Puerto Vallarta, and I was excited to come home with $40 worth of souvenirs to hang on my office wall! 

These were from a store right next to our hotel called Senor Talavera--which must be one of the greatest souvenir stores I have ever been in!

Adventures in Europe: London, United Kingdom

On Friday night we flew from Cairo to London, and we were able to enjoy yesterday and this morning touring around. Really this is pretty much a stopover before we head home, but we made the most of it. 

We are staying in Hyde Park at a hotel that is nondescript, in a room that is small and expensive (so, typically London). Still, it manages to look remarkably posh from the outside.

Of course, we have spent time in Hyde Park the actual park, enjoying walks through there a couple of times. 

Something I have done every time I have been in London is climb "Monument." My wife declined to join me, but agreed to wait below while I ascended. 

After climbing many stairs, the view is wonderful, and has changed some since I was last here in 2011.

Your ticket is also a souvenir, but I did not want to carry this around for the rest of the day, so a photo will have to do.

From Monument we had a lovely walk along the Thames . . .

. . . and then up to St. Paul's.

Time for some lunch, and so how about the Olde Cheshire Cheese, which apparently dates from something like 400 years ago!

We ate some lunch and enjoyed a pint by the fire.

We carried on enjoying our walk to Trafalgar Square, where we met a protest in support of the National Health Service. 

We more or less joined in, and down Whitehall past Downing Street (where the protest stopped).

We stopped for photo opportunities at Big Ben . . . 

. . . and Westminster Abbey.

We decided to join the evensong service at 17:00, so walked across the Thames, had a drink and did some more exploring, and then hustled back to join the queue. You cannot take photos inside, but it was a cool experience to join evensong in such an iconic church. We also got to briefly sit in the choir stalls, the most recognizable part of the interior of Westminster Abbey. In just two or three months King Charles' coronation will take place and a lot of people will be watching the procession of people right through the choir stalls where we got to sit.

After the church service it was dark and raining, but that was not any particular issue as our next plans were to see the musical "Wicked" at the Victoria Theatre just a stop on the tube away from Westminster Abbey.

We fly home this afternoon, but had some time to still go for a Hyde Park walk this morning, and keep going on to Buckingham Palace. By the way, this is Diana's first time in London, so the mandatory sites are, pretty much, well, mandatory. 

We actually kept walking on past the palace back to Westminster Abbey, because we wanted to get a souvenir from the gift shop.  So, it ended up being quite the walk, but lovely, and we took the tube back to the hotel before heading off to Heathrow.