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 Central America: Volcanoes around Granada, Nicaragua

Nicaragua is famous for its volcanoes, and after enjoying Granada in the day yesterday, I spent the evening on a tour to Masaya Volcano, one of something like seven active volcanoes in Nicaragua.

The tour is $20, $10 of which goes to the park for the foreigner's entrance fee.  After dark, the park is so popular that there was a line up of cars down the highway, but the wait was not too bad.  There is a visitors centre before you actually get to the crater.

In 2016 the volcano was particularly active, and National Geographic came to do a documentary, and these were the suits some of the filmmakers wore.

I liked this tapestry, which somewhat provides a sense for what life is like around an active volcano.  Apparently the volcanic soil is tremendously rich and perfect for growing all types of fruit and coffee and so on.

The night was brilliant, with an extremely bright moon.

At some point, a park employee blew a whistle, and that was the signal for the next seventy people to drive up to the crater.  They limit visitors to seventy at a time for fifteen minutes.  Partly this is because the volcano emits sulfur dioxide gas which can be harmful to humans.

I was not able to get anything like a good photo of the crater, but the red glow gives a sense for what I got to see. 

It was a pretty cool experience to look down and watch the lava pulsing in the dark.

This morning, at 8:00, I was picked up from my hotel by a driver and guide I had arranged, and we went to do some hiking at another volcano, called Mombacho.  This one is dormant--not to be confused with extinct, but certainly not the hot, smoking Masaya.

My guide's name was Manuel, and we started out from the national park's entrance (which is about 200 m above sea level).

The climb is almost a thousand metres, over about five kilometres.  For the first half or so of the hike, the grade was reasonable, and we were walking along privately owned land, much of which was agricultural. 

One thing I found really interesting was this plant:

I do not know what it is called, but according to Manuel, the coffee farmers plant it because the same parasites that are attracted to the coffee leaves, are even more so attracted to the leaves of this plant.  In other words, they serve as something of a decoy.  This was especially interesting to me because I had seen the impact these bugs have on the coffee plants in Guatemala last year.  

After the final coffee plantation, the actual protected area begins, and the road kicks up sharply.  I was actually pretty shocked with how steep the climb was, although somehow the pictures do not make it look nearly as steep as my legs told me it was.

On this stretch there was a spot allowing a pretty good view north.

Once at the end of the road, we were at about 1,100 metres, and there is a visitors centre at the head of a trail.  This model gives a sense for how steep the climb is.  We had hiked up the left (north) side, with the white line indicating where the protected area began.  The peak to the right is at 1,350 metres or so, but the mouth of the volcano's crater is below that, more or less at the same elevation as the visitors centre.

From the visitors centre there is a two kilometre loop trail around the crater, and that is what we did next.  Mombacho has not erupted since the 1500s, and evidently forest has grown all around and in the crater, which is about 100 metres deep.  The weather on the west side of the crater is very wet--you can see the moisture in the air.

The ground was damp everywhere.  I took this picture because there are left over pieces of leaves that monkeys have been eating.

A stretch of the trail passes through what is called a tunnel, although really it is just a pass between two cliffs.

Again, you can get a sense for how much moisture there is from the moss and vines growing on the cliff wall.

Eventually we arrived on the east side of the crater, facing Lake Nicaragua, and here the weather and therefore vegetation was much different.

Far drier, and windier, there are far fewer trees, and much less vegetation period.  There are, however, orchids, which Mombacho is famous for.  Manuel said that the orchids are best seen during the rainy season, but I still got to see some of them.

Manuel also pointed this flower out to me.

Its leaves curly up when you touch them!

There are also faintly smoking fumaroles on this slope, providing evidence that the volcano is not extinct.  

We finished the loop and once again the forest became denser as we worked our way back west.

Once back at the visitors centre, we began the descent.

This time we stopped at the Finca El Progreso's Cafe Las Flores for a cup of what they claim is the best coffee in this part of Nicaragua.  The coffee was wonderful, and I saw no reason to disagree with their claim.

As we continued our way down, we saw a blue magpie-jay, which looks a lot like blue jays I am used to, only with a tuft on the head; a Montezume oropendula, which is a gorgeous bird, and apparently makes a fascinatingly-shaped nest; a troop of howler monkeys (some of which are in the tree below, but basically impossible to see in the photo); and several iguanas.

While on the mountain, Manuel had told me about fishing in Lake Nicaragua, and that a fish called guapote is especially good.  So, back in Granada, they dropped me off at a restaurant called Las Colinas, which they said served the best guapote.

Las Colinas was an interesting experience.  It was quite busy on this Easter afternoon, and the service was atrocious.  

It was over an hour before I got my food, but when I finally did it was truly delicious.  The fish was whole, but completely boneless, and grilled perfectly, with crispy skin and moist flesh.