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: Oaxaca, Mexico

On Tuesday, April 11, I realized I really wanted to take advantage of the Easter long weekend (Friday-Monday), so I began searching flights.  Beijing was a surprisingly good deal ($691) and the flights were decent enough that if I took Tuesday off as well I could have two full days there--surely enough for a day hiking the Great Wall and some good times in Beijing itself.  But getting Tuesday off was not necessarily a sure thing, and for other reasons that "plan" sort of unraveled the more I worked through it.  I continued to look at flights worldwide--but the list of cool places one can get to from Edmonton and back from and still have time to do things within four days is very limited--and with such short notice for the Easter weekend, most flights were very expensive.  By Wednesday night, I went to bed having given up on the weekend travel plans.  I did, however, leave Google Flights open on my laptop.

When I woke up Thursday morning, I opened my laptop and there were flights to Oaxaca, Mexico, leaving Good Friday, returning Easter Monday, for $481.  I decided to skip the morning gym trip and instead booked the flight and a hostel.  I was going to Mexico in 24 hours!

The flights are YEG-IAH-OAX and vice versa, and with 4+ hour layovers in Houston, more or less I spend Good Friday and Easter Monday flying, and Saturday and Sunday here in Oaxaca.

On Thursday evening, after work and the gym, I stopped at Freshii for take-out dinner.  Providentially, this helpful advertisement greeted me, informing me how to pronounce the city I had barely heard of only a few days ago, and certainly did not know how to pronounce!

As I left Friday morning, this is what the airport looked liked:

I felt lucky to be leaving.  Per Environment Canada, there would be as much as 30 centimeters of snow over the next day or so.

After some extensive de-icing, we took off without incident, and something like 12 hours later I was landing at OAX.

Oaxaca is extremely tourist friendly, and a nice collectivo van shuttles people efficiently from the airport to their accommodations for just 80 pesos a person.  

Because it is Semana Santa, most of the "tourists" in Oaxaca are (presumably) Mexican, which, as a white Canadian, makes the atmosphere feel wonderfully, authentically exotic.  It also means the streets are bustling and everything is full and "happening" and open late, but nothing feels too crowded, either, which is nice.

Oaxaca is a UNESCO world heritage site both for its colonial centro (from roughly the 16th century) and the Monte Alban Zapotec ruins close by (from as early as 500 BC!).  It is also home to the Mexican Baseball League's Oaxaca Guerreros, who I ensured were playing at home this weekend before booking the flight.  It turns out that Oaxaca, and especially the surrounding valley, have all sorts of other great things to do, but (obviously) in two days I couldn't do everything, or even close.

The centro, and especially the area around the Zocalo (main square), is wonderful, especially with all the Easter hustle, festivities, and entrepreneurship.  Here are pictures from around the old neighborhood.

Monte Alban is about a half hour drive outside of Oaxaca's centro, and a tourist shuttle does the route every hour or every half hour, depending on time of day, for only 70 pesos.

After visiting Monte Alban I headed to Estadio Eduardo Vasconcelos, the home park of the Mexican Baseball League's Guerreros de Oaxaca.  

I had purchased my ticket online on Thursday, and picked the most expensive ticket--100 pesos, or $7 Canadian.  I wasn't clear where exactly my seats were, but it turned out I was right behind homeplate.  I regularly made eye contact with the on deck batters.

I walked up to the more "normal" stands to take some pictures and get the view from there.

The Guerreros won 9-4 in an exciting game.  By the end I had figured out some of the chants and cheers and was eager to come back today.

Today the afternoon was spent visiting the town of Santa Maria del Tule, about a half hour east of Oaxaca, where the square hosts the world's second-biggest tree, a 2,000+ year old Montezuma Cypress.

Back in Oaxaca, around 16:30, I headed over the ballpark for the 17:00 game, but the skies were looking ominous.  This time I bought a ticket at the box office for 50 pesos.  When I got into the ballpark around 16:45 the Guerreros were warming up even as the grounds crew were rolling out the tarp.

They got the tarp on in time for a real downpour.  The awnings cover most of the seats, and it stayed warm and was a bit relaxing to sit there and watch the fans and drink a beer.  But it began getting tedious and the rain didn't seem to be letting up, so at 18:00 I gave up and headed out.

At 19:00 I went to the Templo Carmen del Alto for Easter mass.  After mass, this procession formed up, with several bands, fireworks, and even a statue of Jesus being carried in the middle of it all.  My camera does not adequately capture the sight, but the video gives you a bit of the sound!