"It's a dreary evening, a light misty rain falling straight down as there is little breeze. The NCL cruise ship is too close as I can see into the large brightly lit windows of the forward staterooms, her high bow almost over my head, pointing right at me.
It must be a terrible site for those who paid so much
to have such a view, to be looking at me... looking at them ...... from the middle of the Wal-Mart parking lot
..... as they are docked here in..... Puerto Vallarta!
It has been a little overcast all day, a little muggy, but
pleasant. I walked up to the main road around noon and
caught a bus to old town so I could walk the Malecon and
some of the streets I remember from my time here with
Mark, helping him get his boat "Serendipity", ready for the
passage north in 2003.
There is a new walking bridge at the river mouth, so the
Malecon has been extended to within a few blocks of the
pier at Playa Los Muertos on the south side of town.
The fifteen statues along the Malecon are beautiful and
entertaining. Some enterprising Mexican artists made
elaborate sand sculptures above the tide line and one
young man was making rock art by balancing the large
smooth river rocks, one atop the other, into intrusting
shapes and forms. I put a few pesos into each tip box as
their ingenuity was impressive.
I walked inland a couple blocks, then started back toward the plaza, crossing over on the old bridge and seeing Isla Cuale, serenely sitting in the middle of the river that divides El Centro from the Romantic Zone.
I passed by the Flea Market, then over a few streets,
stopping at Plaza de Armas to get pictures of the beautiful crown topped cathedral, Templo de Guadalupe,
that towers over the plaza from across the street.
It's now almost five, I get on an older inner city bus that
will take me to the Wal-Mat and Sam's Club that for some
strange reason sits on prime property right across the street from the cruise ship docks!!??
It is an exciting ride through narrow streets as the buses
race each other to the next stop as they seem to be in competition with one another for the passengers.
Just north of WM is a new, very nice modern mall.
I know, I know, but I had a really good Caesar salad and then saw the movie Australia in the mall cinema. It's a three hour movie and I was starting to think I would miss the last bus to La Cruz.
I came out of the mall into a light misty rain and in the bright lights of the cruise ship, cued up and waited for a Punta Mita bus."