Mexican Riviera Day 5

What a FUN day! We woke up docked in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The morning was laid back a bit because our tour didn't start until 1:00pm. Across the ship from where we were docked was a Wal Mart, Sam's Club and a High Scale Mall. I even saw traffic lights. It was clean and it looked more like a city.

Larry, Michael, Andrew and I walked over to Wal Mart and the mall to check it out. Wal Mart looked like one that would be here in America. The Mall was nice and looked brand new. The boys didn't want to do any shopping there because they wouldn't be able to barter the prices down.

After lunch we met our tour and headed off to go ATV riding in the back country of a Hacienda. It took 30 minutes to get there and we saw the Mexico that we had seen in the other ports.

On our way to the Hacienda Larry looked out the window and saw an LDS chapel. That was cool to see. The chapels are easily recognized.

We arrived at the Hacienda and was told to go to the bathroom because we couldn't stop our ATV's and go out there because of the spiders and snakes. How comforting. Not! Here we are already to get on our ATV's. Michael asked me "Mom did you smile when the guy took our picture?" I realized I had and everyone had a good laugh. Habit - camera in front of you, then smile. :)

I had not ridden an ATV before that I could remember so they wanted to put the beginners right behind the guide. Andrew hadn't ridden one before either but he kept that a secret. :) It was alot of fun. We went through sand, creeks, rocks, and gravel. We saw some dried up corn fields, 5 cows being herded by 3 cowboys. Michael was happy to point out that I was not the slowest after all, I kept up with our guide. Larry and Michael would wait for those of us in front to get ahead and then they would spin, go off jumps and slide around the corners. Needless to say it was one of the highlights. We are a family who likes to do active stuff. It was dry and dusty hense the bandanna's on our faces. Here are some more pictures of us on the ATV's.
Here's Michael -

Me

Larry

We are at our rest stop and we are standing in front of the caretakers place that takes care of that part of the land. Their were several different fruit trees around the place. What would it be like to go outside and pick a banana?

I know that we have turkeys that come on our land all the time. With our turkeys though you can't get this close. I had to keep backing up because I didn't want them flirting with me if you know what I mean.

I wanted to put in this street. We saw several that looked like this. It's bumpy to ride the ATV on that's for sure.

After we were done ATVing we were fed lunch of shredded chicken tacos on corn tortilla's that were really good. Of course their were little shops to browse through while everyone else on the tour went to the Taquilla factory. We did come away with a few more things which were as the Mexican Vendors say "Come on in and look it's almost free" Not really of course.

We skipped dinner in the dining room tonight because we wanted to go into downtown Puerto Vallarta. It was the last opportunity for shopping and just to see what the city looked like. I'm glad we went. Besides Michael and Andrew finding the last things they needed for girlfriend and family we saw some cool things along the boardwalk. Here are a few pictures of what we saw.

The next two pictures don't do this sand art justice. They were beautiful.
Moses and the Ten Commandments

The Last Supper. I couldn't get a front shot of the whole thing and people are in the shot but I'm hoping I can learn to get them out.

By the way family I believe we would have lost the sand sculpture contest that one year if this guy was entered.

Check this out. I've seen these guys painted silver and stand as statues but this guy completely covered himself in sand. Of course their were boxes in front of everything asking for tips. Nothing was done on this cruise without anyone expecting tips and they don't hesitate to ask either.

It was cool to look out and see this pirate ship on the ocean while the sun was setting.

We caught a taxi back to the ship and I actually heard Larry gasp when he saw a car come right at us during a turn. Now that should give you an idea of how "exciting" the taxi rides were. Back on the ship we got there just in time to see a Mexican show by local performers who are the world best at their dance.

Here is a picture of part of one of the buffets we had on the ship. Check out the pirate ship made out of a watermelon.

Well we retire (with our beds turned down and chocolate on our pillow, haha April) after a long fun day. The ship is headed back to San Diego, California but the vacation is far from over. We have two days at Sea still so stay tuned...

PS> Misty thank you for the heads up on the bulk picture upload that helped me go soooo much faster.