Hola and welcome to OnVallartatime!

We can’t believe that we only have a little over two weeks until we have to pack up and leave this marvelous place. That said, we try not to be sad that we will leave, but instead thankful that we have had the opportunity to live out a dream. Our adventure in Puerto Vallarta has been a wonderful experience, and I hope you have enjoyed sharing it.

This week, since the last post, has been a whirlwind of activity. We have been to the beach (lots!) where we have made some friends among the folks who bake in the sun near us every day. We have been back to El Rio BBQ, where we have become more or less Saturday regulars. We have tried some new restaurants, and been back to some we particularly enjoyed.

But what has really been taking a lot of my time and energy is searching for a place to stay next year. I have walked miles, block after block, in search of the perfect neighborhood. I have asked countless business people if they know of places for rent in the surrounding area, and called many numbers posted on Se Renta signs. When I see something promising, I take Peggy back to look at it. So far the perfect place hasn’t yet appeared, but it will, I’m sure. Even though it’s a lot of work, it’s so much easier to find a place while you’re here, instead of on the internet from home.

Because we haven’t really done anything special this week, for this post I decided to go back through my pictures for interesting sights that I haven’t yet shared with you. It’s a chance to show you more of Puerto Vallarta using pictures that didn’t fit into previous themes. It’s a bit of a hodgepodge, without much of a story, but I think you will enjoy it.

First, a side trip to the Marina Vallarta area. This was always part of the port of the city but was dredged out of the bay and developed in the late ’80s and at the time was one of the first mega-developments in Mexico. There are lots of private and tour boats moored here, plus upscale housing and high-end shops. It’s a huge complex, with world-class golf courses and resorts. The Puerto Vallarta International Airport is nearby, and the cruise ships dock near here as well, although there were none in port the day we were there. The Marina is a pretty expensive area for us but we thought we’d check out how the other half lives. A shot of some of the boats moored at the Marina. We even saw one from Lake Oswego!

This is the famous El Faro Lighthouse Bar (on the top) but it’s only open at night so we missed being able to go up.

Here are some nopales (cactus leaves) and chiles on the grill at a small Marina restaurant, about to be turned into salsa.

Caution, crocodiles — there’s a sign you don’t see every day! It says no diving or swimming. That’s fierce salt-water crocodiles, not alligators!

Now to a different area of the city, known as Gringo Gulch since the ’60s. This was the playground of John Huston, other entertainers and movie folk, and of course Richard Burton and Liz Taylor. This picturesque street gets steeper and turns into stairs, inaccessible by car. This area is along the mountainous north side of the Rio Cuale.

Richard Burton bought this house for Liz Taylor in 1963 during the filming of Night of the Iguana in Mismaloya. Their unmarried relationship, scandalous at the time, is credited with giving Puerto Vallarta its romantic reputation. The house is now gutted and being totally remodeled (and, according to the locals, completely ruined). The little bridge leads across the street to what was Burton’s house.

Here’s a statue of Liz and Dick, near the Insurgentes Bridge at the bottom of the hill.

Here we are at our New Years Eve dinner at Embarcadero, one of our favorite seafood restaurants.

OK, you foodies… This was my seafood combo of shrimp diabla, breaded filet of dorado (mahi-mahi) and octopus. Mmmmmm…

And Peggy loved her parmesan-crusted shrimp linguine! After dinner, and our complementary key lime pie, we went back to our condo to wait for midnight, which sounds boring until… We saw New Years fireworks from our balcony!

Now to wind up with a few beach shots… I finally connected with a group of ukulele players who gather every Tuesday at Fidencio’s, one of the beach bars. They call themselves the Vinolentos (which means winos, although they seem to prefer buckets of beer) and they are sure fun to jam with!

Playing ukuleles on the beach tends to draw the beach musicians. This dude calls himself Elvis Rasta and he’s a pretty good guitar player!

Here are Peggy and Gisel from Swell pushing the ice cream vendor’s cart! Maybe a new job for her?

That’s OnVallartaTime for this week! We are really looking forward to our trip to Guadalajara in a couple of days. I’ll bring you up to date when we get back!