Mexico–Punta Mita’s Local Beach

While Jared and Geneva stayed back at the house to call the airline company and get freshened up, Doug, Missy, Chris and I decided to do a little exploring.  We filled the van up with gas and noticed that across from the gas station the locals were emerging from the trees in bathing suits and towels.  We walked the seven minute trail through the trees and found a beautiful beach.  Doug and Chris got right in and the water was warm.   Boy does it feel good to be warm in January.

Mexico -- Exploring Puerto Vallarta

I loved every minute of driving through the streets of Puerto Vallarta.  I wanted to photograph the colorful buildings, the people,  the bikes, the dogs, the barefoot kids, the sheep, the intersection performers and beggars, the palm trees...  But I settled for taking a few pictures from the window of the mini van that don’t seem to do the scene justice.  It’s a fascinating place and culture.

We picked up a little food from Costco and then decided to wander a little and found a town square we wanted to explore.  We found a back alley we could park it and as soon as we opened the van door hear a commotion and looked right beside as a dog caught a big iguana and held it in it’s jaws.  It was the coolest thing and we inched forward to get a better view. 

The pitbull kept looking at us and finally just put the iguana down and walked off.   We continued to stare at it until Doug said, “Look, it just twiched.  It’s alive.”  No sooner did he finish his observation and the iguanan darted full speed towards us.  I screamed and ran across the street.  Chris’ video camera recorded my scream as he himself jolted backwards.  The iguana ran up a tree that was right between the four of us.  The Mexican man watching nearby grinned at us and pointed out four more large iguanas in the trees above us.  It was pretty funny – and pretty awesome.  Definitely a highlight of our trip.

Highlights of walking around the town square was the town church, the ‘American clothes’ market, a truckload of sweet potatoes, a large piñata in the gazebo, and the man in the middle of a junk shop quietly working on fixing something. 

We picked up Jared and Geneva from the airport at 2:00 and headed straight to a nearby Walmart.  Jared and Geneva had missed their second flight due to weather and were stranded in San Francisco overnight.  Then when they arrived, they didn’t have any bags. Over to Walmart for a few necessities and then out to dinner for really good guacamole, shrimp tacos and shrimp ceveca. 

Mexico—Punta Mita Home Sweet Home

We rented a home for the week instead of staying at the more expensive Four Seasons Resort – where the Radiology Conference was being held.  It was a good decision.  The gated community was in the Punta Mita Resort and was beautifully landscaped and felt very safe.  With the home came a 6 person golf cart to get around the Resort, and a maid who cleaned up and made whatever food we wanted if we bought the ingredients for it.  She cut up our pineapple, made us guacamole several times, made ceviche, and a cooked a breakfast egg sausage dish.  It was pretty awesome.

Outside we had a pool with lounge chairs and a hot tub that we used almost nightly and a great view of the ocean.  It was perfect.

The view from our room…  It was heavenly to be able to open the glass windows at 8:00 in the morning and enjoy the warmth and sounds of the ocean waves. 

Sunsets from the balcony…

Christmas Presents with Grandma

We were glad that Grandma could come visit us after Christmas.  Grandma and Grandpa Walton left on Wednesday morning and Grandma Johnson flew in on Wednesday night.  Grandma gave us a lot of great things – some of which were:  POP Harry Potter figurines for the boys, an electricity set for Luke, clothes for the girls, and money which we used for food storage.  Shelley gave this great picture of Del to Chris.   What a great present.  We missed not having him here with us.