Day 4 - Puerto Vallarta
Today was our day to sleep in! We got up just in time for breakfast in Parrot Cay (around 10 AM). We had to move the clocks ahead an hour so that helped, too.
Parrot Cay has been wonderful for breakfast. We love sitting by the window and looking out over the port. Ken and I both enjoy having omelets made for us each morning. We are doing well eating SOME healthy foods. Parrot Cay is bright and colorful as well as full of parrots (not live ones . . .LOL). They are carved in the ceiling and painted on the polls throughout the room. When you leave, you can hear the sounds of parrots in the rain forest. The buffet is just what the kids ordered! They can have Mickey-shaped pancakes every day. Peter especially likes the assortment of donuts available. Our only parent rule for meals is that they eat some fruit or veggie with each meal. The peeled oranges and grapefruits are sweet and melt in your mouth!
While the kids headed to their clubs (sounds like they are there a lot, huh?), Ken and I headed out the PV for a quick tour and to see what we could see. We stopped at our favorite jeweler, Diamonds International, to see what watches they had. Ken is looking for a specific new watch. They had so many beautiful things, but we held off from purchasing. We decided to walk down the street to DEL SOL to purchase t-shirts for the boys. On trips like this, I only bring a few t-shirts and buy them at the ports as we go. The boys love wearing them, so it a great way to get useful souvenirs. On the way, we met many friendly locals. One was an American that had graduated from Liberty University! We were impressed how friendly and helpful everyone was with being pushy. It was refreshing after our beach vendor experience the day before.
We made it to DEL SOL and purchased a few t-shirts. Then we realized the time and started looking for a taxi back to the ship. It had taken at least 15-20 minute to make the 3 mile drive to town from the cruise terminal. We wanted to make it back in time to pickup the boys for our 2 PM excursion.
We had the opportunity to do the Zip Lines with our Pirate friends from DIS, but the prices wasn't that much more to do it through Disney. Ken felt safer with Disney so that's the route we took. For our group of 14, we met two OLD Chevy Suburban taxis to take us to the office of our zipline agent. They had great stories about PV flooding and only the Suburbans being able to get people out of the lower hotels.
We arrived at Adventure Vallarta and had to wait about 25 minutes for the truck to take us to the rainforest. It was really a ploy to get us to buy their merchandise while we waited (obvious ploys don't usually work on us).
Then we saw the vehicle we were to ride for ONE hour up into the mountains!! Just imagine the army transport trucks you've seen in World War II movies painted bright yellow and that was what were to ride in!! Our only luxury were the canvas roof and padded seats with seat belts. It was quite a squeeze to get 14 adults and children into this truck!
Now the adventure truly began! We rode for an eternity going up and down mountains. Passing dilapidated Mexican villages. Climbing through rock canyons that looked like they were ready to crash down at any moment. And to top it off, we pulled into a rough dirt/mud road with ruts that looked deeper than the truck's tires. We just prayed we didn't catapult into the ravine as we struggled up and down the mountain to the zipline start point.
Once back on solid ground, we were great by our cheerful zipline guides. What a fun job they had and you could tell they really enjoyed it, too. The guides helped us put on the necessary gear for the ziplines including the bandanna that went under our safety hats (did I mention how HOT it was!). Were still melted from the drive up! The guides then shared a safety lesson and we were off trekking across our first bridge over a canyon.
It hard to explain the sensation of sailing through the air right, under the thick green canopy of the rainforest, only connected to two ropes with pulleys and a safety harness. It was pretty close to flying in my mind! It was fabulous. Kaleb and Peter picked it up quickly. Peter was showing off and copying the crazy antics of the guides. After flying through the air a few times (and find it difficult to stop - I hit a tree instead of a small Mexican guide . ..LOL), we got to do a Tarzan swing. The guides asked Peter if he would like them to spin him, and spin him they did! It was so funny to see him spinning through the air to the other side. He was laughing so hard. They spun Kaleb a little, but Ken was picked up by the lady guide and given a good spin! He said it was wild seeing green spinning overhead into one big circle. I requested NOT to be spun, but the guide didn't pull the rope back up. I ended sliding into the landing on my butt (soooo much dirt on my shorts!!).
As we were finishing the rest of our ziplines, we began to hear rain on the top of the forest canopy. Our last event was to repel 75 feet off the final platform. It was quick and easy, but then the rain broke. It was PORING! I don't ever recall being in such a hard rain. The drops were as big as quarters. At that point we were told we needed to hike back to the base we started. None of the hiking had been easy. Now it was really raining and we had about a 15 minute hike UPHILL to get back. I never knew my shorts weighed so much WET! We were basically hiking through a mountain stream uphill, but we made it. We had earned our dessert that night.
After reviewing the ton of pictures they took, we conceded to purchase the CD of the trip. Then they told us they would MAIL them! We almost didn't spend the $$, but because it was a DCL excursion, we felt pretty safe that Disney would back it up. Then it was back to the truck for the ride back. Now remember it had been raining HARD for about 30-45 minutes. We were concerned what happened to a dirt/mud road when it really rained. We were about to find out. I started out with my eyes closed! We had ridden the Indian Jones ride at Disney Land. We felt like we were back on that ride one more time. The truck lunged from one side to another. We were so glad to see the paved road again. As we drove the rain let up and we started to dry. About half way back, it rained again and stopped and we started to dry. Then right before we got to the port, the skies opened up for a third time. It was raining cats and dogs as we RAN from the truck across the port to the Disney Magic.
So often with DCL it is the little things that make this cruise special. This was one of those times! As we boarded we were handed a big towel . . a bit WARM towel! We were so glad to be back on board. It had been an amazing adventure.
Now we arrived back on the ship at 7:15. Our dinner was scheduled for 8 PM. We all needed showers. We stripped off our clothes (which I ran down to the laundry room to start in the wash) and quickly got showers. We were only a few minutes late for dinner at Lumiere's.
After dinner the kids went, yet again, to their clubs. First, Kaleb wanted to play a round of table tennis with Ken and I needed to finish the laundry I'd started. Ken and I were to meet at the movies to watch Definitely Maybe. We like that we can see many movies while we're on board in a lovely theatre. So how, Ken went to watch the Ventriloquist (which was so funny) and I ended up at the movies on my own. We met up at the end, collected the boys and headed for another refreshing nights sleep. Have I mentioned how well we sleep on board? I don't know if it is the mattresses or the rocking of the ship or maybe both, but we sleep best on the Magic.
Showing posts with label Mexico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mexico. Show all posts
Friday, August 22, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Day 3 - Cabo San Lucas
Day 3 - Cabo San Lucas
Can the days get any brighter? It was another day of bright sun, blue skies, and emerald green waters. Today we were meeting friends from the DIS board for "non-excursion" excursion to Medrano Beach.
Cabo is the only port we needed to tender so the group met at the Promenade Lounge and headed to the gangway together. There were 40+ in our group. DL passed out the tender tickets so we could all ride a boat together. I stopped to pickup water bottles and a lanyard carrier (and was the last to get on the tender boat!).
After an uneventful ride across the bay, we arrived at the docks. All around us were arid, dusty mountains with growing buildings gouged into the mountain sides. There was building projects everywhere you looked. Oh, and did I mention it was HOT! Although it was only 80 degrees, the sun was searing. Glad we had put our suntan lotion on before leaving the ship.
At the docks we gathered around our leader, Roger (who had been to Cabo many times and knew just the right place on the beach), as he was attacked by water taxi drivers wanting our business. Negotiating for taxis in Mexico is always an adventure! First it was $3.00 per person. Then we walked two blocks and oh, sorry, it's now $1.00 more to enter the private dock (did I mention how HOT it was!!). So we said, "NO" to the $1.00 which meant we now had to walk back to where we started and continue for another 3-4 blocks (actually docks in the marina) to get to the water taxi. Now, our driver wanted $10 to give us a tour and to be there to pick us up. You could hear the chorus as we all chanted $3!!! . . .LOL
At last we were getting on the water taxi. Now this vehicle was not what I imagined. It was basically a large brightly colored rowboat with an attached outboard motor and a canopy to keep a bit of the sun off. The tender ride across the bay was fairly smooth, but the water taxi was rough! You were going fast enough to capture the spray off the waves and a few good ducks into the waves, the water washed aboard. I was concerned that we might sink before getting to the beach!
Then we landed on Medrano Beach, but at the wrong end of the beach . . . it was the CLOSER end for the taxi. A few of our riders made a fuss that we paid to get to Tabascos NOT this end of the beach, and the taxi driver reluctantly took us around to the beach we wanted to go. We were thankful we pushed it as the "5 min walk" was really about 1/2 mile in HOT sand!
We had a blast at Medrano Beach. The waves were VERY strong. I don't think we would have let the kids play in the water at home with such a rip current, but we all got used to strength of the waves and had a great work out! The sand was rough and grainy, but the beautiful water was crystal clear. YOu could see your feet when the waves weren't crashing.
Tabascos allowed us to used their beach chairs as long as we bought some food or drink. Their fresh salsa was delicious. I love the fresh veggies here.
One other interesting phenonemom was the vendors. We were on the beach for about 3 hours. Every 5 - 10 minutes another vendor wandered by and open a box or a bag or display their heavy load while asking us to purchase in broken English or great Spanish. What was amusing was it was the same 4 or 5 vendors, but they kept coming by with different wares. From blankets (who needs blankets on a hot beacH??) to jewelry to ceramics, they had everything! I must have said, "No, gracias" aa thousand times . . .LOL
It was getting HOTTER and hotter. We decided to head back to the ship around 1 PM. The sun had already worn us out for the day. Ken signaled a water taxi and they raced to the beach. It had been an adventure getting OFF the taxi (they just ran up to the beach and you jumped from the front!). Now, we had to figure out how to get BACK into the boat . . .LOL. The strong men held the boats in the surging surf while the women and children jump, slid or crawled into the boat. And off we went back to the tender terminal.
The rest of the afternoon was spent with the boys in the clubs and mom and dad resting in the adult pool.
Tonight's dinner was at Parrot Cay. We had big plans after dinner, but as soon as we hit the cabin to change our clothes, we all fell asleep. Tomorrow was the big day with our zip line excursion. We wanted to be rested.
Can the days get any brighter? It was another day of bright sun, blue skies, and emerald green waters. Today we were meeting friends from the DIS board for "non-excursion" excursion to Medrano Beach.
Cabo is the only port we needed to tender so the group met at the Promenade Lounge and headed to the gangway together. There were 40+ in our group. DL passed out the tender tickets so we could all ride a boat together. I stopped to pickup water bottles and a lanyard carrier (and was the last to get on the tender boat!).
After an uneventful ride across the bay, we arrived at the docks. All around us were arid, dusty mountains with growing buildings gouged into the mountain sides. There was building projects everywhere you looked. Oh, and did I mention it was HOT! Although it was only 80 degrees, the sun was searing. Glad we had put our suntan lotion on before leaving the ship.
At the docks we gathered around our leader, Roger (who had been to Cabo many times and knew just the right place on the beach), as he was attacked by water taxi drivers wanting our business. Negotiating for taxis in Mexico is always an adventure! First it was $3.00 per person. Then we walked two blocks and oh, sorry, it's now $1.00 more to enter the private dock (did I mention how HOT it was!!). So we said, "NO" to the $1.00 which meant we now had to walk back to where we started and continue for another 3-4 blocks (actually docks in the marina) to get to the water taxi. Now, our driver wanted $10 to give us a tour and to be there to pick us up. You could hear the chorus as we all chanted $3!!! . . .LOL
At last we were getting on the water taxi. Now this vehicle was not what I imagined. It was basically a large brightly colored rowboat with an attached outboard motor and a canopy to keep a bit of the sun off. The tender ride across the bay was fairly smooth, but the water taxi was rough! You were going fast enough to capture the spray off the waves and a few good ducks into the waves, the water washed aboard. I was concerned that we might sink before getting to the beach!
Then we landed on Medrano Beach, but at the wrong end of the beach . . . it was the CLOSER end for the taxi. A few of our riders made a fuss that we paid to get to Tabascos NOT this end of the beach, and the taxi driver reluctantly took us around to the beach we wanted to go. We were thankful we pushed it as the "5 min walk" was really about 1/2 mile in HOT sand!
We had a blast at Medrano Beach. The waves were VERY strong. I don't think we would have let the kids play in the water at home with such a rip current, but we all got used to strength of the waves and had a great work out! The sand was rough and grainy, but the beautiful water was crystal clear. YOu could see your feet when the waves weren't crashing.
Tabascos allowed us to used their beach chairs as long as we bought some food or drink. Their fresh salsa was delicious. I love the fresh veggies here.
One other interesting phenonemom was the vendors. We were on the beach for about 3 hours. Every 5 - 10 minutes another vendor wandered by and open a box or a bag or display their heavy load while asking us to purchase in broken English or great Spanish. What was amusing was it was the same 4 or 5 vendors, but they kept coming by with different wares. From blankets (who needs blankets on a hot beacH??) to jewelry to ceramics, they had everything! I must have said, "No, gracias" aa thousand times . . .LOL
It was getting HOTTER and hotter. We decided to head back to the ship around 1 PM. The sun had already worn us out for the day. Ken signaled a water taxi and they raced to the beach. It had been an adventure getting OFF the taxi (they just ran up to the beach and you jumped from the front!). Now, we had to figure out how to get BACK into the boat . . .LOL. The strong men held the boats in the surging surf while the women and children jump, slid or crawled into the boat. And off we went back to the tender terminal.
The rest of the afternoon was spent with the boys in the clubs and mom and dad resting in the adult pool.
Tonight's dinner was at Parrot Cay. We had big plans after dinner, but as soon as we hit the cabin to change our clothes, we all fell asleep. Tomorrow was the big day with our zip line excursion. We wanted to be rested.
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