La Cruz to Paradise Village

Painted on a wall in San Pancho

From the 14^th of March till the 21^st of March we were out at the anchorage in front of the Marina at La Cruz. During that time, some good and not so good things transpired.

The good part was that we bumped into our friends Kirk and Heidi on SV Due West who were docked at the Marina. We spent a little time visiting with Cyndi and Marcus on SV Rebecca and we met up with Marilyn and Steve on SV Tocatta briefly.

The not so good, was that I was feeling horrible! My stomach was in major pain and I felt nauseated non-stop.  I have not been feeling well ever since.

Backing up a bit, we did manage one day, our first day back from Yelapa to walk into town with Kirk (Heidi was in Sayulita with some girlfriends at the time) to have a bite to eat. After our lunch we walked back to the Marina and stopped off at this tree where there are usually lots of Iguana’s living. We walked around there for a bit of oohing and awing at all of the Iguana’s in the trees. That was our big excursion for the day.

We got back to the boat and I really felt miserable. Rick suggested that we go to the doctor in town the next day.

So I woke up the next day and as I was getting dressed I felt something on my side. I thought it was a piece of peeling or some crumb that got stuck to me. So I swiped over it and ended up having to pull it off. It was a TICK!!! I was so grossed out! It was a small critter but it had latched onto me pretty good. Glad I was able to get the entire bugger out and off of me! I immediately put the tick in a plastic Ziplock bag and decided to take this to the doctor with me.

Rick, Harley and I walked in town to the local doctor, Dr. Pimiento aka Dr. Pepper (Pimiento is Pepper in Spanish). He was very nice and spoke English pretty well, enough that we could communicate. He took one look at the Tick and wrote a prescription for Doxycycline (a strong antibiotic to cure Lyme Disease).  He was not sure that I had Lyme but as a precaution he put me on the antibiotic for it. As far as my stomach issues, he just said to watch what I eat and gave me a verbal list of what to eat and what not to eat.  He prescribed pain pills and acid reflux pills for that issue.  We left the office with a total bill of $15.00 US.

We walked back to the boat and I took the antibiotic immediately, which made me feel even worse than I was already feeling. I felt so horrible for several days that I was on the antibiotics. I never did take the pain pills and occasionally took the acid reflux pills. It took me a few days after I completed the antibiotics to actually feel like walking around. Up to that time, I just wanted to lie down, close my eyes and pray that I didn’t throw up. I was constantly fighting that feeling. 

The evening after the doctor visit, Rick and I had plans to join Marcus and Cyndi to Philo’s to listen to Luna Rumba. It was Marcus’ Birthday and they had never heard Luna Rumba, so we had suggested the outing to them. We had even purchased tickets days before. There was no way I was going, so Rick tried to find a date to take my place, with no luck, and went anyway. 

I obviously did not take this picture. But this is our Marina in Paradise VIllage. We had access of the entire property. 

On March 21^st, we got off the anchorage and sailed over to Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta. I still wasn’t feeling quite up to snuff but was happy to get to someplace that didn’t move. Being nauseas and bobbing up and down in an anchorage don’t go well together. 

Rick and I were both pleased with our new home for a while. It was calm and peaceful and our slip was tucked in the back of the Marina near the lagoon.  A big plus at this Marina is that you get to use The Paradise Village Resort and Spa facilities…the Gym, the Spa, the swimming pools (there are several), the restaurants and anything else you want to use on their grounds. Another big perk is that the price to dock here is the cheapest we have seen yet at a Marina-- .65 cents per foot per night.

The next day there was a farmer’s market right behind the Marina close to where our boat slip was that we decided to check out. There was great food, live music, arts and crafts, and fresh fruits and vegetables.  We also got the boat ready for Danielle’s visit the following day.  That’s one of the reasons we came to this Marina was so that we would be close to the airport and it would just be more convenient. 

We picked up Danielle on Wednesday afternoon at the airport in Puerto Vallarta. It was so great seeing her! She arrived with just a backpack and a leather bag around her shoulder.  She had just come from a few days in Hawaii prior to getting on the plane to Mexico. 

RIck and Danielle

As soon as we greeted her, we rented a car and drove in to Puerto Vallarta and beyond to Mismaloya which was along a windy road along the coast. We ended up finding a cool place to have dinner just off the road on a cliff overlooking the ocean, called Le Kliff.  This was a beautiful restaurant with spectacular views. The food was exceptional too!

Le Kliff 

After dinner we drove a little further down the road and walked around a small village that led to a beach. The beach and town was full of locals and very few tourists.

 

Sunset in Puerto Vallarta

We drove back to Paradise Village Marina shortly after, but stopped in Puerto Vallarta near the Malecon. It was so crowded everywhere in town and along the beach. It just so happened to be Semana Santa or Holy Week, so all of the locals and college students from Guadalajara come to the shore for their break. It is overrun with crowds of people and not fun to be around.

The next day, we drove to Sayulita along the coast to show Danielle around. Sayulita is such a cute beach town and usually a little crowded most of the time. But during Semana Santa……It’s wall to wall people on the beaches and in the streets.  We were hoping to share one of our favorite places with Danielle. She enjoyed herself anyway but was not thrilled with the crowds.  We left a few hours later and drove to San Pancho thinking it might be a little quieter. It was a little quieter but still packed on the beach. I’d never seen it that way. Last time Rick, Harley and I were there, we were practically the only ones on the beach.

The beach at Sayulita

A horse running loose on the highway on our way to Punta de Mita

We did not stay long in San Pancho just long enough to eat lunch.  Then we drove to Punta de Mita from there. Punta de Mita was equally as crazy as everywhere else we had been so far so we just stopped to use the banos and drove back to Paradise Village.

Mobile BIke Rental

We were so wiped out from our day of driving around and fighting our way through crowds, that we decided to spend the next day just kickin’ it by the pool. I was happy with this decision because I was still feeling ill, fighting off throwing up.

The following day we wanted to go sightseeing again but to a place that wouldn’t be too crowded. So, we decided to drive to San Sebastian, which is a 90-minute drive along a windy road west from Puerto Vallarta.  The drive along the way was extremely beautiful with lush mountain scenery.

Love the Bougainvillea!

Church in the center of town

Typical style home in San Sebastian

We saw a lot of police in full dress and gear on our way to San Sebastian and in the town.

  

The town of San Sebastian is buried deep in the heart of the Sierra Madre Mountains. It was originally a mining town in 1605 with 30,000 residents but now it solely cultivates Coffee and Agave and populates 600 people. It has a charming cobblestone plaza, and a church in the center of town and 18^th century Haciendas tucked in the mountainsides encompass it all.

 

Danielle

Poor sleepy little pooch tied up on a short lead. Water at one end, bathroom at the other.

A horse tied by a piece of yarn to a truck in town. I guess horse owners are pretty confident the horses will not go anywhere.

Dog tricks

Cute little restaurant we walked into. Unfortunately they only served dinner.

Father/Daughter

Cute little window display in one of the shops

We had a very enjoyable time there wandering around and seeing all that we could see. We had a delicious lunch in a small little restaurant with just two or three tables situated on bare tile floors surrounded by bare walls.  Not much to look at except to watch the fabricante de tortilla (tortilla maker). She made tortillas non-stop one after the other the entire time we were there. Even though this seemed like a monotonous task, she always had a smile on her face. In the other table across from us were four older men seated, talking intently, who seemed to be fixing all of the worlds problems. This was Rick’s take on it. He envisioned these men coming in daily, sitting at the same table, eating the same meal and spending hours talking, leaving the restaurant with their own coffee mugs in hand.

Restaurant we ate in is right next to a cute little Art Gallery

Hostess and Cook

 Fabricante de la tortilla

After our lunch we walked through the plaza one more time because we saw a small market of various goods being sold. They had delicious home baked goods, Agave and Coffee, jams and jellies. We ended up with a bag of Coffee and a few baked goods to snack on in the car. Funny they didn’t make it that far.

A cute little boy wanted to pet Harley when we were at the market

We took a little tour in this coffee processing plant (which was basically someones back yard)

On our drive back, we took a wrong turn and ended up in Mascota which was a charming little town as well. This wrong turn added about an hour to our drive but added some adventure to our day.

That night we came home and went to a nearby Pizza place called Ciao. The pizza was to die for but the entertainment that night was not as good. In fact, it was pretty bad. It was Elvis night and they had an Elvis impersonator perform. The only resemblance to Elvis was that this person was the same gender.

Walking home on full bellies Rick suggested that we get in the dinghy when we got back to the boat and toured around the Marina and the Lagoon.  So we did.

The dinghy ride was fun at first as we tooled down the river through little slough’s seeing very glamorous homes and fancy boats. Then we moved down the river stopping to look at Iguana’s in the tree branches that were hanging over the edge of the water. There were tons of Iguana’s in all sizes living in the trees. We continued on looking for more Iguanas and came across a dock with a boat tied up to it and a 6-7 foot CROCODILE sunbathing! We motored over to the dock where the croc was and it zipped off of the dock, into the water and up onto the muddy bank. It was pretty exciting and scary all at the same time. After all we were only in an inflatable dinghy and I’m sure a croc could quickly deflate it if he wanted to, taking us all in the water with it for a snack.  After the sighting, I was a little nervous. Rick was eager to find more and started to go into places that were tight, dark, covered with vines and that didn’t have much of an easy escape.  I was ready to go back to the boat, but Rick wanted to keep going in hopes of seeing more crocodiles. I had to practically beg him to take me back to the boat.  I was seriously scared. I think Danielle started to feel the same. So, FINALLY we made our way back to the boat in one piece.

March 28, Easter Sunday, Danielle was to go back to San Luis Obispo. We couldn’t believe the day for her to leave came so fast. So for part of the morning Danielle wanted to go back to the pool to even out her suntan she got a couple days prior. Sounded good to me. Relaxing by the pool was nice before we had to get into the car and head to the airport.

We got her to the airport a couple of hours earlier than her scheduled flight. We said our goodbyes, gave our hugs and shed a few tears.