Puerto Vallarta for Thanksgiving

Thursday night seven of us loaded onto a bus bound for Puerto Vallarta.  I was hoping to purchase my bus ticket to the airport in Mexico City before leaving the bus terminal, but I realized that I had lost my debit card somewhere between Wednesday afternoon and then.  Luckily I had taken out enough cash to get me through the weekend, and I tried not to worry about the lost card—God is still Sovereign even in our clumsiness!  Our bus left around 8:15 pm and we were given a packaged sandwich, a granola bar, a pop or juice and a bottle of water before we boarded.  All of us sat near each other and were giggly for the first 30 minutes of the trip.  The first movie that they showed was “Father of the Bride” in English with English subtitles—weird.  After that they showed three more movies, all dubbed in Spanish.  Most of the girls slept on and off, but I didn’t sleep well at all.  The seats seem like they would be really comfortable: they were wider than regular bus seats and reclined at almost a 140* angle, and there were little footrests that kind of propped your feet up.  I found that the footrest just made my feet fall asleep, and I usually sleep on my side or stomach.  At the end of the almost 10 hour bus ride, I think I slept a collective two hours.  We made it to our hotel around 6:15am and were able to check into the Holiday Inn early and head down to the beach to watch the sunrise.  Four of the girls were able to get into their room right away, but our keys didn’t work.  It turned out it wasn’t our fault; one of the hotel employees tried four or five different times with his little machine and then finally gave us another room at the end of the hall.  After breakfast we laid on the beach all day, soaking in the sun, dipping in the pool, and fending off vendors. 

There are few things more calming than the sound of gentle waves lapping upon the shore.  The problem with Puerto Vallarta is that the sound is constantly being interrupted by hawkers peddling their wares.  Most of the beach is government property except for the roped off areas right in front of the hotels, and people are allowed to sell whatever as long as they are wearing all white.  “Hola, you want hat? Practically free…which one you want…what you want today…Hey beautiful womans, what you like…you want necklace? One peso…off”  The worst by far is when they try to guilt-tip you into buying something.  “You no have money, I no have money; you need buy so I feed family.”  And as soon as you step foot on that beach, regardless of skin or hair color, the barrage begins and does not relent until sunset.  At first I was intrigued, but after a few hours it was just annoying.  I know they are just doing their job, but by the second day I couldn’t even politely say no; I just ignored them.

Friday evening Melanie, Lauren and I went for a horse ride on the beach at sunset.  I have never ridden a horse before and I’ve heard many different reactions to riding horses.  Some people love it and want to own their own or already do, and others are terrified.  I figured that I would just go into it with an open mind and see what happened and just hope I didn’t fall off!  The three horses that were waiting for us were definitely older and seemed pretty docile, and two of them were only slightly larger than ponies.  Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of my horse, but I really enjoyed the ride.  The wooden saddle wasn’t very comfortable, especially when we galloped a bit, but I would love to ride a horse again.  Our guide walked along beside us for a while until we came to a small stream.  He told us to cross and ride down to the marina and come back.  So I said a silent prayer, leaned back as the horse descended the small bank, leaned forward as he scrambled up the other side and waited for my friends.  We had fun working our way down the beach, seeing people’s reactions to us, and taking pictures of the sunset and each other.  It was a fun adventure.

I treated Saturday pretty much the same as Friday except I wore a t-shirt to keep from burning my chest and back more and without the horse ride.  We met three firefighters from Edmonton, Alberta and played volleyball with them in the afternoon.  Then Melanie, Abby and I scrambled to shower, change, pack and head downtown to dinner before having to catch the 9:00pm bus back to Queretaro.  The bus ride back was a bit worse for me.  I got to sit next to strangers, and the bus only showed one and a half movies—the half was in English… Every time I tried to read I got car sick, and the guy who sat next to me kept invading my seat.  Finally when his head hit my shoulder I sat bolt upright and flicked the seat up so it hit him in the face!  I think I only slept about an hour collectively on the nine hour ride back.  When we pulled into the terminal, Melanie took care of getting us a cab and even paid for my bus ticket to the airport since I still hadn’t found my debit card—which was good because I was NOT coherent due to lack of sleep and an oncoming cold, and trying to think and talk in Spanish was not working for me, just ask Melanie! :) 

Stepping outside we were greeted with a cold wind and temperatures in the low 40s (yes, I’m still working in Fahrenheit…).   The taxi ride took a long time to get home because they had a major street closed for some kind of running event or something, but eventually we got to Melanie’s and then I walked home from there.  After rummaging through my bags again in search of my lost debit card, I took a long, hot shower, popped a few nighttime cold pills and spent the rest of the day slipping in and out of consciousness.

Monday, of course, came way too soon.  The school day went well.  Cristi from HR called and cancelled my debit card and found out that no one had used the card since my last transaction!  DEBTET!  After school Danielle (my AP) drove me to the bank, waited in all of the lines, and helped me get a new card.  Then she even drove me home!  What a gal! 

In summary, while I missed my family for Thanksgiving, I certainly had an adventure and I’m thankful for the opportunity!