Into Puerto Vallarta and along the Malecon
By now the crowds on the quayside had cleared as the majority of the morning’s excursions had already left.
Once off the ship we were directed to the taxi rank to pick up a cab to get a ride to the Malecon. After sitting in a shuttle bus for a while we were asked to get into a small taxi with another couple. I could recognise some of their conversation but not all. They were from Quebec and my French simply couldn’t keep up!
We were dropped off by Diamonds International. Our taxi driver was checked over by what appeared to be a couple of ‘tourist police’ who wanted to see his credentials and noted down his details. We were early in the town and the shops were only just opening. The souvenir shops we went into were good value and in one we added a local baseball cap to our collection.
Further down the Malecon we had conversations with the ‘barkers’ outside the restaurants. One in particular was hilarious and clearly enjoyed giving outrageous information to passing tourists.
His restaurant was opposite to one of the many sculptures along the Malecon. He explained, with a big smile, that this sculpture signified Mexican mothers encouraging their children to climb higher through knowledge. Though now he explained, with an even bigger smile, that it now signified practising climbing over President Trump’s planned wall! We did promise him that we’d be back for a drink later.
The sculptures along the Malecon are celebrated in this blog post, Statues and sculptures on the Malecon
Where the Malecon met the one way street, the tour buses were emptying passengers to walk up a side street to go into the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Ahead of us the Malecon curved around past more bars and restaurants.
We walked up towards the church.
We didn’t join the queues to get into the church but instead and we made a quick stop at the loos further up the side street.
Crossing the busy side street we were all helped by these two ladies who just stepped out and stopped the traffic.
In the little square I managed to log on into the Internet via Starbucks and sent postcards via my iPhone app.
On the Malecon below the church’s street was the Puerto Vallarta sign. I added this to me collection by grabbing the image in between everyone having their picture take next to it. We chatted to some of our Australian friends who were in the middle of their multi-point sightseeing excursion of the town. We left them taking photographs of fellow tour members alongside the sign.
