The last morning and the last visit to the mysterious door in the lobby that produces the best cappuccinos (mainly because I would get them for free)......who knows if they did lattes? I just knew that everyone knew what cappuccino was in Spanish and no idea how to say latte!!
It created a new love of cinnamon on top!!
Happened in Indio, years back, where ducks came into our room as we were packing up.... I expected no less as we packed up today!! Meet their pigeons .....
Departing ..... Oh my goodness, so sad!!! So much character and friendly people and a gorgeous unit, and beautiful weather!!! It really was the best holiday week to date and we have had some amazing weeks.
It has happened that the time we were in Mexico, was the 12 days of the festival of the "our Lady of Guatalupe".... Processionals of people walking or dancing towards the main cathedral in town to pray to her. From Dec 1-12 is their biggest celebrations of the year .... We happened to check in downtown on the 11th to watch the peak finale of the celebrations!!!! It's called "Old Puerto Vallarta".... Considered downtown with all the cobblestone streets (we watched them do some repairs to some roads when Elliot and I were on the tour last week ... All by hands!! Some mixed concrete, some laid the stones, others troweled it to make it smooth!!)..... We decided to hit the markets after we dropped our bags at the hotel.
Above, Isaac wanted a puppet, so he got one for 50 pesos! The guy started at 180 and got down to 50 as we walked away .... So after shopping and Isaac still loved the guy with the guns, we went back with 50 pesos in hand. The guy says "60 pesos!!", I replied "nice try, you said 50!!" He laughed and took the bill .... All I know about negotiating I learned from Pawn Stars! They give a price, you look troubled and cut it in half, and go up from there and it often works out. This bottom picture however, didn't work out .... It was a lap harp that he had both boys playing and it was so pretty .... I was sold, the kids seemed luke warm and chris shook his head saying no space!! So we walked ....
There is just so much to see here .... Always something to take in!!
I took this picture because both boys laughed as they passed by it .... Nice mask placement hey?
Elliot started showing signs of being incredibly sad about walking from the hand lap harp .....
So much artistry around here!!
We were watching local kids do tricks on their body boards! But Elliot wasn't letting it go ... Wasn't moving on and was getting really annoying ....
We were all at the ends of our ropes with each other at this point, hungry, tired and funny enough, it was starting to rain!! So Chris just directed him to a local little market and said fine Elliot, jeez, just go pick something to get over this !! He eventually picked out a little snail whistle that has a couple notes in it when you blow it, but not before it really started coming down and all our feet were sore and we couldn't wait to get back to the hotel .... So we plugged the boys in to their screens so chris and I headed downstairs to the restaurant for a little time alone. We could see the room from the outside restaurant and we could text. So when their dinner was ready, I facetimed the boys and "Pedro" answered ..... I thought that was funny!
Boys had a great pizza (love wood fire pizza!!) and please note Elliot's snail whistle!!
The room was ok but so not the Velas!!!! Chris and I sat outside on the deck while the boys hung out inside watching a movie ..... I felt sad and I think we both felt pretty displaced. It was such a great week and it was over now .... I loved how the boys could care less where they are. They watch chris and I for our reactions and I know he and I were working pretty hard to keep a happy face on ... It didn't help when he pulled the sheets back and saw a couple little bugs...it was a great reminder that these would be our rooms on holiday if we weren't blessed with gifts from friends who offer us their beautiful timeshares.... So spoiled!! But even this hotel was ok......it was so close to all the action!!
So I couldn't stay in the room.... So much to see outside!!! I live in a boring little town and often long for busy street corners and people to talk to so there was no way on our last night, I'd be inside .... Even if the boys were happy to do that!! I went and walked around and ended up just happily standing outside and watched the crazy downpour!! Suddenly the streets are filled with water and it quickly because a river!
The boys (all 3), don't like me being out on my own .... They worry! So they soon joined me outside and we walked around together and took it all in.
The rain had started to cease and people were still out and about. It was fun to walk around and watch everybody ... People dancing and making their way to the cathedral to pray to Guadalupe. What we didn't know we booked so close to the cathedral was that the church bells ring loud and long through the night as different groups arrive at the cathedral to pray!! Did you catch that? 'All through the night!!' We didn't sleep well .... But we got through ....
