Puerto Vallarta!

I knew it would be awesome, and relaxing. And Puerto Vallarta surely did not disappoint!

Thanks to my friends Magdalena and Paul, we spent a week at their condo for free. It was in the heart of Old Town, right on the edge of the Malacon, which is the boardwalk area of PV. We basically laid by the pool, laid by the beach, swam in the water, slept, ate, read, read and read, got massages, walked and enjoyed the beautiful weather by working on our tans. I've never really spent a lot of time working on my tan before, and to be honest, it is hard work. You're always putting on more suntan lotion, and sometimes it's hard to get your book at the right angle when you're trying to flip over and make sure the tan is equal. It's rough, I know.

One of the things I've always wanted to do was go parasailing. I remember seeing pictures of my mom and Aunt Ann doing it in PV, and I missed my chance to do it when I went on a cruise after college several years back. They basically had parasailing all over the beach, so all we had to go is walk out and go. If you've never been, what happens is you are strapped in to a harness that is attached to a parashute and a really long rope that goes into the ocean and tied to a speedboat. The speedboat takes off, and pretty soon you are up in the air. By the way, it's REALLY high. I was pretty sure for a while there that I was not going to make it. But once I stopped looking down at the ocean and started looking up at the mountains and the scenery, it became pretty fun. I was higher than all the condos, that's for sure. Once I had relaxed and started enjoyed it, it was pretty much over. I thought it was worth it though. I'd totally go again. I celebrated the end of my life threatening adventure by munching on some shrimp on a stick complete with lime that Amy Ro let me leave on her towel for safe keeping (not really).

The food and beverage selection was quite awesome, and everywhere took dollars which was a bonus for us. We drank margharitas as big as our heads, and they had flavors like mango and pineapple which were new to me. I'm normally not a huge margharita fan, but I think I'm now won over. I also had a Pina Colada for the first time. Score! I proclaimed that I was going to hunt down the recipe and make them at home...to which Amy Mo said "you mean, like go buy some Pina Colada mix?" ooooops. Right.....Anyway, we also ate at this place called Pancake House twice, which had pancakes with chocolote and kahula in them, awesome eggs benedict, and my favorite- some excellent coffee! No, for the record we did NOT go there to nurse hangovers. We were pretty tame, of course! I did get to try some new Mexican beer, and Sol was my favorite.

Here are some pictures from our fun trip! I'm ready to go back...