Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – 墨西哥普托巴亚尔塔
Nov 24, 2021
The last port of call was Puerto Vallarta, a beach resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas in the Mexican state of Jalisco. The Majestic Princess was docked at Terminal 3 in the early morning. Once we walked out of the terminal, the taxi drivers and tour operators wanted our business. Instead, we were brave enough to get on a public bus nearby under the current COVID situation, costing $1 to go to Malecon Boardwalk. Along the boardwalk, there was a range of gift shops, restaurants, art galleries, and art sculptures. The first attraction that caught our eyes was the Flying bird-men of Papantla, an impressive and color-filled ritual performance. The ritual started with one person playing music on the top of the pole; four men climbed up the pole. After a few dangerous dancing movements, four men headfirst down to the earth started rotating and flying like birds. The performance was colorful, dangerous, and spectacular.
The sculptures along the boardwalk are beautiful, some eccentric. As we walked along the beach, we saw brown pelicans flying at the height of tens feet above the ocean, then beak first diving into the water to catch fish. We watched them for more than 30 mins. It was amazing.
We continued to stroll along the boardwalk into the Romantic zone. The beach was beautiful and crowded. There were a lot of restaurants along the beach. We found a place, Langostinos, serving Huachinango Entero Frito. We were pleased, as shown in the picture. The fish was fresh but could be more tasty and salty. After lunch, we walked to the nearby Lazaro Cardenas Park. The whole park is decorated in brilliant mosaics by local artists. You can also pay to get your love note on mosaic-decorated benches. The entire area was filled with colorful, energetic, and exciting atmospheres.
After exploring the old neighborhood of Puerto Vallarta for a little while in the afternoon, It was time to go back to the ship. We called Uber cheaper than the regular taxi without even bargaining the price. A few mins after we confirmed the pickup, we saw the car towards us, but it didn't stop. We didn't know what was going on and quickly texted the driver, and he promptly replied that he needed to drop off someone first. Thanks to the technology that solves the problem, we were in a non-English speaking place.
Crossing from the cruise terminal, a big shopping mall and Walmart were nearby. We went to both the mall and Walmart to learn about the local life a little, and it's not much different from any shopping mall or Walmart in the US. After returning to the ship, from our room balcony, we watched the last few people rushing back to the ship before our ship sailed away. Goodbye Mexico, see you next time.
