The Malecon

The Malecon is not a road, but a very wide side walk. Originally it was only a small side walk that ran in front of the old Oceana Hotel.  Now, it runs for about a mile along the beach in El Centro or the main part of old town.  In some sections it is wider than many of the streets in Puerto Vallarta.  It was probably made mainly for the tourists, but on weekends you will see lots of Mexican families with their children strolling up and down the Malecon, enjoying the views of the beach and sea.

Some sections are decorative concrete with writing embossed in the concrete.  I think they are Spanish proverbs, but some could be names of prominate people.  A large section was done with red abobe bricks.  It is quite attractive, but there is a problem.  They used concrete to grout the bricks.  Over the years many of the adobe bricks have deteriorated leaving just ridges of concrete (not easy to walk over).  Along the way are a least a dozen large sculptures;  the boy on a sea horse being the oldest and most famous.  I don't know where it came from but was here in the late 70's and became a symbol for Puerto Vallarta.  Some of the figures are obvious, like a dolphin fountain, or mermaids and neptune, but some are very difficult to figure out what they are meant to be.

The Malecon is used for all kinds of festivities, art shows, parades, etc.  One day I noticed there was some sort of sand castle contest (I guess it was a contest).  The theme was mainly Egyptian (before the revolution so I have no idea what it was about)  There are always vendors selling mainly touristy stuff, but one day I spotted a painting on display.  It was perfect for the wall over my sofa.  Well, the painting is by no means perfect, but I liked the colors and it was cheap.

All along the Malecon are many bars and restaurants.  I would say that Carlos O'Briens is the oldest and most famous where young kids get very drunk (I was one of those kids once).  Since all the bars and shops are some of the most expensive in P.V.  I rarely stop, unless it is a Starbucks (although their coffee does not compare with my favorite).  But a walk down the Malecon is free and besides the wonderful vistas of the bay, I love to people watch.  I don't think I will ever tire of walking along the Malecon..

A Day at the Beach

My apartment is only four blocks to the beach, but I walk an additional 5 or 6 blocks south to Playa Los Muertos (yes, I know it means "Beach of the Dead" but have forgotten why).  Most of the south beach has been set up by hotels or bar/restaurants:  I go to Blue Chairs or Green Chairs.  Oh, on the way I pass by my favorite coffee house and will stop for a tall iced latte.

If you arrive before noon you can usually pick your own spot.  I have been going to Green Chairs for they have fewer palapas and thus more sun.  Blue Chairs is a huge complex of bar/restaurant, hotel and disco on top.  Green chairs just has the bar/restaurant.  Each palapa (sort of a thatched umbrella made of palm fronds) has 3 or 4 lounge chairs and a couple of tables and each is assigned a waiter.  I have alway over tipped in the hope they will remember me and give me better service.  Alas we all look alike to them (fat old white men) so it hasn't worked that well.  After about 6 weeks Luis did remembered me.

You mainly order drinks, but you can have lunch served at your palapa.  I usually drink beer with a glass of ice.  It is popular here to pour beer over ice, it stays cooler and lasts longer.  I did finally have my pina colada under a palapa last week.  It was delicious.  I prefer to go up to the restaurant above the beach for lunch.  Unless you are just having a sandwich, it isn't easy eating off one of those little tables.  The food is just okay, but the view is awesome.

The waves have been breaking right on the sand, so it is not a great surfing beach (like I would anyway!!)
Only a few will brave the waves.  The crowd is almost all white (well, some are quite tan) and not all American.  There are lots of Canadians, and some Europeans, as well.  The water is still pretty cool, but I do walk along the beach letting the waves lap around my ankles.  There was a small pier at one end of the beach that is being torn down.  I was unhappy to see this, then learned that a newer larger pier would replace it in order to accomodate larger ships (I hope not the Carnival Lines)

Parasailing and jet skis are the popular sport (no I have not - at least not this trip).   Mostly people just drink and lie out in the sun.  I still can't do more than about 3 or 4 hours of sun a day.  Both Blue Chairs and Green Chairs blares out disco tunes all day long.  In the afternoon they both have a life disc jockey.  You don't want to sit between the two, or the competing beat, beat, beat will drive you nuts.  At five clock Blue Chairs opens the disco on the roof with "dancers".  I have yet to see this for as I said, by 5:00 I leave the beach.  The whole day at the beach (drinks, lunch, palapa, and heavy tip) cost less than $20.00 (including my latte on the way)..

Boca by Bus

When my friend, Richard suggested we spend a day in a little fishing village called Boca, I was delighted.  Then he told me we were going by bus!!  At least I found out what the big white buses are for.  They are the long distance buses with destinations like Ixtaba, Mismaloya, etc.  They are a little nicer, the seats are molded plastic instead of steel.  So, early one morning (actually about 11:00) we boarded a bus marked "Mismaloya".

The road hugs the coast line giving you magnificent views (sit on the right hand side).  It is sort of Mexico's Amalfi Drive (I did say sort of).  I was so fascinated by passing scenery, that I hardly minded the jogs and bumps of the drive.  The Mexican coast line is spectacular.  We passed Mismaloya and went to the end of the line (at least for buses).  The trip took just over a half an hour (my maximum so far).

As the bus let us off and turned around, I looked down this dirty little street leading from the highway to the beach.  It was a road that would embarrass Tiajuana.  There is no town, just this one road leading to a sand bar between a small bay and a river.  Tables, chairs and umbrellas line the sand bar.  We selected one right at the water edge.  Our restaurant was that little orange structure between two palapas.  We had a couple of beers and cheviche.  It was delicious.  We strolled up and down the beach watching the Mexican boys try to surf the waves; some were quite good.  There is also a small pier at one end of the bay where water taxis take people to Yalapa (my next trip).

After climbing up the hill to the highway we boarded a bus, but this time got off at Mismaloya.  It was basically built for the movie "Night of the Iguana".  The property where it was actually filmed is all fenced off as a National "something".  No one seems to know what they are going to do with it.   But years after the cast and crew left an immense hotel went up.  Only registered guests are allowed on the grounds, so we walked around the property to the beach.  It was packed with tourists.  I much preferred the little sand bar where we shared the beach with only a few other couples.

Some how going back to P.V. we got on one of the blue local buses.  It was not only a much rougher ride, the but driver was one of those "Indy 500" drivers.  We hung on for dear life as the bus carreened around sharp curves.  Thank God we were on the inside of the road, or I would have been sure we were going to plunge over the cliff.  We made if back in 15 minutes.  The whole day cost about $10.00.

PV Construction

If Puerto Vallarta has any building codes, they are not evident.  A casual observation of the town would lead you to think that almost everything is under construction.  In fact, there has been very little building going on since the rescession hit about two years ago.

Most roof tops have iron poles of rebar sticking up as if a second, third, or fourth floor was eminent.  Many are just rusted iron poles, some are partially covered concrete pillars.  I have heard two reasons.  One is that they are left there to show they are authorized to build an additional floor.  The other, more plausible reason is that these buildings have a lower property tax rate because they are considered unfinished.  No one seems to know for sure.

It is hard to tell if some buildings are going up or coming down.  The recent economy has taken its toll here as evidenced by the many buildings that look like contruction was just suddenly stopped and are now just abandoned .  It is hard to tell for almost all structures have unfinished sides.  You can not only see the concrete blocks or bricks, but pieces of the original wood framing is still stuck to the concrete.

I have included a photo of what exists on the other side of my white, palm, and vine covered trellis.  You will realize not only why I put up this barrier, but will see that I do not live in Conchas Chinas (the Beverly Hills of Puerto Vallarta).  No, I live in a typical Mexican neighborhood.  How many of the buildings in the photo look inhabitable?  Sadly most of them are.  You also see those tiny rooms on the roof tops that look like an elevator shaft (which they do not have).  I have no idea.

It would be nice if all the buildings had red tile roofs.  Some do, but too many are just flat black concrete, or worse yet corrugated aluminum.  Some  "homes" look more like lean tos.  In Mexico very often a "home" simply means some sort of shelter from the rain.

Watching a building acutally being built is amazing.  Mexicans seem to think that concrete will do anything and here, indeed it does.  They not only use it as mortar, but as a means of patching flaws.  Once the structure is up with walls and ceiling, they begin to add the plumbing and electrical (almost as an after thought)  They will drill or chisel out holes to accomdate the plumbing and electrical, or just run it along the floor.  They all appear sub standard (for us).  I was sure that a good California 5.0 would level the town, but was told that Puerto Vallarta has had several earthquakes (I hope I am not here when the next one hits).

NOTE TO MY READERS:  A friend of mine checked my "stats" and found that I have more readers than people I know.  So to whom ever you are out there, a big "thank you"  I am amazed, delighted and very flattered.  I just wanted you to know that I only post once a week on a Friday or Saturday and I will let you know when I am on vacation.