puerto vallarta

My Christmas present to myself was a little weekend get-away to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on New Year's weekend. It was a nice treat, plus, I needed some warm sun after the crazy snow we had for so long in Seattle. I really didn't do much while I was in Puerto Vallarta, just read, relaxed, sat out on the beach. It was perfect. 80 degrees and a nice beach. I do have one funny story, sorry if you've already heard it.

While I was sitting on the beach, reading a magazine, this older mexican guy sat down next to me and started talking to me (he appeared to be in his late 40s or early 50s). I thought, oh this guy must just want to practice his english with me, so I'll talk to him for a few minutes. He asked me where I was from and I told him Seattle, but then he made the comment that I looked Canadian. I'm not really sure how different Canadians look from Americans, but I was like, ok. And then a few minutes later, he said, no, you look Mexican because of my skin. This is when I wanted him to go away and leave me alone. He didn't leave, just kept talking about how he had been at the bars the night before dancing with all the ladies, but not drinking because he likes to exercise, play soccer, run.... So then he asked me how old I was and I told him 32 (fyi, now I'm 33 because I had my b-day on the 13th) and he tells me he's 34. I laughed because it was so ridiculous. There was no way he was younger than 48. And then he asked me what color my eyes were and asked me to take off my sunglasses, I wouldn't do it and by this point was back to reading my magazine, hoping he would just get the hint. I had to finally say, well, nice to meet you and then he left. So, I went back to reading and then after a while, I hear someone running on the sand and as they pass me, they let out a big breath of air. This happens a few times and then I look up to see who is breathing so hard as they're running. It's the creepy guy! He's running back and forth every few minutes and breathing out every time he passes by. Yep, creepy. I get ready to go after one of the times he runs by, hoping I can get out of there before he comes back, but without any luck. He runs up to me, all sweaty and old. Oh, it was nice meeting you, look out for all the mexican men. He then wanted to shake my hand, I said no thanks you're too sweaty and walked away. Nice, huh?

The rest of the trip was good and relaxing. I really like Puerto Vallarta. It's built up against the ocean and there are mountains behind it, so it doesn't go too far inland. The main part of the old town has old cobblestone roads. All the high rise hotels are out of town, so the town has an nice feel to it. They also have a really nice boardwalk and lots of neat scupltures along the way. There were lots of people there this weekend, from the US and Mexico on vacation. I stayed at the Hotel Rio.