Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Correction: First cruise this year!!
Mexico Adventure: Day 1 – Day 2 – Day 3 – Day 4– Day 5 – Day 6 – Day 7 – Day 8
Puerto Vallarta is a resort town on Mexico’s Pacific coast, in Jalisco state. It is known for its beaches, water sports and nightlife scene. Its cobblestone center is home to the ornate Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe church, boutique shops and a range of restaurants and bars. El Malecón is a beachside promenade with contemporary sculptures, as well as bars, lounges and nightclubs.
Happy Eighth Anniversary!
Today we departed the ship at 10:00 am and headed for the area to the west of the city. We caught the bus on the pier and drove for about 40 minute.
We drove along Mazatlán’s Malecón which is one of the longest oceanfront boardwalks in the world, stretching over 21 kilometers. It is perfect for a leisurely walk or bike ride while enjoying breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean.
Our first stop was at a cacao plantation. Mexico only produces about 1% of the worlds cacao. The government is attempting to raise that percentage.
The Cacao Plantation is relatively new.
They facility provided a detailed history beginning 5000 BC with the Mayans. Cacao was brought to Europe in the mid 1750’s and they made terrific progress in the use of cacao. They did unfortunately begin to add processed sugar instead of raw sugar. We bought some 80% cacao bars.
The history was nicely portrayed on the wall.
Mary and I read every sign and it was quite interesting.
Looking good!
The cacao pod is large and comes from the limbs of the tree. The tree lasts 50 years. Cacao trees grow in a limited geographical zone, of about 20° to the north and south of the Equator. The cacao pod need a mot of humidity to grow.
A typical pod contains 30 to 40 beans and about 400 dried beans are required to make one pound (450 g) of chocolate. Read here for more information.
The Cacao Pods grow all over the tree.
We jumped back on the bus and drove a few miles to a tortilla “factory”. It was in the heart of a small town complete with dirt roads and stray dogs! Our tour guide lived in this town for a while and used to get the family’s daily ration of tortillas from this store.
We stopped to get tortillas.
Evarardo Rodríguez Arce and Luis Romero invented the first tortilla machines in 1904. It was NOT popular because the tortillas were square. Fausto Celorio Mendoza is credited with inventing the first automatic round tortilla machine in 1947.
The shop opens early in the morning like a bakery and goes all day. The bags in the back contain corn.
The tortilla machine was invented in 1950.
We moved on to a honey making facility just a few miles away and tasted several different type of honey.
From there was had a few minutes to kill so the driver stopped at the city plaza which of course had a large church. We went in and walked around.
The churches are always beautiful while the people live in much less.
In the plaza they had several Jackfruit Trees. Jackfruit is the largest fruit grown on a tree. It takes 5-7 years before a tree will produce fruit. Jackfruit trees will produce 150- 200 fruits per year. The fruit is picked in the summer and fall before they fall off the tree.
Jackfruit is packed with essential vitamins and minerals you need for good health. It’s a particularly good source of B vitamins, potassium, and vitamin C. Read more here.
Fruit trees grew in the towns center.
Now we are on way to “The Ranch” which conjures up quite an image. It was not quite a ranch but it is in process of becoming one slowly but surely.
We took the back roads.
We hit the tables running (after a margarita). Mary used her surgical talents to tie off the ends of the tamales.
Mary tied the corn husks for everyone.
The vegetable tamales were put on the grill and the chef cooked up some chicken and beef. The smells were amazing; rub-a-dub-dub, bring on the grub!
Our tour guide was also one of the chefs!
Their lake was full of ducks! I can see duck tamales in the future.
Ducks everywhere..
We headed home to the ship and went to the Suite Lounge where we had some Indian chicken and cold cuts. We watched as Mazatlan disappeared.
Goodbye Puerto Vallarta!
Mary decided we needed to go to the shows tonight so we headed to Studio-B for the ice skating show! We were wowed by the drone display; watch the movie and you will see almost 100 drones dancing over the ice.
The skaters were quite good doing their routines in such a relatively small rink.
Amazing skaters in Studio-B
From the ice skating event, we walked quickly to the main theater and watched the juggling act. We were in the second row and it was so funny, I almost spilled my wine.
We enjoyed the act.
From the theater we met up with Jon and Sarah who were in the Boleros Bar so we could have a nightcap and do a little dancing. We managed to do some waltzes and cha chas. We look pretty good considering we had each had two glasses of vino!
It was getting to be Oh Dark Thirty so we headed to the tenth floor.
Good night all and Happy Anniversary Jon and Sarah!
Remember to turn back your clock!!
Mexico Adventure: Day 1 – Day 2 – Day 3 – Day 4– Day 5 – Day 6 – Day 7 – Day 8
So glad to see you having such a wonderful time. Would love to meet up when you get home and see you and meet Mary!