Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Correction: First cruise this year!!
Puerto Vallarta is a resort town on Mexico’s Pacific coast in Jalisco state. It is known for its beaches, water sports, and nightlife. The city’s cobblestone center is home to the ornate Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe church, boutique shops, and various restaurants and bars. El Malecón is a beachside promenade with contemporary sculptures, bars, lounges, and nightclubs.
Happy Eighth Anniversary!
Today, we departed the ship at 10:00 am and headed for the area west of the city. We caught the bus on the pier and drove for about 40 minutes.
We drove along Mazatlán’s Malecón, 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 a cacao plantation. Mexico produces only about 1% of the world’s cacao, but the government is attempting to increase that percentage.
The Cacao Plantation is relatively new.
The facility provided a detailed history beginning in 5000 BC with the Mayans. Cacao was brought to Europe in the mid-1750s, and they made terrific progress in using cacao. They did, unfortunately, begin to add processed sugar instead of raw sugar. We bought some 80% cacao bars.
History is nicely portrayed on the wall.
Mary and I read every sign, and it was pretty 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 needs a lot of humidity to grow.
A typical pod contains 30 to 40 beans; 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 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 machine in 1904. However, 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 types of honey.
From there, was had a few minutes to kill, so the driver stopped at the city plaza, which had a large church. We went in and walked around.
The churches are always beautiful, while the people live with much less.
Several jackfruit trees were in the plaza. Jackfruit is the largest fruit grown on a tree. A tree takes 5-7 years to produce fruit, and jackfruit trees produce 150- 200 fruits yearly. The fruit is picked in the summer and fall before it falls off the tree.
Jackfruit is packed with essential vitamins and minerals you need for good health. It’s an excellent source of B vitamins, potassium, and vitamin C. Read more here.
Fruit trees grew in the town center.
We are on our way to “The Ranch,” which conjures up quite an image. It was not quite a ranch, but it is slowly becoming one.
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 grilled, and the chef cooked chicken and beef. The smells were terrific: 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 returned to the ship and went to the Suite Lounge, where we had Indian chicken and cold cuts. There, 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! The drone display wowed us; watch the movie, and you will see almost 100 drones dancing over the ice.
The skaters did their routines well in such a relatively small rink.
Amazing skaters in Studio-B
We walked quickly to the main theater from the ice skating event and watched the juggling act. We were in the second row, and it was so funny that 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 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!!
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!