Mexico trip day 4

Nuevo Vallarta

Woke up at 8:30 again.  Breakfast was egg burrito stuffed with veggies and eggs benedict hollandaise

Deanna went to get a massage at 10am while Steven fixed the air conditioner. The actual unit works just fine but while it’s on, there is an extremely bright green light that fills the room like if we lived across the street from a bar’s neon sign.  To illustrate this here's a creepy 60 sec exposure sitting under the AC light.

With a little ingenuity and a first aid kit, Steven bandaged up the lights and all should be well for good sleeps tonight.

After breakfast we took the van shuttle over to the beach resort and from there we walked to Paradise Village where the shops are. We bought a few items at the mall which, incongruously to the hot and humid weather outside, was fully decked out in Christmas cheer.

One odd thing was that we wanted to mail a postcard, something specifically requested by our neighbor who is keeping an eye on Bowie. We found what is equivalent to a UPS store but was also a bookstore and we assumed provided mailing service or something since they had PO boxes. We asked for stamps and they looked at us like we were crazy. They said stamps were sold at the supermarket downstairs. So we went back to the supermarket where we had already bought some other items and got our stamps. But now where to find a mail box?  We looked everywhere along our walk back to the Beach Club and saw nothing and I noted that in the past I’ve seen people ask their hotel front desk to mail things. We asked the hotel when we got back later that night and they said we could find somewhere to mail it in Paradise Village - which is where we bought the cards and the stamps and there was no mail box in sight. Oh well! We’ll find one eventually but now we’re likely to beat the postcards home.

So another day spent lounging on the beach. Yesterday we had nachos and pina coladas. Today Deanna had marlin tostadas with a banana smoothie and Steven had a chicken quesadilla with a pineapple smoothie.  Deanna is taking advantage of seafood opportunities while she doesn't have to share food with me.

Deanna got cold first so got out to take pics of Steven in the water.

 I found another sand dollar and brought it in to record for posterity.

In addition to the ocean they've also got an awesome pool at the beach club.  Not nearly as big as the resort pool but this one has awesome kiddy slides so that's a big plus.

Our favorite bell boy German (pronounced Hchairman, if you're clearing your throat you're doing it right) drove us back to the hotel and we asked him about the jaguars. He stopped the shuttle for us by the cages so we could snap some pictures. He told us how the jaguars were owned by our resort owner who also has lion cages and monkey cages around Nuevo Vallarta. He owns 3 or 4 of the resorts in town so he is very rich. German also said that although the jaguars are beautiful to look at, they are also sadly always sitting in those cages and should be free. Right on, German!

Those are really the only things of note today. We got in the pool for a while back at the resort and had our old friend Alejandro deliver drinks to us. We got dinner which was has been consistently worth over $100 and this time we got pictures of it. Steven got chicken, Deanna got tuna. We were missing our usual waiter, Carlos, who has the day off. He is great because he says he has the menu of the day up here [points to his head] but so far has always gotten it slightly wrong.

Spinach and peppers.

Chicken in a cream sauce

Tuna triangles in a triangular plate to keep with theme

Vanilla ice cream with fruity junk in it.

Chocolate cake.

This is Deanna trying to tell the difference between Cabernet and Merlot.  She failed.  So did I. We are not fancy.

After dinner we decided to relax and watch some Dr. Who for a while. But Deanna was still feeling full so we went to the gym to walk off some of the food brick.

Misc.  

Lobby has no windows and no doors.  I guess they never close.

They use “occidental” all over the place here. There's a newspaper, various businesses, and this hotel under renovation.  Maybe we'll get discounts as alums when it re-opens?

There are these creepy decorations on the way to our room. Steven is giving life to the mask that lacked clothing.