Mexico Day 7

Alas our final day in Puerto has arrived.  We woke up and readied our bags to check out and went to our last meal at the resort.

After checkout we got a taxi to our bus back to Guadalajara. We took the Vallarta Plus line. There are half a dozen bus lines that take the trip back and forth between Gudalajara and Puerto Vallarta just about every hour each way. The ETN bus line is the fanciest. They take a regular charter bus and fit it with plush chairs. Basically it’s all comfy and fancy and top of the line…and also double the price that we paid for our bus trip. The Vallarta Plus bus was only $20 per person each way if you buy the round trip and they give you a little lunch/snack. It was actually very comfortable and they showed movies. On our trip out to Puerto we saw part of Toy Story 3 (en Espanol) and let me say, the emotional parts transcend the language barrier. Steven and I got a little misty eyed.

Here's a picture of some fellow travelers. I wonder what they paid for their cross country ride with full lounge action?

The bus ride seemed to pass quite quickly. We left Puerto at 1:08 and we were checked into our hotel in Guadalajra at around 5:15. So our entire trip took a little over 4 hours. We overheard that flights from Guad to Puerto were only 45min, but factoring in airport security and travel time to and from airports which are farther away from the cities and you probably only save an hour or so.

So when planning this trip, we wanted to go all out and be fancy, except we skimped on the last night. We got a cheap $40 hotel and I guess we got a little bit too used to the pampering and “tranquility” of our last two hotels. This new hotel has tile floors and gaps above and below the door so we hear EVERYTHING going on outside. We ended up stuffing all of the cracks with socks and towels and clothes.

As with the air conditioner at the fancy resort, this light was also just as bright. Steven's socks provide a simple solution.

Also, the whole room has crown molding. Very upscale and opulent looking…”looking” is the operative word. The molding is actually made of painted Styrofoam. This place is by far the most ghetto of our trip but despite me bashing it for this paragraph it is actually decently cozy. Certainly worth the $40.

We rested for about 20 minutes and set off to explore the town again. We walked and walked and walked and then found some tacos and walked some more. The city is actually quite beautiful. There's lots of art all around in public areas and the buildings are very old and architecturally interesting.

We need to translate the description but this guy was notable because he's so intense.

This place comes alive between 6pm and 8pm. There are neverending streets of shops that all have their own specialization. Looking for Christmas lights? Well here’s a store that has nothing but!

We basically walked from 6pm – 9pm so once again we are very tired. Tomorrow is our last day in Mexico. We get almost all day tomorrow to continue to explore the town and then head to the airport tomorrow night.