day 7: valentine's at puerto vallarta

14 Feb 2006 (Tuesday)

We reached Puerto Vallarta at 3.15am, or thereabouts I think. All I know is tt we got to our hotel lobby at Plaza Pelicanos around 3.30am.



A part of hotel... by day of course.

Rem tt strange entry tt I wrote on my other blog at 0533hrs? Well. That was from this night. We'd obviously reached our hotel 1 night earlier than we should have, so we asked what the rag room rates were. And we were quoted 4200 pesos, which is US $420. WTF. Like, seriously. We were paying a rate of US $191 per night right now... Half a night at $420??? So not worth it.

So we were directed across the road to find cheaper hotels...

But honestly they weren't tt cheap. Either they were closed and locked (it was in the middle of the night after all), or they were still charging pretty exorbitant rates for half a night's stay. We found this hotel where this guy was willing to give us an under-the-table transaction for a room tt had already been paid for and vacated, but the greedy bastard refused to lower his price and the room was pretty icky, so we gave tt a miss.

We ended up walking to this 24 hour internet cafe around close to 5am, and there we thus settled, with us checking email, checking out news sites, chatting with whoever would be awake, as well as on my part, blogging. But I think I was mainly chatting and emailing.

The sun was already rising by the time we'd left the cafe and walked back to the hotel. I guess this time the night manager must have taken pity on 3 travel-weary stragglers wandering around his hotel, coz we did get to check into our rooms early.



This is how our room looks like. 2 double beds (I get one whole bed to myself; Ben and Alvin have to share the other one). But yes, they're SMALL. Oh, and can you spot Ben in this photo? Wahaha. ;)

And we each bathed and subsequently concussed from then on till after 12pm.

We woke up in time for lunch. It was Valentine's Day but it didn't feel like Valentine's. No matter. I think Valentine's is overrated to begin with, and it doesn't matter to me.

So we spent the afternoon wandering around the place, checking out things tt we would like to do and booking tours and events where we could, and finally settling on the Puerto Vallarta beach to tan, play in the waves (which was really exhausting coz the waves were fucking strong and every time they crashed against the shore you just got brought to your knees along with them) and just relax, basically.



Said beach.

One interesting highlight was tt I and Alvin got to chat with this ex-MP in Quebec (who probably lost his seat in the recent elections) who was body-boarding while Alvin and I was struggling not to get swept under by the current in the water. And then Ben and I got temporary tattoos from this persuasive salesman who said tt he smoked weed every day and kept offering us his beer.

We went up to bathe and come back in time to catch the Puerto Vallarta sunset.





And me with the sunset.



Them taking photos of the scenery.



Ben with the darkening sky.



And the postcard-perfect pictures.



We had dinner in the Pelicanos Park, an outdoor seating area. There was supposed to be some special Valentine's Day performance on tonight. But for us, the draw was the freeflow buffet food and the open bar. By open bar I mean tt all drinks are free. You can order anything from Sprite to orange juice to magarita, pina colada, rum and coke, orgasmo, tequila shots, tequila sunrise, screwdriver etc etc etc. You name it they had it and it was all free.

Wahaha.

Talk about turning people into alcoholics.

Plus the Mexican shot glass is taller and bigger than the ordinary shot glass.

This is a shot of tequila.



Drink 1 or 2 (like Ben)...



While the rest of us stick to normal drinks...



Maybe have a smoke or two while you're at it...



And then make your way downtown to check out Malecon - which means "The Broadwalk".



Malecon.



You'll get to see some street activities in the night catering to the tourists, mainly.



But there's a pretty church here too. Although churches are as always, everywhere.



Me at the church gates, which have been locked. I guess there is no redemption for the lifestyle here - drink day and night; beach by day, party by night...



A lot of bars and clubs catering to the ang moh tourists here. We're not interested in any, but as we walk down, Ben finds this vintage car and takes a photo with it. Which is the last time he looks awake for today.

Subsequently, we settle in another cafe for cappucino.





Above and below: Before and after the 2 shots of tequila kick in for Ben.



So thus ends Day 7.