Sunrise over the mountains

The condo unit we are in is oriented east and west. The balcony on the pool ocean side faces west (good for sunsets) and the balcony at the back of the unit faces east. This morning Ken and Ron were up getting ready for golf at El Tigre, so I was up in time to see the sunrise. Ken is taking a last look at it in the photo above.

The mountains look so beautiful, layered in tones of orange and blue. On the left you see a line of frigate birds, high up on a construction crane to capture the sun's first warmth.


A larger shot of the frigate birds (AKA frigate pelicans, or Magnificent Frigatebirds). We see these sailing overhead on the beach, along with their cousins, the Brown Pelican. They have thin, hooked beaks and bifurcated tails that look like an open pair of scissors (which is what the locals call them).

Guido from Genoa

This beautiful restaurant, The Riviera Grill, is run by a man named Guido, whose family hails from Genoa. He visited our table and told us all about the regional cuisine of Genoa. Jane and Ken enjoyed the Gorgonzola gnocchi, and Ron and I had the chicken enchiladas (which weren't very Italian, but delicious none the less).

Outside the restaurant

The open air interior, divided into small garden-like rooms

Jane and Karen with restaurant owner, Guido

The pool area at Playa Royale

Because this is an ownership resort, there aren't a lot of people in the pool area. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing for the resort, but as a guest, it's GREAT.

This is a view of the pool inside the gate at Playa Royale. The green area on the right is a little island with a hot tub.

Another view of the pool area, showing how few guests are there. Those are my toes.

Here's a picture of the hot tub, showing the bridges that go across the "O"-shaped pool.

Guests carry an electronic key that allows ingress and egress from the pool area via this gate. Just outside is the beach, with multiple "palapas" providing shade for the sun-shy (like me).

When you leave the beach, you are meant to wash your feet off before entering the pool area. If you are planning to take a dip, you should shower, too.

Today I put my Kindle in a Zip-loc bag and walked around in the water reading "Wuthering Heights."

It's beginning to look a lot like....

Here's what the hotel staff was up to today. I'll bet this was a lot more fun than cleaning up after the guests!

Your blogger

Here I am at the dining room table in the resort unit, hard at work posting to the Black Lake blog for the amusement of my family.

Ron has a little router he plugs into the ethernet port in the wall. That means our Internet connection is particularly good, even better than the wireless provided by the hotel.

Patterns in the sand

Wave action creates these patterns on the beach. I'm not sure what darkens the sand in bands, but the result is beautiful--and very temporary.

That's a pretty good lookin' troll

Today I was walking down to the beach, all by myself across the hotel property, past the kiddie pool, past the pavilion, and past the hot tub. It was really quiet--I saw only one person, a woman sitting in the hot tub. We nodded and smiled briefly as I walked by. Then, from out of nowhere, I heard a man's low voice.

"Fe, fi, fo, fum!"

I turned around to look and couldn't see anything. But it sounded like Kenny.

And sure enough, there he was, popping out from under the bridge over the swimming pool, just like the troll in the fairy tale, only better looking.

Local flora

Everywhere on the hotel property are pathways lined with beautiful hedges made up of all types of tropical flowering bushes and fruit trees. 

Hibiscus

Bougainvillea

Bananas

???

View from the balcony

This was the view out the balcony last night. Tonight's sunset was also beautiful; we sat on the balcony and ate take-out from a local "deli."

The great thing about take-out here is there's always a nice little side of onions and jalapeno peppers.

Count on this daily

Although we haven't yet settled into our full routine here in Mexico, I can assure you of this: There will be a bucket of four Coronas and two drink-specials-of-the-day delivered to us on the beach each day at about 4 p.m.

Best thing about this picture: You can't see Ken's toes. Worst thing: You can see Ron's.

Dollars turn into pesos, and pesos turn into drink tickets, and suddenly it's like having Monopoly money to spend. Absolutely no pain involved in handing over eight little tickets for happy hour. Plus tip.

Brunch at El Tigre

The golf course that's part of the Paradise Village property is called El Tigre, named for the tiger rescue program hosted on site. Yeah, tiger, like BENGAL tiger. Not sure where from and how come they need rescuing, but the climate here is ideal for the tigers, and once they are up to it, they go from here to various zoological parks in Mexico and elsewhere.

We had brunch today at the El Tigre golf course clubhouse. Very fancy. Here you see Ron and Ken looking longingly at the golf course. They made a tee time for Tuesday morning.

Puerto Vallarte with Ron and Jane, 2012: Day 1

Good flights today, even with a nip and tuck stopover in Minneapolis. The flight from Detroit got into Minneapolis slightly early, allowing us to make our connecting flight (MN to PV) with time to spare. The flight to Puerto Vallarte was smooth, and Grandpa was able to follow our progress in real time on Delta's flight tracker. I wish he had been with us to see the terrain from the jet's window - it was really mountainous and interesting. He could have described all of the geological events necessary to create that view.

As experienced PV travelers, we knew better than to succumb to the solicitations of the crowd of hawkers in the airport; instead we dragged our suitcases up the pedestrian overpass ramp and over to the more affordable cab stand on the other side of the street. 

In the high 80s here; quite humid until those beach breezes hit you.

Signage on the way into the resort area, shot from the window of the taxicab

First view of the resort building (Playa Royale, in Nuevo Vallarte)

Check in. Note the pile of luggage on the left.

Now, that's what I'm talkin' about!