Colourful

 

I was up at 6:30 every morning to catch the sunrise. I had fourteen of them and I was not going to miss one. They were not all spectacular, but the added bonus is that early morning is the best time of day, cool and fresh.

 

One thing a tourist to Mexico has to get used to is vendors. They are everywhere and for the most part, if you do not make eye contact, or politely say that you are not buying today, they will leave you alone. Each vendor is selling a different commodity and is laden with Mexican junk (their words)  as they walk down the beach or the cobblestone roads. The time share sharks are the worst and will attempt to engage in very fluent English and friendly banter. Once you respond, you are done. We resorted to "Sprechen Deutch?" but to no avail. Best to ignore and walk on by.

 

There was little evidence of Christmas in our location. This tree and a little lit up shepherd boy were the only traces of the type of hype we get here in Canada. Even the Christmas music was missing except at the introduction to the shows where they would play a Christmas music video. I must say that with the heat and humidity, this real pine tree had a wonderful and strong scent that did remind us of home.

 

Mexico is a country of contrasts. Here we have a derelict house that has been there as long as we have been coming, and right next door is the Riu Palace, which really is a Palace. There is old and ratty beside new and fancy everywhere you look. I guess you could say there is little ghettoization in PV.   

 

A beautiful Fan Palm taken at night.

 

This house, which was situated right behind our resort, was what we saw every time we descended the stairs from our room. We commented several times that it reminded us of Bethlehem. The day after we get home, we discover, much to our surprise, that this house belongs to the owner of Clancy's meats right here in Abbotsford.

 

The Riu Palace at sunrise, without the ratty neighbour in the photo.

 

The best time of the day was always the dawn walks on the beach. We would head south so we could watch the sun come up over the Sierra Madre Mountains. One hour every morning and one hour at 4 pm and we had our exercise for the day. (besides the 45 steps up and 45 steps down each time we went to our room) We really toughened our feet and our ankles walking barefoot in the sand every day.

 

We would watch and photograph the sunset every night at 6:15 pm. and then have a lovely dinner as the sky darkened.

 

We had 14 days of sunshine except for one part afternoon of high thin overcast, and two hours of torrential downpour on the day we left.