Beautiful Walk in Valllarta (Saturday, July 14th, 2018)

This morning we enjoyed another leisurely breakfast at the hotel before heading out for a walk.  Today's plan was to head south and see as much as we could before we felt like we should head back.  We enjoy walking because we feel like we can see so much more than taking a taxi or any other type of transportation, and we get some great exercise as well.  

We headed south on the street from our hotel.  It would take us quite a ways before we would have to walk on the highway for a short stretch to continue.  There are some amazing places as we walk.

When we got past our hotel just a block or two, the mountain began to get very steep.  Everything is built on the side of a cliff.  It's pretty amazing.  Steps heading down from the street to the beach.

Our entire walk today is on cobblestones.  They are a little tough on our feet, but so charming.

These are the steps that lead from the street down to the beach where Mesa Del Mar used to be.  It is now called Vallarta Shores if we have the right place.  A little grandma was sitting just to the right of this picture.  She was waiting for her daughter who was walking the stairs with her baby in her arms for exercise.  When the daughter made it to the top, we could see that she was in great shape. Good for her!

Still standing at the stairs, this man is fixing the tile on an infinity pool.  

There is so much construction in Puerto Vallarta right now, and from what we've heard, a whole lot more is coming.

This is brutal on our feet.

This is the first beach we reached on our walk.  It was very quiet and very beautiful!  We think it was part of Playa Amapas.  the beach is very broken up by rocks, so we couldn't go very far before running out of beach, but it was definitely off the beaten path.  We sat here and enjoyed the scenery for about half an hour before heading on.

I walked a little further down this beach (Steve had tennis shoes on, so he waited above the water line for me.  As per usual, I am hiking in flip flops today.  There were so beautiful homes and condos further down, with beach access down below them.

Then I came to the end of my stroll when I hit these rocks, so I headed back to Steve.

Our view as we were leaving this beautiful little beach.  So relaxing!

Then we continued south, winding through more beautiful cobble stone streets.  This place has so much charm!  And yep, this is the road!

Looking through the entrance of one of the condo complexes.  Wouldn't you kill for these views?

 We walked by a huge mango tree that was covered in mangos.  Oh did they look good!

We loved the tenacity of this little plant growing right out of the side of this stone building.

It didn't seem like we had been walking very long, but we were already at Playa Conchas Chinas.  Another beautiful beach on the south end of Puerta Vallarta.  It is much quieter than the beaches in town, but it's also in an area with very few amenities.  Big trade off.

Looking south from Playa Conchas Chinas.

We stopped for lunch at the Lindo Del Mar Restaurant.

You can see the high rises of northern Puerto Vallarta behind me.

We tried to order light for lunch, because we're planning on another nice dinner tonight, so Steve ordered fish tacos.

And I ordered a bowl of tortilla soup.  Steve's was definitely better than mine, but since we always share, it was OK.

Another beautiful beach.

The front of the Lindo Del Mar resort restaurant.  It's not well marked, so I wanted a picture of it.  When we happened upon it this time, we didn't really know where we were.

While we were eating lunch, we watched two guys free diving out by the rocks with long sticks.  We were trying to decide what they were doing.  I guessed that they were collecting oysters.  I was right, these two guys were sitting on the shore eating the oysters as we walked back past them. The bag and shells are in the foreground.

Playa Conchas Chinas again.

Heading back toward the hotel on the cobble stone streets.

The street that heads from the highway to  Conchas Chinas and Lindo Del Mar.

When we got back to the steps to the beach, I decided that I really wanted to tackle them. So I started heading down.  This is picture shooting back up to Steve.  He is down about five flights.

 I got to the  bottom and realized that they aren't that bad, so I went back up and got Steve.  We walked back down together.  There isn't a way to get a picture of all of the stairs at once, they is too long, so we took two pictures at the mid point, one facing up and one facing down.

Our entire walk today was about 4 miles on cobble stone streets and 21 flights of stairs according to Steve's phone.  It was a really fun day so far.  Now we're heading to the beach to swim for a couple of hours.  

When we got hungry, we headed back over to Martini En Fuego to see what Chef Roberto had cooked up tonight.  Last night he told us that he would make a special shrimp stuffed rellano if we came back, so we decided to put him to the test.

We sat down at our same table in the corner, in hope of seeing the cute little gecko again.  We decided his name is stubby because he lost part of his tale at some point in his life.  As we ordered our drinks, we noticed that he was once again sitting on the window sill looking for any flies or mosquitos that might happen by.

The inside of the restaurant.



Before we even received our menus, Chef Roberto brought us out a fresh fish ceviche (we think it might have been the ceviche Robert on the menu) for our appetizer.  It looked great and tasted even better.  We licked the platter clean!

Then he also had the waiter bring us each a ceasar salad.  Once again, it was spectacular!

When it came time to order our meals, chef Roberto came out to take our orders personally.  He asked me if I was still interested in the shrimp stuffed rellano, and I said that I was.  Steve said to make him what ever the chef felt like making tonight, so it would be a complete surprise.

My shrimp stuffed rellano.

Steve's meal was a fish filet topped with mussels, bay scallops and shrimp, all in a white wine sauce.



Once again, both of our meals were amazing.  Chef Roberto really knows what he is doing!

When we finished our meals, we both ordered a 43, since we liked it so much last night.

I once again asked the head waiter (Carlo) if we could get a to go box.  I used my new word of the day "juntos", and asked him if he would box our meals together.  He taught me another new word of the day "separado" and boxed our meals separatley.  I love these Spanish lessons, and the amazing spirit and service at this restaurant!  

And then chef Roberto had the pears in wine sauce delivered to our table again.  They are so good!

As we were eating our dessert, stubby our pet gecko noticed a cute little female gecko up in the corner of the window, so he went up there to introduce himself.  Before we knew it, they were more than just friends.

So we can only hope that if we ever make it back this way, there will be even more geckos to greet and entertain us during our meal.

As we were finishing our desert, it started pouring outside.  This was a Mexican Monsoon at it's finest!  

It had been a super busy night, and Chef Roberto felt bad that he had not been able to spend much time with us tonight, so as it rained, he pulled up a chair, poured us a tequila shot to share and talked to us for a few minutes.  

We found out that he went to two years of high school in Palm Springs, CA as an exchange student, so at that point, he lived very close to Havasu where we live now.  He has worked in restaurants his whole life, but is basically a self-taught chef.  We really enjoyed our talk with him, but eventually decided it was time to brave the rain and make our way back to the hotel.

This is the taco stand just out side of Martini En Fuego.  These people work so hard, and are so happy!  We really enjoy watching them as we eat our dinner.

The weather wasn't letting up at all, but we still enjoyed our walk.  The rain was really warm, and not much of an inconvenience at all.  There were a few streets that were running so hard that we were a bit afraid to step out into them, but as we walked through them, they weren't as bad as we thought they were going to be.

When we got back to the hotel, it was bed time and we were exhausted.  So adios for now.