We're on Top of the World!, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (Saturday, October 20th, 2018)

Our goal today was to climb to the cross and the lookout (Mirador De La Cruz) on the top of the hill east of the city.  

We walked north from our hotel to the Malecon, one block north of Neptune and the Mermaid, we turned east and headed up the hill.

We started out walking through town on the cobblestone streets.

We got to one section where the street dead ended, so we thought we had taken a wrong turn, but we continued up the steps, and that was the correct path.  This section is too steep for a street, so you can only get through on foot.

When we got to the top of the stairs, we took a small jog to the left, which lead us to another street, so we kept climbing.

Now we were entering the jungle on both sides of us.  We looked over the side of the road, and this house had two burros in the yard.

The streets are so steep here that they have these huge drains in them to divert the water when it rains. And it rains here!

And we continued up the hill.

It is really beautiful up here!

Near the top we came to this spot that had a cable car.  Yes it's that steep!

We're not at the top yet but the views are starting to appear.

We had to stop for some mosquito repellent.  The jungle is getting thick up here.  

I don't think that Steve is sweating, I think that it is just so humid that the water is condensing on him.

Almost to the top!

As we got near the top, the observation platform came into view first.

And then only about two more flights of stairs to get to the cross.  We stopped at the cross first before heading over to the observation deck.

Looking further east, there is a beautiful valley back behind the hill.  This is the section of town that is referred to as "El Tunel" on the buses, because the upper highway in this section of town goes through a tunnel.  If you want a bus that goes through the lower section of town, you look for the bus that says "El Centro" instead.

Now we are heading down to the observation deck for some views of the town.

The view of the Bay Of Bandaras from north to south.

Looking from the observation deck, back toward the cross.

We sat down at the observation deck and just enjoyed the views for about an hour.  There was a nice cool breeze up here, so it was comfortable and so tranquil!

We relaxed for awhile, and then it was time to make our way back down.

This is the cable car tracks running beside the stairs.

We made it back to the steep road.

 This is where we went today.

It ended up being another big day, although we didn't intend for it to be.  

We highly recommend this walk if you are looking for a free, energetic day.  It  was a great walk with great views that you just won't get anywhere else.  Give it a try if you are in Puerto Vallarta, it is well worth it!