Puerto Vallarta

 

We lost an hours sleep last night with the time change, and because we are going on a food tour, it seemed a good morning to have room service. Just coffee and a bit of yogurt and fruit as we know we'll be eating a lot today! Another beautiful morning. It will be hot later, but at 9am when we got off the ship it was about 23C. Taxi from inside the port are expensive and a set rate. We should have walked out to the street but feeling a bit lazy. (about 23USD) We got dropped off at the river and went for a short walk along the Malecon before going to meet our Vallarta Eats guide for our Taco and Street food tour.

It was just the 4 of us on the tour, and our guide Alberto was excellent. He was born in P.V. and very knowledgeable about traditional foods and methods, and also about some of the history. We went to 10 different places, mostly family run, and mainly on back streets that I had never frequented. 

We tried 5 different types of taco (bierra, carnitas, machaca, fish and carne asada) chilaquiles, pan dulce, locally made ice-cream and candy, and also visited 2 tortilleras. There were traditional agua fresca drinks to accompany the food flavored with hibiscus, cucumber and lime, and rice and cinnamon. The tour lasted over 3 hours, and we were stuffed by the end! Alberto helped us get a taxi back which was about 1/3 the cost. 

Very hot by the time we got back so time to sit in the shade and have a beer. Ian decided to skip dinner, and the rest of us had a light meal. It was the night of the Holland America Orange party in the Crows Nest, so Ian and I went up and danced for a while to the band and singer that are usually in Ocean Bar.. It was made more challenging by a slightly rocking deck.








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