Hasta La Vista, Amigos!

Well, all holidays have to come to an end and so did ours. We had such a wonderful time in the sun enjoying the wildlife and the people of Mexico. We didn't look forward to returning to the frozen tundra but we had no choice. Sigh.

Every night, The Fun Club put on a wonderful performance of song and dance and every performance ended with the house song, "Hasta La Vista," a most appropriate song. We play the videoclip for you here:

VIDEO: The Fun Club leads the way in dancing and singing to HASTA LA VISTA.

Hasta La Vista, everyone! We hope you've enjoyed our blog!

A rare and exciting opportunity: baby turtleback release!

Since we discovered the turtle conservation preserve, it became our sunset activity to visit it every evening, gladly donating 20 pesos (2 Canadian dollars) each to the program.

The evening before we were due to leave Nuevo Vallarta, the biologist mentioned that the rare leatherback babies were hatching and they would be expecting them to make their appearance Saturday morning. It had been nine years since the last leatherback nested on the beach! He was brimming over with excitement and his enthusiasm spilled over to the crowd gathered at the site. We could hardly contain our excitement but we didn't know if we would be able to attend, given that we had to check out of our resort by noon if we could not obtain an extension and we were supposed to depart late Saturday night.

Fortunately, we were able to extend our stay so we set off just before sunset to get a glimpse of the precious and endangered baby turtlebacks.

Journalists and press photographers and TV crews were present to record this rare event and a large crowd had gathered and stood along the boundary line marked in the sand. Baby Olive Ridley turtles were already making their way to sea when we arrived. The biologist had decided to release them a little earlier in order to release the leatherbacks at sunset.

The leatherback is the champion among sea turtles. It grows larger, dives deeper, travels farther, and frequents colder waters than any other sea turtle. An adult leatherback is enormous, averaging 800 lbs and 64 inches in shell size. The largest leatherback ever recorded measured almost 10 ft! In comparison, the Olive Ridley is known as the "little one" because it is the smallest sea turtle, adults typically weighing less than 100 lbs and measuring only 22-30 in in shell size.

Unlike other sea turtles, leatherbacks do not have hard shells nor do they have scales and claws on their flippers. Its carapace (shell) is covered by skin and oily flesh. Hatchlings are 2.5 in long, compared to Olive Ridley hatchlings, which are 1 - 1.5 in long.

Leatherbacks travel from nesting beaches in the tropics to feeding grounds in temperate waters. The migration to their feeding grounds often involve journeys of more than 3,000 miles from their nesting beaches. The average nest contains 80-90 eggs.

VIDEO: Leatherback hatchlings make their way to sea.

Baby turtle videos

VIDEO: The biologist in charge of the turtle conservation program gives a talk before we release the baby turtles. He talks about leatherback turtles, which are the champion among sea turtles and one of the most endangered species. Leatherbacks grow larger, dive deeper, travel farther and to colder waters. Leatherbacks have not nested on the beaches of Nuevo Vallarta for 9 years but they found three nests recently and they're expecting some babies to hatch soon. The babies in the sand pool are Olive Ridleys. They're the most common turtles to nest in Nuevo Vallarta and the biologist tells us all about them. Only one out of one thousand Olive Ridley babies will survive to the age of eight, at which time they breed and return to the same beach to lay their eggs.

Sea Turtle Save

You can imagine our excitement and happiness to learn that the location of the turtle game preserve was barely a mile from our hotel. And learning that baby turtles would be released every evening between 6 and 6:30 gave us a new timetable for the remainder of the days we'd be in Nuevo Vallarta. What a wonderful way to spend our evenings, releasing baby turtles into the beautiful sunset!

This baby turtle release had not been planned on our itenary because we didn't know of its existence. It was an added bonus for choosing Nuevo Vallarta over Puerto Vallarta. Turtles do not nest in Puerto Vallarta so tourists have to pay to take tours to the game preserve, something we didn't have to do as our hotel, the Occidental Allegro Nuevo Vallarta, was only a short walking distance to the preserve. Our hotel was also less than a five minute walk to Paradise Mall, which was convenient for doing our laundry, exchanging currency at the bank (you get the best rates from a bank), and shopping for souvenirs and delicious Mexican candy.

We took photos of the game preserve. The game preserve is run by the federal government. It's just a small building with a small fenced in area for nests. It's staffed with a very passionate biologist, other technicians and volunteers. They put up laminated informational brochures like the ones in the photos below to provide information to tourists.

(Photo 1) Olive Ridley Sea Turtles have been nesting on these beaches for millions of years.












(Photo 2) Up to a hundred turtle hatchlings can be found in one nest. Turtle hatchlings usually emerge from the sand in the early morning or late at night.

(Photo 3) The Olive Ridley Turtles are released into theocean at night to avoid the presence of predators. On liberation night, visitors to the Nuevo Vallarta turtle preserve line up to release baby sea turtles. Liberation offers public education to all ages.

(Photo 4) Up to a hundred turtle hatchlings can be found in one nest.





The photo on the left shows the fenced enclosure where eggs are placed in new nests. Most of the baby turtles are Olive Ridley but six of the seven sea turtle species nests on the shores of Neuvo Vallarta. The only species that doesn't is the Australian flatback.

Incubation generally takes about 8 weeks but the temperature of the sand governs the speed at which the embryos develop so hatching periods can range remarkably. The temperature of the sand also determines the sex of the baby turtles . The hotter the sand, the faster the embryos develop. Sea turtle eggs have no sex chromosomes to determine the sex of the embryo. Cooler sand temperatures produce male babies and warmer temperatures produce females.

Sea turtle hatchlings are on their own from the time their mother finishes covering up her nest. Digging out from the nest is a group effort that can take several days. They usually emerge from the nest at night because it is cooler. Once on the beach, the babies scramble around the top of the nest, orient themselves and dash toward the sea. However, the game preserve does not allow the babies to scramble to the sea on their own because of the presence of thousands of tourists, bright lights from hotels that have a tendency to disorient the babies and dune buggies on the beach that could kill the babies. The release is timed for sunset when most of their predators would have gone to roost and tourists are invited to participate (with a donation of 20 pesos each - $2 Canadian) so that the turtles may be released safely and with the best possible chance of survival.

Baby turtle Find

So we began walking the beach in the evening, hoping to spot baby turtles hatching or making their way to sea. On our third such trip, we'd almost given up and was on our way back to our hotel when Earl spotted a lot of people lined up near the shore about two hundred yards behind us. We ran as fast as our legs and lungs could carry us - it's hard to run on soft beach sand, especially when you have foot problems - and we made a very interesting and important discovery.

Someone in the crowd told us about the turtle game preserve located in the fenced compound about fifty yards up from the shore. He said that if baby turtles hatched that day, the biologist and staff at the preserve would release them between 6 and 6:30 PM. We'd walked up and down and missed seeing the fenced compound because of the construction of new resorts beside it. There were fences everywhere and we didn't think anything special of the little fenced compound.

In the picture above, the biologist (far left) is distributing Olive Ridley baby turtles to the lucky tourists. Everyone has to stand along the line drawn in the sand to prevent accidentally stepping upon the fragile babies. To prevent contamination of foreign substances to the tender hatchlings, we also have to coat our hands with mud from the beach before picking up the babies.

The picture on the right shows the biologist (far right) with his assistant beside him and a lady volunteer (dressed in black). She originally hailed from San Antonio, Texas and now lives in Nuevo Vallarta. She told us that volunteers like herself would sometimes patrol the beach in the wee hours of the morning, looking for turtle nests. They'd then remove the eggs and transport them to the game preserve where they would all be relocated into a new nest. The Mexican government had to do this because of the growth of resorts along the beach. This was essential to the survival of sea turtles, most of whom are endangered.

VIDEO: Olive Ridley baby turtles heading to sea. As you can see, some of them march purposefully and energetically to sea while others are tired. We found out the next day that they'd been trampling over each other all day long, maybe all night long, in the tank at the game preserve. No wonder they were exhausted! When 99% of them had made it out to sea, we were allowed to pick up the remaining ones and release them into the tide.

It was an invigorating and inspiring experience to see the hundreds of baby Olive Ridley turtles heed the call of nature and make their way out to sea in the beautiful soft evening light. We bade them goodbye and God Speed with a mixture of happiness and sadness because it is estimated that only one turtle out of a thousand will survive to grow up into a mature sea turtle that will one day return to nest on this very same beach, recreating this miraculous process all over again.

Vaya Con Dios, chiquititas!

The mystery of the baby turtles

One evening, perhaps five days after our arrival in Nuevo Vallarta, Earl returned from his evening walk with exciting news.

"I saw hundreds of baby turtles making their way out to sea!" he gushed, barely able to contain his excitement. He then described in vivid detail how small they were and how they made their way out to sea, some with great energy and drive while others struggled. He said that a large crowd had gathered to enjoy the experience.

I felt left out. For several nights, Earl and I had gone out to the beach hoping to spot Mummy Turtle wading up to lay her eggs but our efforts were in vain. Now, I was getting a vicarious thrill from him reliving his experience but oh, how I wanted to see the baby turtles. I decided that I wasn't going to leave without seeing them.

A couple evenings later, Earl returned from his walk with more baby turtle news.

"Someone was putting the baby turtles into a bucket!" he said, barely concealing his indignation at the sight he'd witnessed. "People were gathered around the baby turtles and this guy, this beach police officer, was just putting them into a bucket. He said he was going to take them to a game preserve where they would release them."

I was shocked. What a terrible thing to do to baby turtles, I thought, dumping them unceremoniously into a bucket! These beautiful creatures, so tender, so tiny who'd grow up to live for hundreds of years. How could anyone just dump them into a bucket and take them away? What if they ended up in someone's soup? Earl said someone gathered around the turtles had voiced a similar concern.

We decided that we'd patrol the beach every evening to look for the baby turtles.

Bananas and a hummingbird

What do bananas and hummingbirds have in common? They're both plentiful in Nuevo Vallarta!

Picture on the left shows Earl posing beside a banana tree growing at the Paradise Resort near our hotel. Bananas are one of Earl's favorite fruits and he can quote their price per pound anytime (at present, they sell for 85 cents Canadian per pound or 65 cents US). Bananas sold in Winnipeg are imported from Mexico so it is fitting that we spotted this banana tree near our hotel, an interesting discovery for Earl, who had never in his life seen a banana tree.

Picture on the right shows a very exhausted and disoriented hummingbird. We spotted this wee fellow flying up and down against the glass. It was obvious that he did not realize he could not fly through the glass and it was also obvious that he couldn't see the glass. Finally, after an exhausting attempt to fly through the glass, he settled down to rest on the leaf of this ivy plant. We touched him and urged him to fly away from the glass. That's the closest we've ever been to a hummingbird.

Fun end to the whalewatching tour

VIDEO: Exercise time on the Kontiki

After a glorious day spotting whales and dolphins, we began to rest as the boat began making its way back to Puerto Vallarta.

"Dolphins!" the guide shouted but most of us were too busy resting to spot the dolphins so the guide and the crew of the Kontiki decided that it was time for some exercise and the video above shows us all exercising to some lively music.

The crew came up with a game. If we were caught napping during the game, we would have to entertain the entire boat with a dance. In the videoclip below, our new friend, Mario Jr was caught napping and is being put through his paces.

VIDEO: Mario's penalty for napping!

So as you can see, we all had a terrific time on the tour. The crew of the Kontiki were knowledgeable and loads of fun. We'd do this tour again in a heartbeat!

Whalewatching tour: Part 3 - Other sightings

The Kontiki had just started out after picking up thirty plus tourists at Puerto Vallarta when we spotted this cool sea turtle. The turtle was maybe 4-5 feet long and it gave us plenty of photo opportunities as it remained on the surface for a rather long time. Nowadays, spotting a large sea turtle is a rare opportunity because very few of them survive to get to this size. Later, we'll share our excitement with you with our discovery that our resort is only about a half mile from a baby turtle conservation area, another good reason for choosing Nuevo Vallarta over Puerto Vallarta.

On the tour, we also spotted a manta ray though we were unable to get any good photos of it.

VIDEO: Pelicans flying beside our boat

Whalewatching tour: Part 2 - Whales, whales, whales

A trip to Nuevo Vallarta is incomplete without taking in a whalewatching tour. During the winter, the waters of the Banderas Bay are filled with magic as the humpbacks migrate south from the Alaskan waters to breed and calve.

For this tour, we signed up with Kontiki and boy, did we have the time of our lives. We didn't expect to see so many whales on this tour but there they were, in pods of five or more, breaching (jumping) near our boat and slapping the water. They were incredibly acrobatic, considering their massive sizes (79,000 lbs) and appeared to be having the time of their lives in the warm waters of the bay.

VIDEO: A pair of humpbacks breaching near our boat.

VIDEO: Several whales breaching and spouting.

Meet our friends on the whalewatching tour!

Before we got on board the Kontiki for our whalewatching tour, we met the family of Mario and Ross at the dock in Nuevo Vallarta. They were visiting from Celaya in the state of Guanajuato. They were so friendly and warm (that's the case with almost every Mexican we met) that it was easy to strike up an immediate conversation and friendship with them.

When they learned that we were trying to learn Spanish, they became the most patient teachers and we quickly learned simple Spanish. Because of our friendship with them, the tour was even more enjoyable as we shared the wonders and joys of spotting dolphins (delphin in Spanish), a giant turtle (tortuga), a manta ray and whales (ballena).

Video: Mario's Spanish Lessons

Video: Mario and Mario Jr watches as flocks of pelicans (pelicano) fly by.

We will always remember the family of Mario and Ross and the wonderful time we shared on this awesome tour. Even though we're thousands of miles apart, we still communicate via email. We're continuing our Spanish lessons up here in Canada. Who knows? We may be able to converse fully with Mario and his family in Spanish someday!

Buenos Noches! Hasta Luego!

Banderas Bay Whalewatching Part 1: Dolphins

Last August, we had cruised Alaska's Inside Passage. We didn't sign up for a whale-watching excursion because of the exorbitant cost of such a tour and hoped to see whales from the ship but that didn't happen.

So when we learned that Alaska whales migrate to the Banderas Bay to breed and have their young, we jumped on the opportunity to see them. It's also costs a lot less to do this in Mexico and we had such a wonderful time with the funnest crew ever! We don't think you'll have
more fun whale-watching with anyone other than the Banderas Bay Kontiki crew.

We set sail from Nuevo Vallarta to Puerto Vallarta to pick up more tourists. This is a 45-minute ride and what a lot of fun that was with dolphins riding the bow-wave of our boat and frolicking in the sea. Unfortunately, I only had my Olympus all-weather camera with me and so I was unable to get the best photos and videoclips of the dolphins. The photo above was the best photo I could get of a dolphin close to our boat.

Video: A pod of dolphins

Video: A dolphin rides the bow-wave of our boat

Mark has a much better videoclip of frolicking dolphins in Banderas Bay. Please CLICK HERE for his videoclip.

The All Inclusive

Since this was our first ever all-inclusive package, we really didn't know what to expect. We knew that all meals, snacks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages (except bottled water, strangely enough) were included. Airfare, hotel and airport shuttles were also included. So were gratuities, although we did tip our housekeeper and the waitstaff at the buffet restaurant because they worked so hard and were the friendliest, warmest staff we'd ever known. Despite having to work hard and for long hours, they were always cheerful. From returning guests, we learned that most of the staff had been with the hotel for many years.

In addition to the buffet restaurant, there is an Italian and a Mexican restaurant in the hotel. They are included, as well, but you have to make advanced reservations for them. We didn't try either of the two additional restaurants. The menu at the buffet restaurant was always changing, the food was delicious and the staff were excellent. There was no need to dine at another restaurant.

The resort also provides snacks when the restaurants are closed so one can pretty much eat all day and night!

The Fun Club at the Occidental Allegro is made up of about 12-15 talented young men and women. These guys work extremely hard. They're dressed in their yellow shirts and blue shorts from 9 - 5 and then, they entertain the guests between 8-10 with a different show every night!
They fill the day with activities which include Spanish lessons, Bingo, dance classes, exercise classes, aqua exercises, beach volleyball, water volleyball, etc. Earl and I only learned about the Spanish classes ten days into our stay but we joined, nevertheless. In the photo above, Earl sets up the chess pieces for a CHECKMATE! We played chess a couple of times. I lost every time!

Video: Members of THE FUN CLUB performing "Grease." Imagine this: they're busy keeping guests occupied all day with Spanish lessons, dance classes, aqua fitness, exercise classes, volleyball, table tennis, Bingo, children's disco, and quizzes and they're entertaining us at night with performances like this!

The Occidental Allegro may be a tad run-down but the staff more than make up for it. They put on a terrific show and do everything to make your stay an enjoyable one. If we chose to visit NV again, we would not hesitate to stay at this hotel.

Close encounter with snowy egrets

I've always been under the impression that snowy egrets are shy, furtive birds that take off when approached because of my experience with the ones in Winnipeg.

So it came as a pleasant surprise to us to meet the approachable snowy egrets of Nuevo Vallarta. Here, they're so used to being around people they walk closely around you, almost ignoring you, while stalking for food in the shallows. It's a beautiful experience to be able to get up so close to such an elegant and normally wary bird and to be able to watch with your naked eye their feeding activities. We often saw them fishing for minnows along the shore but they were also often seen standing on rocks preening. These snowy egrets are also year-round residents.

Video: Close encounter with a snowy egret.

Pelicans and Magnificent frigatebirds

Hola!

When we chose to spend two weeks in Nuevo Vallarta, the wildlife was the last thing on our minds. Our only plan was to get the heck out of this frigid arctic climate, to get a short break from the intense cold and ice we'd suffered since early November.

We didn't expect to see any Canada geese in Nuevo Vallarta and we didn't see any though we did spot two flocks heading north during our daylong tour to Mismaloya, north of Nuevo Vallarta.

I've always enjoyed swimming outdoors but doing so at a beach front resort in Nuevo Vallarta is especially awesome because of the grand spectacle of squadrons of brown pelicans (photo on left; some flocks numbered more than 60 pelicans) flying overhead. For obvious reasons, I preferred the backstroke because I could enjoy the awesome sight of my beautiful feathered friends flapping across the pool on their way to the sea. These pelicans are year-round residents and indeed, what a lovely place to call home! The weather is lovely and there`s plenty of food. This is paradise!

I didn`t bring my SLR so I was unable to capture the photos of the great numbers (I`ve learned that there are over 400 species of tropical birds in this area) of vivid, colorful song birds we saw on the grounds of the resort but another bird that got our attention was appropriately named the Magnificent Frigatebird (photo of female on right; male is fully black). Hundreds of them soared above the tops of resorts and we never saw one on the ground or resting anywhere. They were always in motion and were a spectacular sight as they swooped and sailed on the breeze. Like the pelicans, they`re year-round residents.

Video: A squadron of pelicans winging toward the sea.

Nuevo Vallarta is a paradise not only for its lovely beaches and gorgeous weather. It's an animal lover's paradise.

Hasta Manana!

Breathtaking beaches and awesome climate

Buenos Noches!

The stunning coastline of Banderas Bay is shaped like a gigantic horseshoe and our resort is located along this coastline. The sands of the beach aren't white but we were told that if we walked a long ways up the beach, we'd see some sparkling white sandy beaches but we were satisfied with our beach and the fantastic weather and could not ask for more.

It didn't rain a drop during our entire two-week stay. We saw the groundskeepers busy at work every morning watering the extensive lawns and lush tropical flowers and plants. It was a balmy 80-85F everyday with comfortable humidity and sunny. Definitely, a getaway paradise for winter weary Canadians.

Talking about Canadians, it seemed that almost every Caucasian we met was Canadian. There were plane loads of Canadians from Comox and Vancouver, a real surprise to us because those two cities are supposed to be in the "banana" belt of Canada! Action speaks louder than words!

The guest list at our resort was probably 65% Canadian, 10% American and 25% Mexican. Most of the Mexicans were from central Mexico and we enjoyed meeting them and learning about their country and their culture. Most of the Mexicans converse quite fluently in English even though English is taught very sparingly in public Mexican schools.

'ON THE ROCKS' WEDDING CHAPEL
CAUTION: THIS PATH LEADS TO HAPPINESS OR MISERY.
ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Hasta Manana!

DESAYUNO

BUENOS DIAS!

This hotel is quite old and run-down. The rooms are quite large but the air conditioner is noisy and there's a slight odor. The windows need scrubbing and the window sills need to be cleaned. We are not impressed.

We arrived at the lobby and were making our way to breakfast when we were accosted by a sweet looking lady dressed in a white Occidental Allegro uniform. We told her that we were in a hurry to get to breakfast because we were scheduled to attend an orientation with Andreas, a Sunquest representative. We were hungry, as well. She assured us that Andreas would wait for us and ushered us to a large desk.

At first, she told us about the resort and answered our questions. Then, she deftly maneuvered the conversation to try and get us to sign up to attend a vacation club presentation. We had attended time share presentations in Las Vegas in the past, always leaving unimpressed and we were not about to be sucked into another one so we turned her down many times, despite the enticements she dangled before us.

As soon as we arrived at the buffet restaurant, we were greeted by very warm, friendly waiters. "BUENOS DIAS!" they all called out and we were quickly shown to a table beside flowering tropical plants. The waiter was attentive and very pleasant and made us feel right at home, more than making up for the condition of the hotel.

There was a pretty good spread for breakfast, from the usual American cereals to hot American and Mexican dishes. There was also a large table of fruits, cheeses and cold meats. It's hard to find papayas in Canada and if they're available, they're very expensive so I quickly loaded my plate with it.

While we were having breakfast, we noticed a handful of very daring grackles making off with meat and bread that they swiftly and deftly picked off of plates left by diners when they left their tables. Being a bird lover, I cheered for them and enjoyed their antics. I videoclipped them in action as Earl was having lunch. You can see them busily feeding off a plate to the left of Earl.

Video: Grackles enjoying breakfast behind Earl.

Occidental Allegro (Grand) Nuevo Vallarta

Hola!

It was 4 AM when we checked in. The check in process was done with speed and very little fuss. Unlike hotels in Canada and the US, we were not asked to produce a credit card. Our room "key" was a large white plastic card hanging on a blue ribbon which quickly found its way around our necks. Very convenient and very handy. We were also given a key that was attached to a strange heavy metal block. That, too, came on a chain for wearing around your neck. That was the key and padlock to our safe. When you insert both key and padlock into the safe and lock it, you leave the padlock (thank goodness because it's hefty!) in the safe and you just go about with the key around your neck. And they attached dark blue bracelets on our wrists, which we had to have on the whole time we were at the resort.

After unpacking, we went back down in search of drinking water. Tap water in Mexico is non-potable, unsuitable for drinking. The front desk directed us to two large dispensers, one containing purified drinking water and the other, some kind of tasty fruit juice.

Zzzzzzzzzz .........................

We woke up to this beautiful view from our window on the 6th floor.

Sure beats ice and tons of snow! You can see part of the kiddie splash pool near the coconut trees.

ARRIVAL IN NUEVO VALLARTA

ARRIVAL IN NUEVO VALLARTA
JANUARY 4, 2009

Earl and I traveled with about 110 passengers on a chartered WestJet flight direct to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It was a 4 1/2 hour flight, departing 10:40 PM and arriving at 3 AM Nuevo Vallarta time which was the same as Central Standard Time. WestJet was on time in every way. They even provided a delicious snack without additional charge, which was a pleasant surprise. If you've travelled on flights within Canada or between Canada and the US, you'll have experienced the pay-for-everything-and-get-next-to-nothing treatment on most airlines.

On the flight, we had to fill out an extremely long, laborious custom form but when we got to customs, they barely glanced at the form and waved us through.

Our package included a shuttle to our hotel in Nuevo Vallarta. The airport is about halfway between Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta. After a 20 minute wait which seemed longer because we were tired, we were seated in the shuttle van and joined by four college students from Calgary. One of them was visiting Nuevo Vallarta for the second time.

We noticed that most of the passengers were young, between the ages of 20 - 50. Perhaps retirees aren't interested in spending only two weeks away from the frigid cold of Canada. They're gone for the entire winter! If you know how brutal our winters are in Canada (for example, this morning, January 25 the thermometer registered -17F (-27C) in our fair Winnipeg), you`ll have great sympathy for us. Of course, all inclusive resort stays in Mexico include free booze and that is probably one reason why so many young people sign up for these vacations. We live in Manitoba, a province with oppressive liquor control laws and a government run monopoly on the sale of hard liquor so liquor costs are sky high (it`s mostly taxes upon taxes upon more taxes). If you like to drink a lot, you may spend less on a one-week all-inclusive trip to Mexico than if you drank the same amount in frigid Winnipeg!

Even in the dark, we enjoyed the warmth of the morning as the driver drove us through the quiet, palm-tree lined streets toward our resort, the Occidental Allegro Nuevo Vallarta.

BUENOS DIAS!

Hola from Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico!

JANUARY 25, 2008

Earl and I returned from a fabulous two week vacation in warm, sunny Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico last Sunday, January 18. We're just poring over our trip photos and videoclips now since we came down with a bad cold after we returned to bitterly cold, frigid Winnipeg (oh, what a startling difference the two places are!). So these blog postings are really supposed to be from January 3 through January 18 but we did not have internet access during our trip so could not post while there.

While in Mexico, we learned some Spanish, of course, even though most of the locals could speak English.

Hasta Luego!