Continued from yesterday…. We were shocked to see that there was even an area with a cemetery! This is one of dozens of headstones
There were more walkways that explored the outer areas of the gardens. We were warned that these outer trails were long and could be arduous.
First, we did the Vanilla Trail, which was a loop that had several offshoots from the main trail. We may have missed one or two of the offshoots, but we did most of them. There weren’t signs with plant names, so we weren’t sure if this was natural rainforest or if non-native species had been planted. It was hilly, with many sets of staircases and a suspension bridge.
We skipped our normal routine of morning schoolwork and chores, and instead hopped in the car and headed south. As mentioned yesterday, the flat, wide multi-laned (6 – 8 lanes for most of the way) highway between La Cruz de Huanacaxtle and Puerto Vallarta paralleled Bandaras Bay. On the bay side, there were many high-rise tower hotel/condo complexes, a huge resort complex with a water slide park and air tram, a couple of military bases, the airport, and a cruise ship terminal. In between, were assorted commercial buildings. The construction was dense and there were few glimpses of the ocean. The other side of the street was also lined the entire way with buildings, though this side had more industrial-type businesses, car dealerships, and strip malls. Except for the median, there was little greenery. Since it was early on a Sunday, there wasn’t much traffic and we made it to downtown Puerto Vallarta in an hour.
As we also mentioned yesterday, shortly after passing the cruise ship terminal, the road suddenly changed to narrow, one-way cobblestone roads upon entering the historic downtown area. The downtown area also had little greenery. Only a few blocks beyond where we’d parked yesterday, there was another stark line indicating that we’d crossed the threshold from downtown to the part of town called Zona Sur.
Continued from yesterday… after we toured the chocolate museum and tasted the free samples, we stocked up on chocolate (chocolate is an important passage food, especially in rough seas).
We headed south to the Our Lady of Guadelupe Parish, which was a block inland. It was built in the 1930s, and probably the most unique thing about this church is that there is a crown on top of the middle tower instead of a cross. However, there are crosses on the smaller two towers that flank it on each side.
Since we had some time to kill before La Iguana opened for dinner, we decided to check out the new Naval Museum on the malecon. The admission fee was $3.00 for adults and $2.50 for students.
We started the day off with morning chores. Eric was convinced that there was still kelp or a line caught in the propellor, but none of us were particularly eager to get in the water to look.
Eric attached an underwater video camera on a boat hook and stuck it in the water. Eric was vindicated when the footage showed that there was something tangled in the propellor!
Sunrise on Thursday, December 12 (taken from aboard Kosmos):
Eric changed the engine oil first thing in the morning, before it got hot. He also tightened a hose connection for the engine’s oil drain, where a slight oil leak had developed. Then we took Kosmos over to the fuel dock to top off the fuel tanks.
After returning to our slip, we decided to get lunch at the Iguana’s Garden Sanctuary, as the name piqued our interest. It was located near the port captain’s office. Much to our disappointment, when we arrived at the address, we saw it was a condo complex with no sign of any kind of garden or restaurant.
The closest restaurant was on the waterfront at the north end of the boardwalk that surrounded the protected basin, so we ate there.
