Puerto Vallarta...

I think this picture says it all.... A real outdoor adventure in the jungle of Puerto Vallarta!

This is a picture of us in the Unimog truck...

This is the speed boat we rode to and from the jungle. It was a blast!

This is the first little plaza you come to when getting off the ship. This is where we did a little shopping and hunted down a pay phone to call home.

So here's Day 4:

We arrived into port around 7:00am. By the time we ate breakfast and got our stuff ready for the day we were off the ship by around 8:30am. We walked around this little plaza and did a little bit of shopping.

We were one of the first ones off the ship so the store merchants were like flies on crap. (I guess I just called myself crap...oh well.) All of them shouting in their best English.."you buy necklace for the lady? you need t-shirt? come inside and look" Annoying buggers, I must say! They really won't leave you alone. And of course you ask how much and it's 65 dollars but for you 50 dollars. Then you start to walk away and it's 35 dollars, you buy?

We decided that they are all a bunch of dishonest swindlers. We found a decorative clay plate that the price started at $45. We were able to get her down to $28. She said it costs her $25 per plate so she is really giving away her profit. She said the paint used is expensive also because it is hand painted. So she had a little credit card machine and she swiped our card and the amount said 3300 Pesos. We told her that's $33. She told us, oh no, I calculated the Pesos correctly, don't worry. So after checking out our credit card statement yesterday, yes, she did in fact purposely over charge us. The most irritating part of all of this was that the same plates were available a couple days later in Cabo San Lucas and their starting price was only $15. I guess you live and learn. Lesson learned.

After a few minutes of shopping it was time to meet at the ship for our excursion we pre-booked through the cruise ship. We met up with a group of other people from the ship for an exciting "outdoor experience", is the title the ship used.

We walked around to another part of the marina and got on a little zodiac style speed boat. The boat held about 24 people. Then we zoomed off across the bay for a 25 minute boat ride. It was really fun and we got great views of Puerto Vallarta. The boat took us to a little sandy beach and dropped us off.

The next part of the adventure was riding in the back of a giant truck, or what they called Unimog. We spent 25 minutes driving on very rugged dirt roads through a couple of very humble pueblos. Matt said the experience brought back a lot of memories of his mission in Guatemala. He said the homes and school yards looked very similar.

So after making our way up the canyon in the Unimog, we arrived at a supply station. Here, we were outfitted with rock climbing gear. Helmets, harnesses, caribeener's, etc. Our guide, Fernando, gave us brief instructions on how to properly use the zip lines. He was really funny and was cracking jokes in his broken English. One of the funniest things he said was to all the men...."you careful you harness in good place, you no want your 'kiwis' get hurt!" He then told us we could use the "pee pee rooms" if we needed to. It was really hilarious.

After getting outfitted, we walked over to the stables and got instructions about riding the mules. We hopped on the mules and followed a very steep trail up the mountain. Now I don't have any pictures of this because we weren't allowed to bring anything with us. No cameras, backpacks, etc. for safety reasons. I guess they don't want you hanging 300 feet above the ground trying to fiddle around with your camera. Understandable. So you'll just have to trust me on the mule part. They were tiny little horses who were very stubborn and unfortunately I got the slowest one in the group. No kicking or prodding would get my mule to move any faster. Maybe it was that extra dessert the night before....

It was still better than hiking up the mountain!

So after getting to the top, the real fun began. We started on a trail through the jungle, (a bit dry, because it's their dry season) and came up to our first zip line. This one they call the baby line, because it's the shortest in length and the slowest. The entire time the guides are joking around with you which helps you forget that you are jumping off a cliff and entrusting a little bit of rope with your life. After watching 2 people and Matt go ahead of me, it was my turn. The guide clipped in all my gear and said bend your knees! The second I bent my knees, I was off zipping down the line. It was exhilarating, frightening and complete fun all at once.

So this process was repeated three times, down three bigger, longer and higher zip lines. The views were unbelievable. You could look down and see rivers and waterfalls and huge canyons. I felt like I was in an episode of The Amazing Race! So after doing a few zip lines, it was time to learn how to rappel. I had never done this before and was a little nervous. We were standing at the top of a 100 foot waterfall waiting to descend down into the pool below.

When you rappel, you control your speed by holding or releasing your own rope. It's not too bad. I just didn't think about the height and just went for it. When the guide said sit down, I looked and said "where?" I saw nothing but air. So that first step is a big one! I just sat down and my rope immediately began to move. I did the best I could to keep my legs straight and walk my way down the rock wall. I made it! The cool water of the pool felt nice and refreshing.

Then the next part was really fun. There was another shorter, less steep waterfall where the rocks formed a little water slide. So you just kind of sit down and slide down right into a huge pool of water. I went almost completely under the water. It felt great!

Then a couple more zip lines led us to a hanging pathway in the middle of the jungle. All of the sudden the pathway ends and its time to rappel down again. Only this time, there is nothing to walk down! You just rappel in mid-air! So after freaking out for a minute, I began to descend. No problem! It was really fun!

And then we got to the last zip line of the day...the double. Matt and I got to ride down and the same time. I went really fast at first and pulled ahead, but Matt caught up with me and barely won in the end.

We hiked a short distance back to our starting place and took all of our gear off. A photographer took our pictures the entire time and they had computers you could view them on for purchase. As you can see, we only purchased 1, because they wanted $17 per picture!!! It was a fortune!!

But I had to get at least one to prove to everyone that I really did do it! I made it and lived to tell about it! What an AMAZING experience!

After a little snack, we got back in a passenger van and headed back down the mountain and loaded into the speed boat again. In another 25 minutes across the beautiful bay, we were back at the ship. We had about an hour left before we had to be back on the ship, so we walked around and picked up a few little souvenirs.

My overall opinion of Puerto Vallarta...totally amazing! It really is a beautiful place. I didn't get to go into the heart of town, but got to see it from the ocean and it's really nice. I would like to go back and visit again longer sometime!

After a long, fun day, we got back on the ship and set sail for our next port. It's so nice to see all these cool places and only have to unpack once!

That evening we had a nice dinner and went to more shows. Overall, it was a great day!

Come back tomorrow to find out about our next port!