Day of the Last

The next morning I decided to go up the mountain again.  But first I stopped by Starbucks for a little pick-me-up.

This time I walked a little further down before heading up one of the long stairways.  I was pretty close to where I ended up the time before though.  It was ok, I just found new streets to explore!

After some horizontal traversing, I came upon a few of these really steep, alleyway-like stairs.  They were surrounded by beautiful houses and flowers, and unbelievable views.  The second picture shows the little bridge I was standing on at the top of one of these ravines to get the first picture.

I also found this cool wall mural with the ocean, cobblestone streets, and houses overflowing with plants!  Very true to what PV is actually like.

I wandered around for a couple hours, taking lots of pictures.  It reminded me a bit of being back in Europe on my study abroad trip, how I would spend whole afternoons just wandering around on my own, exploring a new area or museum, and taking lots and lots of pictures.  I wish the US had a little more flair, or maybe I'm just lamenting that the Southern portion of the county where I now live isn't very walkable, or not nearly as pretty.

I ended up back down by our hotel and enjoyed a little balcony time before everyone else got back.  One of the best parts about our balcony was the people watching.  The Malacon stretched out along the beach right in front of our hotel so there were always people to observe.  And who did I see when I was out there?!

And they saw me!

That afternoon we were all pretty tired of the pool and sun, so we just hung around the room, starting to pack up and enjoying the last day on the balcony.  Overall it was a delightful trip, filled with many plates of guacamole and chips, many margaritas of varying sizes, and lots of laughs.

That is to be expected when I'm with my two favorite travel buddies, though.  Viva Puerto Vallarta!

(photos by e.hunt, and r.hunt)