It was a wonderful, relaxing time away from two years of isolation. It was great to be in the company of good friends and to socialize with a small selection of their friends who were triple vaccinated and ready to cautiously return to "normal".
A daily float while listening to the birds.
The house was built around the trees.
Looking back at the house from our evening G&T spot.
Our evening G&T location overlooking Los Arcos.
A day trip to Mayto Beach where the sand extended for kilometers.
I made three trips by bus into downtown Puerto Vallarta. Bus fare is 10 pesos (60 cents) regardless of whether you go for one stop or to the end of the route. You do not need the exact fare because the drivers will make change for you. Everyone is masked including the driver.
Walking around in the city it is obvious that Mexicans take the regulations seriously. They are always masked, unlike the tourists who roam around in various states of undress without masks. During my one evening visit to the downtown area I was appalled at the number of tourists crammed into and spilling out of bars without a mask in sight. My thoughts went to the locals who were working in these bars and risking exposure to the virus in order to make a living. I kept my distance with my mask in place!
The park in Central downtown Puerto Vallarta is being transformed
with mosaics on all of the surfaces. It is stunning!
The adjustment to my release from isolation was interesting. Initially I was anxious, tightly masked in the airport and on the plane, using sanitizer on my hands and surfaces. Anxiety ramped up in the PV airport where everyone was masked but not observing distances. Eventually, after one week in Mismaloya, I relaxed enough to board a bus into town and to join my friends for a restaurant meal.
Preparing to return to Vancouver it took a while to complete the ArriveCan app and I was glad that I had taken all of my vaccination info. The pre-travel covid test in PV was easy (650 pesos=$40). They gave me a paper copy and emailed it to me as well. Westjet checkin was a disappointment. It took one hour and could have been handled much quicker with re-alignment of the checkin clerks. The line for those with boarding passes had one clerk and apparently most of us had already acquired our passes. As a result there were 150 in line for one clerk and the remainder in line for the other two clerks.
Thank you again to my hosts who treated me so generously!
