Chrissi and I are sitting on the patio of the Suites La Siesta in Puerto Vallarta, where we got a room for the night, since our condo has been booked for about ten months. New Year’s Eve is a pretty big holiday in these parts. We’re way up on a hill east of town, and our patio faces the ocean with the Zona Romantica in the foreground. Quite a nice place, and probably the last room in Puerto Vallarta on New Year’s Eve.
The trip was uneventful, though departing at six a.m. and going to Seattle first is not ideal. Once we arrived in PV we immediately went to Costco because we’re cooking for a family reunion in Yelapa all this week. It’s odd how Costco here has many of the same things, yet stuff you count on them carrying at home they have never heard of here. No cheddar cheese; no frozen spinach; no big bags of avocados. So we had to go to two or three stores to get our shopping list filled. After trying to find our hotel with no success we asked a motorcycle cop where it was and he gave us a police escort! Good thing, too! We never would have found this place. Traffic was crazy, since it was New Year’s Eve. No parking anywhere. Since our two-star hotel is at the top of a very steep hill we had to say a few prayers to make the grade. Finally, we checked into our “suite.”
I wanted to treat Chrissi to a special night out on the town so we went to the penthouse of the hotel to their fancy restaurant, which had a special menu for New Year’s Eve – about $150 USD per plate! We hobnobbed with the beautiful people, enjoyed the fabulous view and then we left because who can afford $300 for dinner?
So then we walked down to the malecon (boardwalk along the ocean) where all the regular people hang out. There were thousands of people meandering along. Parents with small children, many young people dressed to the nines, venders here and there selling lighted, blinking hair bows and tiaras for the kids, cotton candy, noisemakers, and of course drinks and food. We tried in vain to find a nice little café where we could have guacamole and a beer. So we walked WAY up the hill and enjoyed the view and the sounds of folks partying away. The fireworks were pretty nice, and only lasted about an hour. The music and partying stopped promptly at 6:00 a.m., but we slept like babies anyway.