I was keen to see more of the Old Town (Centro) of Puerto Vallarta. I also had lost all faith in finding good coffee so I decided to hedge my bets and go for Starbucks.
I jumped on the local bus again, and soon I was in the centre. It was Sunday, and clearly the Churches were very busy. I also noticed an awesome and weird game going on between some girls. It was fun to watch.
There are so many stunning old buildings here.
There is also a building that has been renovated for Starbucks.
Inside Starbucks, it was overwhelmingly filled with American and/ or Canadian tourists. I haven’t been in a touristy coffee shop for a while, so I was shocked and appalled to see how rude these tourists were. They barked their orders at the poor local staff, and there wasn’t a please or thank you to be heard. Who are these people?
It was a little bit rainy, so I set myself up at the window for some tourist-watching.
The drizzle stopped, so I headed to the boardwalk. It was such a beautiful day.
It was a good place to put my feet up.
Walking back along the boardwalk were most graceful sculptures.
This part of town, felt a little……. fake. From some of the buildings I could see some types of tourists coming here.
There was a cool sandcastle sculptor though. Reminded me of the sandcastle building championships they have in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast, Australia.
Another lovely sculpture.
I got a feeling, looking at the tourists here, that they really just come down to Mexico to eat and drink – a lot.
It looks like the “timeshare” industry here is huge, and not positive for everybody? Not sure what this means…
However, I did stumble on some colourful and unique street art pieces.
Walking through the backstreets was much more quiet.
Again, I could see why so many love it here.
I finally found a Vegetarian Buffet, and I was determined to try it, but when I went inside, there were heaps of people. It was too crowded and the buffet in the back corner didn’t look appealing. So I walked out.
I headed back to the main street to catch the bus.
From the bus I saw my favourite street art in Puerto Vallarta, and a cute couple standing next to it. I snapped a pic, and realised afterwards that it’s my favourite pic here. It really sums up the colour, warmth and caring of this amazing country and its people.
Back in Las Aralias, I headed straight to Macai for some food. Their quinoa and veggie bowl was my favourite.
This is also a tourist-free zone, so everyone is quiet and polite. I love it.
