After Mexico City we bit our tongues and went on a 12 hour bus journey to Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific Coast. We arrived at dawn and after some minor stresses involving lack of langauge skills decided to watch the sun rise over the beach and wait til it was light...

Grabbed a coffee and after some huevos rancheros (eggs with chilli sauce) for nina, and a waffle with strawbrries, cream, maple syrup and pecan nuts and suger fro ian, we jumped in to the water taxci to Yelapa, a fishing village set in a cove on the Bay of Banderas.  Only accessible bo boat..this place is amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing. picture postcard white sandy beaches backed by jungle.

we hired a house on the edge of the ocean with avocado and coconut trees and passion fruit bushes behind us and settled in to relax. This proved VERY easy to do and 5 days passed without any trouble.  From our balconey we could watch the spotted rays and fish swim past and watch the amazing birds fly by (magificent frigate birds which have a baloon type throat which is bright red, very cool. Huge pelicans, cranes, vultures, humming birdfsetc) and all the butterflies, a crazy huge amount of beautiful butterflies flapping past.

we also had a few fishermen to watch (and try to copy, without the best results) and bought fresh fish off them everyday! Best fish in the world! very satisfying when you{ve watched it be caught and then eaten it less than 30 mins later! also good to eat were the famous pies baked by Augustina, disgustingly good. Coconut and pecan were our faves and we ended up having about 3 slices a day between us. oops.

behind the village is a waterfall which we went to most days to swim in, amazingly cool water, very much needed as was very humid there! Basically, it is a paradise place, the beach is beautiful, the people friendly, the ocean warm and clear enough to snorkel in easily. saw tons of fish, recognised lots of them from Nemo..

 it was great, and very hard to leave but leave we had to and am now sitting in a sweaty internet cafe in Los Mochis, a town full of cowboys, about to embark on the next adventure to the Copper Canyon, or Barranco de Cobre. Tune in next time for tales of trekking and horse riding in cowboy country folks.

Hasta luego!

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