Hey guys..... its Hana for once :)

Well what was planned as a stop over, ended up being 4 nights, which must have meant we like a bit of Mexican Culture!!!

After 20 hours on a coach we weren't in the mood for my traveling but we stayed strong and caught the local bus from the bus station. From the travel book/Mexican bible Puerto Vallanta looked a small locals city where you stopped over and did tours from... how wrong were we! We jumped on our bus, having no idea of the direction we should be heading or signs to look out for but we guessed if it went wrong we go back to the bus station and try again, but it was all good, we arrived 20 minuets later at our hostel Viva la Vida.

This hostel was the first one we went for a dorm and it was ten bed (nothing like your own privacy!) in the end only two other girls shared with us and they only spoke Spanish and we only spoke English so that was that. We spent the afternoon unpacking and exploring our new adventure. Puerto Vallanta is an extremely culture City, with a different statues or arty things on every corner (Becki has take a picture of a few and i have take some of us drunk by the in the evening) The city was full of little back alleys, packed with silver and tequila shops. Behind our hostel there is a huge old church which is open 24 hours and in always full of people praying...it has a very active (especially in the morning) church bell.

That night we went for a long walk along the sea front and found a really nice Italian... I know its bad but man it was so good (we ended up going back another night to!) The sea front was cool, it had a mixture of bars, clubs, restaurants and shops, with a number of street sellers. We brought some Sol's and came across on open theater, where locals perform acts and you tip them at the end. We watched a mime which was wicked as they was no language barrier. During the performance I said to Becki 'I always get picked from the crowd, likely we are sat behind him' Yea I know what your thinking, famous last words. We went to our local oxox stocked up ready to watch the next act. This time is was a Mexican clown so there were a few language issues (we didn't have a clue) but his actions were very clear!!! Oh wait then I got chosen from a 200 person crowd, the only person there who couldn't speak a word of Spanish was chosen. Even more scarey was the previous joke was against the Americans... Prior to this Becki taught me how to say my name is Hannah, which I thought that was what the clown had asked me, so in front of everyone, when he asked how my day was I said 'my name is Hannah' good start! It got better though, all I had to do was lie down and let him uni cycle jump over me!! this went on for a bit when finally he fake jumped, so I shock his hand and shoot off the stage,nooooo he wasn't done! He made me a heart balloon which sounds nice, but he insisted on talking to me when I didn't have a clue, but hey it was good fun!

Day 2, we explored some more, hung out at the beach and looked in some shops. We met some Candian people in our hostel who we become friendly with and ended up partying with them! We ate dinner in this local Mexican restaurant and the waitress didn't have a clue, so much so, she dropped 40 peso's. We decided after a lot of thought we aren't that poor yet, so kindly gave them back to her with a big smile. On our walk back from dinner we met up with our new Canadian friends (I don't remember their names.) We looked in some bars but nothing took our fancy, so we heading to our roof top bar from on our hostel for a few cheap drinks then headed out. We found a club where ladies drink free and as there were three, we took advantage big style.

Day 3, was our first official tour, which after a heavy night having to get up at 7.45 was a mission, especially to find they wrote the time down wrong and we didn't need to be there until 11! :( Anyway, the tour was a city tour, tequila tasting and waterfall tour.) November the 20th is Mexicans day of revolution and there was a massive parade to celebrate and everyone was there. There were local schools, dance groups, eco people (who had a live alligator) all the different types of forces and the colours were so bright and out there. There was such a happy vibe and everyone including the tourists were full of energy and excitement.

Our tour guide then showed us some beautiful sites and some amazing properties, which would give Sandbanks a run for their money. We then visited a tequila farm and tasted a variety of tequilas, all different strengths, flavours and colours... but I wasn't having any of it. Tequila to me is a disgusting shot, you only do it if your poor and you have salt and lemon. Becki liked them though, maybe I can't appreciate a good spirit??? the next part of the tour was the best bit. We arrived at El Eden where the film Predator was shot. There were still a few parts of the movie set available to see, now I haven't seen the film but people were excited! If you know the film, you will know the beautiful green setting it was in. There were trees everywhere we looked a big waterfall and even a rope to swing on! As the rest of the group tucked into some food, Becki and me explored our new found surroundings. We swang of the rope and landed into the lake, pushed ourselves of the waterfall, which turned into the slide but the funniest part was, a couple was so worried we didn't eat, they gave us some of their hotel lunch! We told them we had some food on the coach but they were worried we were wasting away!

Day 4, we decided it would be time to move on. Our reason for this, is that I could navigate myself around, so we had spent too long here. As it was our last day, we decided to go back to one of the local beach's we saw on the tour yesterday, as it was know for its snorkelling. We brought some snorkels and jumped on a local bus all happy at this point. We had a chat between ourselves and got our wires crossed. We jumped off at a beach but ended walking about 1.5 miles up hills in the heat to find a way to access the beach. In the end a local street seller showed us the local way down, which was horrible and we saw a snake! We arrive at a beach, and as we were about to jump in, one lady told us a crocodile had been spotted in the lagoon, however we were hot, bothered and other people were still swimming, so we carried on!

We soon got bored and decided to move on, however we had to walk though a posh hotel to get out. We jumped on another bus and made it to the right beach. We haggled with a local and managed to get a snorkelling trip for 5 pounds! The trip was really good, again they spoke in Spanish occasionally shout at us words, where we just nodded and smiled. We saw lots of fish, some big, some small but all very colourful!

We are moving on tomorrow to another beach resort called Sayulita. The Canadians have headed that way camping we not that poor yet so looking at staying in a beach hut on the sea front, its a hard life! Where we are going is not a tourist spot so internet may be difficult! So may not be in contact for a few days!

Addios amigos xxxx