Puerto Vallarta - At Last

Woke up to a beautiful sunny day on in our place on Play Los Muertos (Beach of the Dead). Despite the name, which the town keeps trying to change to Play del Sol, it is a most pleasant beach and it is a pleasure to be here. But you didn't come here to read a travel guide, so let's get down to business.

205) Steve's Sport's Bar

After having breakfast I stopped into this place, a great favorite of mine. It used to be called Le Club and the metal chairs still feature a large club (the card type, not the banging type) on the back. The owner and most of the customers are Canadian. Steve is a very personable guy and the place is always crowded. The feature a lot of Nasar on the televisions, but also show just about every other sport that is on too. The place is packed with Nascar memorabilia, signed pictures of drivers, pictures of cars, you name it and they have it.

I had a Pacifico.

206) Reggies

This is a little place on 509 Olas Altas. It is a bit off the beaten track and right across the street from the somewhat infamous Palm, about which I am sure you will here more later. When to a great drag show there last year. Anyway, back to Reggies. It had a nice parquette surfaced bar with a copper, rather than a brass, rail. Some original artwork on the wall that was for sale, but not much else distingquishing the place except for a friendly bartender.

I had an Indio (a Mexican beer).

207) La Bamba

On 212 Basilio Badillo (known as restaurant row) is this little place. I have eaten here in the past and the food is pretty good. The owner is quite friendly and said if we came back for dinner we would get our second round of drinks on the house. There are a lot of photos of old Mexico featuring revolutionaries from the Pancho Zapata era. This is a quite common decorating theme down here. There was, somewhat inexplicably, also a large picture of what looked to be a Japanese tea ceromony.

I had an excellent frozen margarita made from scratch. It really hit the spot.

208) Senor Frogs

This is quite the spot late at night when it is often so packed you cannot get in. A very young crowd then. I figured I would take advantage of it being almost empty during the early afternoon. Pretty flourescent place with a large green flourescent call hanging from the ceiling that had a large flourescent orange udder. There was an elderly couple having a drink there and they looked so out of place I went over to talk to them. It turned out they had come in on a cruise ship and Senor Frogs was on the recommended list of places to visit. I said that was a shame because it is so touristy and there were so many other places they shoud see. I told them about a few but they had to catch a cab and head back to the ship. A real shame that out of the whole city this was the only place they saw. They didn't look to happy about it either.

I had an ice-cold shot of Jagermeister.

209) El Torito

Right across the street (I will try to get the addresses later) is this rather large sports bar that has some of the best and most inexpensive ribs in town. There is a little L shaped bar by the window so this is where I sat.

I had a Bacardi and Coke.

210) Sweeny's

This place is on Olas Altos, the short main drag in the part of town where I stay. The major part of the city is across the river and this area is known as either the Old Town or the Romantic Area. Sweeny's is owned by a guy that has a few bars in St. Paul, kind of my old stomping grounds. I grew up in Minneapolis, the better half of the Twin Cities. Anyway, this place has nice seating right by the window where you can watch the goings on down below. Has a great mural on the wall that will give you an new appreciaton for maps, topography, and the female anatomy.

I had an inexpensive margarita and I got what I paid for, not much.

211) Oscar's

This place is a very nice restaurant on the island in the middle of the river that separates the two sides of town. It is on the end of the Island closest to the bay and has a nice view of the sunset. A lot of birds fly up the river as it gets dark so the view is very nice. We had a lovely dinner there but before that I sat at the bar and had a drink.

I had a margarita

212) Daquiri Dick's

A very nice bar and restaurant right on the bay that also has great food. My friends who got down here before me have already eaten here three times. It has a nice tiled bar inside and an interesting statue of, what looked to me, to be a horny cow. But then I was a bit tipsy by now so who knows what it really was. If I get a chance I may take a second look and fill you in later.

I had a daiquiri and headed on home after what was a fun first day in the sun.

Made pretty good progress and now have 788 left to go.