Puerto Vallarta (Day 3) - Marietas Islands

A couple weeks before this trip, Justin and I had the following conversation:

JDK:  How are you when you travel?

JJD:  Awesome.  I'm awesome when I travel.

JDK:  Okay, so what does that mean?

JJD:  [gleefully] Well, for one thing, it means that I'm going to be okay with sitting on the beach for approximately one day.  And then I'm going to want to get up at the crack of dawn to go bird-and-whale-watching, snorkeling, kayaking, paddle-boarding and cave-swimming, and then come back in time to grab dinner and see a play.  All in the same day.  Doesn't that sound awesome to you?

Because this whole "travel with people you hardly know" thing goes both ways:  Sure, I didn't really know what I was getting into when I signed up to go to Mexico with a bunch of guys I didn't know.  But did those poor souls have any idea what they were getting into when they agreed to have me along?  Ha!  Lucky them!

 

Fortunately, Justin was totally game for an adventure.  We did the planning legwork, and invited the others to join us.  They all made the right choice, which meant that early on Friday morning (some of them brightly sunburned from the day before), we squeezed into Randall's little rental car . . .

 

Six people in a four-person car?  We asked the parking attendant in the condo building if
he thought the police would pull us over.  He said we'd be fine and seemed to wonder why
there would even be any doubt about that... oh, Mexico!

. . . and drove over to the Maritime Marina in search of the Vallarta Adventures office.  I had found Vallarta Adventures through Tripadvisor.  They're by far the highest rated tour agency in Puerto Vallarta, and we'd signed up for their Marietas Eco Discover Tour. 

The line for departures was easy to find.  It was the one next to the giant sea lion that was posing for photos.

The animal had an uncanny ability to know just when the picture would be taken, and it would
stick out its tongue at that precise moment.

After that endearing encounter with Nature, we collected our tickets and found the boat that would be our home for the rest of the day.

We were one of the last ones to board, which was totally a good thing because it meant we got to sit out on the deck instead of under the awning.  We had plenty of room for group photos . . .

Randall, Jon, Justin, me, Jed, Todd

. . . even though the breeze was chilly enough that some of us broke out our jackets.

The islands were about two hours away, but the crew did a good job helping the time pass quickly.  There was a breakfast buffet when we arrived, and when that was cleaned up, the crew came out and started busting out some dance moves.  They were all super entertaining, but this guy's break-dance moves were by far the biggest crowd-pleaser . . . .



Jed and Justin had both been on the BYU folk dance team in college, so Randall had the great idea of telling the captain that Justin was a dancer and should be invited to give a little solo performance, as well.  The captain delightedly obliged and Justin, who had been minding his own business in the back of the audience, suddenly found himself in the spotlight.  Mortified but still a good sport, he got down with his bad self . . . .



Eventually the Marietas Islands came into view.  They were a collection of rocky mounds rising out of the water.   

The islands are protected as a bird refuge, so there were no people on them, and we didn't land.  We did, however, do a tour of one of them to appreciate the rocky formations, appreciate the vast quantities of bird poo that essentially whitewashed the cliffs, and watch the hundreds of birds that perched there and produced said poo.  We also saw a dolphin and a giant sea turtle, but the sightings were to fleeting to get any good photos; sadly, there were no whales.

Hard to tell in this picture, but this was a stone archway into a sheltered cove.

Most of the birds were blue-footed or yellow-footed Boobies. 
Looks like these are all yellow-footed.

Along the way to the islands, the crew had handed out wetsuits and snorkel gear.  We suited up and, once we were within range of the islands, jumped into the water to explore.  The water was chilly and not super clear, and there really weren't that many fish.  We saw a handful of brightly colored angelfish and others that I didn't recognize, but otherwise it was just a lot of rocks.  Definitely nothing like what I saw in the reefs off the coast of Belize.  Still, snorkeling is fun, and the wetsuits kept the chill at bay.

 

 

Once we tired of snorkeling, we headed back to the boat and Justin and I exchanged our flippers for a kayak and paddles; others opted for paddle boards.  We cruised around the islands for a while, sometimes harassing our friends on the paddle boards, sometimes racing the crew-members who were trying to keep people away from the rocks.

He definitely beat us.

A rare moment of synchrony. 

The kayak was unlike others that I've been in.  The shape of the seat and foot placement
made it feel like we were doing one eternal ab crunch, so by the end we just lay back and relaxed.

After everyone on the boat had had a chance to kayak and/or paddleboard, the crew gathered all the people and gear back on board and took us to a neighboring island. 

Candid shot from the boat's onboard photographer with the island in the background.

Pretty soon we pulled up to the mouth of a little inlet where we could see a bunch of heads and life jackets bobbing in the waves. 

"See that cave?" asked the captain.  "That's the gate to a magical hidden beach, and you can only get there by swimming.  So, all our strong swimmers, off you go!  Just be back here in about half an hour or we'll leave you here to live with the birds." 

So back into the water we went.  We had our wetsuits, flippers and life preservers, and it's a good thing, too.  The water was just as chilly as before, the distance much longer, and the currents stronger (all that sucking through the tunnel).  I quickly discovered that swimming forward is quite a workout for the hamstrings!  Within minutes mine were pretty much shot.  Fortunately, all I had to do was turn over on my back and backstroke it the rest of the way.  I couldn't see where I was going, but at least my legs weren't on fire (and I only ran over one person).

The hidden beach really was amazing.  It was like something you'd see in a movie -- a perfect circle of cliffs surrounding a beautiful white sand beach.  If there hadn't been so many other people, it would have been a perfect little paradise. 

But of course there were tons of people, so the only thing to do was strip off our wetsuits and pose for photos.  The photographers from the boat had come onshore with us, so they put us through the paces:

First, stand in the cave like a normal person.

Now flex!
(Definitely the first time I've ever posed for a shirtless flexing photo.)

Now come over here into the sun and EVERYBODY JUMP!!

Look cute!

Okay, now look even cuter!

And on that note, they ordered us back into our wetsuits and into the water.  Time to head back to the mainland!

We got back to the boat and discovered that lunch had been set up:  Sandwiches, various salads, some chips with delicious salsa.  We peeled out of our wetsuits and loaded up our plates.  Fortunately by this time the sun had broken out, so we broke out the hats and sunglasses and got some sun on the deck.

Next thing we knew, a dance party had broken out all around us!  Lunch and a few beers will do that to people.  Of course none of the Mormon boys were drinking, but that didn't stop us from joining in.

Before long we were back on solid ground and the masses began to disperse -- but not before we snagged one of them to take a picture of our post-adventure crew.

Of course, that was only the first part of the day -- we still had so much left to do!  First, showers and a fresh change of clothes at the condo.  Then off to Pancho's for another round of tacos.

Fortunately that hibiscus punch did not turn out to be
a pink frothy drink of doom.

After dinner we walked over to the Palm Cabaret to see the local production of Greater Tuna, a two-man play that satirizes small-town life in Texas. 

It was a decent production, certainly better than I'd expected in a little Mexican resort town.  The energy flagged a couple of times, particularly in the second act, which takes a decidedly darker turn than the first act, and I missed some of the outrageous characterizations that I've seen in productions in the US.  But still it was fun to see the play and to watch the reactions of people who were seeing it for the first time.  There's something special about seeing a piece of American culture in a foreign context that gives a different perspective.  I would have loved to hear what the non-Americans in the audience (or even the Mexican tech team) thought about it.  (Unfortunately, the others in the group didn't share my enthusiasm.  I'm pretty sure they all hated it!  Apparently some of them were hoping for more of a traditional narrative arc and more of a feel-good ending.  Oh well.  At least they all liked the Marietas tour, so the day was still an overall success.)

Puerto Vallarta (Day 2) - Playa de los Muertos

First full day in Puerto Vallarta, and beach is the order of business.  We could have stayed sand-free on our private roof deck, but then we would have missed out on the people watching and wave-surfing.  So we walked down to the famous Blue Chairs section of the beach and staked out a spot near a couple of guys from Chicago who Randall, Todd and Justin all knew -- small world!

Unfortunately, we had a layer of clouds pretty much all day.  That didn't stop us from making the most of it -- we went into serious beaching mode (tan, swim, snack, repeat ad infinitum), and spent literally the entire day there.  And although I would have much preferred a clear, sunny day, it was probably good to have some cover on the first day on the beach because the rays were still plenty strong, and those among us who hadn't pre-tanned still got burned -- and those of us who had pre-tanned made terrific progress on our color base....
 

My beach reading this year:  A biography of Elizabeth I.  Super interesting.

Joel and Devin (both from Chicago), Jed, Justin

Hats!  Yes, Justin and I had basically matching hats.
They came in handy for those moments when the sun broke through the clouds.

Proving, yet again, that no place is too far for the Peruvian pan flute.
We had to pay him off twice to get him to leave.

Eventually we ran out of beach snacks and the sun got low, so we decided it was time for dinner.  We cleaned up at the condo and went out to a "grown up" dinner at Vista Grill, a restaurant perched on the hillside and famous for its views.  It was literally a hike to get there, and because I was in charge I volunteered everyone to hike there with me instead of taking a cab.  The views were truly spectacular, but the food less than inspiring.  We had a nice time but decided that next time we'd stick with the trusty taco stand.
 

The light was so bad I only bothered taking a picture of the appetizer:
seared scallops with foam

Puerto Vallarta (Day 1) - Vacation!

Okay, so you know how every place has its quirky cultures and traditions?  Like, how Seattleites pretend never to use umbrellas and all have purple-dyed mohawks and electric cars?  Well, one of the Seattle quirks that I'm definitely on board with is using the grey, wet winter as an excuse to take springtime vacations to tropical places like Hawaii and Mexico. 

I'd noticed that trend shortly after I moved here last year, when everyone was just getting back and was all tan and couldn't stop talking about how they'd run into their entire neighborhood on the beach in Maui, and I'd been thinking that I needed to get in on the action.  Then, back in January, I decided to switch wards, and before I knew it one of the guys in the new ward asked if I wanted to join him and a group of friends (all LDS) for a week in a penthouse condo in Puerto Vallarta.  Of course I said yes --  because international travel with a bunch of strangers?  Why not! 

I used the intervening weeks to start working on my tan, getting to know Justin better (everyone else was coming from other states, so they had to remain strangers), and trying not to take over planning the entire trip for everyone.  Fortunately, Justin and I hit it off, and by the time we got to the airport I knew it would be a great trip. 
 

Airport selfie! 
With our pre-Mexico tans and plenty of layers to take off the instant we landed in Mexico.

The flight down was smooth and uneventful.  We spent most of it reading shelter magazines and watching Scott Pilgrim vs The World, which was surprisingly delightful and perfect vacation fare.  We sailed through immigration and customs (an advantage to arriving mid-week!) and met up with Todd (a guy from New York), who had arrived about twenty minutes before us, and Randall (from DC), who had come with the car to give us a ride into town. 

Justin had stayed in the condo last year, and he'd told me that it was spectacular.  Turns out, he wasn't exaggerating!  On the top floor of the Molino de Aguas complex, it was arguably the best location in town.  We had three full master suites on two levels, with indoor-outdoor dining and living areas, a private sun deck and infinity pool on the upper level, and stunning views of the bay and city. 

Residencia Molina de Aguas.  We were on the penthouse level.

Through some sort of negotiation kung-fu, Justin managed to lay claim to the upstairs bedroom
for us.  It was definitely the best room in the unit, with a sliding glass wall that gave out onto the
rooftop deck.

Our private rooftop deck and infinity pool. 
The pool had a bench running along the back, so we could sit and watch the sun set each night.

Looking north across Puerto Vallarta and the bay.

Looking down on the complex's shared pool and public beach.

The view to the south.  The mountains added such drama to the coastline!

After dropping off our bags and pausing long enough to change into shorts and sandals and meet Jon (another New Yorker) and Jed (from Utah), we all piled into Randall's tiny rental car and headed out to Walmart to stock up on groceries for breakfast, beach snacks and late-night munchies.

 

Walmart in Mexico is exactly like Walmart in the US.  Kind of surreal.

With that errand out of the way, we headed out in search of dinner.  Justin and Randall convinced everyone that tacos from Pancho's Tacos were the right answer -- so we placed an order for about forty tacos (4 little tacos per person), and then went to the beach to watch the sun set while the tacos were being prepared. 

 

There was a neat jetty that let us walk out over the water and take in the views.  Naturally it was a great spot for photos of our newly formed group.

 

Justin and me

Jed, Justin, me, Randall, Todd, Jon

Randall, Justin, me, Todd, Jon

We knew that by the time the sun had set, our tacos would be ready.  So we bid farewell to the sun and then picked up our boxes of tacos and brought them back to the beach to watch dusk turn into night.

 

The famous tacos "al pastor", meaning pork with pineapple, cilantro, onions and jalapenos.

Randall and Jed

Jed, Randall, Justin, me

We polished off those tacos in approximately three seconds and still had room for dessert.  So we went to Lix and got frozen bananas on a stick.

I got a frozen banana that was filled with salted caramel, dipped in
dark chocolate and rolled with pecans.

Having thus satisfied our collective sweet tooth, we went back to the condo to sit in the pool and watch the pirate party ship launch fireworks into the night sky.  What a great start to a vacation!

China!

It's official.  The destination for this year's Big Trip (Part 1) is China!  Amanda and I bought our plane tickets tonight for a weeklong trip in early June to Beijing, Shanghai and, well, wherever else we can get to before we have to fly home.  We have done exactly zero research; the only things we know are (1) we'll be able to visit QN and Niko before the German Embassy transfers them somewhere else; (2) Beijing is a Michelin city; and (3) apparently there's some toboggan on or near the Great Wall that Amanda wants to slide down.  Obviously this is going to be awesome.

Oh, and in case you missed the implication of "Part 1" above:  We decided to switch up our travel format this year.  Instead of doing a single big trip over two weeks in the summer, we decided to split it up into two biggish trips; one in the summer, the other in the winter.  That way we can visit places that don't make as much sense during North American summers (I'm voting for an island location in the southern hemisphere that has penguins but is not Antarctica) while also sticking around for the incredible Seattle summer.

Fun fun!

Crossfit, Concertos and Acrobats

It's Monday morning and so far every single person I've met has asked me, "Did you do anything fun last weekend?"  Well, yes, I did. 

For one, I competed in the first round of the Crossfit Open, which is the qualifying competition for the Reebok Crossfit Games.  I obviously have zero pretention to actually being competitive enough to move on past the local level, but I decided I'd give it a try.  I've been doing Crossfit for a couple of years now, and all my friends and coaches at the gym had signed up and were encouraging me to give it a try. 

The competition was on Saturday morning; my round was at 9:50.  I had a taped lane with a pullup bar, a barbell, a bunch of weights and a judge.  My task:  In 9 minutes, complete as many rounds as possible of 15 toes-to-bar, 10 deadlifts (85lbs) and 5 snatches (85lbs).  After that, I'd have 6 minutes in which to achieve a 1-rep max doing a clean and jerk. 

I'm not going to lie:  I was super nervous.  I'm a neurotic perfectionist; I hate failing; I hate looking like an idiot; I hate being weak; I hate not being the best at what I do.  So to go into a competition where I knew I'd be doing really hard things in front of a judge and an audience was way outside my comfort zone.  And that's exactly why I did it.  Thanks to hard work, talent, blessings and, frankly, a lot of luck, I've spent most of my life doing things really well, succeeding with aplomb.  It's good sometimes to go outside the comfort zone and feel those nerves and sense of inadequacy and competition and desire to get better.

And, truth be told, I did fine.  And by "fine" I don't mean in terms of score (my score is here, but I don't know how to interpret it); instead, I mean that I completed the workout with integrity and roughly at the level that I expected to.  I was weaker than expected in the toes-to-bar (my grip was shot after the first couple rounds) but strong in the deadlifts and better than expected in the clean and jerk (I maxed at 125 lbs, which is a personal record).  So overall it was a positive experience, and now I'm looking forward to the next workout at the end of this week.

* * *

If the Crossfit Open was outside my comfort zone, my other weekend activities were squarely within:  On Saturday night, I went to a Seattle Symphony concert, where I saw them perform Mozart's Overture to the Marriage of Figaro and his Piano Concerto No. 22, and Beethoven's First Symphony.  All three pieces were nice and familiar, and I continue to be impressed at the quality of the symphony's sound.

On Friday I went with Justin and his family to see Cirque du Soleil's traveling show, Kurios.  Set up in a giant, multi-colored tent on the outskirts of town, it reminded me of Dumbo -- that opening sequence when the men are raising the tent, and then later when the enraged mother brings the whole place down around their ears.
 

Fortunately for us, there were no enraged elephant mothers protecting their children -- only fantastic acrobats and circus performers.  As with any Cirque show, the aesthetic was elaborate and the acrobatics wonderful.  I missed the large-scale spectacle of the permanent Las Vegas shows, but I also appreciated the authentic circus feel of seeing everything under a big-top tent on a more accessible human scale.

Justin and me in front of the tents.

The Ride: Chilly Hilly

The cycling season starts early in Seattle!  Every year on the last Sunday in February, thousands of cyclists turn out for the Chilly Hilly on Bainbridge Island in the Puget Sound.  It's a short (33 miles) ride and, as you might have guessed from the name, famous for it hills and chilly weather. 

I had heard about the ride last summer from some friends who live on the island but had forgotten all about it (a convenient thing to do when it's cold and dark and rainy outside).  But then last Wednesday, Colin (a friend of mine from law school who now lives here) asked if I was planning to ride -- the weather was forecast to be clear and registration closed that night!  Of course I signed up.

I spent the next couple of days wondering whether I had enough cold-weather cycling gear to survive.  After a quick inventory of my various tights, arm warmers and gloves, I discovered I was better equipped than I'd thought.  One quick trip to the bike shop for some toe covers and a new pair of gloves, and I was set!

Sunday morning dawned crystal clear and super cold (about 36 degrees F).  Colin picked me up and we headed down to the ferry terminal, where we collected our packets and waited in line with several hundred other crazy people.

The Seattle cycling culture may be a little more laid back than what I was used to in DC.
My fancy bike and color-coordinated spandex outfit stood out amidst the locals in their puffy
coats and commuter bikes.  (Colin may or may not have said I looked like a Power Ranger...)

There's our ferry in the distance! Happily, we all made it aboard.

The ferry ride is only about 30 minutes long, and we rode right off the boat.  That's when I realized that I'd forgotten my bike computer at home in its charging station and was faced with this terrible existential question:  If you ride a race without a satellite to track your route and your speed and your elevation gain and elapsed time, HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU'VE RIDDEN THE RACE AT ALL??  You don't.  I stopped on the side of the road and tried to emergency download an app to track all that for me, but alas! no use.  The app didn't work and so I have basically no record of the ride. 

Colin, on the other hand, had an app that worked just fine, so here's his map of the route we rode:

In case you're wondering, I live on the Seattle side right below the "O" in Fremont, a couple blocks up from the water.

It was a terrific little ride.  Although the air was cold, the sun was bright and clear and warm.  And the notorious hills came fast and often, so there was no time to get bored or cold even in the shadows.  The crowd was a little annoying at first -- the ability level was all over the place, and so you'd have people stopping to walk or swerving out into the middle of the road suddenly -- but eventually I passed those people and settled into a good pace that was fun and fast.  At least, I assume it was fast.  Without my computer I can't say what my average speed was; all I know is that only six people passed me in the course of the ride, and more than one spectator waved at me shouting "SLOW DOWN!! THIS ISN'T A RACE! IT'S NOT LIKE YOU'RE GOING TO WIN ANYTHING!!"  To which I said, "Screw you! What's the point of riding up a giant hill if you can't ride fast down the other side?"  I finished in a little under 2 hours (which, by comparison, is about an hour faster than Colin and the other guys I started with).

The best thing, though, was the scenery.  Bainbridge Island is a gorgeous, lushly forested residential community with beautiful homes and by breathtaking views of the Puget Sound, Seattle, and snow-capped mountains all around.  I kind of regret that I didn't stop to take more pictures.  I guess that's what I get for going fast...

By the time I reached the end of the race, my legs had definitely decided that they were done riding hills.  They cramped and spazzed and it was pretty hilarious how painful it was to walk like a normal person.  I thought perhaps a bowl of chili would help the situation, but it turns out chili was not included in the price of my registration, so I stuck with the granola bars I'd brought with me.

Fortunately for my spazzing legs, I didn't have to head back to Seattle on my own.  My friend Justin is from Bainbridge Island, and he had come over on a later ferry to meet me at the finish line.  We threw my bike into Justin's car and went to his parents' house to clean up and have Sunday dinner with his mom and brothers before heading out for a quick tour of the island. 

Mostly we just drove around looking at the homes and shorelines that I'd glimpsed during the ride.  We stopped at Bainbridge Gardens (a lovely little nursery, where I bought a plant but took no pictures) and Bay Hay & Feed (an eclectic general store of sorts, known for its t-shirts and other products with repeating patterns of small animals).

Turns out these animal patterns are super popular on the island.

Then we stopped for photos at the so-called Frog Rock.  I'd seen it on the ride, when it had been thronged with cyclists posing for selfies, so I thought it worth a second pass.  (I hadn't even noticed the ladybug rock the first time around.)



That's Justin in the foreground; his mother took the photo.

We had intended to see a few more things on the island, and had hoped to stop at a famous ice cream shop, but Sunday evening rush hour foiled those plans.  By the time we got back to the downtown area, we discovered that the ferry line was already super long.  We got in line and waited for a couple of hours before we could board -- so instead of ice cream, we bought hot dogs and chili from the ferry restaurant and made plans to go back for ice cream and real food another time.