I slept 7 hours again Friday night, up around 5:30am. I went to OXXO twice for coffee after they opened at 6am, worked on the blog in between, then had a bit of time to relax before I met Greg at 8am.

I don’t get tired of this view.

I was meeting Greg at a place on Olas Altas, one of the main drags near the beach. I walked along the Malecon from my place to this point where it sort of forks to the right and turns into a street – the one I wanted – going forward. The photo above is of a place just after that split. I had never noticed these flags before – maybe because during the day there are umbrellas in front so they’re not as easy to see. But as I walked past this I thought “Interesting – Puerto Vallarta in 4 flags” and then doubled-back a bit to get the photo.

Greg and I were going to meet at a place called Salud – very popular, #20 on TripAdvisor. This is my 3rd attempt to go there and my 3rd fail. They didn’t open until 9am. The last 2 times I went they weren’t even open because each time was Sunday and they are closed. (I don’t have a good memory at times!) So I guess I won’t make it this trip either.

After several failed attempts – this is not a morning town! – we found a place on the same street called Foodie Lovers. How can you go wrong with a name like that? It has outdoor seating on both sides of the sidewalk and more inside. That’s Greg at our table on the right.

I loved these wings painted on the wall behind the chair for the open mike.

I got an omelet with chorizo, onions and mushrooms.

Greg had a rancheros omelet. The food was good and the vibe terrific, we would go back.

we passed through a farmer’s market in the main square.

In the evenings there’s often live entertainment from a stage area to my right and this is where people sit. We didn’t buy anything but enjoyed looking at all the stuff, especially the great food that was out, including some surprises like Indian and Thai.

Jon Scott had introduced me to a real estate agent friend of his via email, and we made arrangements to meet at 11:15am. This is Vitea on the Malecon (notice the water to the left). Greg and I were a bit early and got a table right by the entrance. I took this photo while Greg used the restroom. It wasn’t until later that I realized: hey, that’s my balcony! The first one just above the awning sort of center right is mine. I’d somehow never caught the name of this place before, just one of many eateries along the Malecon.

Required selfie of the day while we waited for our drinks.

Hibiscus teas and a couple of pastries.

We looked at a few things with this agent, and had looked at one other right after breakfast. The objective was exploratory and that was met. I learned a lot and will have lots to discuss with Ash when I get home.

We were done about 1:45 and decided to return to Mariscos Cisneros, where I’ve been 3 times now on food tours – and finally have an actual meal.

I didn’t realize until we were here on Thursday that they have an outdoor seating area in the back.

Greg got this amazing dish in a pineapple. Shrimp and octopus in this buttery cheese sauce. It was incredible.

Shrimp and steak fajitas for me, with some surprise sausage on top that I really liked. It was a lot of food. We both took stuff home.

We walked back up Lazaro Cardenas (street) together and poked into various shops, including a clinic where I will get my COVID test today so they’ll let me on the plane tomorrow. We said goodbye when we got to Olas Altas and went opposite directions from there.

I went back to my room and rested a bit, took a micro nap on the balcony. Then decided to go out and enjoy the weather, the view, and maybe do a little shopping. This is the famous Puerto Vallarta sign on the Malecon. I loved the view behind it and thought this made a nice shot. Don’t know who the people are :) The miracle is that there’s no one else is front of it!

The Malecon stops after awhile and unceremoniously turns in a regular street at this McDonald’s, which just seems so wrong. At any rate, it was the street we were on Thursday night for the 2nd half of the food tour and I remember passing some leather shops. My sandals broke Friday when we were in the jungle. This was after everything was over, I’d worn water shoes for the zip lining adventure but changed into sandals after. I was walking on uneven rocky ground and slipped and one of the them broke. Nothing exciting, one of the straps just ripped from the base. Mind you, I’d just bought a new pair of Tevas when I bought the water shoes but thought “no, take these on this trip, they still have a little life in them. ” No more. Ash always encourages me to shop while traveling so I’ll have different kinds of memories after; it was not something I ever did before. And I’ve been wanting a brown pair of sandals anyways – the Tevas that broke and the new ones are black – so why not.

I’d stopped at the place I really remembered which I came across first but they didn’t have anything I wanted in my size. I was pretty sure there was another one up a bit further and I was right.

Mission accomplished!

When we were heading to Vitea earlier, Greg pointed out there is now a Lix on the Malecon. Less then 2 blocks from my condo. Dangerous.

Belgian chocolate brownie, and roasted cherries and chocolate chips in a vanilla base. With the sun on the water in the background. Perfect.

I had an appointment for 6:30pm for a 2 hour massage. He actually went long and with the Uber ride I didn’t get back until about 9:20pm. I finished the leftover steak and shrimp from lunch, loaded the photos for the blog, and was in bed again just before 10:30pm.

The only thing on the calendar today is another massage, with a body scrub this time!, at 2pm. COVID test before or after but otherwise that’s it. Unstructured time is my most favorite of all and as I was heading to the airport Thursday morning I was regretting not making this trip longer for more of that. So today I’m going to luxuriate in it. We’ll see what I come up with tomorrow….