Throwing, swinging and jumping

I found it quite interesting that the buses write Walmart as one of their destinations in their windows. No matter where you are in the world you cannot escape Walmart .We are on the way to the market in La Cruz today. It's about a 45 minute ride south towards Puerto Vallarta and the boys are giving us grief that we aren't taking a cab there instead. We are trying to show them that taking the bus is all part of the experience!

 La Cruz is a totally gringo market full of overpriced jewellery and organic food stuffs. We food sampled our way along and tromped through the bathroom at the fancy seaside restaurant before we meandered to the marina where the fishermen were pulling out some seriously sized sharks for the local restaurants.  With the blood dripping and the bits and pieces hanging they loaded the headless creatures to the adjoining fish market .
We returned to the  small plaza where the boys played on the jumper that was set up for the upcoming Semana Santa holiday. It was nice to see them enjoying each others company and forgetting that it might not be so cool to "play" at their age.

 I have always loved he trees here in Mexico. One of these days I will learn the names of them but for now I take pictures and continue to admire them. This beauty was in full bloom and we found it on our way to the beach just in time to see the kite boarders launch!

Back in Sayulita we decide to check out the excitement building for the holiday by visiting the "midway". This is a hodgepodge of archaic games and rides but made for some fun for us and the boys. Below is a game where the player throws a total of three rocks at glass bottles. If one breaks you win a bottle of beer. Break two and win two bottles, break three and win a 6 pack. It does not matter if you are of legal drinking age as was the case when Hollis broke one bottle. He was quickly handed a beer which of course we quickly disarmed him of! I won a beer as well which Remy drank on the way home. There is only so much beer that can be consumed in a day and my limit is 2. Tequila  on the other hand is a different story!

 The best part of the carnival atmosphere was the new taco, quesadilla, sope, huarache stands that were erected in the street! We ate the most delicious horache tonight. This delight is a corn based football shaped base layer topped with cheese, bbq'd pork, sliced cabbage, onion and tomato topped with whatever salsas are on offer on the table ranging from mild to spicy hot! Remy and I really should have split one of these but we devoured one each for 50 pesos each ( about $4) We loved them so much we asked the cook to make us just the base to take home so we could top it off with eggs and salsa for our breakfast! This was one of the best things we have eaten on this trip.

Bowen and Hollis lost their minds at the spinning target dart throwing game. Each time they landed a dart on the triangle they won a package of cookies. The only thing better than winning beer is winning cookies! They ended up winning about 12 bags of the surgery things which we insisted not be consumed in a single sitting. There was a time when we controlled how much sugar our kids consumed but it is getting much harder to do. They agreed to take some home to share with friends. We'll see if there is room in their luggage.

The start of another day eating, drinking, sunning and playing on the beach! The boys cannot resist when the candy cart comes by and Liz and Remy love the pina colada lady. For 80 pesos ( about $7) she will prepare a pineapple full of assorted fruit and orange juice. It takes her about 10 minutes to put one of these beauties together. If we feel the urge we will top it off with tequila for the perfect beach marguarita! A nice treat in the afternoon sun.

It was time for some serious tequila tasting! Bowen found us here sampling several varieties- like 15! It was funny because the mexicans sitting on the patio noticed Bowen walking by looking like he was looking for something. They asked him if he was looking for his parents cause if he was they were inside. Sure enough, there we were! Another reason to love this place- abandoned children are directed to find their parents at the tequila bar.  We eventually found our top 5 and made a purchase at the local store to take home. Thanks Bowen for the great photos!

Tonight is the last night in Mexico for the boys so they got to choose where to go for dinner. Remy chose the other great Italian place in town and the boys chose to eat tacos at the midway across the street from where we were. We loved the idea of sitting on swings while we dined and when the boys showed up from their dinner  they liked decided they liked them too!

You are NEVER too old for a jumper! This dusty thing entertained our boys for a good 15 minutes while we stood by and watched. Rocks were being thrown at the bottle booth behind us which gave us a fright with each throw. The metal backsplash made a terrible sound with each rock thrown.

 Tomorrow will be a sad day as we leave paradise and head for Puerto Vallarta for the flight home for all the guys. We will visit Sayulita again as it was a nice place to chill and was small enough that the boys felt comfortable going off on their own to explore. It is time for the next leg of the journey for Liz!



~Liz