Tuesday, November 3: Up at 7:00 to put the coffee on, shower, and slip out onto the balcony while Adolfo slumbers on. Another cruise ship glides in to the Bahia de Banderas. Time to get my crew member up to get ready for our trip in to downtown PV for a 10:00 meeting I have with Pam Thompson, RN of HealthCare Resources Puerto Vallarta (www.healthcareresourcespv.com). I had read about Pam in the online El Sayulero newspaper several months ago and arranged a meeting to talk a little about her job and working in Puerto Vallarta in general. HealthCare Resources is contracted with a large number of physicians providing not only referrals but speakers programs, insurance billing, and are contracted with several private hospitals to assist with international patients and any help they may need. We arrive at Pam's office on the top floor of MedAssist Hospital in the downtown area of PV and find that she is busy with the family of a patient that has passed away. Pam's job is a bit similar to what I do back home as a nurse case manager. We wait for Pam out on the terraza on the building's roof and have a coffee, we have a bird's eye view of the city. Pam is gracious to give us some time to talk about healthcare in Puerto Vallarta and the intricacies of working in Mexico. Pam introduces me to a friend, Sandra, who has recently set up a service and website for people moving to Puerto Vallarta from other countries (www.learnvallarta.com).
We leave Pam's office and walk down the street one block and find Avenida Basilio Badillo and have fun looking in all the shops with Mexican artesanias, and all the restaurants, this street is said to be PV's restaurant row.  Our walk eventually leads us to the Malecon south of the Rio Cuale and we decide to go in to Hotel Los Arcos to ask if we can see a room. A friend has recommended the hotel and we like the idea of staying right in Puerto Vallarta on our next trip. The room is clean and the bathroom nice. The pool of the hotel leads out to the beach and bay. We continue or Malecon stroll and have a hard time deciding which restaurant to choose for lunch, but finally pick La Epoca, it has a covered patio setting right on the Malecon and also chairs and small tables right on the beach. The fish tacos call to us, and we are not disappointed; lovely presentation too, on cazuelas. We talk to the waiter about this being our 40th anniversary and that we spent our honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta; my husband told the waiter we had taken a tour in to the jungle on horses with a guide named Chon. The waiter knew Chon!! We find out that Chon sold his horses and retired, he lives not too far away from the Malecon. What are the chances of finding this out 40 years later?
An after lunch walk takes us down to the Rio Cuale to see the mercado at river level and there is a lot to see. We scramble back to the street over a pontoon bridge over the river....I can't imagine doing this after a few Margaritas, the bridge was going up and down and sideways; I'm sure we looked like we had had to much to drink, clinging to the cyclone fence on either side of the bridge like a couple of drunks. More shops over the bridge, but the heat/humidity is getting to us and we grab a cab back to the hotel and hit the pool.
A couple of nice chilled glasses of Chardonnay in the Lobby Bar while we listened to some live music played by a group of young guys that were pretty good at singing some oldies along with more current music.
We finally decided to have dinner in CasaMagna's La Estancia Restaurant which we had avoided to this point because if looked a little formal compared to Las Casitas on the beach. I am so glad we gave it a chance. Wow! The food was fantastic and the wait staff made us feel very comfortable. I had the Arrachera with a corn on the cob on a stick like those from street vendors, and rajas de chile in crema. Adolfo had a steak and beans, his favorite.
We spend a little while sitting out on the balcony of our room before calling it a day, another wonderful day.