Bumpy Buses to Bucerias

Beachside restaurant in the small town of Bucerias

This is my sister Dominique, we're escaping the heat in Bucerias in this photo.  I kid you not when I state that with the humidity today it hit 49 degrees!  Wow, I can't even believe how impressive that sounds, and I'm living it right now.  It is like a huge weight on your shoulders at all times of the day.  It's always there, and I'm always sweating.  I think the best part of this heat is that I'm slimming up before my bike touring trip in Europe!  I swear I've lost 5 lbs already, I'm going to be one lean, mean, cycling machine when I arrive in Amsterdam!  I'm starting to understand why all the Snowbirds fly south in the winter, because they would all melt if they came in the summer!

I can't even begin to explain how wonderful it is to spend time traveling with my sister again.  I haven't traveled with her since we were home schooled by my dad in Thailand, that was over 20 years ago.  She has grown into an incredible woman, and one hell of a traveler.  She is a very experienced in the art of translation and direction, and it has been obvious these last few days that she is very comfortable on the road.  Her sense of direction is amazing, she has navigated the streets of Puerto Vallarta as if she's been here her whole life.  It's been great to connect with her again after some time apart.  I'm really happy we've made time to do this trip together.  Love you sis!

I need to talk about the bus system here for a moment.  It is one of the most efficient and streamlined transportation systems I've ever seen.  I did some research to learn about how it's setup and here's the quick run down.  Each bus is owned by the driver and they must purchase "passes" from the transportation authority.  They buy the passes and then charge each rider 7.5 pesos.  I'm not sure what they make on each ride, but it must be decent money or they wouldn't be so many buses on the road.  If you get to the bus stop first; then you get all the riders waiting.  So this makes for some rather exciting rides, but it also means that the system is extremely efficient.  All this adds up to a bus arriving every 3 minutes at a bus stop.  That is no exaggeration as I have not waited more then 2 minutes yet.  Very fluid, and very organized, muy bueno!

Our first day we ventured down to the beach in PV and watched the tourists come and go.  It was very busy, and the beach is lined with all inclusive resorts.  Not my cup of tea, but interesting to see what all the fuss is about.  We stopped in at one of the resorts to have a cold drink and the bartender didn't even know what to charge us for a beer and a lemonade.  He looked at us shocked when we asked for the bill, then he realized we didn't have a bracelet on, meaning we are not part of the all inclusive.  People just come and go drinking as much as they like, something to see but not for me.

Here's a photo of me waving my sweat soaked tshirt in the air.  I am melting in this photo, you just can't tell because of the poor iPhone camera quality.