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We’re in Yelapa!

Sunshine! Palm trees! Tacos! Iguanas! We’re pretty happy to be hanging out in Yelapa, Mexico for 10 days or so. We left Portland super early yesterday to catch a 6am flight to Puerto Vallarta (with a plane change in Oakland) y llegamos al Aeropuerto de Puerto Vallarta a los tres y media…oops, been practicing my Spanish. Our flight arrived at 3:30pm and after a quick breeze through Customs, we caught a taxi to the Los Muertos pier where we then caught a water taxi to Yelapa.

Puerto Vallarta, view from the Los Muertos pier
Bull ring on our way from the airport to the playa

Our taxi driver was, um, “colorful” I think is word. He drove FAST (but skilled), trying to get us to the pier in time for the 4:30pm water taxi. Along the way, we talked about chickens, and kids. He has three kids (each from a different “mama”). He told us that his first wife got cancer of her chi chi’s and then cut them off (which he did not like), but that now she is in the cielo (sky). And he also told us that his current wife has “chi chis grandes” but I’m not sure why he thought we wanted to know that about her. Goodness. He was a character, for sure.

Waiting for the water taxi on the Los Muertos pier

We did not make the 4:30pm public water taxi (last one of the day) so we bought a ticket for a 5pm taxi from a different company, which worked out fine.

This guy was hitching a ride on a local fishing boat
Wet ride from Puerto Vallarta to Yelapa

The ride to Yelapa by water taxi took about an hour, and was a bit wet in 2-3 foot wind waves. We saw a few humpbacks spout along the way, and met a cool gal from Portland who was also heading to Yelapa. (Since then, we’ve met a handful of other people, ALL from Portland, and unrelated…so it seems so far like people here are either from Yelapa, or Portland.)

The water taxi dropped us off at Playa Isabel (right on the beach) and we met Miguel who showed us to our awesome room at Casa Pericos (our and then we walked with Miguel into the village. He was heading home and said he’d show us a few spots along the way…where the markets, a few recommended restaurants, etc.

The path to town

We ate dinner at Los Abuelos, which was highly recommended and did not disappoint. We tried most of the seafood tacos: fish/pescado, shrimp/camarones, octopus/pulpo, y crab/jaiba, plus a couple of margaritas. Everything was fantastic, and we’ll definitely go back while we’re here (maybe more than once!). On the way home we stopped at this little market and picked up a few things (since we have a full kitchen at Casa Pericos).

Yelapa market

Back at our casa we opened a beer and sat watching the stars and listening to the waves a while before going to bed. The sound of the waves crashing right beneath our room is so lovely, and we slept like babies!

This morning we woke, did a little work, showered, and then walked back into the village for breakfast (since we’d forgotten to get coffee along with our eggs last night).

View from our “room”
Down at sea level below Casa Pericos
Nice wall texture in the village

We got breakfast (and cappuccinos!) at Cafe Eclipse. We ordered chilaquiles with eggs and an omelette and shared…both were great! After breakfast we wandered through town and just explored.

Love these mosaic stairs
La playa
View from breakfast at Cafe Eclipse
Horses on la playa with tricycle
View from the hilly part
Octopus mural
There are many horses and burros in town carrying supplies up and down the stone paths…mostly building materials from what I can tell.
Iguana mural
We walked past this cool Black vulture sitting on the rocks on our way back from the village
The traffic below our room looks mostly like this
The view from our room, looking left
The view from our room, looking right (toward the main village and la playa)

We heard this crazy sound coming from the path below us, loud even over the sound of the crashing waves, and I looked down to see a horse dragging about 20 pieces of rebar along the stone…sounded like a REALLY loud shopping cart (or ten!) on a cobblestone road. I wish I’d have gotten a better photo, but here it is:

On our second trip to the bigger market after breakfast today, we picked up some fresh shrimp, chorizo, tortillas, mangos, avocados, limes, cerveza, tequila, and some tomatoes, jalapeños, garlic, cilantro, and a poblano to make some salsa. I think we’ll cook dinner in tonight!

Our kitchen
I’m so glad we’re here for nine nights!

Tomorrow we’re meeting Luis Garcia down on the beach at 7am. He’s going to take us out to the Islas Marietas to snorkel and explore (check out some photos of this incredible place…can’t wait!) and then out for some fishing! Maybe we’ll get lucky and catch tomorrow’s dinner!

We’re LOVING Yelapa.

Right now we’re just relaxing, watching the boats come in and out, listening to the waves, and enjoying the ocean sounds and smells.

Water taxi disembarking in progress at Playa Isabel (shot from our room)