Puerto Vallarta - Part 2

Here I am with a silly 'I can't believe that we are in Mexico' grin plastered on my face.

Note to self:
 Don't wear a polyester tank top, a polyester long sleeve shirt, pants, socks, and runners when arriving in Mexico ...

What was I thinking???
It was hot and humid and oh, did I mention hot?  We weren't in moderate British Columbia, Fraser Valley temperatures any more.

It was about at that time, complete with permanent red-faced-Lori complexion, that someone on the shuttle bus bellowed out 'Let's make a Tim Horton's stop'.  We all giggled and settled into the ride to the resort hotel. 

For those interested, check out this web site of our  5* Riu Vallarta hotel:  

http://www.riu.com/en/Paises/mexico/nuevo-vallarta-riviera-nayarit/hotel-riu-vallarta/index.jsp

I tried to snap a few pics as we weaved in and out of traffic.  Boy oh boy, do Mexicans ever slink by close to each other.  I was surprised when I looked down and I swear there was only about 8" between the bus and the next car.

Anyway ... one of the first sights of interest was this thatched roof.  Maybe constructed with palm leaves????  It was beautiful to me ... and we saw many like it throughout the week. 

*  Notice the Payless Car Rental sign ... English.  Smart move for attracting tourists arriving at the airport from Canada and the USA.

Well, as I mentioned earlier, there are many signs with the Spanish and English languages ... but many without.

Don't know exactly what this road sign says, but we passed it along the way.

At one of the red lights, and standing right on the center line ... not much more than 8" like I said before ... there stood a vendor peddling his wares.  See the flowers in the window?  You can't tell with this shot, but they were beautiful exotic flowers too.  

The bus driver ignored him and we sped onward.

Riu Vallarta is in a type of gated community about 25 minutes from the airport.  Inside the gate are many condos and hotel complexes.  Right away I felt safer that it had this little bit of extra security.

We arrived at about 6:00 pm ... if I can remember correctly ... I was still in a 'I can't believe that we are in Mexico' fog.

Here is a shot of our hotel lobby provided by Trip Advisor.  (Note:  I took many pictures, but I believe that I will supplement with a few borrowed pics.  Just a heads up)

This photo of Riu Vallarta is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Beautiful tile floor, huge flower arrangement, open air ... no doors to the lobby ... just stunning.  I wondered at the fact that the ceiling lights were turned off.  Power outage?  No.  I figured out later that it is most probably to keep the heat factor to a minimum.  In the evening, when needed, they were turned on.  Oh, ceiling fans were twirling everywhere.  There were a lot of hand painted designs on the ceiling ... and walls.  Quite unique and Mexican.  

Get a load of this Customer Service Desk.  Intricate iron work, fantastic coffered ceilings.  Love the tufted purple circular bench in the center.  Probably 14 foot ceilings.  All open air.  Took my breath away.

And this was just the lobby.