Manzanillo to Bucerias January 19 -20

The beach at Barra de Navidad

We left Manzanillo after breakfast on Saturday morning. Our destination was a small town on the coast called Barra de Navidad. The trip took us through acres and acres of coconut trees growing together with either mango or banana trees. Each time we came close to a small village, fruit stands would line the side the road, huge piles of coconuts, papayas and some other type of squash (I think), all very cheap (30 cents for a coconut).
On part of the trip, the road took us up into the mountains, where it is a bit dryer and pines and oaks cover the hillside. As we drove along, at one point we saw something moving on the road ahead of us. As we came up to it, Jerry swerved to miss it, and we both realized at the last second that it was a tarantula! Hopefully it made it the rest of the way across the road safely.

The southern side of the bay of Puerto Vallarta, away from the sandy beaches.

We arrived in Puerto Vallarta along with throngs of other people and decided that we wanted to stay somewhere a little quieter. So we drove through downtown PV and on to a smaller town about 30 minutes north called Bucerias.

Sailboats in Bucerias at sunset.

Much quieter, less people, but still a very nice beach. Bucerias is also a place where lots of sailboats anchor on their way south. We enjoyed dinner at a small Mexican restaurant on the beach and then headed back through crowds of Mexicans enjoying a carnival that had set up in town. Fortunately, our hotel was far enough away that we didn't hear it. But, as usual, the Mexicans like to have a festival for any reason and they usually set off firecrackers that make a very loud boom. We listened to that for awhile, but it didn't last too long.