Thursday, January 27, 2002 

 Puerto Vallarta has changed since we were here on our first cruise in 1986.  Then is was a little fishing village full of little shops and a flea market under a tent.  Today it is just another growing city filled aminly, it seems, with high-rise apartment/condo buildings.  There doesn't seem to be a downtown office core as in other cities, but PV is built on tourism, not industry or finance. 

As far as we were concerned, it was another in the series of sea-days-in-port.  We slept too late to breakfast in the MDR so settled on the Lido despite prior experiences.  MA was pleased to get a bowl of fresh pineapple, a welcome change from berries, and D had an omelet.  The day was spent reading and working on puzzles and MA left the cabin only for trivia and dinner [and the casino after, of course]. 

D, meanwhile, spent some time ashore although he didn't venture far.  From our balcony, we could see a Walmart in the near distance, so he decided to do a little shopping.  We were running out of Kleenex and other toiletries; what better place than Walmart to find them?   [With apologies to Briton who abhors the Big W]  In 2010, we did the same thing when we took a shuttle from the Prinsendam to what turned out to be a Walmart in Tilbury, England. 

Immediately in front of the ship was an 8-lane roadway which D had to navigate to reach the store.  Before he could get to it, he had to trek through the obligatory port-side shopping area which had everything from alleged duty-free shopping to ice cream and t-shirts and everything in between including a pharmacy of sorts.  There was no way to the outside world without zigzagging through this mecca of merchandise. 

Having made it through this mini-mall and across the street, he was finally able to get out of the sun and into the welcome relief of the air conditioning.  He was able to find everything on his short list without assistance [none of the clerks he approached spoke English] and had no trouble using his credit card.  In fact, by the time he returned to the ship, the credit card folks had sent emails to verify the purchases.  

 Back out into the sun for the return journey across what may be Puerto Vallarta's main artery, he escaped injury and wended his way through the mall again.  This time, he stopped in a tourist tchotchke shop and bought 2 tee-shirts for MA.  The old expression -- been there, did that, got the tee-shirt.  Well, we did nothing but got the shirts anyway.  We may get more in Huatulco on the return cruise. 

Tomorrow and tomorrow yet again -- Sea Days