David and I were awarded this trip for purchasing two territories in the Des Moines area. It has been a great trip so far, and a really nice and well-timed week away. Martha is hanging out at our house and is managing things well!
We stayed in Cedar Rapids Sat evening for a 5am flight out Sunday morning. 2 hrs to Dallas, 2 hrs to Puerta Vallarta, then 45 min taxi ride to the Four Seasons.
This place is absolutely gorgeous. We have a ton of free time and have been hanging out at the pools, the beaches, the restaurants/bars, and we even walked 20 min to the nearby town. I don't really have a day by day narration here, because the timing of events is so spread out and relaxing. I'll share a few photos so far.
It is just HOT and HUMID here. Every day is sweaty and we find ways to cool off all the time.
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| welcome lobby -- quite the view |
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| our room |
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| our deck |
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| walking down near the beach, one of the restaurants is to the right there |
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| first sunset |
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| desayuno |
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| having fun with the statues |
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| walking paths around this resort - it is all windy and hard to figure out |
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| infinity edge pool |
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| having fun with another statue |
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| construction sign "temporary inconviniences (sp wrong!) for everlasting benefits" LOL |
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| our room is on the second floor, way to the left |
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| second sunset |
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| getting ready for the HFC welcome dinner |
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| we became fascinated with a worker replacing the thatch roof on a shack |
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| cool trees/bamboo |
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| nearby town Punta Mita |
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| we found a place and had fresh-made salsa right by our table |
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| roasted tomato, onion, garlic, seasonings all mashed up with ancho chilis and homemade chips...best part of the day |
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| a little scoop of mango ice to go |
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| massive tree--- can you see David in the pic? |
We signed up to release baby sea turtles and it was so cool. We waited til after the sun went down so the hovering birds above could not see. This resort a has had of mission to help save the sea turtle dolls and they've been finding nests, protecting the eggs, and releasing them for the last 15 years. Today we let 48 of them go! They have a 90% success rate releasing them this way. A natural hatching nest has a 10% chance of survival.
The turtles' timing is such that they return to their original beach 15 years after they are released to lay their eggs and they are seeing the first turtles come back so they're very excited about that.
They need a couple minutes to smell the sand and take note of the temperature and this memory serves them as a reminder of where they came from and where to return in 15 years. Neat experience!
Wednesday we went out on a catamaran with the HFC group - we snorkeled, saw a few dolphins swimming by our boat for a few minutes, I caught a glimpse of a sea turtle that popped his head out of the water but then disappeared, some blue-footed boobies and brown pelicans on the rocks, and lots of birds diving for hours to catch tiny fish.
They served lunch on the boat, put on a hilarious goofy performance of American's favorite songs, then we chilled by the pool for a few hours. A huge iguana climbed on the edge of the infinity pool and was there for a long time so we obviously got pics. haha
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| Islas Marietas (Marietas Islands) |
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| zoom in to see the blue footed boobies! |
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| we found the pool with the coolest water |
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| farewall dinner on the beach |
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| three HFC execs m |
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| my Mexican jewelry purchase |
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| the bottled water, laundry detergent, and evap milk (for coffee cream) |
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| back home Sat and mowing! |
