Saturday I took a bus to Puerto Vallarta and spent the day exploring parts of Vallarta that I hadn't been to before. I walked down through town past the old soccer field which is now a track field and a skate park. I took this picture across the field, catching the mountains that surround Vallarta in the background. Summer here on the coast is hot and wet. As you can see from the picture, the mountains are very green and filled with storm clouds.
I walked down through Vallarta and across the Rio Cuale, the river that runs down from the mountains and through the town. Crossing the river from north to south takes you into the old town, the part of Vallarta that existed prior to the defining moment for Vallarta, the making of "The Night of the Iguana" by John Huston. Huston has almost mythological status here. His pictures and statues are everywhere. Passing over the river on the old pedestrian suspended bridge I looked down to see the families in the river escaping from the heat of the day. The river looks like coffee because of the recent rains which wash a large amount of silt down from the mountains.
When you reach old town Vallarta and head down to the ocean, you come to Los Muertos beach. It was named from a battle that was fought there between the gold and silver smugglers and the natives who tried to take their booty from them. The beach was strewn with bodies and hence the name "Los Muertos". The beach runs from where the Rio Cuale enters the bay, south to the cliffs that start south of the city. The hills come right down to the ocean at the south end of Los Muertos. Here the buildings are perched on the hills looking out over the bay and the streets wind randomly with many being just dead ends. As you go south, the hotels and condos give way to some very beautiful houses. After walking south along a cobble stoned street I decided to return to Los Muertos and find a place to cool off. The temperatures were in the 90's and sunny. 
One of my favorite places in the Los Muertos Beach area to stop for a latte or cappuccino is called "Una Pagina En El Sol" (A Page in the Sun). They also sell used books. I opted for a cold Iced Tea and some reading and writing to cool off. After getting my temperature down to a reasonable level, I made the trek back to the north side of town to catch the bus back to Bucerias. 
Buses here are ubiquitous, they are omni-present. It is possible to literally go anywhere by bus and you never have to wait for very long. And they are cheap! My trip to PV and back cost about 79 cents each way, a half hour trip each way. For some reason the buses to the outlying areas to the north no longer go through the town of Vallarta, so it is necessary to get a local bus to the north part of town or to walk there to get the bus. I elected to walk, since I wanted to take more pictures and to see some of the neighborhoods that I haven't had the chance to walk through before. After a mad dash to catch the bus, I was on my way back. Because there is so much competition for seats here, most bus drivers will stop for you even if you are not at a marked bus stop. On my trip in, the driver had a boom box playing some excellent Cuban music which both the driver and his helper were singing along to. They were clearly trying to learn the words because they would frequently go back to an earlier part of the song and sing the part they missed together. On the trip back, the driver was very friendly but there was no entertainment. It was a pleasant, quiet trip.
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