Welcoming the New Year

New Year's Eve was a special day for us.  Our daughter and her family arrived in Puerto Vallarta for an eleven day vacation.  We met them at the airport and stayed overnight with them at the condo they had rented.

view from the condo

Vic and Bev went out on the beach for the midnight celebrations. Not only were there fireworks displays by various hotels, there were hundreds of lighted lanterns released in a line into the sky.  It was a beautiful sight!

Lanterns float into the sky

The following day was our granddaughter Addison's first experience in a pool.  She loved it! To her it was like one giant bath tub!

Laura, Bill, Addison

A view from the top of the hill

On December 29th we hiked with our friend Sandy about 7 miles round trip up the hill at the north end of our beach (shown in the photo above).  There is a rough road/path up the hill to follow at a fairly steep pitch.  Luckily most of the hike was under a canopy of trees.  It took us about 2 1/2 hours but was worth the view.

A view of the coastline to the north

also to the north

The town of El Monteon

A view of Lo de Marcos

The hikers:  Sandy, Bev & Vic

Malachite

white morpho

Postman butterfly

Palm fruit

These palm fruit (or nuts) are as hard as rocks and just about impossible to crack open. They are somewhat the size and shape of a kiwi fruit.We have not been able to identify the type of palm tree.

These little lizards scamper through the leaves as we pass by

flowers along the side of the trail