Mar 16 - Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

SANDY SHORE: I hope to get back here soon. What a great place! I was here with my mother more than 20 years ago when she and I took a little mom & daughter adventure in 1986. The place has changed greatly as far as development goes… I bought tequila at Walmart today for crying out loud!But there is mostly Mexican fishing village charm with a cosmopolitan style and flair.

I would have liked to see more of the city, but there’s only so much time in a day and this day was all about ATV'ing on a private ranch in PV. We drove about 20 miles outside of the city to a beautiful, authentic Mexican Ranchero. The working ranch had livestock including horses, a tequila distillery, an open outdoor barbeque area and ATVs for riding across acres of unique Mexican coastal foothills. Donna and I were joined by some 15 Carnival crew members, which made for a great afternoon of adventure. After a brief orientation, we all mounted our sturdy quad bikes and headed out.

I’m into land-based speed… that’s my thing. Fast cars, motorcycles, scooters, ATVS… all of it. I inserted myself in the first position of the line, right behind the guide, and enjoyed keeping up with him all afternoon as we traveled through dirt, dust, tiny villages with cobblestone roads, pastures, meadows, agave plants, river beds… beautiful and so authentically Mexican.
I love Mexico because to me it is a rough and rugged version of California with fewer rules and regulations and warm-hearted, happy people who just want you to feel good.

I felt good racing along the dusty back roads… in the hot sun with a bandana covering my face… like a bandito (or is that bandita?). This was the perfect terrain for me to do some head clearing and internal housekeeping… full throttle! ~ss

DONNA KAY PHILLIPS : This was one of the best days of my life - bar none. I always love a good ATV (or any fast vehicle) romp but today's trip was special. Paul, the excursions director, helped us set up a crew only trip with some of our favorite dining room staff, who have sorely needed to blow off steam.

I have never traveled with a happier more open group on any tour so far. They were up for anything. It was a beautiful thing being the only Americans amongst Czech, Serbian, Slovakian, Indian and Indonesian life-loving people.

We bounced our way to the Tequila ranch with Guilermo as our Mexican guide on the mic. He pointed out some interesting and ridiculous things about PV, but was mostly just trying to amuse us as Mexicans tend to do :-)

We received our red Bandito Bandanas and immediately got to taking group shots of our new bad-ass outfits. "Memo" then gave us a quick lesson and we were off as he led us on our ATV tour amongst the old cobbelstone towns rich with that worn life texture I love so much. This being a photo-centric bunch, we learned to ride with one hand on the ATV and one on the camera button over the bumpy dirt roads. The shots I got today were right on target and I felt so lucky to be able to get them.

We stopped in a very tiny village for ceveza and a break from the dust then came back via a narly sandy river bed where we fully let loose. The back country here looks a lot like Carmel Valley, just east of Monterey, with a little more cactus thrown in. The falcons and vultures flew overhead in the clear blue sky as we raced over the vast landscape while our cares dissapated in our dust - some did this still with one hand on the camera button.

We returned to the ranch for home made tacos and margaritas, then strolled over to learn how the Agave is chopped up and cooked to begin the Tequila making process - very cool. Our day at the ranch ended with an out of control Tequila tasting complete with all of the various Mexican toasts.

Flying on open minds and wings, we allowed Memo to convince us to each take a turn on the mic singing whatever came to mind. From National anthems to rap songs we did our best to squeak out parts of songs we could remember into a crappy karaoke mic - another pure moment.

We then came back to the pier where we chose to hang instead of heading back down town to look for scarves for tomorrow night's special Dining Room performance of the hit song from Slum Dog Millionaire, that is one of the most inspiring moment I have seen on this ship thus far (more on that later). We settled into drink and (finally) Mexican appetizers and roasted our minds in the sun - which leads me to the only dark moment of the day. In all of the relaxation and good vibes, I left our trusty little Olympus Stylus on the table along with all of the most recent shots taken from today and moments from the last Day at Sea, so no more pics until we contact the kind folks at El Bucaneros on the PV pier to see if they found it.

Other than this utterly bumming moment, brought to you by CADILLAC MARGARITAS, even our trip to the hellish WalMart was a blast where we stocked up on more Mexican beers and more tequila. It's far more than our virus riddled bodies can handle in the next 5 days so look for a Fiesta party soon after we return to PG. -dkp