Day 12- Puerto Vallarta
After 3 glorious sea days it was time for some more fun on land. This was the last port that we figured out planning wise and came to together somewhat last minute. When doing my initial research, Disney's port adventure of Las Caletas was our top choice. It was a private, all inclusive beach resort that you can only get to by boat. Sadly, this port adventure was not offered on our sailing. I contacted the company privately and they would not let us book independently as there was no way to guarantee we'd be back on board the ship on time. Fair enough. For awhile we had another Disney port adventure booked, The Hyatt Ziva. This involved taking a bus to the Hyatt all inclusive resort for a beach day. As it got closer we started to rethink this plan. We knew we would have a sun and water adventure the following day in Cabo and weren't sure we wanted to do 2 beach days in a row. And we figured we would be ready for some adventure after 3 sea days in a row. For what its worth, several people did go on the Hyatt trip and it got really good reviews. So if you are looking for a beach day, I would recommend it based on other's experiences.
We started scouring through Disney's port adventure list again and DH came across a Mexican culinary adventure that sounded fun. When we looked closer we saw that it involved a 40 minute bus trip each way to some remote ranch and that deterred us. We were not in port that long and were not sure we wanted to spend all that time in a bus. With a direction I started googling, and came across this website:
https://www.cookinvallarta.com . They got great reviews on TripAdvisor so I contacted them to make sure we would have enough time. They were prompt and accommodating in their response so 3 weeks before we left, we booked the class.
Our alarms went off nice and early today, 7:30. Pretty sure I hit snooze a few times. We were supposed to meet our tour guide in the mall across the street from the port at 10. Not knowing how long the walk would be we wanted to leave ourselves plenty of time. We got ready, had breakfast in Cabanas and were off the ship by 9:20. We left the immediate port area. Right across the street from the Port Exit was a Walmart and Sam's Club for those needing any essentials. Next to the Walmart was the Galerias Mall. It was a quick walk and we made it to the meeting point (Starbucks) about 9:30. There was free wifi in the mall so we found a place to sit and all checked our email and facebook, sent a few texts to friends. My Dad and DD ran off at some point and came back with a pack of 10 earrings that cost 15 pesos just for fun. Enrique, our guide, showed up promptly at 10. There were 11 of us total in the group. We headed down to the garage to load up in to his van. There was a fast moving escalator between us and the garage, those of you who have read my Alaska report know that DS has had fear of escalator issues in the past. He has been really good about it for the last year, not sure what was up this morning but he had a mini panic attack and refused to get on. I was already halfway down when I saw it happen (he was with my Dad bringing up the rear), so I rode the escalator back up and with some encouragement was able to get him down the escalator. We were off to a rocky start.
We loaded in the van and took a short drive to an authentic Mexican market. How do I know it was authentic, we were the only 'gringos' there. Lots of locals doing their shopping this morning. We started off a taco stand for 'breakfast'. They called them morning tacos because the meat needed to cook for 12 hours so they cooked it all night long and ate it in the morning. They wrapped it in a homemade corn tortilla, then grilled each side. It was spicy but delicious, definitely hit the spot and gave us all a burst of energy. Sadly this is the only photo of the glorious taco I got:
We then headed to the meat counter where we got a lesson in buying fresh meat, including a lesson about yellow chickens, apparently in this part of Mexico they use food coloring to dye the chickens yellow because white chickens are viewed as 'unclean':
We then headed next door to a produce store to buy various veggies for our tortilla soup, chiles for our main course, and squash blossoms for an amazing sauce.
DS was still feeling a little anxious but was hanging by me and relaxing as the tour went on (and as the taco filled his belly). Next we headed to a little shop where they were making Tortillas with this cool (and ancient looking) machine. Wonder how long this machine would last in the US with its USDA Health Department standards. DS was really interested in the mechanics of this machine and this is when he finally started having some fun:
We bought some dough to make our own tortillas later. We took a quick tour of the fish market and then loaded back up into the Van. It was a short drive to our next destination, Enriques house. He lived in a gated community next to a golf course and had converted his kitchen and dining room into a commercial cooking space. His wife and some other helpers were there to help us get started. Everything was very clean, and they had refreshing filtered water and cold hibiscus tea for us to drink.
After listening to some instructions, donning our aprons, and washing our hands it was time to get cooking. On the menu, tortilla soup, Chile Rellenos, homemade salsa and guacamole, homemade tortillas, and chocolate truffles. First up we had to make the seasoning for the meat. DD instantly raised her hand to volunteer:
By this time DS was ready to get involved, he and my Dad listened carefully to instructions, they were put in charge of shelling the cocoa beans to make cocoa powder:
Then he moved on to smashing up the brown sugar cubes to mix with the cocoa powder, it was hard work:
During this time the other table was working on chopping things up for the Salsa and Guacamole. DD became the guacamole master:
About this time, Enrique put out several bottles of tequila. My Dad had fun tasting several of them.
Next it was on to finishing up the truffles, perfect job for little hands:
The other group was working on the Tortilla Soup. Then Enrique started charring the Poblano Chiles for the main course:
While the soup simmered and chiles roasted, Enriques wife came out to give us a lesson in tortilla pressing and cooking. It was harder than we thought, especially in a family of perfectionist leaders. Eventually we got our tortillas made, then it was time for a snack:
Delicious!! After our snack it was time to clean and stuff our chiles, again this was harder than it looked but we had fun and were proud of our work (even if Enrique said we overstuffed them):
We then washed our hands in oil to get rid of the capsaicin in our hands, then water, then while the peppers cooked we enjoyed our Tortilla Soup. I somehow did not get a photo of the soup (maybe my Mom will send me one), it was very delicious but also spicy. DS really liked it, DD not as much, she went back to munching on guacamole.
After the Chiles were done, Enrique put on his beautiful squash blossom sauce and it was time to dig in:
These were very tasty, and definitely something I will try making at home. These were filled with beef and cheese but really you can fill them with anything.
After enjoying the Chile and sipping on some tequila it was time for dessert. A chocolate truffle was the perfect sweet finish. After this it was time to bid Enrique and our new friends farewell. We loaded up back into the Van and were dropped off in front of the mall. We had a great time on this excursion, it was something fun and different to do. I was surprised how much the kids were into it, they are definite foodies, loving Master Chef Junior and pretty adventurous eaters. They really enjoyed the cooking aspect and DD is now asking for a mortar and pestle for her next birthday.
It was now about 2:30, all aboard was 3:45. My parents went into the mall to use some more free wifi, the rest of us headed back to the ship. There were some vendors in the port area but all were friendly and not terribly pushy.
We headed to our room and chilled and watched as people streamed back onto the ship. I think that DD went on deck to have a snack as well as she did not eat as much as the rest of us today. Around 4 we watched the ship pull out of port which is always a fun experience.
Dinner tonight was the Animation Magic menu at Animators, where you get to draw your own character that they bring to life. My parents and the kids excitedly headed off, DH and I had other plans tonight. We were eating at Palo, which is the adult only, speciality restaurant. Our reservation wasn't until 7 and try as we might we were starving. So we headed up to Deck 9 and had a few french fries to tide us over and watched Lilo and Stitch on Funnel Vision. Was nice to enjoy the quiet deck while everyone else was at dinner or the show. At 7 we headed up and enjoyed a nice, quiet dinner. I know I had the gnocchi for an appetizer, and the Filet for dinner, both were amazing. For dessert DH had the chocolate soufflé, and I had the tiramisu. Sasha, our server, also brought us a limoncello tart, which DH said was the best thing he had eaten all cruise. I ended up eating part of his soufflé while he devoured the tart.
After dinner we meandered back to the room, it was about 9 p.m. at this point. My parents were chilling on the balcony, they had a fun dinner, then played cards with the kids for awhile before they ran off to play. They were both back by 10 tonight, tired after a long and fun day. DH headed to Crown and Fin to read, and the rest of us turned on the TV and drifted off to sleep, thankful that we were turning our clocks back an hour tonight as tomorrow we had another fun and exciting Port day planned.