Puerto Vallarta

Like nearly every port of the cruising world, Puerto Vallarta offers a range of shore excursions, be the strenuous level low, medium or high. With a jungle canopy adventure planned for the next day in Mazatlan, we kept things calm, yet fun, by booking a city tour combined with a cooking lesson. Since PV is fairly devoid of must-see tourist attractions, being bussed to El Centro, the heart of the city, then having a guided walking tour to PV's most famous building, Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral, and strolling to the beach to take in sculptures gracing the malec n (boardwalk), was quite adequate. The cooking portion of the excursion was spent at a chain eatery, a disappointment as the brochure promises "a gourmet restaurant." Sorry, but a chain that calls its ribs, chicken and shrimp platter the "Oink-Chirp-Splash" and where birthday celebrants wear balloon hats and dance to American disco music - and those are the adults! - isn't gourmet in my book. Fortunately, our group was too busy learning how to make pico de gallo, guacamole, chiles en Nogada and chicken enchiladas with mole sauce to break out into a spirited rendition of "YMCA" with the other customers.