Quick trip (Feb 26 to March 2) to Puerto Vallarta from Tucson, Kathy was off at her dad’s place in Florida. Arrived early afternoon – Hyatt Ziva. Beautiful place, all inclusive, paid for with points, and uneventful nonstop flight from Phoenix. Checked out the resort, decided on the “Jungle Tour”, which I assumed would be easy (Hyatt resort… old people…). Would that.
I was probably 20 years older than anybody else; the path required climbing over rocks and across hillsides. About 2/3rds into the “tour”, I lost my footing and slipped about 30′ down the hillside. Leg, right knee, thigh all scratched and bleeding a bit, but it turns out my right arm took the brunt, requiring stitches. The resort cleaned me up and brought me to the onsite doctor, who further cleaned me up – and told me I needed a couple of stitches. Off to the hospital in a medical transport, chatting with the driver (in Spanish) each of us learning new terms (“speed bump”) along the way. About 4 hours there, a large part filling out forms and waiting for this doctor or that specialist. It took three pharmacies to find all the (three) meds I was prescribed; the first one only had two of them, the 2nd only half the remaining.
The Hyatt was quite sympathetic: we could argue whether it was their fault, my fault or shared, but I think we need to take responsibility for our lives. I did press them for an extra night, not because I felt I deserved compensation of some kind, but because I was pretty sore (a week and a half later I am still pretty sore) and wasn’t really up to changing to the bed & breakfast I’d booked in the city.
The B&B was as down to earth as the Hyatt was opulent. Didn’t actually come with breakfast (coffee…) so I had to venture out for each meal. Had several lovely dining experiences, some conducted entirely in Spanish, which was fun if challenging. Despite my wounds, I managed to walk about 8 miles (12.5km) each day. Didn’t do many of the things I’d hoped to, but did familiarize myself with the old town (“Zona Romantica”). Would certainly go back.