Friday – January 30, 2026 – Puerto Vallarta
Today’s featured photo shows agave “pineapples” used to distill tequila. Our excursion today included a visit to a tequila distillery which I’ll explain in this post.
Our arrival in Puerto Vallarta was in the dark – not that early but the sun hadn’t made an appearance yet. There is a photo of the men on the pier attaching the mooring ropes from the ship and you can see it was night-like. We docked next to a Mexican military installation – I think marines.
Our excursion guide today is Adan. He told us he was 10 days from retirement at which time he was going to get on his motorcycle and travel – didn’t say where but it seemed like he was going to head North and perhaps visit the Western United States. As we drove to a central area of town we passed building with interesting painting – I included a couple in the photos for today.
Our first stop was at a plaza where there is signage showing Puerta Vallarta and a sculpture which has become iconic for Puerto Vallarta – a boy riding a seahorse. Adan said the sculpture was funded by someone from the United States – I believe from New England. Also in the square were dancers in native costume and a woman made to look like a statue – but a statue with a big smile. Near this area is an outdoor amphitheater where concerts are held during the Summer months.
We walked a short distance from the square to the town hall where balloons adorned the courtyard – photos of a couple are in today’s grouping. Also at the town hall was a memorial we didn’t understand (because all the writing was in Spanish). We think the memorial had something to do with an event we would see later in the day. More on that later in this post.
From the town hall we walked a couple blocks to Our Lady of Guadalupe church. It is a Catholic church with a pretty interior. It also had feral cats outside (which caught Kelsey’s eye). While in the church we saw women performing Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (which one of Jan’s friends does on a regular basis at home in her church).
From the church we walked a couple more blocks to where our bus was waiting. Along that route was an interesting wall painting depicting people at the beach – but all the people were skeletons – as were the animals. I included a couple photos of this painting in today’s group.
The bus took us to our next stop – the Silver and Gold Factory. We watched as craftsmen worked on jewelry of various types. Their output is on display and for sale at the store attached to the factory. Inside were many creations in silver from the region surrounding Puerto Vallarta. Kelsey was fascinated by the cat sculptures in silver – jaguar, lion, cheetah, leopard. There were many eagles, turtles and even snakes in silver. If you wanted a chess set, you could find one (also in silver). I was told that due to the level of purity of the silver, tarnish did not build up so polishing was not necessary as it would be with silver plate.
We boarded our bus and headed to the Hacienda Dona Engracia Tequila Factory. There we had a quick taco and drink before gathering to learn about tequila. Adan gave us a short course on the different agave plants, where they are grown and how they are used in tequila and mezcal.
We went into the factory and learned about the manufacturing steps with the use of props for each step. You’ll see several photos of the steps in the process from plant to drinkable tequila. We were shown how the agave “pineapples” are harvested, heated, shredded, fermented and distilled to yield tequila. Next, we went to the tasting room where we sampled 7 or 8 (I lost count) types of young, aged and flavored varieties.
Jan and I purchased Durazno (peach) and Almendra (almond) tequila varieties. We learned that the correct way to drink is to hold your shot of tequila out and up while saying “Arriba”, breathe in, breathe out and down the shot in a single gulp. We also sampled a hot sauce that was given to us – 1 drop on a tortilla chip. 1 drop was all it took for me to know it was TOO HOT for us, but it would be perfect for friends we met from San Diego – Edgar and Cuca (see their photo in the post from Puntarenas, Costa Rica). We bought a bottle of the habanero sauce to give to Edgar.
On the way out we watched several men and women performing Mexican traditional dances in the courtyard, then shopped for t-shirts before re-boarding our bus. I found a shirt in John Deer colors – green background with gold lettering that had a logo similar to the John Deere logo but with the words “Juan Deere” and a silhouette of a donkey.
During the rides in the bus, I had seen many stores with the sign “OXXO“. Adan told me they are local grocery stores that are open 24/7. He also pointed out the petrol company that once was the only allowed supplier for gas in Mexico (until recently). That supplier is named PEMEX. I found a location where both OXXO and PEMEX were located and included a photo.
When we arrived at the dock, we were not able to enter the area normally used by the buses because the street was blocked by protestors. There is a photo of the blocked street in today’s pictures. We were told the protest concerned the deaths of a mother and her child caused by teenagers drag racing through the streets of Puerto Vallarta. Following the deaths, no charges were brought against the teens because they were related to high-ranking public officials. We believe the memorial at the town hall was for the same mother and child. Seems injustice isn’t limited to those instances we see in the United States.
Tonight, we dined at the Yacht Club restaurant on deck 7. This will be the same restaurant we may use during our 2028 World Cruise. The current menu is the same as that in the restaurants on deck 5 and 6 but the service and settings are a notch up. Seating is also limited so the noise level in the restaurant is significantly lower than on decks 5 & 6. We included photos of the setting and food served for reference.
Following dinner, we attended a show in the theater that included dance and dress in Mexico beginning with pre-Hispanic times. The presentation was well done and interesting.
Here you can view photos from our day in Puerto Vallarta.