The Sports Park in Puerto Vallarta

I loved this place.

It was just down the road from my hotel and while I usually take a break from exercise on holiday, I decided I would go for a run at the track every second morning. Nothing too strenuous, just enough to counter the desserts I ate every day at lunch and dinner.





Morning and night this free, outdoor sports facility was well used by locals. All ages, all abilities. One morning there was a track and field meet with kids from a private school that involved a three tiered podium and a horn section that bleated a fanfare when medals were awarded. Meanwhile the rest of us still got to used three running lanes and feel part of the event.



The complex stretched over several city blocks and besides the track there was an outdoor weightlifting area, boxing gym, many basketball courts, an open air aerobics studio and skateboard park.

Ghost resort

This is the development that sat between the place I stayed and the ocean. It really pissed some guests off but I found it added intrigue to the otherwise white-bread Hotel Zone.
The story I got on the 13 story building was that an East Indian billionaire started the project but died before it was finished. A family dispute over his assets and some intervention by the Mexician government has resulted in the building being left in this state for 12 years now.
It's a major landmark on the Bay of Bandaras as it's the only structure that tall on that stretch of the beach. I used it to gauge how far I'd walked during a day because I could see it from anywhere on the shore and know my room was next door.
The property is fenced to keep squatters out and some poor guy enforces that as a 24/7 security guard. He doesn't keep the animals out, though. This is where I saw iguanas and green lizards and many bird species climbing around the palm trees and also darting in and out of rooms.
The waterway in the first photo is where I photographed the herons and egrets below.

The Birds

Where ever I go they capture my attention. Members of the kingdom aves.

There are about 10,000 bird species in the world and 1,000 species make Mexico home for at least part of their lives. That compares without 500 different kinds of birds that visit British Columbia.

The photos below are all herons and egrets, but on this little waterway that traveled to the ocean between my hotel and an abandoned development next door, there were many other species.

The water was shallow, didn't look particularly clean and there were only a few trees for shelter on one stretch of the bank. I am always surprised at how much wildlife a little scrap of marginal habitat supports.

Snowy egret

Green heron

Great egret

Yellow-crowned heron

Twistin' by the pool

Yep, I only had to get up off my chaise lounge and walk about three metres to get this shot.
Didn't take long to rule out paying $100 for a jungle tour, when I had an intriguing complement of wildlife on my doorstep to entertain me while my blistered feet rested between the off-site adventure days.
Books and iguanas, iguanas and books, with the odd egret thrown in for variety.