Trip Report for Puerto Vallata April 11-17, 2010

Day 1

Departed DFW in the morning and arrived Puerto Vallarta about noon - awesome that we can fly non stop and be to a lovely beach destination in 2.5 hours. Read extensively about the warnings of the timeshare people at the airport after you exit immigration before the taxi area so we zoomed through them and made no conversation with them. They are polite but if you give them the slightest indication you might be interested in what they are selling, they pounce on you.

got to the taxi booth, paid for our taxi and hopped in. The taxis from the airport to your local destination are price controlled and only white taxis are allowed to take people from the airport. Our fare was $180 which is a little less than $18. The fare is based on which zone you are traveling to within Puerto Vallarta.

Dropped at Villa del Palmar - lovely resort with lush grounds. Again after checking in, the "timeshare" girl needed to sit us down to explain the resort to us - as if we didn't have the intelligence to do it on our own but we played her game. Eventually after giving us the resort information she made her "offer" for us to tour another Villa property Flamingos which is their newest one. It is much further north from where we were staying and we decided not to stay there when we made our trade due to that fact. they make it worth your while if you will take their tour but we were not interested. So we parted ways with her amicably.

Spent the remainder of the day at the resort on the beach and had dinner at the resort that night. There is a small market that has basics which is all we needed in the way of food within a block of the resort plus the internet cafe and we made a trip there on Day 1. dinner that night was quite good - had tortilla soup and shrimp burritos and it was about $470 which is a little less than $47 US. The peso is about 11.6 to the US $1 right now.

Day 2

This was another lovely beach day. because we went in low season, there was never a problem finding a palapa or chairs on the beach or at the pool. Low season starts right after Easter and extends until the end of September. There is a constant parade of beach vendors all day long which is entertaining. they are not pushy and cannot approach you if you are behind the "yellow rope" unless you invite them to you. They do make eye contact and ask if you are interested in their wares but go away easily if you say NO. on a daily basis we had silver jewelry vendors, the "muffin man" selling muffins, ladies selling beach cover ups and dresses you would only wear in Mexico, a guy selling hats, vendors selling t shirts, shrimp on a stick, fresh fruit cut up,tablecloths, carved wooden items, but probably the two "most unique" were the guy wearing like a jet pack on his back offering to spray you with suntan lotion for a price and the guy carrying around his 3 foot iguana wearing a sombrero (yes the iguana) and offering for you to have your picture taken with the iguana for a price. Only in Mexico!!! again, very entertaining.

you could do kayaking, parasailing, fishing, snorkeling by just showing interest to one of the many beach guys offering these services in front of our place. also lots of cheap massages directly on the beach in private settings.

Monday night we rode the bus downtown to Cafe Roma for thin crust pizza. The evidence of our visit there can be seen at www.romamexico.com, look at their april 2010 photo gallery and we are photo number 09148. Great place and great pizza for under $10. took the bus back to villa del palmar and watched the sun set.

Our villa is rated by interval as a gold star which is the highest level but this is mexico and it is not the quality of a marriot in the US for sure but still a good place. Clean, maid service every day, again grounds are immaculate, timeshare rooms could stand to be updated but nothing was wrong with the place at all and they are in a great location. the beach in front is great for adults and kids and they have two great pools.

Day 3

Ned and i took a taxi to the marine terminal to catch our catamaran for our trip to Las Caletas for the day. This is where all the ocean going tours depart for vallarta adventures, our tour company. Continental breakfast served aboard, arrived to Las Caletas which used to be the home of John Huston who produced Night of the Iguana and pretty much brought Puerto Vallarta onto everybody's radar screen. Vallarta Adventures has done an incredible job with this place - you have beach time here, guided snorkeling and kayak tours, walking tours, live macaws and monkeys to see and a wonderful lunch provided. About an hour by boat each direction. We quickly figured out the bus system and rode the bus back to Villa del Palmar from the marine terminal for 50 cents. We just snacked at the resort that evening still very full from our late lunch.

Day 4

Got up and took a taxi to the other side of downtown - the longest ride we had - to La Palapa - a beachfront restaurant for breakfast. i had fried eggs and a tamale and guacamole - a good Mexican breakfast. what a wonderful view from this place. This is where the water taxis depart from to Yelapa. Got back from our breakfast and spent the remainder of the day on the beach. again took another taxi to a place that had wonderful reviews for dinner - El Arrayan - and it was great. I had plaintain empanadas with black bean/cheese filling and a hominy/shrimp soup. ned had a small plate (duck pate) as his stomach was a little under the weather.

Day 5

Another tour for me this day zip lining with vallarta Adventures in the afternoon. took a taxi to their office at the Marina and again figured out by watching how to get home on the bus. There were 14 of us in this tour - i was definitely the oldest. Rode in a vehicle like the military might use - canvas covered top, bench seats on both sides about an hour or more out of Puerto Vallarta to dense forest. it is amazing how they hauled in all the materials to build this place. again a first class operation by vallarta adventures. safety was number 1 everytime they put somebody on a zip line. they use double lines and have the highest safety standard afforded for this type of activity. i was never afraid and it was very exhilerating. we probably went on a dozen or more zip lines and did some rappeling and walking on swinging bridges and climbing ladders. Got back home, jumped in the shower and we were off to town again on the bus to eat dinner at the River Cafe. Wonderful food - i had mahi mahi and ned had a large calamari dish. this restaurant sits right on the river so we saw hummingbirds, iguanas in the trees, etc. the river wasn't very nice here but the foliage and animals were. Bus back home.

Day 6

Final tour for me today - a snorkel excursion and trip to Yelapa. I took the taxi to the marine terminal again and passed by the huge sea lion that they were using to have people's pictures made with. he is standing up on something that looks like a podium to prop him up. Vallarta adventures makes a lot of money with their photos. they have a photographer everywhere - she is even ahead of you on the zip line shooting you as you zip across. I didn't buy any of their pictures. Breakfast on the catamaran and then a stop to snorkel and kayak. Lots of fish - saw a pair of angel fish and lots of clown fish. Back on board for a big lunch and head over to Yelapa. Yelapa is a place only accessible by boat - it is a place where probably alot of poor people live as well as aged hippies and people that just want to escape society i suspect. although there were some tee shirts hanging for sale there by an artist that had a studio in Santa Cruz as well so i assume he is an american with studios in both places. When we arrived at Yelapa, you could either go on a 45 minute walk into town and to the waterfall or go to the beach. i didn't know how steep the walk would be so opted for the beach. we were all set up with chairs, umbrellas, beverage service, food(if you wanted to pay for it)and again the beach vedors passed by including another guy offering his iguana for a picture - this iguana was wearing a necklace. The pie lady was on Yelapa and i approached her before she started her beach walk and bought a piece of coconut pie - very good. You could kayak from the beach or parasail but this again was at your own expense.

we had about two hours on the beach here. and then back to port. had dinner this night at Vitea which is right on the malecon (boardwalk along the water with vendors, artists, etc.)I had shrimp and scallops and it was excellent. ned and i walked the entire malecon (10 blocks) and there are shops and restaurants for whatever you would like. again a bus ride home.

Day 7

Departure day
i spent up until about 1:30 on the beach enjoying my last day. We got packed up, checked out and taxied to the airport for our flight home. The PV airport is practically brand new - i think two years old - and it is state of the art for a Mexican airport - clean, lots of shops and restaurants.

as you can tell i was very much taken with Puerto Vallarta and look forward to my next trip there or as arnold would say "I WILL BE BACK"...