Puerto Vallarta Trip Log

Saturday, September 1st

Arrived at airport around 12:45 pm and went through customs and immigration fairly quickly.  The airport is chaotic after leaving customs.  Everyone was vying for our attention.  You have to literally ignore people screaming at you and asking you where you are going because they will claim to be your driver only to swoop you out to a timeshare location.  We found our prepaid transportation to the hotel and arrived at our resort, Blue Chairs around 1:45 pm.  Our room wasn’t ready so we ate a light lunch at had drinks at the beach.  They gave us our room number so we had charge privileges at the beach bar. We checked in at 3pm.  We had a beach (front) room (#203).  After unpacking we strolled through the Zona Romantica and Old Town.  We walked past the Los Arcos (The Arches) & Aquiles Serdan Amphitheater all the way down the Malecon and the following statues:  Friendship Fountain, Triton and Nereida (mermaid statue), Caballero del Mar (Boy riding on a seahorse), In Search of Reason (Pillow-headed children climb a latter to nowhere),  La Rotunda del Mar (6 alien sea creatures that are actually chairs) Nature as Mother (represents cycle of life and death) , La Nostalgia (artist and wife) and Millennium.  We were going to eat at Barcelona Tapas but it was closed for the low season.  Walked back to the Zona Romantica and ate at Archie’s Wok (Asian Fusion Cuisine (located at Francisca Rodríguez 130).  Watched show on top of Blue Chairs and the pool starting at 8:30 pm. There was a good display of lightning over the water all evening (an indirect result of Tropical Storm Henrietta.)  We walked town, stopping by an internet café and convenience store before calling it an early night (in bed by 11:30 pm).  The lightning show over the bay was great way to go to sleep!

Sunday, September 2nd
We ate breakfast at Feddy’s Tucan (located at Basilio Badillo 245) in the Zona Romantica.  The service and the food were great.  There was light rain all day on Sunday, but nevertheless, we spent over 3 hours in a ‘blue chair’ at the beach under the umbrella eating lunch, reading and listening to the waves under the protection of our umbrella.  After lounging around, we walked the beach to the Rio Cuale and back.  Time for a siesta, so made it back to the room for some reading and a nap.  For dinner, we took a cab to Café de Olla.  We had excellent Mexican food (large portions) and took advantage of the air conditioning in the back part of the restaurant.  Café de Olla (located at Basilo Badillo 168) is highly recommended by us.  Around 11:00 pm we went to Club Mañana (located at V. Carranza 290) for a beer – took a car there and home.

Monday, September 3rd
Ate breakfast at Dee’s Coffee Company (located at Rodolfo Gómez 120). We had a nice simple breakfast:  eggs, toast, orange juice and great coffee.  The owner of the business looked like an ex-pat and she was very nice.  Mark had some clothes washes at Lavanderia Pulpito (located at Pulpito 141).  If you need clothes washed while in town, this is the place to go.  It was only $5 for a load of clothes washed, dried and folded.  We walked down the Malecon again and stopped into the Huichol Collection- Galeria Museo (located at Morelos 490) where we bought several items. The largest item we bought was a beaded Jaguar Head to but on our wall in the living room.  We came back to Blue Chairs where we spend most of the rest of the day at the beach.  Large waves were crashing on shore due to Tropical Storm Henrietta.  We ate dinner at Fajita Republic (located at Pino Suárez 321) and had mixed Fajitas.  Personally, we think the beef was the best.  The portions were a bit small for the price (around $13 a plate)  After dinner, we walked down to Hacienda Alemana so we could drink a Hefe-Weizen, but they were closed for the slow season.  So instead, we walked down the Malecon and back, showered and went out took a cab to the bar “Anthropology”.   We got home late (approx 1 am).

Tuesday, September 4th
Ate breakfast in the Zona Romantica at Andale Restaurant.  The food was very good.  Lyndon had the special “Enchiladas Veracruzanas” and I had pancakes with 2 eggs and bacon.  We took things slow before checking out of the resort at 11:50 am.  Our taxi driver taking us back to the airport, was very friendly and informative.  He took us the longer route for the same price we’d have paid going through downtown but pointed out many things to us along the way.  We ate lunch at a diner in the airport.  One important item of note!  We bought bottled water in the secure area of the airport, and right before boarding the flight, they made everyone leave their bottled water behind.  After going through customs and immigration, we waited in a very long line to try to get a standby flight for an earlier flight to Austin.  In the end we were successful!  After arriving at home, we were greeted in the usual manner by Otis and Beans who were glad to have their Daddies at home.

Summary:

Our trip to Puerto Vallarta was nice but there were several things which jaded our trip somewhat. The time of year was very warm (downright humid), there was a Hurricane (Henrietta) 200 miles off shore which caused cloudy days and light sprinkles. The ocean water was more 'muddy' due to the agitation. We also were very disappointed by the amount of timeshare or "vacation club" pitches, everywhere. You simply cannot escape it unless perhaps you're in a confined resort (all inclusive) resort area but we wanted to experience PV the way the locals did. See our tips for further information. Would we go back? Maybe but this time I think we'd try an all-inclusive now that we know what we know.