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Vintage Ventures - Mexico
April 2017
Puerto Vallarta - Part 1
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VINTAGE VENTURES: I write my travel journals to be able to look back and remember our ventures. A secondary reason is to allow me to organize all my trip photos. I have thousands of photos. Organizing them into a cohesive story makes sense.
So, while I am convalescing after my gum grafting surgery here in Mexico, I decided to turn this idle time into something productive. I am organizing our very first trip to Mexico back in 2017. By the time I have completed this project, I hope to be ready to continue our present-day ventures.
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When we returned from our journey to the Caribbean Island of Grenada in February 2017, Wanda and I were keen to explore another warm weather destination in April. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, fit the bill. | |
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Jeff, the keyboard player in my band, has lived an interesting life. He has been a studio musician for EMI in Sweden, a show band leader in Las Vegas, a band member on a cruise ship, a tennis pro, and a Realtor. His year-long stint playing in a band on a cruise ship sailing between Los Angeles and Puerto Vallarta made him dream of visiting Puerto Vallarta (PV). Jeff has been raving about PV for months. He booked a 10-day airfare/hotel package to PV for himself and his new girlfriend, Teri. This was in early April 2017. We were looking to follow up our February trip to Grenada with another warm-weather destination. We decided to tag along.
Like our recent trip to Grenada, we booked an Airbnb and listed ourselves on a standby flight from Chicago to PV via Phoenix, Arizona. Due to Wanda’s work schedule at American Airlines, this was going to be a short, whirlwind six-day excursion.
Flying standby is tricky. At all costs, avoid the weekends and shoot for the very first flight of the day. Even if the flight is full, some passengers miss the early flights. Our Chicago to Phoenix leg departed at 4:30 am. That was so early that we decided to get to the airport at 11 pm and loiter until boarding the plane at 4 am.
We dropped our car off at the hotel near the airport, where Wanda operated a Flight Attendant crashpad. The hotel allows Wanda to keep a car there for a limited period. When we arrived at O’Hare at 11 pm, we were shocked to find the security section closed. Wanda knew of some reasonably comfortable seating in the gate area where we could nod off. With security closed, we couldn't get to the gates. The seating in the main lobby area was not conducive to snoozing. We had to wait until 3:30 am for security to open up. It was a fitful night with only the occasional short doze.
Both legs of our flight to PV went smoothly. We arrived in PV at 1:00 pm. Customs went quickly, but just as we emerged from customs, we got tied up by a timeshare ‘hawker’ pouring many free Tequilas that ended up not being so free. For $40, we were conned into signing up for a condo pitch, a taxi ride to our Airbnb, a day tour of PV, and a promised ride back to the airport. We eventually reneged on the condo pitch, toured on our own, and never got our return ride to the airport. We did get a few shots of Tequila, and we were dropped off at our Airbnb. Lesson learned.
Gyuri, our Airbnb host, met us "downstairs" and led us up 20 steps to the first locked wrought-iron gate, then through a second locked wooden door, and up 40 more steps to our room. The room was clean and had two new twin beds, some minimal furniture, and a private bathroom. We had access to his living area, which was bright, airy, and spacious. We didn't use the shared space since we were out early every morning and back late.
Gyuri was born in Hungary; grew up in the USA; worked as a corporate tech for Walmart and Target; then got hooked on world travel. He now works in e-commerce selling wholesale fabrics on his personal website and lives with his girlfriend (from Minnesota) of 5 years, Blanca, who worked with a Minnesota politician until they started world traveling. Anyway, they fell in love with each other and then with Puerto Vallarta. Once committed to PV, it took them only three weeks to find their present apartment, and they started their Airbnb.
Gyuri was a nice young gentleman. We didn't meet Blanca because she was in Minnesota preparing to attend a friend's wedding. Gyuri was gearing up to meet her in Minnesota by the weekend.
Our little apartment was on an upper level of a building that was high up on a steep hill. The view from our window was spectacular. Next door was a fancy hotel and restaurant where Elizabeth Taylor stayed while filming ‘The Night of the Iguana’, some 55 years ago. Legend says that Richard Burton, Taylor’s co-star in the movie, stayed across the street. He had a bridge built over the street so he could make clandestine rendezvous with his co-star.
|  | The white building on the right was the apartment building that we stayed in. The Airbnb was on the top level. | Above and below: The commanding view from our window. | The fancy hotel and restaurant next door to our Airbnb, where Elizabeth Taylor stayed while filming The Night of the Iguana. | |
The bridge over the street connects the two hotels. Legend is that Richard Burton had it built so he could rendezvous with Elizabeth Taylor.
BELOW: The following photos were taken in the neighborhood where our Airbnb was located. This was a pleasant little district, even though it was over a mile from the ocean. As a general rule, the farther inland, the less fancy the neighborhoods were. This was an exception to that rule. Also, notice how this neighborhood was built on a steep hillside.
| The stairway to access our neighborhood from downtown. | |
At around 3 pm, just a couple hours after landing, we dressed for sun and fun and headed out to rendezvous with Jeff and Teri. Unlike Grenada, Mexico is part of Verizon’s domestic region. Our cell phones worked seamlessly in Mexico.
Our first destination was to find the big pier on the beach, where we would meet Jeff and Teri. The pier is located in front of the downtown hotels. It is depicted on Google Maps, so finding it was not a problem.
Jeff and Teri’s hotel is located just a block or two from the beach. Our Airbnb is a mile inland from the beach, halfway up a steep mountain. We couldn’t complain. Even with all the fees added in, it was still less than $19 a day.
We walked from the Airbnb room through Isla Cuale and along the River Cuale. The island has a large market filled with hundreds of small tables vibrant with Mexico's colors, souvenirs, embroidered clothing, beaded jewelry and figurines, mini guitars, pottery, glassware, dishes, handmade toys, hats, shoes, serapes, and so much more.
We found Jeff and Teri quickly enough. We staked out a spot on the beach to take it all in. Drinks were enjoyed, the surf lured us in for some wading, and the hot 87º felt perfect with the cooling ocean breeze.
We ended our first evening at Margaritagrill, where Jeff hopes to pin down a house-band gig and become a PV snowbird in the next year or two. It was great fun to be there sucking down Mango Margaritas and Mojitos. The food was amazing, and the company was thoroughly engaging.
|  | The River Cuale. By April, the river is just a trickle. | Above and below: Examples of the incredible murals on the Isla Cuale. | One little corner of the market along the River Cuale. | The beach at Puerto Vallarta. | We stopped in to see Jeff and Teri's hotel. The hotel had a comfortable rooftop patio. | Wanda and Teri next to a large tile wall across the street from the Margaritagrill. | The Margaritagrill restaurant. Jeff became friends with the owner and made preliminary plans to return next winter and perform at the restaurant. | Drinks at Margaritagrill were as beautiful as they were flavorful. |  |  | |
The first two days were spent roaming the Zona Romantica. This is a large section of the downtown area. It follows the ocean for three miles and goes inland for two miles. This large rectangle is chock-full of hotels, restaurants, plazas, shops, street vendors, and food carts. We explored just about every square inch.
We sampled several restaurants and food carts. We met up with Jeff and Teri one evening to eat at an Italian restaurant. It was the only meal we cheated on and didn’t eat Mexican. Still, it was ethnic food and yummy.
Speaking of Mexican cuisine, the food in Puerto Vallarta was crazy-good, from the street carts to the mom’n’pop sidewalk restaurants, to the resort restaurants. The Mexican food in PV was not spicy-hot. You could add mouth-burning sauces if you wish, but the food itself was bursting with Mexican flavors without the heat. And PV salsa was very different from what we are used to. It is a dry salsa, not a sauce at all. The ingredients are simple: diced tomato, diced cucumbers, diced onions, cilantro, salt, and a dash of freshly squeezed lime - simple, clean, and delicious.
PV put the fun back into breakfast. Using simple ingredients like farm-raised eggs, refried beans, PV’s salsa, avocados, and hot tortillas, restaurants devised a zillion different versions of breakfast dishes. The freshly squeezed OJ blew us away, and the coffee surprised us with a slight hint of cinnamon - magnificent.
The spectacular ocean walk was lined with shops, vendors, restaurants, bars, and pharmacies. Yep - pharmacies were everywhere. At least two on every block. They sold antibiotics of all kinds, stocked with sunscreen and skin-soothing products .... and whenever we stopped in to purchase a few things, we would also hear, "we have Viagra, Cialis...".
Everything is for sale on the beaches: fresh fruits on sticks carved into flowers, skewered barbecued shrimp on-a-stick, beach blankets, beach umbrellas, jewelry of every type, and souvenirs of all varieties. The sellers wore white outfits and had their products beautifully displayed. Parasailing was a constant. It was fun to watch as the boats pulling the parasailers unerringly, landing the parasails spot-on target each-and-every time.
We happened upon a farmers' market one early afternoon. The homemade yogurt, raspberry drinks, and fresh fruit begged me to pull the pesos out of my wallet. I complied. PV’s fresh fruits and veggies are bursting with flavor.
Bold color was everywhere—murals, flowers, clothing, buildings, etc. PV is eye candy.
| BELOW: A series of snapshots of PV as we roamed the streets. We loved the colors. | A plethora of hotels climb the hillside. | Skeletons and skulls were ubiquitous in PV. | The owner of Margaritagrill just opened this Mayan restaurant a block away. I love the mural and the tree growing in the middle. | The tile wall across the street from Margaritagrill. | I call these cobble rock streets. Teri learned quickly that these streets are made for something other than high heels. | The Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Notice the crown on top of the steeple. | PV has many cats roaming the streets. | Fish Tacos at a corner mom'n'pop restaurant. | The farmers' market provided fresh fruit. We bought a couple of tubs - blackberries and blueberries. | There were other dishes at the market. | My favorite statue along the ocean walk. | The view from our table at the Italian restaurant. | Many of the Taco stands only open up at night. | We covered quite a bit of ground in the Zona Centro or Zona Romantica in the two days we spent walking the streets. After this, Jeff played tour guide and took us to the village of Yelapa and to the area around the town of Mismaloya. These two all-day trips employed a boat ride and a taxi ride. More in the next installment of Vintage Ventures - Mexico 2017. | | | | |
