We arrived at the airport on June 20th and completely bypassed the gauntlet of time-share salespeople by having made reservations for a rental car through Gecko. They include VIP treatment and all we had to do was spot the person with the sign. This was before baggage claim so they give you instructions where to meet them after baggage claim. They then escorted us to a small waiting room (away from the time-share traps) and even gave us cold bottled water. Within minutes we were loaded in a van and whisked off to Gecko’s main office in Brucerias (on the main highway). They include transportation to and from the airport for up to four people. (Check their website for the latest information). For those who don’t need to go all the way up to Brucerias, Gecko can arrange to have your rental waiting for you in the airport parking lot! We loaded the Suburban rental with eight people, five suitcases, several carry-ons and four boogie boards. Gecko gave us quick instructions on driving in the PV area and even made several suggestions which helped us. We were heading to San Francisco (locally known as San Pancho) for four nights so we needed some pesos and groceries. There is a bank just down the road from Gecko although one has to make sure it’s a banking day and within banking hours. There is also a fantastic carneria (meat shop) a little down the road. It’s called Carneria del Mundo and is owned by an American couple. They even let us pay in dollars and let us borrow an ice chest for four days. The best part was the absolutely delicious meat. We loved the peppered bacon and the barbecued chicken.
We drove up the beautiful (but curvy) road to San Pancho. If you haven’t driven in Mexico before please be advised that turning on your left-hand blinker on a highway means you’re giving the person behind you the indication that’s it’s clear for them to pass you. Luckily, I ended up behind a large truck so we went slow enough to enjoy the scenery. It’s doesn’t take very long to get from Brucerias to Sayulita or San Pancho; less than half an hour. San Pancho is a small town with tight streets where many Americans and Canadians own and rent beautiful houses on the hillsides or right on the beautiful, wide beach. The hills come close to the beach so you get the feeling of being in the jungle. However, if you rent a house on the hillside you not only end up with a fantastic view but then a steep walk up and down the cobblestone roads to the beach. San Pancho also has a resort called Costa Azul. The resort is quaint and can be an all-inclusive. The entire town is VERY laid-back as is Costa Azul. The advantage of San Pancho over Sayulita is that fisherman don’t drive their boats right up onto the beach. The surf is stronger than in PV as it is open ocean. The sand is a little on the coarse side compared to PV but not too coarse. Costa Azul is so laid-back that even if you’re not staying there you can use the pool. We just made sure to buy some drinks to “pay” for the use of the pool. We played volleyball in the pool and on the beach at Costa Azul. There were people of all ages and everyone seemed to be there for the simplicity of a vacation in Mexico. The resort also offers surfing lessons, kayak rentals and side excursions however when you’re on a beach like that, who needs anything else. There was a local providing horseback riding on the beach. The resort did have entertainment on some nights and we took advantage of salsa dancing and lessons (which included tequila being poured down your throat to boost your self-confidence) and their Mexican Fiesta. The fiesta was a fantastic, all-you-can-eat buffet with some great mariachis, folklorico dancing and general fun. It was well worth the money. The bar, restaurant and dance area is a large, open palapa which adds to the whole wonderful impression. There are several small (and I do mean small) stores selling eggs, tortillas, beer and other basics. One had quite an alcohol section. Summer is the slow season and many stores were closed for the season. There is a pharmacy in case you need something beyond general supplies. As our visit was prior to the rainy season, the whole town was experiencing a shortage of water. Our rental had a cistern in which the caretaker had the local water truck haul water to us. We were also there during the land crab migration so the upper parts of the beach and beyond were riddled with crabs (and I mean many, many, many). They don’t bother anyone but act like they want to severely defend their holes as you walk by. We enjoyed watching their antics. Some crabs were probably in the cistern as the water (and everything else) smelled of crabs. The rental provided bottled water which we used for everything other than showering. I would recommend soaking fruits and vegetables in Microdyn in a town like this especially with the water situation. Microdyn can be purchased in larger markets in the PV area. One day a dead sea turtle washed ashore reminding us that there is a turtle sanctuary nearby. Due to the closeness of the hills, there are a lot of insects but just as many geckos to take care of the situation. The geckos sang to us all night long but it’s a wonderful sound in a large, tall-roofed, tiled floor, typical Mexican house. We did experience some mosquitoes as even though our rental was on the beach, it didn’t get a direct breeze from the ocean.
We drove into Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta on the 24th and checked into our rental at Playa Royale. From there some of us drove to Wal-Mart (20-30 minutes away from NV) and stocked up for the next ten nights. The Mexican fütbol (soccer) team was playing in the World Cup so every TV in Wal-Mart was blaring the game. The whole store would cheer and come to a complete stop whenever there was a goal. We took the Suburban to Gecko and they even drove the three of us back to Playa Royale.
Playa Royale is part of the large community of Paradise Village. Within the community is a mixture of golf condos, marina condos, houses with boat slips and many, many large condo developments. There is a free, air conditioned shuttle which runs every half hour stopping at the Paradise Village Beach Resort, the mall, the sports center, the golf course, spa and the many condo developments. The mall is American style with many stores having the same tourist stuff that can be found in PV but at higher prices and without much bargaining. There is even a good-sized supermarket there and the prices are a bit higher as expected. We were in the residence building at Playa Royale which is beachfront. Being low season, there weren’t many people there but that’s the way we like most of our time so that we can make sure we can do a quick head count of eight. However, when we did crave some more “people activity” we hopped on the shuttle and participated in tequila pool volleyball (again with the pouring of free tequila down the throat) and beach volleyball at Paradise Village Beach Resort. Two things about PVBR, it’s crowded and it’s full of people who aren’t interested in simplicity. The beach volleyball was very competitive instead of just being fun and those getting ready to play wouldn’t let our youngest teen play probably based on his size and age. No loss, there was lots to do. My husband won a bottle of tequila and a girl’s beach cover-up dress at “pool golf”. Sunday nights is a “Welcome Party” for those in Paradise Village and includes snacks and free margaritas, Mai Tais and piña coladas. It is very entertaining and got everyone in the mood to party and vacation. I don’t know if it was just the bartender for that day or every day, but the drinks were beyond strong, especially for being free. Paradise Village had some sort of entertainment every night at different locations. We went to the BBQ dinner which seemed expensive but not by the time you include the all-you-can-eat, open bar (margaritas, Mai Tais, etc.) and the fancy mariachi and folklorico entertainment.
The beach of Paradise Village is fine sand and wide enough for palapas from the resorts. The bay slowly slopes outward so one can walk even past the surf breaks. We found live sand dollars in the surf but visibility is poor due to sand in the surf. One teen stepped on something which \"flapped\" under his foot. We thought it might have been a flounder. However, several days later another teen appeared to have been stung by a stingray. She stepped down and something flapped across the top of her foot and she experienced a stinging. For about twelve hours she had local swelling and a stinging sensation. It reminded us that we should use the beach shoes we had with us and to shuffle into sandy areas.
Our first morning walk on the beach was fine and a friendly local who spoke English well got into a nice conversation with my husband. Lo and behold, even though we had run the gauntlet at the airport it ended up he was a time-share salesperson. Caught off guard, my husband’s interest had been spiked. The man offered us a $100 gift certificate for a restaurant, a bottle of Kahlua and half an hour on a jet-ski if we went to the presentation which included a breakfast buffet. My husband took his name and number and presented it to the other family when we got back. No one was all that interested as a morning at a presentation took away from our two week vacation. Several days later we ran into the same man and he “sweetened the pot” with changing the gift certificate to $100 cash (in dollars) and changed the jet-ski to one hour. Once again my husband presented it to all and we figured we’d give it a try. Only one of the adults had ever been to a time-share presentation so he gave us some tips on saying “no”. We went, we did, we said “NO” and came away with some goodies but it took all morning rather than “just 90 minutes”. We are no longer time-share presentation virgins.
We ventured into town for a day of shopping. I wanted to introduce the culture slowly to the family traveling with us so we took the water taxi from the Paradise Village Marina, not to be confused with the Puerto Vallarta Marina. It cost us $10 one way PER person which I knew was outrageous but we wanted to see the bay from a boat. We were packed on like sardines and handed life preservers and told to “hang on to these”. As we approached the Puerto Vallarta Marina to drop two people off, we were told to put on the life preservers to satisfy the Marina authority. One American on our boat apparently did not put his on and as we entered the Marina, the authority stopped our boat and told the operators that they would have to stop at the authority base on our way out. So during the long argument at the base we all had to sit quietly in the heat due to one so-called “ugly” American. In the middle of the argument, this same man yelled out “Vamanos” which means “let’s go”. There’s one in every crowd, even in a foreign country and it reminded us that as Americans we need to do our best to portray our country well at home and especially as a guest in another country. The water taxi ended up with quite a fine and was told they couldn’t operate the rest of the day. The water taxi delivered us to a small pier south of Playa Los Muertos. Seeing the water from south of Paradise Village all the way to Los Muertos made us realize that the water and beach of Paradise Village was spectacularly clean. The humidity and heat was up so our shopping day was not as long as we would have liked. We ducked into quite a few shops which said they had air conditioning just to take a “look-see” and try to recuperate. Being from Arizona we’re used to heat but “it’s a dry heat” which is much different from PV. The heat and humidity reminded me of Washington D.C. or Hershey, PA on a bad day. We ate lunch at “Vitea” just north of the pedestrian bridge on El Malecón. This was a pleasure in itself. The tables and chairs are beautifully decorated and constructed of what appears to be glass in marvelous, tasty colors. The food was “gourmet” but in such a way that most would be interested in it. The prices were reasonable considering its gourmet ingredients and flare. We walked from the pier to north of the main church and then hopped on a bus to Wal-Mart which seems to be a large bus change location. From there another bus took us directly into Paradise Village. The bus fare for that last portion was under $9 for all eight of us. I took the opportunity to converse with the local children as to what kept them busy during the summer and what they learned in school. We brought “clearance items” with us from the states such as “Winnie the Pooh” and “Coca-Cola” playing cards and handed them out to children who conversed with us. We took many other buses after that without blinking an eye. Mexicans are known for being friendly and helpful and PV was a fine example of this. In general we’ve noticed that if one acts like an “ugly” American they get treated so but if one smiles and at least tries to be friendly, the whole world will open up. One night I sat in the Jacuzzi at Playa Royale and fumbled through a long political conversation in Spanish (it was National voting time) with a Mexican family from Guadalajara and a Mexican couple who lived at Playa Royale. Within a few hours we had exchanged addresses and we now have an open invitation to Guadalajara.
The excursion highlights for us ended up to be “Los Veranos Canopy Tour” and the tequila tasting tour and lunch in El Pitillal.
The canopy tour shuttle picked us up at a local hotel on the main road in Nuevo Vallarta. Los Veranos is south of PV and Mismayola in the “Chico’s Paradise” area and therefore provides a fantastic drive along southern PV where the mountains come closer and closer to the beach (providing less and less beach along the way) and a serene area with a creek (more or less water depending on rainy season) with boulders, birds and beauty. Los Veranos has their own restaurant overlooking the beauty and they even provide additional (optional but included in the price) entertainment aside from the zip lines in the form of allowing a tarantula to climb on your face, feeding a Toucan, petting or holding a Boa Constrictor and sliding into the creek on a concrete slide directly from a patio at the open-air restaurant. The only drawback was the price of the food and perhaps the quality. One plate had to be sent back as it tasted horrible even though another plate of the same thing tasted fine. We paid for bottled water as they most likely didn’t have PV water. The two of us who didn’t do the canopy tour decided to surprise our group and joined them for lunch. We took four buses and walked from the road above “Chico’s Paradise” up to the “Pancho’s Last Resort” restaurant at Los Veranos. This allowed a true view of typical Mexican life as the road was dirt and the sewage consisted of a small dirt channel running from the houses across the road and into the creek. The forum has several comments about getting sick after eating in restaurants in the creek area and this may be why. A suggestion might be to not eat in any of the restaurants along there and simply pass the time before the shuttle leaves to try the tarantula on the face. Wow, to think that the sound of having a tarantula climb on your face is better than drinking margaritas and eating food in an idyllic setting is quite a picture.
The tequila tour was in a busy, non-touristy part of PV and again was accessible by bus although getting there was our only taxi ride as we didn’t know exactly where it was from Wal-Mart. The ride cost $50 pesos each taxi (two necessary for eight people) and we were delivered at the doorstep. It was a large palapa in a courtyard with folklorico dancers providing entertainment and picture opportunities, a free margarita, the tour and tasting (OH YEAH, DID I FORGET TO SAY IT WAS ALSO A TEQUILA TASTING TOUR?) and lunch. I had never done a tequila shot before and was anticipating the whole lick the hand, salt and lime thing and was quickly informed that was the way to do it only with BAD tequila like Jose Cuervo. Now, keep in mind that the tour guide (a.k.a. waiter) received a commission on every bottle he sold and they didn’t sell Jose Cuervo so I can’t vouch for the validity of that statement. However, after learning about how tequila is made and the different distilling ages I learned that I really like almond tequila. No, that wasn’t a typo; it’s a smooth tequila with almond flavoring almost like Amaretto. Our whole group, including the teens enjoyed tasting different age levels and flavors of tequila. We then enjoyed a good lunch. The garlic shrimp was superb. WARNING: we were told by the tour guide that you can bring 3 liters of alcohol per person over 21 into the states. They say this so that you buy it even though you might not be able to bring it in as Federal law is only 1 liter per person 21 and older (some state laws can supersede Federal law; check the internet and your local state government before you go).
Mexican silver abounds but be leery as at least in our experience it more likely than not does not have the same silver content that we as Americans expect. Our friend paid quite a lot for a “silver” key chain with a soccer ball on the end of it. The soccer ball is silver but the chain itself is simply silver coated “O” rings very cleverly matched.
I always buy coffee beans or grind in Mexico to use while I’m there and to bring back as their coffee is TASTY.
Regarding free tequila at the resorts, with parental permission even teens under 18 are given tequila.
We took traveler’s cheques and dollars so that we could take advantage of one or the other regardless of where we were. The cambio houses had much longer hours than the banks and the exchange rate was about the same.
We bought traveler’s insurance when we bought the airfare and added our rental information so that if there was something which prevented any of us from going we wouldn’t be out all the money; most vacation rentals are paid in advance and usually don’t give refunds. I believe the total cost was $130 for both families and we considered it a worthwhile investment.
We had wanted to do the Pirate Land day excursion but the boat had been up in Mazatlan for maintenance and when it arrived on Saturday the first tour out was Monday. Imagine an entire resort city waiting for the arrival of a boat with limited seating. Needless to say we didn’t get on it and we left for home on Tuesday.
Regarding sunburns, we’ve learned that if while at the ocean we reapply sunblock every hour we’ve eliminated painful burns which prevent us from enjoying our vacation. We seem to only get burnt at the beach, not at the pool. Somehow the sunblock wears off in the salt water and against the sand.
A suggestion for families traveling with teens and almost teens; bring a badminton net and volleyball (or buy both in PV) and turn any dull moment into a pool volleyball game. It was also a great way to meet other families by having them join us in the game.
We will be back and that’s a promise.
We drove up the beautiful (but curvy) road to San Pancho. If you haven’t driven in Mexico before please be advised that turning on your left-hand blinker on a highway means you’re giving the person behind you the indication that’s it’s clear for them to pass you. Luckily, I ended up behind a large truck so we went slow enough to enjoy the scenery. It’s doesn’t take very long to get from Brucerias to Sayulita or San Pancho; less than half an hour. San Pancho is a small town with tight streets where many Americans and Canadians own and rent beautiful houses on the hillsides or right on the beautiful, wide beach. The hills come close to the beach so you get the feeling of being in the jungle. However, if you rent a house on the hillside you not only end up with a fantastic view but then a steep walk up and down the cobblestone roads to the beach. San Pancho also has a resort called Costa Azul. The resort is quaint and can be an all-inclusive. The entire town is VERY laid-back as is Costa Azul. The advantage of San Pancho over Sayulita is that fisherman don’t drive their boats right up onto the beach. The surf is stronger than in PV as it is open ocean. The sand is a little on the coarse side compared to PV but not too coarse. Costa Azul is so laid-back that even if you’re not staying there you can use the pool. We just made sure to buy some drinks to “pay” for the use of the pool. We played volleyball in the pool and on the beach at Costa Azul. There were people of all ages and everyone seemed to be there for the simplicity of a vacation in Mexico. The resort also offers surfing lessons, kayak rentals and side excursions however when you’re on a beach like that, who needs anything else. There was a local providing horseback riding on the beach. The resort did have entertainment on some nights and we took advantage of salsa dancing and lessons (which included tequila being poured down your throat to boost your self-confidence) and their Mexican Fiesta. The fiesta was a fantastic, all-you-can-eat buffet with some great mariachis, folklorico dancing and general fun. It was well worth the money. The bar, restaurant and dance area is a large, open palapa which adds to the whole wonderful impression. There are several small (and I do mean small) stores selling eggs, tortillas, beer and other basics. One had quite an alcohol section. Summer is the slow season and many stores were closed for the season. There is a pharmacy in case you need something beyond general supplies. As our visit was prior to the rainy season, the whole town was experiencing a shortage of water. Our rental had a cistern in which the caretaker had the local water truck haul water to us. We were also there during the land crab migration so the upper parts of the beach and beyond were riddled with crabs (and I mean many, many, many). They don’t bother anyone but act like they want to severely defend their holes as you walk by. We enjoyed watching their antics. Some crabs were probably in the cistern as the water (and everything else) smelled of crabs. The rental provided bottled water which we used for everything other than showering. I would recommend soaking fruits and vegetables in Microdyn in a town like this especially with the water situation. Microdyn can be purchased in larger markets in the PV area. One day a dead sea turtle washed ashore reminding us that there is a turtle sanctuary nearby. Due to the closeness of the hills, there are a lot of insects but just as many geckos to take care of the situation. The geckos sang to us all night long but it’s a wonderful sound in a large, tall-roofed, tiled floor, typical Mexican house. We did experience some mosquitoes as even though our rental was on the beach, it didn’t get a direct breeze from the ocean.
We drove into Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta on the 24th and checked into our rental at Playa Royale. From there some of us drove to Wal-Mart (20-30 minutes away from NV) and stocked up for the next ten nights. The Mexican fütbol (soccer) team was playing in the World Cup so every TV in Wal-Mart was blaring the game. The whole store would cheer and come to a complete stop whenever there was a goal. We took the Suburban to Gecko and they even drove the three of us back to Playa Royale.
Playa Royale is part of the large community of Paradise Village. Within the community is a mixture of golf condos, marina condos, houses with boat slips and many, many large condo developments. There is a free, air conditioned shuttle which runs every half hour stopping at the Paradise Village Beach Resort, the mall, the sports center, the golf course, spa and the many condo developments. The mall is American style with many stores having the same tourist stuff that can be found in PV but at higher prices and without much bargaining. There is even a good-sized supermarket there and the prices are a bit higher as expected. We were in the residence building at Playa Royale which is beachfront. Being low season, there weren’t many people there but that’s the way we like most of our time so that we can make sure we can do a quick head count of eight. However, when we did crave some more “people activity” we hopped on the shuttle and participated in tequila pool volleyball (again with the pouring of free tequila down the throat) and beach volleyball at Paradise Village Beach Resort. Two things about PVBR, it’s crowded and it’s full of people who aren’t interested in simplicity. The beach volleyball was very competitive instead of just being fun and those getting ready to play wouldn’t let our youngest teen play probably based on his size and age. No loss, there was lots to do. My husband won a bottle of tequila and a girl’s beach cover-up dress at “pool golf”. Sunday nights is a “Welcome Party” for those in Paradise Village and includes snacks and free margaritas, Mai Tais and piña coladas. It is very entertaining and got everyone in the mood to party and vacation. I don’t know if it was just the bartender for that day or every day, but the drinks were beyond strong, especially for being free. Paradise Village had some sort of entertainment every night at different locations. We went to the BBQ dinner which seemed expensive but not by the time you include the all-you-can-eat, open bar (margaritas, Mai Tais, etc.) and the fancy mariachi and folklorico entertainment.
The beach of Paradise Village is fine sand and wide enough for palapas from the resorts. The bay slowly slopes outward so one can walk even past the surf breaks. We found live sand dollars in the surf but visibility is poor due to sand in the surf. One teen stepped on something which \"flapped\" under his foot. We thought it might have been a flounder. However, several days later another teen appeared to have been stung by a stingray. She stepped down and something flapped across the top of her foot and she experienced a stinging. For about twelve hours she had local swelling and a stinging sensation. It reminded us that we should use the beach shoes we had with us and to shuffle into sandy areas.
Our first morning walk on the beach was fine and a friendly local who spoke English well got into a nice conversation with my husband. Lo and behold, even though we had run the gauntlet at the airport it ended up he was a time-share salesperson. Caught off guard, my husband’s interest had been spiked. The man offered us a $100 gift certificate for a restaurant, a bottle of Kahlua and half an hour on a jet-ski if we went to the presentation which included a breakfast buffet. My husband took his name and number and presented it to the other family when we got back. No one was all that interested as a morning at a presentation took away from our two week vacation. Several days later we ran into the same man and he “sweetened the pot” with changing the gift certificate to $100 cash (in dollars) and changed the jet-ski to one hour. Once again my husband presented it to all and we figured we’d give it a try. Only one of the adults had ever been to a time-share presentation so he gave us some tips on saying “no”. We went, we did, we said “NO” and came away with some goodies but it took all morning rather than “just 90 minutes”. We are no longer time-share presentation virgins.
We ventured into town for a day of shopping. I wanted to introduce the culture slowly to the family traveling with us so we took the water taxi from the Paradise Village Marina, not to be confused with the Puerto Vallarta Marina. It cost us $10 one way PER person which I knew was outrageous but we wanted to see the bay from a boat. We were packed on like sardines and handed life preservers and told to “hang on to these”. As we approached the Puerto Vallarta Marina to drop two people off, we were told to put on the life preservers to satisfy the Marina authority. One American on our boat apparently did not put his on and as we entered the Marina, the authority stopped our boat and told the operators that they would have to stop at the authority base on our way out. So during the long argument at the base we all had to sit quietly in the heat due to one so-called “ugly” American. In the middle of the argument, this same man yelled out “Vamanos” which means “let’s go”. There’s one in every crowd, even in a foreign country and it reminded us that as Americans we need to do our best to portray our country well at home and especially as a guest in another country. The water taxi ended up with quite a fine and was told they couldn’t operate the rest of the day. The water taxi delivered us to a small pier south of Playa Los Muertos. Seeing the water from south of Paradise Village all the way to Los Muertos made us realize that the water and beach of Paradise Village was spectacularly clean. The humidity and heat was up so our shopping day was not as long as we would have liked. We ducked into quite a few shops which said they had air conditioning just to take a “look-see” and try to recuperate. Being from Arizona we’re used to heat but “it’s a dry heat” which is much different from PV. The heat and humidity reminded me of Washington D.C. or Hershey, PA on a bad day. We ate lunch at “Vitea” just north of the pedestrian bridge on El Malecón. This was a pleasure in itself. The tables and chairs are beautifully decorated and constructed of what appears to be glass in marvelous, tasty colors. The food was “gourmet” but in such a way that most would be interested in it. The prices were reasonable considering its gourmet ingredients and flare. We walked from the pier to north of the main church and then hopped on a bus to Wal-Mart which seems to be a large bus change location. From there another bus took us directly into Paradise Village. The bus fare for that last portion was under $9 for all eight of us. I took the opportunity to converse with the local children as to what kept them busy during the summer and what they learned in school. We brought “clearance items” with us from the states such as “Winnie the Pooh” and “Coca-Cola” playing cards and handed them out to children who conversed with us. We took many other buses after that without blinking an eye. Mexicans are known for being friendly and helpful and PV was a fine example of this. In general we’ve noticed that if one acts like an “ugly” American they get treated so but if one smiles and at least tries to be friendly, the whole world will open up. One night I sat in the Jacuzzi at Playa Royale and fumbled through a long political conversation in Spanish (it was National voting time) with a Mexican family from Guadalajara and a Mexican couple who lived at Playa Royale. Within a few hours we had exchanged addresses and we now have an open invitation to Guadalajara.
The excursion highlights for us ended up to be “Los Veranos Canopy Tour” and the tequila tasting tour and lunch in El Pitillal.
The canopy tour shuttle picked us up at a local hotel on the main road in Nuevo Vallarta. Los Veranos is south of PV and Mismayola in the “Chico’s Paradise” area and therefore provides a fantastic drive along southern PV where the mountains come closer and closer to the beach (providing less and less beach along the way) and a serene area with a creek (more or less water depending on rainy season) with boulders, birds and beauty. Los Veranos has their own restaurant overlooking the beauty and they even provide additional (optional but included in the price) entertainment aside from the zip lines in the form of allowing a tarantula to climb on your face, feeding a Toucan, petting or holding a Boa Constrictor and sliding into the creek on a concrete slide directly from a patio at the open-air restaurant. The only drawback was the price of the food and perhaps the quality. One plate had to be sent back as it tasted horrible even though another plate of the same thing tasted fine. We paid for bottled water as they most likely didn’t have PV water. The two of us who didn’t do the canopy tour decided to surprise our group and joined them for lunch. We took four buses and walked from the road above “Chico’s Paradise” up to the “Pancho’s Last Resort” restaurant at Los Veranos. This allowed a true view of typical Mexican life as the road was dirt and the sewage consisted of a small dirt channel running from the houses across the road and into the creek. The forum has several comments about getting sick after eating in restaurants in the creek area and this may be why. A suggestion might be to not eat in any of the restaurants along there and simply pass the time before the shuttle leaves to try the tarantula on the face. Wow, to think that the sound of having a tarantula climb on your face is better than drinking margaritas and eating food in an idyllic setting is quite a picture.
The tequila tour was in a busy, non-touristy part of PV and again was accessible by bus although getting there was our only taxi ride as we didn’t know exactly where it was from Wal-Mart. The ride cost $50 pesos each taxi (two necessary for eight people) and we were delivered at the doorstep. It was a large palapa in a courtyard with folklorico dancers providing entertainment and picture opportunities, a free margarita, the tour and tasting (OH YEAH, DID I FORGET TO SAY IT WAS ALSO A TEQUILA TASTING TOUR?) and lunch. I had never done a tequila shot before and was anticipating the whole lick the hand, salt and lime thing and was quickly informed that was the way to do it only with BAD tequila like Jose Cuervo. Now, keep in mind that the tour guide (a.k.a. waiter) received a commission on every bottle he sold and they didn’t sell Jose Cuervo so I can’t vouch for the validity of that statement. However, after learning about how tequila is made and the different distilling ages I learned that I really like almond tequila. No, that wasn’t a typo; it’s a smooth tequila with almond flavoring almost like Amaretto. Our whole group, including the teens enjoyed tasting different age levels and flavors of tequila. We then enjoyed a good lunch. The garlic shrimp was superb. WARNING: we were told by the tour guide that you can bring 3 liters of alcohol per person over 21 into the states. They say this so that you buy it even though you might not be able to bring it in as Federal law is only 1 liter per person 21 and older (some state laws can supersede Federal law; check the internet and your local state government before you go).
Mexican silver abounds but be leery as at least in our experience it more likely than not does not have the same silver content that we as Americans expect. Our friend paid quite a lot for a “silver” key chain with a soccer ball on the end of it. The soccer ball is silver but the chain itself is simply silver coated “O” rings very cleverly matched.
I always buy coffee beans or grind in Mexico to use while I’m there and to bring back as their coffee is TASTY.
Regarding free tequila at the resorts, with parental permission even teens under 18 are given tequila.
We took traveler’s cheques and dollars so that we could take advantage of one or the other regardless of where we were. The cambio houses had much longer hours than the banks and the exchange rate was about the same.
We bought traveler’s insurance when we bought the airfare and added our rental information so that if there was something which prevented any of us from going we wouldn’t be out all the money; most vacation rentals are paid in advance and usually don’t give refunds. I believe the total cost was $130 for both families and we considered it a worthwhile investment.
We had wanted to do the Pirate Land day excursion but the boat had been up in Mazatlan for maintenance and when it arrived on Saturday the first tour out was Monday. Imagine an entire resort city waiting for the arrival of a boat with limited seating. Needless to say we didn’t get on it and we left for home on Tuesday.
Regarding sunburns, we’ve learned that if while at the ocean we reapply sunblock every hour we’ve eliminated painful burns which prevent us from enjoying our vacation. We seem to only get burnt at the beach, not at the pool. Somehow the sunblock wears off in the salt water and against the sand.
A suggestion for families traveling with teens and almost teens; bring a badminton net and volleyball (or buy both in PV) and turn any dull moment into a pool volleyball game. It was also a great way to meet other families by having them join us in the game.
We will be back and that’s a promise.