Puerto Vallarta/Los Muertos Beach Trip Report

sjl330 · Post by **sjl330** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 3:29 am

Hi all. I’m back but not by choice!

I’ll attempt to write a trip report but I didn’t take any notes this time so I’m sure it’ll be a little disjointed. My sister in law was in ICU for 8 days just before we left and I was with my brother and nephews at the hospital everyday so by the time we got to Mexico I went into empty brain mode. My brother insisted we go ahead and go on our trip even though my SIL passed away the day before we left. We went to the church the day of her services and had our own private remembrance of her there.

So here goes. We got there Sat. about 11:30 a.m. Our luggage was the first bags off the rack I think and we swam right through the sharks and changed some $$ and grabbed a taxi. We were early for check in but we changed and headed to Burro’s for lunch and beer. And of course some sun. Later that evening we met up with Tom and Lorrie up at Casa Isabel for the PV Meet Up. We met some great people and absolutely fell in love with Casa Isabel. Afterwards, we went to Si Senors for dinner and it was fabulous! Fred and I both had the Poblano Shrimp but had many tastes of Tom and Lorrie’s Seafood Feast for Two and the sautéed calamari. Everything was delicious! By this time we were really tired so we headed back to our condo and called it a night.

Day 2, Sunday, we went to breakfast at River Café and then headed to church. We thought we were a little early, but still ended up having to stand during Mass. We’ve only managed to get to sit one time in all the times we’ve gone. It reminds me of when I was a kid. The church was always packed back in those days and many people stood every week. Breakfast was very good and the service was wonderful.

After church we went to the beach and just chilled all day until time to meet everybody at Burro’s Bar for another meet up. We met Sylvia, Mark, Joyce, Ellen, BellaLuna (Millicent) and some others I can’t recall their names. Sorry. I think it was a combo of too much sun and too many cervezas, lol. It was great fun to meet everybody in person at last. The only people we’d met before this was Tom and Lorrie last year.

Day 3, Monday, we met up with Tom and Lorrie for our trip to Yelapa. That was a great day. We went with Vallarta Tours and we all agreed it was a great bargain. We got breakfast, lunch, open bar plus snorkeling, whale watching, the waterfall tour and beach time. We saw many whales on the way there and back and finally got to get a piece of pie from The Yelapa Pie Lady. It was yummy too.

After we got back we got showered and changed and headed to El Arrayan for dinner. All I can say is “fantastico”. I had the chipotle shrimp and Fred had a fish filet with achiote. I can’t remember what it was called but it was good. He had shrimp posole soup as an appetizer and I had some little tostada things. We really enjoyed that meal a lot! After dinner we walked down the Malecon and I tried some of the corn from a vendor. I’d promised myself I was going to try it this time and I’m glad I did. I’ll definitely have it again.

Day 4, Tuesday, we didn’t do too much. We had breakfast at Freddy Toucan’s, strolled around the neighborhood and then we bought a day pass at Los Arcos and just hung out on their beach all day. That’s a very nice place and the beach service was great. That night for dinner we headed to Pipi’s. As usual, it was great. We always hit that place and haven’t been disappointed yet. After dinner, we hung out on the Malecon again.

Day 5, Wednesday, we met up with Tom, Lorrie and JRO Jeff and took a bus to Sayulita for the day. It was a great trip and only took about 1 hour and 15 minutes to get there. It’s a quaint little village with lots of surfers and a great beach. We ate tamales from a beach vendor and they were to die for. Especially washed down with cold Corona’s. When we left Sayulita all of us except Jeff stopped in Bucerias. We had dinner at El Pescador’s and I’m sorry to be so redundant, but it too was wonderful. I had the breaded, fried shrimp, which I never order, and it was so good everybody else wished they’d ordered it too. They all had great dishes too and we shared so it was all good.

Day 6, Thurday, we got another day pass and hung out at Los Arcos again munching all day on vendor food and drinking beer and cielo rojos. A great day in my book! For dinner we went to The Blue Shrimp. We would highly recommend this restaurant to one and all. Top quality food as well as the service. The fried crab taco appetizers are really special. Just writing about them makes my mouth start to water, lol. We’ll definitely be regular diners here too. The owner, Martin, was there and remembered us from the night we ate at Si Senors so that was a nice touch too. Everybody likes to be remembered.

Day 7, Friday, we started with breakfast at Café Tuzoc. It was one of the best breakfasts we had all week. I found Dee’s Coffee shop early in the morning while Fred slept in and I thought the Café looked like a great place to try. I’m very glad we did too. For dinner we tried Andariego’s. Very tasty! If you like shrimp ceviche you have to get it here. It’s a huge order so beware, but so, so good. And very fresh. I look forward to eating here again.

Day 8, Saturday, we had our last breakfast at Andale’s and then headed back to pack up and head to the airport. Very sad day because neither of us was ready to leave. The week just felt like it flew by and I think we gladly could’ve stayed several more days.

We got home to a broken furnace and only 42 degrees in our house! It also started raining/sleeting and we had to call a service man out in that mess to fix the furnace. It wasn’t near as bad as we were afraid it might be, but it took a long time to warm up in the house. I guess we didn’t soak up quite enough warmth while we were in PV. So maybe I need to go back next week. I can only hope, lol.

Sorry this got so long and rambling but I always like to hear about the restaurants and I hope this will help other people who need help deciding where to eat.

We rode the bus everywhere! I think we only took a taxi from the airport and back and maybe one other time. The bus drivers were very helpful in telling us where to get off and we feel like we got to enjoy much more of Vallarta by doing this. With all the busses and drivers in Vallarta we actually got the same one 2 days in a row! We really enjoyed all the people watching on the malecon and we got to see the Valadores twice, which was a treat for us too.
Ok, I’ll shut up now. Thanks for letting me ramble and relive my vacation one more time.

palapa_gal · Post by **palapa_gal** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:35 am

Great trip report Sandy. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like you had a great time.

Sorry to hear about your SIL. You have my condolences.

howard_jax · Post by **howard_jax** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:40 pm

It was indeed a great report. Thank you.

chance · Post by **chance** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 2:57 pm

Nice report makes me miss PV all the More

Plus4 · Post by **Plus4** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 4:11 pm

Enjoyed your report Sandy

michelle/tyler · Post by **michelle/tyler** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:23 pm

Thank you so much for sharing and our condolences to you and your family as well.

ellen · Post by **ellen** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:07 am

Sandra, it was great to meet you and Fred. I'm glad the rest of your week went to well.
Ellen

travelbug_jp · Post by **travelbug_jp** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 4:48 am

It was a great report, thank you for taking the time to share. It´s hard to remember everything if you don´t right it down but it sounds like you remembered every detail.
I´m glad you had a good time.

Joyce

mike23 · Post by **mike23** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 2:31 am

wonderful report makes me miss PV, but im counting the time till my next visit

lojol60 · Post by **lojol60** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 1:16 am

Great trip report Sandy. Thanks for not mentioning all the rucus that I caused with my stumble down the stairs at Si Senor's. 4 grande margaritas and new sandals that are slick on the bottom just don't mix. I even fell with them on when I was totally sober. I'm going to see if I can do something to the bottoms of them and if not, they will be for sale real cheap. Happy hour! Almost free!!! It was great to see you y Fred!! Take care and we'll give you a holler when we head down that direction!!

hoolia · Post by **hoolia** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 4:18 pm

How much is the day pass at Los Arcos? What does it include? Thanks, Judy

sjl330 · Post by **sjl330** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 8:30 pm

The pass is $20 p/person and you get a chair and an umbrella (if you get there early enough) and bar service on the beach. They put the $20 into an account and use it to pay for your drinks/food. If you use more than the $20 you pay the difference. And of course, you would tip the servers. It was a great deal, IMHO.

Winnipeg gal 1 · Post by **Winnipeg gal 1** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 8:30 pm

Great trip report.It was nice meeting you & Fred.

tojol57 · Post by **tojol57** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 9:02 pm

That is a great trip report Sandy... it is always a pleasure to hang out with you and Fred... glad you got to meet more people from the board... Jim and Kathy, with kids Jimmy and Candace, don't forget our newest member here on the board MontanaKimmie and her friends... it was a good time that is for sure. I thought our first week went by just nice and easily, but man that second week was WHOOOSH and it was gone....

and Boys and Girls, you thought Sandy's was LONG... you haven't seen anything yet... Lojo's is going to be a dooozy... LOL

smitty · Post by **smitty** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 1:00 pm

A very enjoyable trip report !

benito · Post by **benito** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 6:06 pm

nice report, how much does the los arcos charge for the daypass?

sjl330 · Post by **sjl330** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 7:13 pm

sjl330 wrote:The pass is $20 p/person and you get a chair and an umbrella (if you get there early enough) and bar service on the beach. They put the $20 into an account and use it to pay for your drinks/food. If you use more than the $20 you pay the difference. And of course, you would tip the servers. It was a great deal, IMHO.

Here is the day pass info.

Puerto Vallarta/Los Muertos Beach Trip Report

Question ?

Sandy And Freds Trip