Chick trip #3 - Feb 12-26/10

Report on your Puerto Vallarta trip, hotel, restaurant, tour, etc.

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chrisnick
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Chick trip #3 - Feb 12-26/10

Post by chrisnick » Tue May 18, 2010 3:41 am

Not sure how I want to write this report....day by day or try and pick the highlights. I tend to ramble so read, skim or skip as much as you like.

Our flight arrived on the 12th at around 10 pm. Took the airport taxi (26 US or 230 pesos) to Loma Del Mar. The condo was awesome!! We spend about 5 minutes looking around and got directions to our favorite street! Apaches for martinis..yum!!! We met a lot of interesting people there including a retired principal. Ted was 69 and awesome!! He ended up showing at Roxy's later that night and we danced till the wee hours of the morning.

The next day my daughter (23) arrived to join us for a week. We hit the beach and ran into Kim (another Loma del Mar owner) at Playa Los Arcos. We ended up walking to one of the tequila stores we frequent and spent a bit of time at Breezes...bar which is now closed. I have read some negative reports about it but we had a pretty good time thre having free drinks and made plans to meet some of them at Bodeguita del Medio. Enjoyed dinner at Cafe Tizoc and said Hi to our favorite waiters there. Coconut shrimp! Delicious! Watched the carnival parade on the street. Not as big as last year but still good. Ended up "adopting" Jordy. He had been traveling with his family and was now on his own. Walked along the malecon and picked up a beverage to go at Day Off Beach Bar. This was a place we were to frequent alot in the next two weeks. My daughter made friends with one of the bartenders. Really nice guys that we still talk to. I seemed to adopt alot of sons in those two weeks.... Off to the cuban bar where low and behold the owners of Breezes showed up! Oh yea...and Jesus from the tequila store. We had a blast. My daughter and I love dancing salsa and dancing partners are easy to get including the waiters! Fun times. Stopped off at Roxy's where my new sons from Day Off Beach Bar also arrived. We ended the night with toasted tomato sandwiches at our place....I love having a condo.....

February 14th Valentines Day!! figure it deserved some fan fare. Had some adventure today. Managed to pick up a blanket for 200 pesos. The vendor hated me because I was pretty firm but I really didn't need a blanket. Okay...maybe we did just a little since the waves kept coming up on shore and swamping our towels!! We were the entertainment for the other sun worshipers. Ended up showing a couple the condo as they were interested in buying. Figure there has got to be a way for us to get some free accommodations for future years... They told us about the drag show at the Blue Chairs resort. Now since it was Valentines day and we didn't have dates (ok..I'm the only one thats married) we decided to exchange Valentines gifts. Red boas, blinking hearts, red ties, and Heart necklaces. We were just a little obvious. Dinner at CYC's that night. Love eating with the sand in my toes! We did check out the drag show and it was somewhat entertaining. Our outfits made us fit right in. We ended up gifting everything to a bunch of friends at the Day off Beach bar and our little hearts were given to the cutest little boy...yes I know..another boy. But he was only 3 or 4! More of the same ... dancing..etc! We did meet an interesting woman dressed in the greatest outfit. She read our palms which was kind of eerie but neat. Late night of course.

Next day quiet. Stuff happened but nothing to weird...now the next day....that will have to wait for tomorrow...think capsized boat! Stay tuned...

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Post by pvgemini » Tue May 18, 2010 10:44 pm

OMG! You guys are hilarious!! We will have to try the drag show!!

Where exactly is the Day Off Beach Bar?? We often go to Tarzan's for "to go" bevvies, but I'd like to try the Day Off.

Sally

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Post by chrisnick » Wed May 19, 2010 2:34 am

Continuation of the trip....but to answer your questions....the drag show was on the roof top at the Blue Chair Sea Shore resort...fun times...Kind of a crazy thing to attend with your 23 year old daughter but then she's used to her momma being crazy!!

Day Off Beach Bar is a bar just over the bridge in that kind of strip mall area on the malecon. Really lit up with blue lights at night. The guys there are great and we made friends with one of them because he kept screwing up my black russians...oh yea...one more thing....the drinks are ginormous!!!

Now...where was I.....

Time for the Santa Maria boat cruise which goes to Quimixto. Cheap entertainmnet..think it is like 35 bucks for the day. Have done it before and its the usual open bar, snorkeling (can't see anything by the rocks but people try...been there done that). Took the mules up to the waterfall again...but we were different people. Fun times of course. All that was typical...till we were going to get back on the shuttle boat to the main boat. We were slow so we were at the back of the pack. Saw a boat leaving shore way overloaded of course...Waves were pretty rough...first wave....hahaha....second wave....oh..oh...third wave...boat capsized!! 21 people on board, a few trapped under the boat, no lifejackets of course. The locals all swam, boated out to help. Good news no one got hurt...better news...no wait at the bar!!! I took a few photos of the little incident and ended up making friends with a number of the people on that boat! Another plus. Dinner in the condo...off to BeboTero for drinks with one of our new friends. Cheap beers...although on another night we went without our local friends and the drinks were more...special tourist menu....oh well. Usual night cap at Roxy's.

Kind of rained today....ended up Longastinas for drinks. Fun way to spend the afternoon but can't have to many rainy days! Too expensive! Went to Nacho Daddy's for dinner. Nachos of course! Steak on the nachos...very yummy!!! Had some fun at the cuban bar again....roxies to close...Is there a pattern here????

On to some adventure! Zip lining at Los Veronas with some friends in from Saskatchewan!! They loved it!! Me too but we have done it before and prefer the Adventure zip lining. It rained!! Again!!! Took the gang shopping at the market and Cafe Roma's for pizza (very close to the market)!! Had dinner at Moriscos taco stand on the malecon. Ate something with a lot of cheese and mushrooms for really cheap and yes it was good! Early night for my friend and me...let the youngins close down the night...and yes...my adopted sons are still hanging with us!

Friday...end of week one and my daughters last day. Enjoyed hanging out at some local bars in the afternoon learning how to dance salsa from Jesus (runs one of the tequila store). Laughed our heads off. We were pretty much the only tourists here. So fun finding local haunts! Had a nice dinner at Maricios on the Malecon. Too lazy to look for the correct spelling. Had so much red snapper left that we gave it to the staff to take home. The usual....blah, blah, blah....

Poor Tonia...she is flying home.. Non - stop crying going on. She sent me a text from the airport and said "its official" I look wrecked....one of the airport staff asked her if she needed medical assistance..lol.. Poor thing....Mommy's on her own!!!

Went to Banana Cantina for dinner that night. Amazing food!! Saw fireworks on the beach from a wedding. Surreal..... Was one of those nights where bizarre things can happen....ended up meeting a bunch of the people from the cap size boat and danced the night away...it was Saturday after all.

End of week one....whew....I can type a lot!!!

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Post by chrisnick » Wed May 19, 2010 3:03 am

Ok...week 2....I will try and shorten it but then again...you can just choose not to read my rambling report...

Sunday....hockey!! Friends reserved a table at El Torritos upstairs to watch the Canadian/US hockey game..unfortunately we are were on the losing end. Our crowd was pretty quiet as we may have been up really late the night before...Had a quiet evening walking on the malecon and stopping in at La Cantina for a drink. Nice local bar. Will have to check this one out again next year.

My girlfriend and I went to Bucerias today. I have been there often but my friend hasn't. We walked from the Royal Decameron (stayed there before and its nice) and went to Sweet Things for brunch. My friends from here own it and they have great food plus the most amazing baked goods. Definitely a must do if you are in town. Saw a really cool art gallery next to it and you can take cooking classes and various art classes here. We will do this next year! Walked through the market but both of us are not big shoppers so we walked on by and parked ourselves on the beach at Chiviros for margaritas. Was so quiet compared to PV!! Of course...being who we are the day has to have something weird happen. We spot this guy (Danny Devito lookalike) walking on the beach towards us...he is a beach/club singer. He took a shine to my friend...lol...he ended up sitting on the beach and singing us a bunch of songs...for free!!! You do not have to pay for everything. Had dinner at Cafe Olla. Its good...pretty touristy. Did enjoy the shrimp diablo. A quiet night for a change

Time for the water taxi. Off to Yelapa with a friend. No tours here today and it was awesome. The waterfall was great and beautiful. Would go back here again partially because of the pie lady. I talked to her and she said she had been there 33 years. I am pretty sure I was one of her early customers. Her pie is amazing!!! Chocolate/pecan, banana, apple, lemon meringue (biggest I've ever seen) and on and on...too die for really... Took some back on the boat (which now as many life jackets fyi) and people were trying to get us to sell it to them...Another great dinner at Cafe Tizoc and a fairly early night.

Beach day....Had a great dinner at Marazul...I mean great....chile relleno..they brought us cream and Kahlua for dessert (at no charge again I might add). Had a rather interesting rest of the evening as we may have gone in a club where people may take there clothes off....never been in one of those in PV before!! Didn't stay long...very uncomfortable for our male friends! LOL....

Ended up the night with a delicious hamburger from the ladies on the street...Can you tell I really like food....

Getting close to the end here...Had one more great dinner at El Palomar on the hill. The food here was delicious again..

You know..I only had one mediocre meal when I was in Mexico. The margaritas were made with fresh limes and strawberries (and yes I asked). I tried many different kinds of tequilas and came hone with a dark chocolate tequila. Really good on ice cream by the way and I only gained two pounds!! We made so many new friends and plan on meeting alot of them next year.

I'm getting sore wrists from typing!! Anyway....I LOVE PUERTO VALLARTA!!!

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Post by mikeypv » Wed May 19, 2010 5:55 am

Sounds like you had a wonderful time. Great trip report.

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Post by chrisnick » Wed May 19, 2010 12:30 pm

We did! Soo much good food. Forgot to mention Pancho Takos right beside Cafe Olla. Super good tacos and dirt cheap...oh yea...and Freddy Toucans and The Pancake House for breakfast. I prefer The Pancake House. And...the ribs at El Torritos were fantastic! The list goes on and on...Can't believe I only gained 2 lbs...Oh one more thing...have to mention the lady close to the Guadalope church with homemade ice cream. She is on the way to the front of the church. Her shop is kind of like a basement window opened up. Did I mention the pizza??? Found pizza by the slice at a local place a couple of streets off the malecon. Have to try and find out the name of it. Again...full of locals and soooo yummy!!

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Post by chrisnick » Fri May 21, 2010 12:07 pm

Ah yes...And the Twisted Palm. Right across the street from Roxy's. A little discreet to find but cool place. On the roof top with movies showing on a big outdoor screen and martini's...mmmm martini's....

I think I need a job in Puerto Vallarta as a restaurant/lounge/club reviewer.... I am not biased! I'll try pretty much any kind of place. Anyone want to hire me?? LOL...

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Post by pvgemini » Fri May 21, 2010 4:10 pm

Fun to read through your experiences. We enjoy the same sorts of adventures!! Where is Cafe Tizoc? We will have to try. I'm taking notes.......one locals bar that we frequent is called Barril and is on the corner of Juarez and Guerrero. Upstairs. I love Bebotero but did not know that we were paying more for our drinks. The band always remembers us there since we put Viagra samples in their tip jar several years ago!!

Will have to go to Twisted Palms and find La Cantina also.

Have you ever done the hike from Boca to Las Animas?

Sally

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Post by chrisnick » Fri May 21, 2010 5:42 pm

Cafe Tizoc is on Olas Atlas. Right by the La Piazzetta which is on the corer of Olas Atlas and Rudulfo Gomaz. Good grilled red snapper and my friends love the coconut shrimp. There is where I helped the bar tender make Blueberry Tea!!

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Post by chrisnick » Fri May 21, 2010 5:47 pm

Will have to check out your little place. Have not tried the hike but know we wantto take the water taxi to Los Animas next year. We will probably do one of those "booze" cruises again because they are cheap and we have made friends on there every year,

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