Our Christmas in a condo south of the river (this is long)

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

Moderators:admin, Moderators

Locked
joyannie
PV Beachbum
PV Beachbum
Posts:8
Joined:Tue Aug 21, 2001 1:36 am
Our Christmas in a condo south of the river (this is long)

Post by joyannie » Tue Jan 01, 2002 5:31 am

We (family of husband and wife, 4 kids ages 10 to 22 and a friend age 15) just returned Saturday from a week in PV. The direct flight to Minneapolis was just 3 and 1/2 hours, so I shouldn't have jet lag, so I guess I just miss PV. It was a bit cool, but lovely. We stayed south of the river in a condo to enjoy a less touristy feel. Main drawback - noise. We certainly heard the baby crying next door, the feral cats screaming at night, the traffic, and the "agua man" every morning. BUT I would probably stay there again!!!! One morning a burro walked up the steep path just outside my window hauling concrete. We felt so safe walking day and night. The people were so friendly. We were one block off Los Muertos beach so went there several days. We also walked down to a Conchas Chinas beach twice. The waves were big at both beaches. The kids enjoyed "body surfing?" or at least the powerful feeling of the waves. We took a bus to Boca. The busride itself was an experience - the view, the young man serenading us during the ride, seeing all the people and listening to their happy talk, talking to other visitors to this paradise. We hired a boat with 2 guys to get to Yelapa, rather than squeezing on the water taxi. This was great for the 7 of us. We saw a whale on the way to Yelapa. The 2 boat guys pointed out the beaches and sights on the way. In Y. they walked with us up to the waterfall, took us to the "pie lady", showed us around in general. It seems some restaurant was receiving a delivery of food as there was much fresh produce in boxes on the dock - interesting. We ate marlin tacos (very good) on the beach in Y, talked to people, walked on the beach, relaxed. Dear husband and I left the kids behind one night and went on the Rhythms of the Night excursion. That was a nice getaway. We about froze to death, but the drinks flowed, the dance show was good, the LIVE music good, the food surprisingly good, the surroundings nice. The coastline of PV was so pretty on the ride back.
We enjoyed the unending shopping of PV. The shops each have their own personality. One shop that makes it easy with so many different types of items in one place, is on your left as you are walking to the vendors in the big building at the river. I wish I knew the name of this store.
Restaurants we liked - Pipi's Sunday brunch, Choco Banana (near Tropicana), Fajita Republic, Freddy Toucan, Burro Bar, a Cuban Restaurant on the Malecon, Las Brisas, Brazil, Papaya 3.
We were disappointed in - Memos Pancake House, Tequila Azul
We bought Kahlua for less than $10 at the duty free store at the airport (not knowing how good a price it was). We were surprised to find it to be over $22 at our grocery store here in the states. We bought a bottle of Mescal (spelling?). I couldn't stand the taste, but I saw its effects on others. We were offered marijuana by someone seeing us buying the mescal in the store... the only time we were offered drugs. We loved the local beers.
I was amazed by how hard working the people were/are. They were working construction on Christmas day and lots of stores were open that day too. Other days, stores were open from mid-morning til late at night.
One interesting day was spent walking around neighborhoods south of the river. My 19 year old daughter wanted to stay in PV and we were looking for a place for her. We looked for signs indicating room or apartment available and asked people on the sidewalks and in stores. The person we asked would walk us to someone they knew who knew someone else who had a place, etc. The people were just so friendly and helpful. She did find a "room" that has its own bathroom, refrigerator, a couple of burners for cooking, a bed, and a dresser. It is right in the shopping area south of the river. A Grandma type lady lives right there and rents out rooms. Thank God for email and instant messenger to stay in touch with my adventurous daughter.
So, we loved our week getaway to Paradise.

minrose
PV Fan
PV Fan
Posts:27
Joined:Sat Nov 10, 2001 2:12 pm
Location:Minnesota

Re:Our Christmas in a condo south of the river (this is long

Post by minrose » Tue Jan 01, 2002 11:53 am

Thanks for the recent trip report, sounds like so much fun. We will be leaving shortly to go on our trip to PV, we plan on going on the Rhythms of the Nights and going to Yelapa, probably by water taxi. You say it was a little cool when you were there, I maybe should pack some long sleeve tops. I hope it will be nice, sunny and warm when we are there. We are going to be there from January 2 til January 9.
Will do a trip report when we get back.

tlippy
PV Fanatic
PV Fanatic
Posts:89
Joined:Fri Oct 19, 2001 11:44 pm
Location:Central Oregon - where there's snow on the ground 6 months of the year

Re:Our Christmas in a condo south of the river (this is long

Post by tlippy » Tue Jan 01, 2002 6:02 pm

Thank you for taking the time to report - and for including the 'good & the bad'.

Lori

Re:Our Christmas in a condo south of the river (this is long

Post by Lori » Wed Jan 02, 2002 3:05 am

What condo"s where you staying at? Where there any hot days?

bzy1

Re:Our Christmas in a condo south of the river (this is long

Post by bzy1 » Wed Jan 02, 2002 8:29 am

Great report! I wish I was your daughter, but I will have my week starting in a few hours! Maybe I'll see Minrose while I am there:)
Would love to know about the room, rent, etc.... fill us in when you have time, just in case I decide to stay a while also:)

gottago
PV Fan
PV Fan
Posts:47
Joined:Tue Sep 25, 2001 4:51 pm

Re:Our Christmas in a condo south of the river (this is long

Post by gottago » Sat Jan 05, 2002 6:04 pm

How chilly is chilly, I can't remember excatly what you called it but how was the weather, thanks for your report!!! We leave Feb 2-9 and can't wait.

joyannie
PV Beachbum
PV Beachbum
Posts:8
Joined:Tue Aug 21, 2001 1:36 am

Re:Our Christmas in a condo south of the river (this is long

Post by joyannie » Sun Jan 06, 2002 12:32 am

It was cloudy a few days and down to the upper 50's or low 60's at night and around 75 during the day. The only time I was really cold was during the boat ride to and from the Rhythms of the Night. Then I had on long sleeves plus a sweater and wrapped up in a pareo (spelling?) and snuggled up behind my husband. Another couple of layers would have helped...what I really should have done was taken one of the blankets we bought from a vendor on the beach. Cold in PV is still heaven compared to winter in Iowa!!!!!

joyannie
PV Beachbum
PV Beachbum
Posts:8
Joined:Tue Aug 21, 2001 1:36 am

Re:Our Christmas in a condo south of the river (this is long

Post by joyannie » Sun Jan 06, 2002 12:42 am

Lori (Jan 01, 2002 09:05 p.m.):
What condo"s where you staying at? Where there any hot days?
The condo we stayed in was supposedly called Casa Luna Condos, but I didn't see that anywhere. The address was 283 Vista Al Mar (this is posted by the iron gate). It is one block off Los Mertos Beach and across the street from Tropicana. We cheated and used their pool one day. It is next to a condo?hotel? complex called Ecosafari or something like that. The Eco place has a for sale sign. Ours was behind an iron gate, but it was usually unlocked during the day and you could leave a note on the notebook hanging on the door of the 2nd condo up (a note for the condo complex manager).
There really weren't any HOT days.

bzy1

Re:Our Christmas in a condo south of the river (this is long

Post by bzy1 » Wed Jan 16, 2002 3:52 am

Hey Gottago,
I see you are down the same time I am, amongst a few others:) feel free to join us at The Patio on Feb. 3rd- 9:30AM for breakfast and then a day at Destiladeras beach... (of course anyone else down then, you are also invited) It will be a blast!
For more info, e-mail me at bzy1@mn.rr.com

The more, the merrier!

I also have a restaurant menu for both places:)

Locked