Puerto Vallarta, MX – Couples Trip!

December 2023

Couples trip 2023 to PV to see the sunshine. All our friends remarked that sit seems like a lot when we chose to spend 5 nights at 3 different places. Our launch was aborted halfway up the hill with an under charged car. Swapping cars we were off without a hitch all the way to PV. Cleared customs and onto the next clearance. Andy drew red on the random selector for baggage scanning and Cindy was an absolute no on an Uber after our last fiasco with driver pretending to be our guy!

 

We arrived just early enough for a drink on the beach under a palapa with what seemed like the best french fries ever since we hadn't ate all day!

Our place, Pinnacle is a luxury high rise condo with sweeping views of the entire town and Bay of Banderas. The highlight was the infinite pool on the roof with a bar.

We loved every minute sitting in floaties, drinks in hand looking out over the bay. Cindy had been craving Panchos Takos since we had last been to PV just over a year ago. For a buzzy place where you sit on the street, pay $30 for 7 tacos, beer, margarita, coke, two waters and get roasted next to the spit its always a 10! 

We fell into the 12 day festival / pilgrimage of Guadalupe. This is a procession of people from the outlying areas to cycle through the church and receive blessings. Large groups move through in costumes, performing dances in the street accompanied by floats and drums. Fun to watch and quasi be a part of. Our second day started with a massage at Metamorphosis, another favorite where they fixed a two year neck injury I had from a skiing crash. Brunch was next door at Cafe San Angel. Literally in the heart of Zona Romantico it’s multi-generational family run, dripping with flora and a great place to watch life pass by. The machaca (beef with eggs) was great and don’t forget a side of bacon! From there we went through the Olas Alta Saturday farmer’s market. This is located at a park filled with beautiful mosaic benches. Back to our stunning rooftop pool for drinks and a swim. Great Spotify playlist - Chill Dance Music. For a snack Andy got us takeaway Jorge Hideaway Shrimp Shack. Great name and Jorge was cool, but this one if coming off the Google Maps places to go list. We ate on our patio with a gorgeous view.  Our last night, so it was back up to rooftop bar for drinks and a sunset. Hungry again and finding some motivation we hiked a good way to dinner at Trattoria de Nuovo. The chef was a lovely guy, passionately assembling each dish with detail, the food was great and dessert just meh! Would definitely go again a grab an ice cream on the way home.  

 

Up the next morning for place #2, which was all of a 5 minute Uber ride away. Cindy is ok with Uber in town since we avoid the sketchy airport pickup area. Hyatt Ziva will always be Dreams for us from back when we went with the kids. 

It is all about grabbing a palapa and enjoying the secluded beach without so many people and folks trying to sell you every 5 minutes. The food is good but not amazing and the drinks keep coming if you like. We are tame in that regard compared to some of the other guests and tended to pace ourselves. Being here just one night we maximized out two days on the beach and snuck into our favorite restaurant on the property which is set out over the water. Over the years most of the staff has turned over and we run into just a few from the old days. The connections were part of what made it special and things definitely feel more corporate. We missed Izzy for a hat this year. Between him and his dad they have worked this beach for almost 40 years. He always puts a smile on our faces. Hats are whatever you want to pay and we can’t help giving him a bit extra.       

 

After spending the full day on the beach we headed back into town to Vallarta Shores. This was a return to a new favorite from our last couples trip. Right on the beach, very reasonably priced and more authentic feeling then most of the other properties. Walking in the door there is that magical buzz of looking out over the waves. 

 

Dinner was un-memorable and we went to bed excited about our private chef and breakfast on the porch.

 No disappointments with a lovely Mexican women rolling in at 9am with an arm load of groceries raring to cook for us. She made a traditional Machaca like we had earlier in the trip and a mound of Arroz con Poll for lunch later in the day. She made sure we had plenty of leftovers. After Breakfast we walked south of the Malecon on a basic trail that ran along the water. We passed lots of big houses and had fun thinking about who and what it was like to live in a mansion. One of these days we are going to come down with a large group and rent one! The rest of our day was spent on the beach under a palapa, taking a siesta, enjoying a few drinks, reading and just relaxing. Our last day was a travel day with a late flight so we managed to enjoy the beach till about 2 before the reality of heading home set in. The only ripple in the day was a call Cindy received from a customs agent that she was in trouble with the law! It turned out to be someone trying to perpetuate  fraud on us, but they were very convincing and had us concerned until we figured out they were up to no good.

 

PV – Always a great place to visit to escape the yucky Seattle weather, find a little relaxation and disconnect.