Tag: pvr

Fun Things to do around Puerto Vallarta: Botanical Gardens

In December 2019, we spent a couple weeks at one of our usual vacation destinations. But we did a ton of new stuff. See all our posts tagged with Puerto Vallarta.

About an hour away by bus or taxi from near the airport, the Vallarta Botanical Gardens is a good look into the mountainous jungle further inland from the coast. Continue reading Fun Things to do around Puerto Vallarta: Botanical Gardens

Fun Things to do around Puerto Vallarta: Take a Taco Walk

In December 2019, we spent a couple weeks at one of our usual vacation destinations. But we did a ton of new stuff.  See all our posts tagged with Puerto Vallarta.

We’ve been to Puerto Vallarta plenty of times. Inspired by the Taco Chronicles, we wanted to discover the food we love in the place we love, but not in the restaurants we already know.

AirBnB to the rescue again! We found Memo’s tours there, but if you’re interested, you should consider booking through his website vallarta101.com. He does more than just food tours: history and culture walks are also on offer (and he gave us an inside tip that they’re expanding that area, too).

Continue reading Fun Things to do around Puerto Vallarta: Take a Taco Walk

Fun things to do around Puerto Vallarta: Roast Your Own Coffee

In December 2019, we spent a couple weeks at one of our usual vacation destinations. But we did a ton of new stuff.  See all our posts tagged with Puerto Vallarta.

Background

We are fully aware of our coffee dependency — never moreso than while hopping time zones. So we decided to Learn the Process of Coffee Roasting via this AirBnB Experience, which popped up while searching for things to do in the area. We were looking to AirBnB for inspiration after our good buddy Kristin’s recommendation to take the Pasteis de Nata baking class during our trip to Porto.

Getting There

Daniel’s coffee shop, La Cabra y La Mata, is not in Puerto Vallarta. It’s not even in Jalisco. But it’s less than an hour away by bus in Bucerías, a sleepy resort town north of Nuevo Vallarta with long stretches of beach.

We started our journey with a walk to the airport — about 20 minutes from our home base in PV — and caught a bus going towards Bucerías, or maybe La Cruz de Huanacaxtle or Sayulita. Bus fare was $20 MXN per person each way, payable in cash to the driver upon boarding and stating our destination. That works out to around a dollar or euro, depending on the exchange rate. We monitored our progress on the bus via GPS and just got out at a stop that seemed close enough.

The Shop

Coordinates: 20.75515,-105.33859

Continue reading Fun things to do around Puerto Vallarta: Roast Your Own Coffee

Scenes from the Malecón

The Malecón is a seawall in downtown Puerto Vallarta where you can stroll along the coast and log some excellent people-watching. On this year’s trip (versus December or January in years past) there seemed to be fewer tourists from the USA or Canada visiting the region (including the smaller towns we visited to the North of Puerto Vallarta). Consequently, this trip had a much more authentic Mexican vibe to it than previous ones.


¡Hasta la próxima vez, Vallarta!

La Esquina del Tomatillo

The Joint

Morelos 601
Downtown Puerto Vallarta

Phone: +52 322 22 29434
Web: http://www.eltomatillo.com.mx
Email: cheftomatillo@gmail.com


Cliff

We first experienced this restaurant under its previous name, Xitomates, in 2009 or 2010. We tried to visit again this year, and show my parents what a swell restaurant we’d found for somewhat upscale Mexican food, but were surprised to find that its name had changed. We passed on it then, but returned a few days later to give it another shot, after noticing some similarities between what we’d had last time and the current menu offerings. We were not disappointed. If anything, the prices on the items seemed a little lower compared to what we remembered. Same great salsas, same friendly service. Really pleased it’s still going, even if under another name. Check this place out if you’d like to eat a nice meal downtown without the touristy Tex-Mex flavor or Marina sports bar atmosphere.

Sarah


I was very disappointed when we first passed this place. All I could tell was that 1) this was where Xitomates used to be and that 2) this place wasn’t Xitomates. That said, we gave the place a shot on our last evening there and thank goodness we did. It was the same basic place – so much so that the container that they served the chips in still said Xitomates on the side. And the most important part – the exquisite salsas were the same. We split a mixed quesadilla appetizer (one pumpkin, one cheese and squash blossom and one huitlacoche) which was lovely and full of unusual flavors. My main course was a chile relleno filled with ratatouille. It was light (which goes down really well in the heat), but filling and the flavor was really fresh and intense. For dessert, we split a crème brûlée. We had high hopes for this; as Mexican flan is a thing of beauty, we assumed they would probably do other custards well, too. I love being right.

Some Puerto Vallarta snaps

On our way to the airport to pick up our pal Rachel, we passed by this dude on the golf course.

Then after some pool time, Rach took us out for dinner in the Marina. This photo is proof to her trainer that she still lifted some weights while on vacation.

Taking the bus downtown, we saw some sand sculptures in the making.

And then Rach flew home.

The sun acknowledged the excellent visit we had with her with these warm tones.

Puerto Vallarta 2010 wrap-up

The Newlyweds...well, two years ago
The Newlyweds...well, two years ago
Our favorite aspect of this trip was visiting my sister and brother-in-law for the first time since, well, he became my brother-in-law.


Was it just a fluke?
Or was it just a fluke?
We relied on their expertise for the whale-watching expedition, which I’m sure was the second highlight of the trip. They knew all the stuff necessary to guarantee an excellent whale-watching day: where to take the bus, how to pick a boat captain, and especially how to get those whales to jump out of the water as we approached them.

But after they headed home to crappy weather, we stuck around down here for another week,

  • soaking up the sun at the pool,
  • strolling up and down the beach,
  • observing the pelicans,
  • scouting around downtown and the local supermarket for good eats,
  • playing with camera gadgets (thanks Susie!),
  • and as is tradtional for a visit down here, OOHing and AHHing at the sunsets.

Here are some of our favorite shots of those activities:

       

Here are the rest of our favorite shots from this trip:

Stuff we (still) want(ed) to do (again) but which will have to wait until next time:

  • head over to Bucerias for Wednesday Night Tacos or just in general
  • check out the Botanical Gardens
  • watch baby turtles run down the beach after hatching
  • try various recommended resturants
  • Rent Segways® for zooming around the marina area
  • charter a sailboat and crew for a day sail around the bay

Some of these things are more fun or cost effective when you can split the cost more ways, or when someone who’s done it before can show you the ropes.

This has been an excellent trip, but we are dreading the return to reality. Planning our return always keeps us hopeful.


Two Vallartan slideshows

Two slideshows up in this post. I hope you enjoy them.

My sister and brother-in-law departed today, headed back home to cold parts of the world (though apparently not quite cold enough for winter sports, he lamented). It was great seeing them; we attended their wedding in December 2007 (after a previous visit to Puerto Valllarta) and hadn’t seen them since. We only overlapped with them for two full days (odd that we didn’t notice that at the time of ticket purchase), but we’re thankful for the time we had and their recommendations in the whale watching adventure.

Here are just a few shots of them, with me trying to get my candid artsiness on:

And here are the shots from our whale watching adventure. There are about 30 of them…Sarah and I tried to cut it down, but although these shots are not technically perfect, we’re already reliving the thrill by viewing them. We were lucky to get not only a glimpse of a whale, but a mother-calf combo at play.