Mexico ~ 2007
Mexico ~ February 2007
Departed Terrace on Thursday, February 1st and returned home on Wednesday, February 28th.
Day 1
Unlike previous years, we were accompanied by quite a few of our friends on this trip. Gerald and I left Terrace @ 10am on February 1st and were greeted in Vancouver by Les & Debbie who had flown down on an earlier flight. We spent the afternoon doing a little mall shopping (very little
one bathing suit). Then we headed back to our hotel where we awaited the arrival of Renita & Brooklyn (Renitas 18 year old daughter). We enjoyed a lovely meal and all headed off to bed early.
Day 2
Bright and early (4:15am) the six of us were on the shuttle off to the airport. As we were all just doing carry-on, the process was fast and painless. We flew from Vancouver to Seattle and had a brief layover. Long enough to change from our long pants to shorts and grab a bite to eat on the plane. We arrived in Vallarta at about 3pm and had to do the bus from the tarmac thing. The temperature when exiting the plane was just lovely. A far cry from the frigid temperatures we had left at home! I swear that I can feel all my sun-starved cells just plumping up with all of the wonderful, warm sunshine! We all breezed through customs and were ushered past the red/green lights without even having to push the button! A quick trip to the banyo and we were on the bus heading to Centro Vallarta. I love riding the buses in Mexico. Gerald and I have not taken one cab in the past three years of traveling to Vallarta. The bus is 5 pesos and ever so much more interesting than the 250+ peso cab ride.
We had made reservations at the Hortencia http://www.hotelhortencia.com/index_eu.htm again this year. Unfortunately, there had been some sort of a mix up and they only had two rooms for us the first night and we required three. So, Gerald and I went down the street a bit and stayed at the Hotel Bernal. Nothing fancy, but clean and only $280 pesos. You have to put down a deposit on the towels, which you receive back when you return them. The only noises in our room that night were some very active chickens directly below our window, unlike our friends who stayed at the Hortencia and had to contend with an after hours club directly behind the hotel. Id say we got the better end of that deal.
So, everyone dropped their bags in their rooms and we hustled down to Cuates y Cuetes http://www.cuatesycuetes.com/ in time for happy hour and sunset. We had a great evening with wonderful friends, great food/drinks and an incredible sunset. Our waiter was Poco and he took a real shining to Brooklyn. He is a very interesting kid who spends his summers working in Whistler and winters in Vallarta. He is also very musical and is part of a local band and is taking training in Vera Cruz. We even stood at the webcam and waved to our friends back home!
Day 3
We went to Memos Pancake House http://www.igougo.com/travelcontent/JournalEntryDining.aspx?BusinessCardID=132363 for a wonderful breakfast. They are located on Basilio Badillo. They roast their own coffee beans there so we purchased some ground coffee to take to Yelapa with us. It was wonderful! We spent the early part of the day sightseeing on the island and the marketplace. We then took a bus out to Walmart to pick up those liquid essentials that we hadnt packed in our carry-on. Then, it was off to the airport to pick up another couple in our entourage. Kim lives in Las Vegas and Arnie in Winnemucca. They met up in Phoenix and then flew into Vallarta. We greeted them, loaded them onto the bus and off again to Vallarta. We dropped their stuff at the hotel and zipped back down to C y Cs. We had planned on going somewhere different, but we all had such a grand time the night before that we decided to repeat the experience, and it was wonderful!!
Day 4
We all caught the 9am bus to Boca de Tomatlan and were on a 10am water taxi to Yelapa. We had a beautiful ride and were dropped off at the main pier by the playita. Kim/Arnie and Renita/Brook checked in with Brad, who is the property manager for the places they had rented. Les/Debbie and Gerald/Janice made our way to Casa Santana. Anita was not quite ready for us as we were earlier than planned, so we popped in to say hi to Rory and let him know we had arrived. After a short time we were able to move into Casa Santana, change into our bathing suits and hit the beach. We immediately parked ourselves at the Coco Bar and had a lovely lunch. We spent the afternoon soaking up some rays and then we were off to the Oasis for dinner and drinks. Much has changed there since last year. Greg graciously gave us a tour of the casitas and explained his plans for the Oasis. I still believe that the Oasis has the best French fries on the planet
and Im a true connoisseur of French fries!
Day 5
Our first morning waking up in Yelapa
sigh
how wonderful. We decided to live dangerously and not use the mosquito net. Not such a great idea. There were some very stealthy mosquitoes/no-see-ums which took advantage of the situation. No big deal, but we used the net from that point on. We can lay in bed and watch the sky lighten over the mountains. It starts to get bright about 7am but the sunlight doesnt actually hit the beach until about 8:30am. Our casa also backs directly on the main path, so starting at about 7am we hear all of the children heading off to school. The horses and ATVs are also constant traffic. They have a program wherein each section of the pathway is someones responsibility to keep swept. Our section was often being swept at about 5:30am. These are all lovely background noises and just add to the whole flavour of living in the pueblo.
We have the loveliest little courtyard in front of our casa that we took full advantage of. Gerald loved to be up early in the morning watching the birds in the lagoon as it came to life.
We met up with everyone and walked up to the Cascada for breakfast. The setting is lovely and the food is yummy. We walked out to the point and enjoyed the sights and sunshine. On the way back we did our grocery shopping at Hortencias store, which is surprisingly well stocked with many items. We especially enjoyed the cheese which seems to be different every day. We also stopped by the bakery. Its actually just a home with a sign out front, but they have the most amazing baked goods. During the course of our stay we enjoyed many batches of banana bread and peanut butter cookies. Dinner that night was at Manguitos which is a short walk up river and across the new bridge. We ate there several times during our stay and we were never disappointed. Gerald and I hung out with Rory for a bit after dinner at his home. We sure miss him when were not in Yelapa.
Day 6
Bugs were not much of a problem during our stay, much to Debbies relief. I think we only saw two small (for Yelapa) spiders in our casa and the odd cockroach in our travels. We had geckos in our banyo most nights, which gives me a comforting feeling as I know they love to eat bugs. Today we mostly hung out on the beach at the Coco Bar. We enjoy watching the waves, day tripper tourists (were a little elitist and dont put ourselves in the same category), eating pie from the Pie ladies, watching Renita and Arnie barter for trinkets and just hanging out with our friends. That evening we went to Mimis for dinner and checked our email at the Eclipse Internet Café which is right next door.
Day 7
Today we all hiked to the Cathedral Falls. Now, for those of you who have been there, there is a bottom trail which leads to the cathedral and a top trail that leads to the falls. Gerald and I have done both before. Today he chose the bottom trail and it is quite interesting. At one point he was chest deep in the river as the other 5 of us were very sceptical concerning the possibility of following his lead. We all chose a more circuitous route that was also very
interesting. Suffice it to say that we were all ready for that cerveza once we got back to Manguitos. Somewhere along the path, Gerald picked up a bougainvillea spine in the middle of his heel. By the time we got back to our casa, he was in some discomfort. We attempted to remove it with a needle and knife, but were not having much luck. Les and I finally convinced Gerald that he needed to see a doctor
so off to the veterinarian we went. Pamela is a lovely, lovely lady who also owns a restaurant (The Vortex) so we hurried off and caught her just as she was closing up. We helped her carry a few bags up to her house, and then Gerald waited his turn behind a couple of cats awaiting shots. Pamela anesthetised the area and removed the little spine. Gerald had almost immediate relief, although not quite enough to convince him to dance at the Yacht Club that night. It was a good excuse. However, we all enjoyed a wonderful meal there and Debbie and I even kicked up our heels a bit, since Gerald couldnt kick up his :o)
Day 8 through 11
These days all sort of blend together. Kim & Arnie took a panga back to Boca one day and did a SCUBA dive with Boca Divers. They had a wonderful time. Then on Day 11 they got on the panga again and headed back to Vallarta for one last night there at the Rosita before flying out. They had a great last night in Vallarta at the Buro Bar with much good food/drink and lots of fun buying from the beach vendors. We really enjoyed their company and were so pleased that they managed to join us on this trip. During these days we also spent a good portion of time on the beach at the Coco Bar, another dinner at the Yacht Club and a couple of great meals at Glorias (one of our favourite restaurants).
Day 12
The remaining 6 of us got up early and caught the 8:30am panga to Vallarta. We dropped our stuff at the Hortencia and then walked around Vallarta for a bit. We had a lovely lunch at the River Café. About 1pm we boarded a bus which dropped Les/Deb and Gerald/Janice at Walmart and carried Renita/Brook off to the airport. Renita returned home several shades browner and with some amazing jewellery she bartered for on the beach. Brook was a lovely shade of pink and we so enjoyed getting to know her a little bit better.
We bought some things for the school in Yelapa after talking with Pegge to find out what was required. It was a fun shopping trip! We then headed to Geralds favourite restaurant which is Mariscos Polo http://www.vallarta-info.com/polo.html and had the most amazing meal. Gerald was in very good spirits
until about 45 minutes later when he was violently sick
and that lasted a solid (probably not the correct word) 24 hours! Not sure what the problem was, but a bug seemed to pass through our group during our stay, but Gerald was hit the hardest.
Day 13
Gerald was incapacitated all day, so Les, Deb and I hung out. We walked all over and did a little shopping. Then, we hopped on a bus and headed back out to the airport. We met Randy/Sandie/Logan and loaded them on the bus back to Vallarta. Randy had a rest whilst Sandie, Logan, Les, Deb and I headed down to C y Cs for sunset drinks. We then went back and collected Randy and headed off to the River Café for dinner. Quite high end, but nice. We walked around a bit after dinner before heading back to the hotel.
Day 14
Gerald actually ate a bit of breakfast this morning at a really cute place right next to our hotel. Very traditional Mexican. We then caught the bus to Boca and the 1pm water taxi back to Yelapa. After getting Randy/Sandie/Logan settled in their house http://www.palapainyelapa.com/pages/casa_bella.html I finally met Brad as we were checking Randy & Sandie in. He had been in Vallarta dealing with some nasty bite infections on his leg. He said he was doing much better
Id have hated to see it when it was much worse! I asked him if Kelly/Bob had arrived and he said yes and gave me a brief description of them. We all headed back to the beach and were enjoying our drinks when I spotted a couple weaving
