Puerto Vallarta, February 2004

A friend at work had purchased a timeshare in Mexico and was sharing her stories with us at work. Remembering the times that we have been there, and the beautiful scenery, the great restaurants, the friendly people, the warm weather, the beautiful sunsets, etc. has once again inspired me to start looking into another trip. Kathy offered to get us a condo through RCI which was the exchange program for her timeshare. She gave me her password and told me to see what I could find and let her know. We started looking and found the Mayan Palace had a great rate for a week at their Puerto Vallarta Marina location. $325 for the week sounded like a good deal to me for a unit with a kitchen and separate bedroom. She helped us book the location and we started looking into airfare. We knew from our experience in Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa that we liked the heart of the old town culture, and then enjoyed the move to the plusher hotel with all its amenities. With that in mind we started looking for an inexpensive yet clean motel in old town Puerto Vallarta to stay for a few days before we checked into the Mayan Palace. We settled on Posada de Roger for 3 nights. We flew down on a Thursday and took a taxi from the airport to Posada de Roger hotel.

It was a quaint little motel, with 3 floors and an inner courtyard. The pool was on the 2nd level. The rooms were clean, the beds were hard, but otherwise it was a beautiful setting. There was a restaurant on the street level called Fredy’s Tucan which is known for its great breakfasts. Once we checked in we started to walk around the area to get a feel for things. Puerto Vallarta is divided by the Rio Cuale, and old town is on the south side and the newer town is just north of the river. We love the feel of old town with its cobblestone streets, restaurants and motels intertwined with houses, and all the street vendors that bring their carts out at night to sell tamales, tacos, etc. The newer part of town has the beautiful boardwalk with all the statues, City Hall and city plaza, and all the tourist hangouts. Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral is the center of the town and a great meeting place or landmark. Our motel is on what is known as restaurant row. There are several restaurants in the 5 block stretch from our motel to the beach. We were able to try a few, but not near all of them. Our first day we walked down to the beach and found a restaurant and ordered our food and drinks. We walked along the beach sidewalk, crossed the bridge and entered the newer part of town. As we walked along the boardwalk we were met by Alex who wanted to tell us about a great opportunity to visit the Mayan Palace. We told him we were moving to the Mayan on Sunday, but he offered to take us in the morning to see the hotel. He offered us $200 U.S. and a free tour of our choice, and a all- you- can – eat breakfast buffet just to take him up on his offer. Well, how could we refuse? We set it up for the morning, and spent the rest of the night wondering about our upcoming adventure, and telling each other how easy it’s going to be to “just say no” and take our gifts and leave. In the morning we went down to the lobby just as Alex was pulling up. We got in and he pointed out different things along the way and after about 25 minutes or so we were at the Mayan Palace at the Marina. Alex introduced us to our “associate” and then he left, wishing us luck. We were just there a few minutes and from there we took a car over to the Mayan in Nuevo Vallarta, which is a fairly new area north of Puerto Vallarta. We went into the beautiful lobby and our associate first told us that we would be going to the breakfast buffet. Of course the area was beautiful and as we walked she pointed out different amenities on the property. We got our breakfast and sat down together and talked about everything but the property. Once we were through eating, she took us on a tour of the property including the rooms, which were beautiful and included either a single room with one bedroom, one bath, and a kitchen, or a “lockout” room with a king bed and bath. The rooms are meant to be used separately, or together. After walking us through the rooms and the property we sat down and she began the hard sell. I have to say, if you think it is easy to “just say no” then you have another thing coming. She was a smooth operator, knowing exactly which questions to ask and what to say to shoot down any arguments we had. We made her work for her money! After several hours of saying “no”, we finally relented and decided to purchase one red week (anytime) for the one bedroom unit only. The Mayan has several properties in Mexico so we will be able to use them all over time. That evening we had major buyer’s remorse. What have we done? Only time will tell if we made a good deal. Back in Old Town we walked down to Olas Atlas, which was just a few blocks south on Olas Altas street. This part of town is known as the Romantic Zone. There are several restaurants and shops along the Olas Altas, so as we walked we were drawn in by the music to Andale's, which is a hotel with a bar/restaurant on the street level. We went in and ordered drinks and before long more patrons were filtering in. It actually started to get crowded and we realized that it was a very busy hangout. The music got louder, the drinks got stronger, and it wasn’t long before we got caught up in the crowd. The songs were a blend of 60’s and 70’s, and a lot of the patrons were in their 50’s and older, so we fit right in. As the evening went on we saw the some of the servers leading in a burro! That explains the burro on their sign- it must be their mascot. Well, they were offering rides on the burro for $5. Well, after getting a few – ok, several drinks in Doug he is about up for anything. I take that back – he will do anything for almost nothing, but this night he had several drinks in him. Next thing I know they are leading him in on the burro! I have threatened to use the picture several times, but he is actually proud of it so it hasn’t been much of a threat! Anyway – if you ever find me on the burro, please don’t take a picture- or if you do don’t post it! I just have to say, walking back to the hotel that night was quite an experience. Our hotel has a gate that is closed at night and we didn’t even have to ring the bell- I think they heard us laughing as we got to the gate. The next day we walked along the beach sidewalk, crossed the bridge and entered the newer part of town. As we walked along the boardwalk we were met by Alex who wanted to tell us about a great opportunity to visit the Mayan Palace. We told him we were moving to the Mayan on Sunday, but he offered to take us in the morning to see the hotel. He offered us $200 U.S. and a free tour of our choice, and an all- you- can-eat breakfast buffet, just to take him up on his offer. Well, how could we refuse? We set it up for the morning, and spent the rest of the night wondering about our upcoming adventure, and telling each other how easy it’s going to be to “just say no” and take our gifts and leave. We ate next door to our hotel at the BBQ restaurant that was all you can eat for $8.

Sunday we moved to the Mayan Palace. The Mayan is on the beach, has 3 pools, several restaurants, a spa, gym, gift stores, and laundry facilities. Each day there are activities around the pool. It is about a 20 minute bus ride to downtown Puerto Vallarta. Across the street from the Mayan, and down a block or so is the entrance to the Marina which has a boardwalk that is U shaped with all kinds of shops and restaurants. We found a coffee shop that had internet access and a free phone to call home. During our week at the Mayan we quickly settled into a routine of hanging out in the area at the hotel or the marina for most of the day, then in the afternoon we took the bus downtown. It was 40 cents and took about 20 minutes. The malecon (boardwalk)downtown came alive at night with street vendors, musicians, entertainers, etc. Most nights we were there until the last bus at 11pm. We tried several different restaurants during our stay including the Las Palmas downtown, La Bistro on the river, Ay Caramba which is on the hill above the church. One of the evenings we went to a Mexican Fiesta which included all you can eat (and drink), and a show with several different acts, including the Mexican dancing, a cockfight, Charros with their rope tricks, singers, and other cultural acts. It was a fun experience.

One day we went back to old town and took a bus down to Mismaloya beach where I had stayed with my sisters years before, and where Doug and I had ventured on our Puerto Vallarta stop during our cruise in 1998. We ate at one of the beach restaurants and had pictures taken with an iguana and the resident pelican. We bought a piece of pie from Juanita, the “Pie Lady” who had daily sold pies on the beach for the last 24 years! I remembered her from 10 years earlier when I came with my sisters. We took a self guided walking tour one day in town and walked up the hill along the river and saw the house that was purchased by Richard Burton for Liz Taylor when they were there while he was filming the movie Night of the Iguana. Across the street was another house they bought and built a pink bridge between the two houses. That house is now the Casa Kimberly which is a museum dedicated to Liz Taylor memorabilia. During the week one day we went on the Los Toriles, a Toltec ceremonial center. Our guide was informative as he gave us the history of the different areas. Once we reached the town of Tequila, we went to the Souza plantation. They showed us how they plant and harvest the agave cactus. Once we left there we went down the road to the distillery and bottling plant and watched the process of turning the cactus into tequila. After our tour we were treated to a wonderful, Mexican meal at the Hacienda on the property. If we wanted we could sample the tequila, and they had a store for purchasing bottles to bring home. After lunch we boarded our bus and made our way back to our hotel. Now that we purchased this timeshare, I’m sure we will be back. If not Puerto Vallarta, we will definitely be visiting Mexico again!

To see more pictures click on link below