Dia Tres en Puerto Vallarta

May 2

Levanta! (get up!)

There is so much to do here its hard to find the time to sleep. And because of the Coronas and Cubans poolside until after midnight we’re having a little trouble getting up at 7:30 in order to catch the boat to Playa Los Animales.

…but somehow we did.

It was a gorgeous morning. The first that hasn’t been a little overcast. It made for some amazing pictures on the taxi ride to the marina. Our house keeper Beba suggested we take the bus, as the marina will cost you about 15 dollars via taxi, but we weren’t up early enough to catch the proper line from Conchas Chinas.
The cab ride through old town, on the cobblestone streets with the sun, freshly cresting the mountains and sparkling on everything, was a visual I’ve seen only in spy movies filmed in Mediterranean cities.

At the marina we paid our 15 pesos to enter, found the ticket booth for the boat we wanted, mentioned Jose Riveria the house keeper’s husband, and got $5 off the ticket price.

The tour boat served us breakfast, which was ok, and then headed out. They followed the edge of the bay, which gave us a sea side view of some of our other villas, Mandarinas and Esplendora we unmistakable.

The first stop was Los Archos Marine Preserve where people were allowed to get in the water with snorkeling gear. After about a half hour everyone was back on board and we were off to the playa.

The beach was amazing. You could have shot a Corona commercial on this beach. Canvas backed chairs, tables with umbrellas, palm trees.

This beach was accessible by water only. There were a few rental cabins, 3 cantinas, and a jungle tour.

We soaked up the sun, some amazing food, and several coronas and I do believe the was a Pina Colada in the mix that was also awesome.

After a few hours on the private beach it was a speedy trip back to port.
That evening we decided to have our one nice dinner out while in Puerto Vallarta.

Upon the recommendation of Chris, we decided to visit the River Café. It was fantastic and, as you might guess, was located on the edge of a small river. It was very very classy.

Soft music, soft lighting, open air over-looking the river. The frogs provide an additional rhythm section. The wine list was extensive and the menu offered a variety of flavors to suit any palate. I enjoyed the poached sea bass with a mango citrus sauce. The fillet was enormous. The salmon with lobster sauce reduction looked good and was raved about, but my deathly allergy to shell fish precluded my indulgence in that dish. The lamb sadly was the only deliciously average meal at the table. Prepared well, but it was something you could find in a fine restaurant just about anywhere. Dessert we had Spanish coffee prepared in the most amazing way I have ever seen. We got a video clip of it which you will want to check out once it is posted…I will probably title the video “waterfalls of blue flame” if you’d like to use your imagination.

Buenas noches! Tomorrow we leave Villa Caliente for Villa Balboa. It’s going to be an exciting day I think.

(Sadly all the pictures I took on the private beach have gone missing from my camera. I do have some video and our other camera that I will pull photos from so all is not lost. You'll just have to wait until i get back to see them.) But for now take a look at a couple of these that did survive the day...