Dia Ocho En Puerto Vallarta

When I felt the metallic clasp of the airplane seat belt buckle click together reality set in hard.

It was over.

Villa Caliente, Villa Balboa, and Villa Venado…now exist just in memory.

It was a dazed feeling to wake up in the soft soft bed of a private suite in Villa Venado and just hours later to be sitting on board an airplane, checked back into the reality of life like the rest of the freshly tanned passengers.

Only I have a little secret.

Yes we were all in Puerto Vallarta for a lovely vacation…but none of these other folks woke up where I woke up this morning.

None of them woke up surrounded by magnificent art works, in a home on a hillside like Villa Venado.

None of the travelers around me had breakfast and coffee on the terrace of a home that could easily be seen featured by a celebrity lifestyle TV show or affluent living magazine.

None of these travelers around me had the experience I had.

They had a vacation.

I had a dream…and it came true.

How much more is that worth? To have an experience?

It’s priceless.

I just had a priceless vacation experience, not beyond my dreams, but beyond my expectations. But why?

Because I had no idea you could vacation like this so affordably. Yes it isn’t cheap, but vacationing never is. You go on vacation to escape. To feel special. To pamper the ones you love. To have an experience.

Villa Venado provided that for me.

Villa Balboa provided that for me.

Villa Caliente provided that for me.

The reason I woke up so early every day. The reason why this morning I got up and walked around the still house just looking at everything. The reason why I stood on the terrace and looked out at the jungle rolling down to the ocean and breathed deep and closed my eyes absorbing every sensation available to me…was because this was an experience. This was an experience that I will never forget and that I may not ever get to repeat. This was an experience well beyond average. Average is what you get on a cruise ship, at a touristy resort, and the hotel right on the beach.

So I wandered around Villa Venado this morning looking at the art work, the architecture and fine detail built into every square inch of this magnificent home…I walked around outside and looked at the house and the grounds and lush hillside around it. I watched the halo form along the top edge of the hill as the sun began to climb and light up the upper most leaves on the trees. I took one last deep breath…and said goodbye.

We packed our bags, ate breakfast and drank our locally roasted coffee on the terrace (Chef Kori arranged for us to get over 10 pounds of coffee from a local roaster to bring home) and in what now seems like the blink of an eye, it was time to go.

Down the hill under the mango trees, up the coast highway, through old Vallarta and the romantic zone, past the River Café, past some of the restaurants and shops we’d visited, past the Malecon, past the marina where the mammoth cruise ships dock, and finally to the airport.

Good bye Puerto Vallarta…until next time.