Dia Siete En Puerto Vallarta

Being in paradise, and staying in some of the finest homes I’ve ever seen anywhere, really makes waking up at 6am easy. While the other members of our party sleep their time here away I sneak outside.

Resting my elbows on the railing of the main floor terrace I lean out to let my eyes and ears drink in the early morning at Villa Venado. The gentle breeze is rocking the tops of the palm trees planted near the house. The birds are becoming active. I see them in the tree tops off in the distance to either side of the villa. Their calls echo around the hillside. Sometimes it sounds like they receive answering calls from the next hillside or canyon over. There isn’t any man-made noise to be heard. Growing up in northern Minnesota I have a great appreciation for the solitude of morning in the woods where the only noise is nature. This morning has a similar feeling. The air smells differently and the birds sound different, but morning before man starts his machines is my favorite time of day.

Villa Venado is a very private Puerto Vallarta villa. There are only two other villas nearby, one is being remodeled, and both were unoccupied during our stay. So we basically had the hillside to ourselves.

After about an hour I rousted my companions. We had breakfast and coffee on the terrace and discussed the activity planned for today and wondered what it would be like. None of us had been on a zipline canopy tour before and we felt excited and a little apprehensive as to what the experience would be like.

The owners of Villa Venado, Jeff and Juliana, also own the Puerto Vallarta canopy tour that we’ll be visiting today and they include free passes to the tour for guests that stay at the villa. Los Veranos Canopy Tours is the name of the company, and Juliana was kind enough to call us at the villa, check to see what time we’d like to go and arrange for one of their shuttle buses to pick us up at the roadside down below the villa. (As we’re about to find out it’s a bit of a drive up into the Canyons and a cab ride would be pretty expensive.)

The tour recommends bug spray, comfortable shoes, and having a camera on a strap. Some people recommended we wear long pants, perhaps to help with the bugs. We did not wear them and would not recommend them. We did a lot of hiking up steps and paths and you will get really hot if you wear pants. See their website for complete details here: http://www.canopytours-vallarta.com

We checked in with Sochie, told her our plan, when we would be back and headed out. We walked down the fancy manicured drive and then continued on to the cobble stone past a few modest homes and condos and many many mango trees (the mangos were not ripe yet...just two more weeks and they would have been). We crossed to the other side of the coast highway and waited for about 5 minutes until the very clean and modern tour bus arrived.

The drive from here took us down the coast through Mismaloya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mismaloya) and then we turned up a valley road into what looked like a wildlife preserve or national park. There were signs in Spanish that said something to the effect of “don’t litter” and “take out what you bring in.” I didn’t see a sign that told us a park name, but signs like those are generally synonymous with nature park type places, and it certainly looked like one.

The bus wound its way up in the canyon and climbed higher and higher. After about 15 minutes we slowed down and turned off the main road into a quaint and non-touristy looking little town. In the corner of my eye I saw movement in the sky over head. I looked just in time to catch a person mid-canyon on a zip line that was hundreds of feet off the ground and far higher than what I expected. I told the team that if what I just saw was the zip line we’re going on, “I hope you guys brought a change of underwear.”

We unloaded, were directed to lockers for personal belongings and told to use the restrooms…”To avoid mid-air accidents.” Which we were told was a frequent occurrence.

The staff was very comical and super friendly, so after a minute or two it was obvious that they were joking about the frequency of the "mid-air accidents". However the zip-lines we could see from the base camp were very high, and one member of our group was becoming very anxious.

Next they led us to the area where they handed out the gear and explained the best way to conduct yourself on the zip-lines. They offered reassurance about safety and told us what to do in certain situations; like if you stop short of the platform, are coming in too fast, etc…

Zip-Line crash course completed we were marched up the hill to begin the tour.

To say the least…it was AMAZING!!!

They started us off with some smaller lines, tree to tree, to help folks gain confidence. But it wasn’t long before we were doing some seriously long lines. We’re talking multiple football fields of distance across canyons that, on our highest run, go more than 700 feet in the air above the canyon floor.

It was spectacular and the staff would often take volunteers to hang upside down, spin round and round, and for other aerial shenanigans. I call them shenanigans because the guides we very playful, very humorous and worked extremely hard to make the experience memorable for everyone.

At the end of the tour we each put $10 in their tip jar and bought shots of Tequila - which is the tradition (or so the bar tenders would have you believe). But it was a bit of a workout and we certainly felt we deserved a shot to celebrate our bravery and counter act the adrenaline that was pumping.

This experience was one in a life-time. If you come to Puerto Vallarta, go on this Canopy Tour. It was SO much fun. Even our most anxiety prone companion was having a blast by the end.

At the base camp there is a restaurant and cantina along the river. You may go swimming there aswell if you like. They also have a petting zoo of sorts with some pigmy marmosets and squirrel monkeys, a large iguana, a big python and a tarantula. (I will get some video up soon of the Pigmy Marmosets eating yogurt from my hand. It was one of the most endearing things I have ever experienced…)

From an animal rights perspective I am sure there are those that will disapprove, but their animal facility was very clean and appeared well kept. The animals appeared healthy and very well cared for and similarly to a zoo, when people get to interact with animals I believe they’ll have a better appreciation for them and the environment that they rely on. I know I will never think about the jungle without remembering my little tiny pigmy marmosets and how cute and special they are.

With a few hundred pictures in the camera and what I hope will turn out to be some good video we head back to Villa Venado. On the way home one of the tour guides grabbed a van and shuttled the four of us right to the front door saving us the long walk up the hill. His thoughtfulness was most welcomed. The other two couples that were in the van, catching a ride back to their cruise ship, had to pick their jaws up off the floor of the van when they saw where we were staying.

Yeah…it really is THAT nice.

Home sweet vacation home…

The rest of the afternoon we spent lounging by the pool, soaking in some sun, and silently lamenting the fact that it was our last full day in paradise. Together we sat on the patio lounge chairs and watched for the last time as the sun slowly approach the horizon, touch it and sink quickly into the ocean.

That evening my lady friend and I were treated to a fancy dinner, prepared by our two cohorts.

The candles were lit. The waterfall was trickling, The warm lights inside Villa Venado cast everything in gentle gold. We raised our glasses for last time to an amazing experience and to the people that made it possible.

What a trip.

What luxury.

What a way to vacation. Why would anyone stay in a hotel on vacation? I know I never will again.

Thank you Jeff and Juliana for opening your home to us. You’ve really created a masterwork here and a great value for the vacation traveler that seeks a more refined experience...

Click here for information about renting Villa Venado in Puerto Vallarta.