Puerta Vallarta

I get to Mexico greeted by Mara where we go down to the restaurant to have Mexican buffet which was very good and sit and talk all night long.  The next day is much of the same by the pool and because we are on vacation time for naps.

For dinner that night we do what the locals do get on the bus and go into PV – the wind of the day has died down some and it hot hot hot and humid humid humid.  We go to one restaurant and although the food is good decided we don’t want to do our main course there.  We walk for several blocks and find a Thai Asian restaurant that was very good. The amuse was a delicate salmon ceviche on a perfect bbq homemade potato chip.

Salmon Ceviche on Housemade Potato Chip

Then we ate

Shrimp Ravioli in Ponzu Sauce - Delicious

The next 2 courses was fish – Mara’s was much better than mine and dessert I had to send back as the creme brulee should be called soggy brulee.

The next day – Mara and I went over to the marana for lunch. A co worker recommended we go to Fajita Banana’s for lunch.  The shrimp fajitas were excellent. What made them so good is that put diced jicama in the combination that gave those fajitas a much needed crunch and before they bought out the sizzling combo that flambed it with a Jack Daniels and Tequila mixture that you could taste just a hint.

Going into night time  – Rebecca sent a car to come get me and take me to where their 1500 acre community is outside of  PV.  The car ride ended up being 45 minutes with a pass right by the Corona factory. 

After about a 1 hour car ride – I end up meeting Rebecca at the first home she wanted me to see.  They are all situated on the water and have those lovely infinitey pools.  I can’t photograph the inside of many of these homes because of privacy but here is the outside of one home she is very familiar with.  I can totally see myself parked here for a week.

Outside one of Rebeccas Houses

Here are some more pictures from the outside.

From the yeard looking to the house

This is from the second house that we visited. It was bigger and had a full deck dedicated to “event space. This upper deck had a banquet kitchen and 3 different tiers in addition he had a privacy garden in the back that guests could enter by and cocktail.

Another home that has a full deck facing the ocean that is dedicated to events and entertaining

This is the upper deck pool that is an easy walk to the ocean.

Meditation Garden area that people rent out for yoga classes and is a good entrance and area for first statement cocktail party.

After looking at 3 different types of housing options and getting it real quick how lovely everything is and how much the residents of this community care about each other – we moved onto my favorite part of the meal – dinner.  To be honest Rebecca is struggling a bit with certain aspects of the restaurant that she wanted me to take a hard look at and was the primary reason why I was there.  The restaurant is located primarily outdoors and with bugs just as hungry as the diners it made for an uncomfortable situation at best.

Chef's starter of asparagus soup with clam that had a touch of a spicy flavor to it was very good

Next we had 3 appetizers – the calamari with black rice was by far my favorite.  Although the chef could have done with 50% less rice..  My least favorite was a salad with a duck confit which turned out really to be a duck pate it wasn’t good at all.

Calamari with Black Rice - You can see the black rice overpowers the calamari

Skirt Steak with an incredible black mole

Lamb chops with a balsamic reduction ; arugula salad and polenta cake

Dessert of Profiteroles that should be just that

Grand Manier Souffle that was delicious but chocolate sauce wasn't appropriate.

Coin bin where you pay your money on a bus in Mexcio

A way of blessing everyone on this drivers bus.

Fresh guac at your table

Almost done

This is vacation and Mara had a little birthday celebrating to do so of course we are going to have a jumbo sized mango marg.

Happy Birthday Mara - a little late with many happy returns.

After lunch the strangest thing happened we were walking to the market and I passed this restaurant – I told Mara I wanted a picture of the sign because I have a good friend named Gaby in Atlanta – and don’t you think 10 minutes after I took this picture I got an email from Gaby!

A picture for my friend Gaby.

At the market Mara and I bought some silver and she really got some beautiful pieces. I bought some earrings and a pretty bracelet.  This T-shirt is for all you guys out there.

It's a guy thing

After spending a couple of hours shopping in the heat Mara and I went back to the condo and went down to the pool for a late afternoon swim.  We were enjoying the late afternoon so much we didn’t get out of the pool until 8:45 pm.  By then we just ran across to the marina for Italian dinner and home to bed.  Thur was my last day and I took this picture post card from the middle of the pool. It was such a pretty day.

Picture taken from the middle of the pool.

Pool

This pool did a wicked ceviche my last bite before starting the trek back to Atlanta.

Ceviche

The above is my travel story for now and I am sticking to it – Thank you Mara, Kim, Steve and Keith for allowing me to be with you on holiday.

Claire