Preface: This is coming from the viewpoint of a 30-year-old female Californian who generally travels to Mexico 3 times a year for the past 25 years, fourth trip to PV. I brought along my husband of nine years, another 30 something married couple that has been together almost 20 years who have only been to Mexico on cruises and another couple in their 30’s dating for about two years taking their first vacation together and neither of which had ever been to Mexico. First and foremost we all LOVE food, so the basis of most days surrounded food. We ended up spending more money on food than we generally would because everyone had a places that they wanted to try but of course the only place we went twice (and would have gone more had we found it earlier in the week) was La Fondita Café Kaffe, which had a comida corrida type menu but more on that later.
Condo: We stayed at Girasol Sur Condominiums south of town on the road to Mismaloya. It was wonderful. It was an oceanfront property with gorgeous views of town, Los Arcos and we were able to see dolphins and whales swimming in the bay. Our room had a large king bed (actually two twins tied together with a cushion covering it), a full size refrigerator, double burner, blenders, toasters, microwave, books, television (although we only got one channel) Very clean room, not newly furnished but nice. Nice size balcony with a lounge chair, table, two chairs. We also had beach chairs and boogie boards as well as plenty of towels for the beach and room. There is no maid service included but we were told we could pay for it at an additional charge if we were so inclined. Everyone at the hotel was nice, the only meal we ate there was lunch upon our arrival as we were starved and didn’t want to wait to go to town to eat. It was good and filling, nothing spectacular. Another bonus with the condo is that it is directly across from the bus stop and was 4.5 pesos to town. Our room cost 80 per night (we were there in high season), but we found other rooms in the condo for 50 per night during low season with the 7th night free.
Thursday: Rafael/El Tuito: Prior to arriving in PV I was lucky enough to be doing some research and saw several people who recommended Rafael. I contacted him and arranged for him to pick us up at our condo our first full day. He was very prompt and very nice, immediately I felt completely at ease. We had no idea what the day would hold for us, he simply had said he could take us anywhere we wanted to go. So we had packed everything we thought we’d need and put it in the trunk of the car. We decided to drive to El Tuito for breakfast, although it was quite a long drive Rafael pointed out different places, explained certain areas and showed us around El Tuito and brought us to a farm for breakfast. It was such a nice peaceful way to start the day. Eating breakfast overlooking a pond, with horses, an orchard, ducks, geese, men working. After looking around the farm and talking with Rafael for a while we moved on to our next stop.
Chico’s Paradise: On our way back we decided to stop and see Chico’s paradise, a nice stop, some boys were diving off the rocks into the river below, it was fairly expensive and crowded so we stayed less than an hour and moved on.
By now Rafael had shown us many places. We had him take us by a grocery store where we exchanged our bottles from the day before and got a new case of beer. He opened beers for all of us and we decided to take a look at Liz Taylor/Richard Burton house. Something I never in a million years would have done but Rafael had said he took another couple who had enjoyed it and the other couple with us wanted to go, so off we went. Actually, it was pretty interesting with an informative guide (who also happened to be the current owner of the house).
RAFAEL WAS WONDERFUL AND HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
Pipi’s: We actually hiked to go to Barcelona Tapas but they were booked and this happened to be on our walk back. We stopped in had great food and even better Margaritas. I had the banana, others had strawberry and the favorite was a mix of banana/pineapple/strawberry. Great food with tons of leftovers that we had for lunch the next day.
Bar Fly: We had fun people watching on the Malecon from this 3rd story hole in the wall bar.
Friday: Memo’s Pancake House: we went for breakfast, good food, a little slow on the service though.
Los Arbolitos: Another place we happened upon when The Red Cabbage said the they did not ever get our reservations. A little pricey but we got the specials, filet mignon/lobster for two ($55 US) and the seafood platter for two with octopus/lobster/two types of shrimp/red snapper and more. The Mexican coffee after dinner is not to be missed for the great show alone. We always order Mexican coffee and this was the best, with some cinnamon that tasted wonderful.
C y C: we had after dinner drinks on the beach at some small tables with live music in the background, absolutely wonderful. And our waitress was VERY nice, I believe her names was Linda…
Saturday: Chinos Paradise/El Eden: We asked a cab to take us to Chino’s Paradise, which was nice to look at but luckily one of our friends had been to El Eden before (but did not remember the name) and said that it was the wrong place, so we hitched a ride a little further up the road and boy are we glad we did. It is where the actual movie “Predator” was filmed. We were able to use a rope swing to drop into a watering hole in the river as well as slide down the rocks that form a natural slide. After a few minutes our waiter, Roberto, talked us into doing the zip line or canopy tour they have. 7-8 lines for $45US, it was a lot of fun, especially for someone who didn’t want to pay the $77 for the other canopy tour. Roberto was great, quite funny, let us try some Raicilla, which they also have for tasting there.
Barcelona Tapas: Fabulous dinner, wonderful views quite a hike up four stories but well worth it. Four of us ended up ordering about 8 tapas plates, not counting the courtesy one they served when we sat down. All were great and we ended up ordering another order of the garlic shrimp and pork tenderloin (the most tender I have ever had). We also had the sangria, which put us in the perfect mood.
Sunday: Boca de Tomatlan: We took the Mismaloya bus to the end of the line, which is Boca, from there we walked down to the beach and hired a panga with a nice canopy for the day. For $130US Nico took us out on the boat to different beaches, first to Las Animas for breakfast, then we were off to Yelapa. He was kind enough to point out the different beaches we were passing and give the names, etc. of each. At Yelapa we hiked up to the waterfall and did the loop back to the beach and he watched our stuff while we were gone. On the way back, he stopped out front of Majahuitas to let us snorkel for a while which was great, perfect visibility and tons of fish, and we were alone just the six of us. The best part of having our own boat was being able to go at our own pace and see what we wanted, definitely worth the $$.
Blue Shrimp: Fabulous margaritas, I had the coconut, which was great. The food was good (not great), but we felt the 200.00US tab was a little pricey to be eating on butcher paper…
Monday: La Fondita Café Kaffe: this was probably the best meal that we had, especially for the price, lunch was 100 pesos for four people!! Wow! The waiter was very friendly and informative and the food was great. He was even kind enough to sell me frijoles to go. Unfortunately we missed lunch this day, they were going to be having chicken mole. For a pre fix price, most looked around 35 pesos, you got soup, entrée, and a drink. Can’t beat that. Everyone agreed had we found this place earlier we would have been back at least once a day.
Dessert: Pie in the Sky : From what the rest of the crew said, we had to stop every night for frapacino and cheesecake, ice cream, flan and/or brownies. They all loved it.
Lastly, we met so many nice people from all walks of life, it truly is wonderful how great people can be. A special thanks to:
Little girl who gave me a rose, and helped me with my Spanish.
Cab driver who remembered us and where we were from
Storekeeper who held our bottles for three hours while we shopped
Desk clerk who went out of his way to help at our condo
7 cousins from US who gave us a ride when we were stranded up at El Eden in the pouring rain.
Condo: We stayed at Girasol Sur Condominiums south of town on the road to Mismaloya. It was wonderful. It was an oceanfront property with gorgeous views of town, Los Arcos and we were able to see dolphins and whales swimming in the bay. Our room had a large king bed (actually two twins tied together with a cushion covering it), a full size refrigerator, double burner, blenders, toasters, microwave, books, television (although we only got one channel) Very clean room, not newly furnished but nice. Nice size balcony with a lounge chair, table, two chairs. We also had beach chairs and boogie boards as well as plenty of towels for the beach and room. There is no maid service included but we were told we could pay for it at an additional charge if we were so inclined. Everyone at the hotel was nice, the only meal we ate there was lunch upon our arrival as we were starved and didn’t want to wait to go to town to eat. It was good and filling, nothing spectacular. Another bonus with the condo is that it is directly across from the bus stop and was 4.5 pesos to town. Our room cost 80 per night (we were there in high season), but we found other rooms in the condo for 50 per night during low season with the 7th night free.
Thursday: Rafael/El Tuito: Prior to arriving in PV I was lucky enough to be doing some research and saw several people who recommended Rafael. I contacted him and arranged for him to pick us up at our condo our first full day. He was very prompt and very nice, immediately I felt completely at ease. We had no idea what the day would hold for us, he simply had said he could take us anywhere we wanted to go. So we had packed everything we thought we’d need and put it in the trunk of the car. We decided to drive to El Tuito for breakfast, although it was quite a long drive Rafael pointed out different places, explained certain areas and showed us around El Tuito and brought us to a farm for breakfast. It was such a nice peaceful way to start the day. Eating breakfast overlooking a pond, with horses, an orchard, ducks, geese, men working. After looking around the farm and talking with Rafael for a while we moved on to our next stop.
Chico’s Paradise: On our way back we decided to stop and see Chico’s paradise, a nice stop, some boys were diving off the rocks into the river below, it was fairly expensive and crowded so we stayed less than an hour and moved on.
By now Rafael had shown us many places. We had him take us by a grocery store where we exchanged our bottles from the day before and got a new case of beer. He opened beers for all of us and we decided to take a look at Liz Taylor/Richard Burton house. Something I never in a million years would have done but Rafael had said he took another couple who had enjoyed it and the other couple with us wanted to go, so off we went. Actually, it was pretty interesting with an informative guide (who also happened to be the current owner of the house).
RAFAEL WAS WONDERFUL AND HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
Pipi’s: We actually hiked to go to Barcelona Tapas but they were booked and this happened to be on our walk back. We stopped in had great food and even better Margaritas. I had the banana, others had strawberry and the favorite was a mix of banana/pineapple/strawberry. Great food with tons of leftovers that we had for lunch the next day.
Bar Fly: We had fun people watching on the Malecon from this 3rd story hole in the wall bar.
Friday: Memo’s Pancake House: we went for breakfast, good food, a little slow on the service though.
Los Arbolitos: Another place we happened upon when The Red Cabbage said the they did not ever get our reservations. A little pricey but we got the specials, filet mignon/lobster for two ($55 US) and the seafood platter for two with octopus/lobster/two types of shrimp/red snapper and more. The Mexican coffee after dinner is not to be missed for the great show alone. We always order Mexican coffee and this was the best, with some cinnamon that tasted wonderful.
C y C: we had after dinner drinks on the beach at some small tables with live music in the background, absolutely wonderful. And our waitress was VERY nice, I believe her names was Linda…
Saturday: Chinos Paradise/El Eden: We asked a cab to take us to Chino’s Paradise, which was nice to look at but luckily one of our friends had been to El Eden before (but did not remember the name) and said that it was the wrong place, so we hitched a ride a little further up the road and boy are we glad we did. It is where the actual movie “Predator” was filmed. We were able to use a rope swing to drop into a watering hole in the river as well as slide down the rocks that form a natural slide. After a few minutes our waiter, Roberto, talked us into doing the zip line or canopy tour they have. 7-8 lines for $45US, it was a lot of fun, especially for someone who didn’t want to pay the $77 for the other canopy tour. Roberto was great, quite funny, let us try some Raicilla, which they also have for tasting there.
Barcelona Tapas: Fabulous dinner, wonderful views quite a hike up four stories but well worth it. Four of us ended up ordering about 8 tapas plates, not counting the courtesy one they served when we sat down. All were great and we ended up ordering another order of the garlic shrimp and pork tenderloin (the most tender I have ever had). We also had the sangria, which put us in the perfect mood.
Sunday: Boca de Tomatlan: We took the Mismaloya bus to the end of the line, which is Boca, from there we walked down to the beach and hired a panga with a nice canopy for the day. For $130US Nico took us out on the boat to different beaches, first to Las Animas for breakfast, then we were off to Yelapa. He was kind enough to point out the different beaches we were passing and give the names, etc. of each. At Yelapa we hiked up to the waterfall and did the loop back to the beach and he watched our stuff while we were gone. On the way back, he stopped out front of Majahuitas to let us snorkel for a while which was great, perfect visibility and tons of fish, and we were alone just the six of us. The best part of having our own boat was being able to go at our own pace and see what we wanted, definitely worth the $$.
Blue Shrimp: Fabulous margaritas, I had the coconut, which was great. The food was good (not great), but we felt the 200.00US tab was a little pricey to be eating on butcher paper…
Monday: La Fondita Café Kaffe: this was probably the best meal that we had, especially for the price, lunch was 100 pesos for four people!! Wow! The waiter was very friendly and informative and the food was great. He was even kind enough to sell me frijoles to go. Unfortunately we missed lunch this day, they were going to be having chicken mole. For a pre fix price, most looked around 35 pesos, you got soup, entrée, and a drink. Can’t beat that. Everyone agreed had we found this place earlier we would have been back at least once a day.
Dessert: Pie in the Sky : From what the rest of the crew said, we had to stop every night for frapacino and cheesecake, ice cream, flan and/or brownies. They all loved it.
Lastly, we met so many nice people from all walks of life, it truly is wonderful how great people can be. A special thanks to:
Little girl who gave me a rose, and helped me with my Spanish.
Cab driver who remembered us and where we were from
Storekeeper who held our bottles for three hours while we shopped
Desk clerk who went out of his way to help at our condo
7 cousins from US who gave us a ride when we were stranded up at El Eden in the pouring rain.