Puerto Vallarta - beach getaway

Puerto Vallarta is indeed a spontaneous beach getaway.  They say you live life once. When my travel buddy Rae brought this up, I felt I need a getaway. A getaway from my work. A getaway from routine of life. Also I'd never say no to a trip to Mexico. A week later, we found ourselves in Puerto Vallarta!

We stayed at Sheraton beach resort in the north of the hotel zone. The first night was filled up with a long and sweaty walk to Malecon and Isla Cuale along the board walk and a delicious meal of grill mixto en route. It's hot, humid and lively. Scores of locals and tourists walked around and hung out at the bars and restaurants around Malecon. There were performers spinning around a coconut tree in the air and of course the clowns at the center of the plaza. We ended that evening swimming in the hotel pool.

On day 2 we took a trip to a couple of nearby beach towns. A bus took us to a lovely and low key beach town called Boca de Tomatlan.  From there we took a water taxi to a more remote cove called Yelapa. The day was featured with relaxing swimming, gazing into the sea and a little adventure of bus and water taxi rides and ended up with a delicious seafood feast at Cafe of Olive.

Food is always big part of traveling. Pueto Vallarta is famous for its seafood. With the 18:1 exchange rate, every thing seems ridiculously cheap.

Day 3 was another beach day at Sayulita. Sayulita is a very charming beach town dotted with colorful art shops, casual bars and coffee shops and an interesting mix of tourists, artists, surfers, hippies and locals.  It's a true highlight of this trip. At Sayulita, I had my last Margarita on this trip. I realized the limit of my alcohol tolerance is something like one Margarita a month. The local made Margarita gave me a generous amount of tequila as well as headache.

We decided to relax at hotel on day 4. I did some reading on the beach. We took another walk and had dinner at the same restaurant " Cafe of Olive".

Sheraton had an extravagant brunch Sunday morning which includes from Sushi to street tacos, from Thanksgiving turkey to local ceviche. It's insane. I told Rae there's no a better way to get sick on the airplane back home. As much as I fought the urge of over eating, I did eat way too much. As I was convinced that you are supposed to get an upset stomach when you travel to Mexico,  the episode incurred to me aftermath.

I always enjoy traveling to Mexico. This trip is no exception. The only problem I have is traveling in Mexico is too easy and a bit lack of challenges. Wait.... don't say that.... let's keep it this way.

On any given day, I'd hop on the airplane and head to Mexico within a heart beat as long as it's not a territory of  drug lords and cartels. Life is too good for that type of risks. Mexico is a great country and the people are wonderful. I always feel a strong sense of gratitude when I travel there.