This year, our annual trip to Mexico was a particularly exciting one as we took with us a blend of seasoned travellers and some newbies. My daughter Sarah and Gary's daughter Brittany had both been with us on previous occasions and yet for these two adventurers, this vacation would be a girls week out complete with happy trails and no-fail fun times. So, along with the two temporarily single Senorita's, we also had my sister, Heather and her about to graduate daughter, Olivia; a nice blend of familial prizes.
Our trip began with a bit of a bump, as we ended up booking Sarah's plane flight last minute. While the rest of our party was flying from Great Falls through Salt Lake City and on to PV, Sarah was required to travel the first leg with us, but then rather on to PV, she went through Mexico City and then to PV, arriving three hours later than the rest of us. This could have been a queesy and upsetting time for Sarah, but she took it in stride and ventured off on her own, trusting that all would be well and if it wasn't, then she'd just roll with it. We booked our flights through hotwire.com who always seem to be so very cheap. For us, cheap is a necessity, as we'd much rather spend our travel dollars on sightseeing and just plain old having fun.
While waiting for Sarah to arrive, we were transported to Budget to pick up our awesome jeep and we took a little jaunt out to Nueva Vallarta for a bite to eat. We stopped at Eddie's Place Nopal Beach (Boulevard Nayarit 70 | Local 1-3, Nuevo Vallarta 63735, Mexico (+52) 322-297-4568) and were not dissapointed with either the amazing margaritas or the scrumdelicious first taste of Mexico for my sister and niece.
Brittany and Olivia at Eddie's Place
Once we had our fill of salsa and sugar rimmed tequila based beverages we jumped back into the jeep. On our way back to PV, Gary had his first scare driving in Mexico, a "Po-Po" as Sarah calls them, flashed their lights and sirens at us as we were escaping a round-about at a slightly higher speed than I am sure the unposted speed allowed for. After a few quick explicatives, Gary pulled over, his heart beating much faster than the speed limit he had surely violated, only to discover the federali's were not after him at all. Phew!
After successfully retrieving Sarah and uniting our little travel party, we headed North to our final destination, the Costa Alegre Hotel & Suites in Rincon de Guayabitos. I honestly cannot say enough good about this all inclusive mid-end hotel. Seriously, who can complain about $45/night per person for a place to lay your head, stuff your face and guarantee the ultimate state of happy tequilaness for 10 days? And the views, well, they go without saying....
