February 8th to February 20th, 2003. A trip encompassing everything from Amoebas to Whales, from feathers to weights, from tea to Long Island Ice Teas, from two hour massages to sunburn, from the gourmet to the inedible, from showings of man in his utmost social abilities to his down right lack of consideration, from a la carte to all inclusive, from the south side of the bay to the north side of the bay, from police courtesy to police bribery, from dinner theater to fast food, and from pure bliss to utter frustration.

It was a good trip.

The 4:00 a.m. limo pic-up from our home got us to the airport to fly Continental, from N.Y., via Houston, to PV.

The trip there was uneventful (the best kind) though our interest was piqued at the Houston duty free when we saw some "hi-test" Kahlua (70 Proof) we had not come accross before. We passed on it at the duty free, thinking that we would find some in PV.

The Bital Bank was open at the airport when we arrived, but we had some pesos with us from our last trip, so didn’t exchange money when we first arrived in PV. We navigated through the throngs of transportation people and headed directly to the Dollar Car Rental counter to get out pre-reserved car. Because it was February, and the cooler/dryer part of the year - we had reserved a NON-Air conditioned manual tranny economy car. I expected a Nissan Tsurus, but was pleasantly surprised when we saw that we had a NEW (1993) VW Bug - with less than 2000 kilometers on the odometer. The cost of the car for a week was $97.00, plus the mandatory liability insurance and tax. I declined the collision damage waiver because I rented the car with an Amex gold card.

We don’t pack lightly (though always vow to do so "next time") , but still managed to fit our two large suitcases, three carry-on sized pieces, and dress pack into the back seat of the VW Bug.

In no time at all we were "off" to the first hotel accommodations. The "plan" was to stay the first five nights south of PV at the Costa Vida Vallarta resort, and the following seven nights at Viva Vallarta all inclusive resort near Punta Mita (Pictures of Viva Vallarta can be found here:

http://www.lilaw.info/viva_vallarta1.htm

The first five nights were a timeshare trade, the last seven nights were purchased at Viva Vallarta in a package that included the air. This was to be our first time at Costa Vida Vallarta, and our first stay of any duration at Viva Vallarta (we had stayed there for one night in November, 2002 to get a feel for the resort).

Pictures of Costa Vida Vallarta can be found here:

http://www.lilaw.info/costa_vida_vallarta.htm

The usual timeshare check-in day at Costa Vida Vallarta was a Thursday, we were arriving for the third night of the seven night’s of the accommodations. We subconsiously felt that the "best" rooms would have already been taken by people who had arrived on Thursday or Friday. This may or may not have been accurate. Upon check-in we were told that there were only two available units, 1107 and 1108. We looked at them both and chose 1108. Our initial impression of the room was not good - but our dismay over the slightly worn look of the place was soon replaced by our appreciation of the hominess of the resort. We were in a "Studio" consisting of a small kitchen (gas stove, microwave, full sized refrigerator, sink, wooden cabinets) ; bathroom with a very large shower (no tub); queen sized bed; pull out couch; tv; A/C; two medium sized closets; a decent sized safe; and sliding glass doors leading to a very small porch. The view from the room was magnificant - as we had a direct "full frontal" view of the bay . To our left we saw Los Arcos, to the right was downtown PV, and further ahead to the right we could clearly make out Nuevo Vallarta. The sunsets were great and the reflection of the moon led directly to our deck from the bay. The sound of the waves were always present, and lulled us to sleep every night . Even on the eleventh floor, with the doors shut, the waves were loud and clear. The guests were a mixed bag, but there were very few (actually I saw none) children there, which made for a quiet stay.

We stood on the porch and looked down - and had a little bit of a shock. The first floor rooms have a large walled in porch, which provides some privacy from those on the same level , but none to those looking down from above. We looked down directly at the nude butt of a middle aged woman. She was in the oddest position, on a lounge face down with her head down, but her butt high in the air. It looked as if she was trying to get some color somewhere where the sun usually didn’t shine. We didn’t butt stare for very long — as soon as we realized what the heck we were looking at - we shut our mouths and withdrew to our room. Incidently, this was the only "butt viewing" we came across during our stay there.

It was now about 4:00 P.M. and we had to make some time, as we had reservations to attend a fund raising dinner event for the "Make a Wish" foundation (see: http://www.makeawishmexico.org  ) . The dinner event started at 6:00 p.m. and was held in the courtyard of an older hotel ( Hotel Estancia San Carlos ) around the pool, downtown a few blocks from the Ocean. We took showers, donned some slightly upscale clothing, and drove into old town for the event. The buffett barbeque food was plentiful and varied, and the event was well worth the fee of $15.00 a person to attend.

After we left the event we headed off to do some basic food shopping and chose Commercial Mexicana downtown. When we came out to the car it would not start. It cranked and cranked, but the engine did not even sound like it was trying to catch. The new 2003 model VW bugs have an anti-theft device which requires a short round plastic thing to be rubbed on the ignition lock before inserting the key. If this is not done the car will not start. We tried every possible rubbing motion we could think of, but got nowhere. Frankly I was really surprised that we did not run down the battery. After about 20 minutes (we were very glad we had not purchased any frozen food) I went into the small shopping area under Commercial Mexicana and paid the computer store 50 cents to use their phone to call Dollar car rental. They explained that I was probably not rubbing the ignition lock properly - and I returned to the car and tried their various suggestions — nothing worked. I put in a second call to Dollar car rental asking for assistance. They sent someone right over and he was there in about 15 minutes. He explained that I had to be more "aggressio" with the rubbing of the ignition lock — and this did make a difference - the car started !! He said that we could take the car he had brought instead of keeping the one that we had — but we decided to keep the original car. As the week progressed I came to realize that for some reason the car would not start the first time the ignition key was turned — no matter what . The procedure I followed was to get in the car and turn the key for about 2 seconds, then withdraw the key and aggressively rub the ignition lock with the plastic "baton" on the key chain, then re-insert the key and start the car. For some reason this proceedure worked every time. We headed back to Costa Vida Vallarta and had a good night’s sleep.

The next morning I went down to the pool for coffee to go and charged it to my room. After I told them that I was in room 1108 — they told me that no one was in that room . I showed them the key - and they got themselves straightened out, but it took a few minutes. We had breakfast there twice during our stay; the food was good and the meals were memorable.

One of the nicer features of Costa Vida was that they had a computer area for the guests to use with no fee, and a total of four recent vintage Compaq computers available for use. The computers were used almost constantly by the guests, with a 15 minute time limit. Cable service has not reached as far south as Costa Vida Vallarta yet — so the connection was fairly slow. I found that in the early morning (when perhaps not too many people were logged on ) I was able to get on line and use AOL as well as various search engines, but after about 8:00 a.m. the internet got very very slow and it was usually impossible to log onto AOL.

The gym is adjacent to the computer room. The multistation weight machine there is not impressive. It looks almost home made, and indicates that it was made in Guadalajara. The construction and design is crude compared to equipment typically found in a U.S. gym. In addition to a crude (woobly and made with auto shock absorbers) stair stepper and a treadmill, they have one set of free dumbells which are basically useless as the maximum weight was 8 pounds.

Let’s see now, we are up to Sunday morning.

I had been planning a small whale excursion and had tried to drum up some interest in the trip on the AOL PV travel board. When we departed for PV there were a total of five people who had indicated they would participate in the excursion. The cost was to be $220.00 total for the boat and crew for the day, with $12.00 per person to cover lunch and all on-board beverages (for lunch we were to stop at a beach side restaurant - beverages there would cost extra). When I checked e-mail on Sunday morning, I found that two of the people who were to go on the excursion with us could not make it. What to do, what to do ?? I didn’t want a large group of people, but I felt that : 1) a few more people (aside from my wife and I, and the third person — Sue) would be nice and also that 2) I wanted others to be able to take advantage of the excursion. I had noticed a "owner’s bulletin board" near the 1st floor elevator at Costa Vida Vallarta, and figured I had nothing to lose by posting a note there.

I took a plain piece of white paper and hand wrote a note in simple ball point with the header: "Do You Want To See Some Whales ?" followed by a description of the trip that was planned, costs involved, and the room I was staying in. The response was pretty impressive. Inside of an hour I had received two phone calls, and had two or three notes slipped under our door. I communicated with the people interesting in attending by slipping notes under their doors. Between Sunday afternoon and Monday night I made at least five "runs" through various parts of the resort slipping little notes under doors in response to the various inquires we received.

Jackie went down to the pool for awhile to sun and read, and I went to the gym, then took a ride further south a few miles to the Bungee Jump to visit with my friend Federico. We had met Federico (a Mexican citizen ) and his wife Kirsten (a U.S. citizen) several years ago when we were on vacation and participated in one of his off road tours through his company, "Raptor Tours" ( SEE:  http://www.vallarta-action.com  ) . Come to think of it, Kirsten met Federico when she went Bungee Jumping while on vacation. Federico is actually a Doctor, who has chosen to make a living doing things that he considers to be "fun," which explains the off-road trips and the Bungee Jump. Having experienced, first hand, the three largest off road tour’s in PV , we can say that Raptor Tours tops the bunch for a fun, safe trip on good equipment, with a knowledgeable leader (Federico leads his own groups).

Everytime I visit with Federico he had always made some modification in his cars to make them more reliable or to ride better. This time was no exception and he showed me some new "ultra heavy duty" shocks that he had just managed to fit on his cars, and were still in the evaluation stage. So far he was very happy with them. Before making the trip to PV we had asked Kirsten to pick us up some tickets to Monday night’s (2/10/03) dinner theatre performance of "Move Over Mrs. Markham" which was being held at the Santa Barbara restaurant in old town. Kirsten had gotten some great seats, and they were planning to attend the dinner theatre with us. I confirmed the time that we would meet and headed back to the hotel.

It was now early Sunday afternoon, 2/9/03, and it was time for Jackie and I to get ready to attend the Fiesta Blanca fund raiser being held at the Agua Molina Hotel downtown. The purpose of the fund raiser was to raise money to supply medicine for AIDS patients in PV. The cost was $50.00 a person and included dancing to live music, food, and open bar from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. . The event was catered by some of the better known restaurants in PV . The event included a silent auction for art works, jewelry, weekend getaways, and gift certificates for various restaurants in PV. The event was well attended (pictures are here: http://www.s2ki.com/imagecatalog/image/list/3894/  ) and everyone did wear all white !!! We ate, drank, and danced our money’s worth, and participated in the silent auction (in which we were the high bidders on a quartz/silver bracelet).l It was a very friendly crowd and we conversed with several people about PV and life in general. One of one of the people we spoke with for some time was Rita who owns "Casa Amorita" ( see: http://www.casaamorita.com/  ) and was one of the contributors to the gifts being auctioned in the silent auction. Some of the restaurants represented were Garibaldis (the Westin), Pie in the Sky, Archie’s Wok, The River Cafe, Le Petite France, and Bianci.

After the event we went back to Costa Vida Vallarta, went down to the bar and participated in some Karioke for an hour or two before retiring for the night.

We woke on Monday to another beautiful day. Jackie headed for the pool and I went to 1) call home and pick-up messages/return phone calls, 2) have breakfast, and 3) visit the marina to meet the Capt. of the Simbad for the next day’s whale event, acquaint myself with the area, and pick a meeting spot for the next day.

When I arrived in P.V. I had been very glad to see that phone rates to call the U.S. had decreased dramatically. The cost was now 5 pesos (less than fifty cents) per minute. In the past they had been about a dollar a minute. I found out during the vacation that prices had dropped on both types of phone cards that one can buy down there, AND on the rate per minute of the rechargeable sprint phone card that I had purchased from COSTCO here in the States. The Ladatel phone card was the cheapest to use; but I found the sprint phone card the most convenient to use. The MCC phone card appeared to give you more minutes for the buck (or peso) but I found that every time I used it 2 - 3 mintues disappeared that were not accounted for; perhaps this was because I was making calls using the MCC card from a ladatel phone ? The advantage of the sprint card is that you can "load it" with lots of money, therefore you do not have to worry about the time running out while you are on the phone. I started with enough money on that card to talk for nearly three hours, and still have enough on it to call the U.S. from Mexico and talk for over 80 minutes. The highest denomination Ladatel card I found was 200 pesos ( enough to talk for 40 mintues); and if you carry more than one ladatel card - you can swap out an old card for a new card when the phone warns you that you are running out of time so that you do not get disconnected.

So, anyway, it was Monday and my wife was at the pool reading and I was hungry. I decided to see what the new "VIP" restaurant in front of Walmarts was like; it was convenient as it was not far from the marina where I had to go to meet the Captain of the boat for Tuesday’s charter. I found the atmosphere at VIP’s to be similar to a "Howard Johnson’s" (remember those ?) or a large diner. I had an order of pancakes with a glass of milk (they did not have skim milk so I settled for whole milk) . The cost of a meal there was more than a similar meal would have been at Costa Vida Vallarta.

After the meal I drove into the parking lot at the commercial marina (not to be confused with the Marina near the Westin). The lot charges 8 pesos an hour to park, though there is a maximum fee for parking. We had chartered a Trimarin sailboat called "Simbad" which is one of several boats chartered by a company called VIAJES VIVA TOURS. Their website is: http://www.vivatours-vallarta.com/simbad.htm   . Their main office is located in the round building there at the marina. The purpose of my trip there on Monday was really to build my own confidence that in fact we were dealing with a reputable company and that we would not be "stood up" the next morning. I also wanted them to know that they were not dealing with a person who would stand them up either.

After seeing the office and meeting the staff of Viva Tours I was confident that we had chosen a "good" service provider for the whale trip and told them that we would be there in the morning. I wanted to see the boat, but it was up in Nuevo Vallarta and I was told it would be brought down in the morning.

I left the marina and went over to Walmart, where I was able to buy $200.00 peso phone cards at the travel window at the front of the store.

After that I headed back to the hotel, used the gym, and got ready to meet Federico and Kirsten for the evening dinner theater reservations at Santa Barbara to see "Move Over Mrs. Markham." A few pictures taken there can be found here:

http://www.s2ki.com/imagecatalog/image/list/3917 

The choices for dinner were chicken, fish or steak, beverages were not included. The meal, though not a culinary delight, was satisfactory. The play was very entertaining and made the whole evening worth the time and money. After the play we parted ways with Federico and Kirsten, and headed back to the Costa Vida where we had a few drinks, sang a few Karioke songs, and responded to final notes from other whale excursion participants.

O.K. — Tuesday morning — we looked out the window and at first the sky seemed overcast, but 1/2 an hour later we breathed a sigh of relief when the sun started peeking through the clouds. The plan was that we would all meet in the lobby at 9:00 a.m. (I had only met one couple out of the nine people we were meeting from Costa Vida Vallarta) and then split cabs for the trip to the Marina. I had told a couple named Ron and Barb (from Washington) that because they were the first to respond to the note I posted, that we would give them a ride to the Marina in our VW. Amazingly, at 9:00 a.m. all nine people that were going with us showed up in the lobby, and we all headed for the marina.

Once at the Marina I collected money from everyone and paid the charter office. They told us that the boat was on its way and should arrive mometarily. Sure enough, it came into port no later than 10:15 a.m.. We loaded ourselves and our paraphenalia onto the boat and were off. Rather then bore you will all the details, let me summarize the day by saying, whales, dolphins, turtles, birds, and fish — we saw them all !!

At first we only saw Porpoises, but after we were out in the bay for about 30 minutes, one of the crew called on the radio and heard from other boats that there were about ten whales cavorting on the south side of the bay — we could see the boats in that area and headed obver that way. For lunch we stopped in Quimixto, and had a choice of a few things on the menu. Though the bar on the boat was open, noone overly imbibed. The water’s were calm enough so that no one got sick ( a few of us had taken dramamine) . The main negative aspect of the boat that we were on was that it was not fast, at all. Though we did see whales, we saw that other boats in the Bay were able to keep up with the whales by nimbly flying across the water to where they had next surfaced, in our case most of the whales we saw we saw by luck rather than skill. Though the boat did have a "head," one had to practically crawl to get into it (actually — I think the word "practically" could be left out of that statement) because the "ceiling" down below was so low.

After lunch we headed back along the shoreline where we had good views of La Jolla Mismaloya (where four of our group departed because they had to meet some other people for early dinner) , Le Kliff, the Bungee Jump, and the hotels along the way. We then headed over to Los Arcos and tied up to an anchor point . Looking down in the water we saw many colorful fish surrouding the boat. Some of the group went snorkeling, and others fed the fish with chocolate chip cookies. We stayed there for about an hour, and then proceeded back to the marina while hugging the south shore of the bay. We also saw a couple more whales that were surprisingly close to the Los Muertos Beach area.

Pictures taken during the trip are here:

http://www.lilaw.info/whale_watching_!!.htm

We got back to the Marina at about 6:30 p.m. and parted ways with most of the group; however, we invited Sue, Ron and Barb to take a ride with us up to Punta Mita to eat at El Dorado’s , and they all accepted. When we walked back to our car (which I had left parked under a tree) it was covered with bird crap — what a sight !! I am glad there was fluid in the windshield washers so I could clear off the windshield.

We got there at about 7:50 p.m. (they close at 8:00 p.m.) and were basically the only people in the restaurant (though a few people were eating at tables on the beach). Once that we had decided to have separate checks, I felt free to order what I wanted, and went for the grilled lobster, while my wife ordered her favorite (the octopus). The owner of El Dorado (Hector) is a very very nice, and friendly person; he remembered us from when we ate there a few times in November. He tries to please the customer any way he can, and the kitchen will make just about anything you want, whether it is on the menu or not.

I had ( in the back of my mind) thought that maybe we could stop at Dugarel Plays in Bucerias for a nightcap after dinner, but we didn’t get finished with the meal until nearly 11:00 p.m., and were all kind of bushed. We headed back to Nuevo Vallarta to take Sue to her newly purchased condo, and get the Nickel tour. She has a one bedroom condo in the Paradise Village complex. The building amenities are still being added, and it looks like it will be a great place to spend some time. We were glad that Susan was able to purchase something that would give her enjoyment in the future.

Tuesday was definitely OVER , so we headed back to Costa Vida Vallarta and collapsed for the night.

Well, along came Wednesday .... the IFC (International Friendship Club — SEE: http://www.pvmexico.com/   ) runs home tours on Weds. and Thursday mornings from approximately Mid November into the late winter/early spring. To go on a tour one has to merely show up at the Agua Molina Hotel at 10:00 a.m. on a Weds. or Thursday. Just walk in the front gate and there will be people there to meet and direct you. The cost of $25.00 includes transportation (ours was by AC’d bus, but there are some that are not AC’d) to four "WOW" homes in the immediate PV area. There were at least 40 people on the tour we went on, and we saw two really really "WOW" homes and two other large, and beautiful homes. The same homes are used on all tours in any given week, but they do have a "bank" of about 50 (?) homes that the owners let them use.

Touring the homes is a very "free" experience — you can basically go anywhere in the home you would like, and take all the pictures you want as well.

We spent about 3 hours on the tour and were returned to the Agua Molina Hotel at about 3:00 in the afternoon. We spent a little time after that shopping in the downtown area, then proceeded to PV NET. This was our first time there, and we were impressed with the set-up. There are about 45 computers set up, all with cable access. One pays at the front desk, upfront, for time. The minimum time is (we were told) 20 pesos for one hour — HOWEVER - we paid the 20 pesos and got two hours of access. This happened twice, so I guess the person working the front counter did not know that the 20 pesos bought two hours of time. Once one pays one gets an ID # and using this ID #one can sign onto any computer in the place. Once signed on, one creates his/her own password and then the computer keeps track of how much time has been used. The time does not have to be used consecutively. One can leave and come back another day, the the computer you are using will then tell you how much time you have left.

Our experience at PVNET, with the pleasant surroundings, air conditioning, and clean rest rooms, was very positive. I would highly recommend it. IF a person brings their own laptop the price gets even more reasonable to go on line (I recall the price as about $15.00 for a week of access). Pictures of PVNET are here:

http://www.s2ki.com/imagecatalog/image/list/3891 

After leaving PV net we were starving, so we headed up to a restaurant I had read about on line which was in the small town of La Cruz De Huanacaxtle, which is about 2/3rds of the way to Punta Mita from PV . The name of the restaurant was Papasito’s . We got into town and navigated our way up and down the dusty streets looking for the place, finally we asked some people — who directed us towards the town square — we drove past the town square and some other people directed us back from where we had just come — we did the yoyo thing a couple more times — till we found it — closed.

Though there were a couple of other interesting restaurants there in the town we decided to head back into PV proper and eat at El Palomar d los González. We got on the main road and headed south. The speed limit along there varies between 50 - 80 KM per hour (all of which is fairly slow — 100 KM per hour is 60 MPH) . There are a lot of trucks that drive that road and I did not realize the thought of getting wiped out in my little VW bug — so we were traveling at about 100 KM per hour (as were many other drivers). We got pulled over by a Federali . As I was getting pulled over, realizing that I did not have my wallet or passport with me (though I did have lots of money) - I said to my wife , "Hey hon — I might be going to jail !!" .He was alone, we stayed in our car and rolled down the window. When he got to the window I said "hello good evening" he he spoke in Spanish and said " Do you speak Spanish ?" I said "not really" — he then said in english "Well we have a problem because I do not speak english." My Spanish got pretty good then. From then on we both only spoke Spanish. I asked him what he wanted - he said he wanted my license and the papers on the car. I told him that I left my wallet in the hotel - and told him where we were staying. Meanwhile my wife was looking through the papers in her LARGE pocketbook for the car rental papers.

The police officer said that he had to think of what he was going to do - and went to the back of the car. For some reason he opened the engine compartment in the back of the car (I thought that maybe he was disabling the engine by pulling a coil wire — but he didn’t) and then shut it after about 20 seconds. My wife then found the car rental papers and I got out the car with the papers in my hand saying "I have the papers I have the papers." He was glad to see that, and told me that he intended to write out two tickets for me, one for not having a license and one for speeding. I asked him what I had to do with the tickets. He told me that I would have to see a Judge. I asked him what the Judge would do — he said that the Judge would impose a fine, I asked him how much - he told me it would be about 300 pesos for not having a license and 200 pesos for speeding. I said, quietly, that this was very very bad. I then asked him if I could just pay the fines then and there. He told me that only the Judge could give a receipt. I asked him if a receipt was important ? He said "Is a receipt important to you? " I told him "no" .... and then he said that I could just pay the fine right then and there. I gave him a 500 peso bill . He had me PRINT my name next to an entry he had made in a log book. We went on our way, 12 minutes later and a little less than $50.00 poorer. He followed us for about 3 miles, then did a "U" turn.

We continued to make our way to El Palomar d los González. It is a restaurant overlooking the southern part of PV — we had long heard of this place and figured we would try something new. The road to get to it was steep, but short — nothing like Carmelitas !! Once there we were seated at once - at a table for two. We reviewed the menu and I placed an order for mussels as an appetizer. The cost was about $8.50 for the mussels appetizer. To our amazement, the order consisted of on eight (really) mussels, arranged in a circle around the outside of a small plate. That was it, eight mussels !!! Here in NY one can get a whole steamer full of mussels for $8.50. For New Years Eve I bought (lobsters and) about 4 pounds of mussels for less than $3.00 a pound. Here in NY $3.00 buys a heck of a lot of mussels !! So we really could not believe it when they only brought 8 mussels. We had our meals and when the matre di came around to ask how everything was, I told him that frankly, the mussels portion had been ridiculously small, consisting of only 8 mussels. He commented that usually the plate is 15 mussels (which is still significantly less than one would get here in NY for the same amount of money) and had 7 more mussels sent to us. The meals themselves were NOT inspirational or memorable at all (I can not even remember what I had) and the portions were small overall. We left there with no desire to ever return.

Incidentally, that night there was a very very visible, large ring around the moon — I tried to take a photo of it - but it was too big to fit into one picture — anyone else remember looking up at the moon on Wednesday, February 12th, 2003, and seeing a huge ring around it ??

We got back into the VW and headed back to the Costa Vida Vallarta. Tomorrow (Thursday) was to be our check out day from Costa Vida and move into Viva Vallarta day. We watched a movie in bed in the hotel, and enjoyed our last night at Costa Vida with the waves pounding in the background all night.

Thursday:

We had stayed at Viva Vallarta for one night in November, 2002. It was the last night of an 8 night stay in PV, and originally we had plans to stay at Blue Bay getaway for that last night — but after Hurricane Kenna, Blue Bay was closed, so we were able to move over to Viva Vallarta for one night. We had liked the property, but did not have much of a chance to live with the food (only one day) when we had stayed there in November. What we did notice about the room, when we stayed there in November, was that due to the stone floors, with no carpeting, we could hear people walking and moving furniture in the room above us. In November, 2002, we had gone around the resort writing down room numbers of rooms that we might like to stay in when we returned in February. We chose rooms on the top floor of the building facing the "Relaxo Pool (an adult’s only pool in the sourthern portion of the resort)" .

I go up early and went out to a pay phone and picked-up/returned messages. I used a phone on the road a little south of Costa Vida Vallarta. We had bought few bottles of booze (vodka, rum, etc.) for in-room drinks while at Costa Vida, and because we were moving to an all inclusive I did not figure we would have any use for them . I drove to the Bungee Jump to drop off the unused booze there for Federico or his employees. The "office" at the Bungee was open, and an employee was there, but Federico had not yet arrived. I noticed that they had a hose and a rag there, and asked if I could wash all the bird stuff off the car — the employee agreed, and I washed the dirty VW . While I was doing that, Federico arrived at the Bungee jump and I spent a few minutes with him while he explained some of his future plans for expansion, as well as some of the major modifications he had made recently on the suspension systems of the cars he uses for Raptor tours.

After that I headed back to the hotel, we loaded everything into the VW (filling up the rear seat to the brim), and we were off to Viva Vallarta. Let me preface the following couple of pages by saying that the property at Viva Vallarta is beautiful and well designed. The resort has been built into the hillside so that he pools and walkways blend very well with the land. The beach is nice, and the resort’s location to Punta Mita is convenient in the event that one would like to get away from Viva for a regular restaurant meal. There is bus transportation available where the entrance road to the hotel meets the road, and on the ride INTO town one can usually get a seat because the "beginning" of the line is Punta Mita — only a few miles before Viva Vallarta.

I mentioned that we had made a list of the rooms that we would prefer to stay in when we went to Viva Vallarta in November. We had also asked at Viva Vallarta what we had to do to request a spcific room, and they told us to e-mail them a few weeks before we came to the resort. What I had done after that was to write to the corporate headquarters of Viva Vallarta to request one of several specific rooms, this is what I had sent by e-mail:

--Mensaje original-----

CONTENTS OF WEB SITE COPYRIGHT  © 2001, 2002, 2003 BY: ELIOT J. DEUTSCH

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Photos may not be reproduced or used without permission of Eliot J. Deutsch

This Page Last Modified On July, 2003