Nuevo Vallarta | April 16 | Day Three

It is a little redundant to say it was a beautiful day, but it was. We got down to the pool and secured a good set of chairs near the restaurant and facing the sun. These are two important criteria, which include the added benefit of being near the bathrooms. We started slowly with lemonade for me and iced tea for Jane. It seemed wise, given our previous day’s schedule. Before long we were hungry again, but rather than suffer through another meal hunched over a plastic plate on a chaise lounge, we opted to eat at a proper table under the canopy of a canvas umbrella. It was most pleasant.


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One thing we’ve discovered is that the food is not great. It’s not so much terrible as it is mediocre. Just nothing to write home about. But as I reminded Jane, you can’t really expect too much from hotel food, regardless of where you are. It’s sad but true. I’ve stayed in amazing places, but you never really expect to eat there. You go out. There’s almost no expectation that in a cool hotel you’ll also get a good meal. At best, you expect adequate, if not overpriced.

I spent some time taking pictures today, not a lot, but it occupied my time for a bit. For lunch we had ceviche, which tasted pretty good, but was amazingly salty, rich and a little much for a light lunch. Follow it with a salad that includes goat cheese and my “light” lunch became a brick. We had a bottle of wine as well and that tended to go down well, so I thought it would be judicious to add a few margaritas afterwards. They tasted so good I had few more. Jane declined. She’s a good girl.


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So, of course, by the time we got back to the room, I was already a bit hungover. There’s a bit of a pattern here. I took a short nap, then we showered, dressed and headed out for dinner.

The main restaurant at our hotel was full, at least for tables outside, so we ventured next door to the sister hotel. Even though there were tables out front open, they decided to seat us on the other side of the dining room, which was apparently also the service entrance. Throughout our meal we watched several people with brooms, buckets and mops stroll past us. It was lovely.

It turns out I was dead tired anyway and couldn’t have cared less if I’d eaten or not.


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BUT. The high point of the day was that the server that’s been taking care of us around the pool began talking to us about his ranch, his sister’s house which apparently seconds as a small zoo, and a recent trip up the mountain behind Puerto Vallarta to take pictures. His family owns 8,000 acres of agave plants and makes tequila. One thing led to another and he offered to take me around tomorrow to take pictures. He was able to take off from work, and he borrowed a car from one of the girls he works with. She works from 9am to 5pm, so this is roughly the time we are traveling. I’m meeting him at 9am in the lobby and he has to have the car back by 5pm. Not sure I really want to be gone that long, but you never know. I guess it depends on how much fun we have.

Jane will be out on her catamaran cruise so she won’t miss me, and I just got a bilingual guide for the day. We didn’t discuss payment, but I’m sure he expects something. We’ll see. I’m certainly not prepared to pay his day wage, which I have to expect is substantial given what I’m paying him in tips alone. He may even just be being nice, but I’m far too skeptical to believe that. I’ll offer to pay for fuel and his meals and drinks, plus a tip, but beyond that, I’m not really prepared to go too far.

Of course, this could be priceless. We’ll see.