Hola, Puerto Vallarta! Part 4

Need to catch up?  Here's Part 3!

This was pretty standard at the Marriott - 

we had a lot of space to ourselves.

Our last full day in Puerto Vallarta dawned kind of overcast, with some light rain still hanging around from the prior evening.  I'd planned to do a short run, but I woke up not feeling the greatest, so we strolled along the beach instead:

I'm in the water!

Am I looking for teeny, tiny sea turtles?

Undoubtedly!

Although we strolled along the beach,

and swam in our pool,

we never actually went in the ocean here,

due to any number of reasons,

some of which have been outlined on this sign.

Pass, thanks.

We continued our stroll straight to yet another buffet breakfast at La Estancia; today, I capped off my meal with a few fresh pastries and homemade hot chocolate, served in these cute mugs!

A few days earlier, we'd made some spa appointments, but before we headed to those, there was one more important activity we needed to attend: being nasal swabbed for our rapid COVID tests, so we could re-enter the USA tomorrow!

While I've been nasal swabbed for COVID testing

twice before (during the great heart adventure of 2020),

this was Chris' first time!

I had to capture this important vacation moment.

Within 10 minutes, we had our results - we were COVID negative, thankfully - and we were on the way to the spa!  The Ohtli Spa, like most resort spots like this, had all sorts of treatments from which to choose.  I went for the signature agave syrup and sea salt body scrub, while Chris had a relaxation massage, and both were outstanding.  I hung around after my session to enjoy the hot tub and sauna (I was missing the dry heat of the desert), and when I was done, Chris met me downstairs, where we relaxed on some chaise lounges near the pool (picture at the top of this blog post).  

We had another fish-centric lunch from Las Casitas (again, delicious), and we planned to sit there the rest of the afternoon, listening to the crash of the waves on the beach while we read.  However, the weather had other plans, and the increasingly determined rain eventually drove us back under cover and up to our room.  Oh no, we'd have to fill the extra time with some more napping!

A few days earlier, we'd made reservations for the last free activity that came with our hotel stay - a "cooking class" held in the Marriott's Japanese/teppanyaki restaurant, Mikado.  The reason "cooking class" is in quotes here is because the session was less of a "class" and more of a cooking demo, where we got to eat the results.  Not a bad gig, either way.

Mmm...fried rice!

It's always time for a free amuse-bouche!

We had some time to kill before we needed to head to the room to get ready for dinner, so we grabbed some afternoon coffees and relaxed in the swinging chairs on the covered lobby patio.

Anatomy of a photo shoot:

Chris - "ooh, let me take your picture!"

Me - "hang on, I need to straighten my shirt."

Chris - "turn a little bit more..."

Me - "can you see me?"

Finally, success!

Eventually, it was time to get ready and head to our final dinner in PV, at Tintoque, an amazing restaurant in the Zona Romantica.  The chef at Tintoque has won tons of acclaim for his work at the restaurant, and it seemed like a good fit to close out our dining experiences in the city.  We took an Uber there and arrived right on time, and the hostess showed us to our table, on their outside patio overlooking the Rio Cuale.

Me with the purse tree.

So, about the picture above - after dining out in several establishments in PV, Chris and I decided there were three things we consistently noted that we'd love to see implemented in the USA:

1) A significant staff to customer ratio - everywhere we went had at least 2 servers per table, with countless other bussers, folks to replenish water, and the like, all taking care of us.  Everyone was so kind and amazing, and it really made it an incredible experience.  I understand the economics of this are hard, what with a lot of spots in the USA not wanting to (or being able to) pay people a living wage, and horrible customers making jobs of this sort undesirable.  I can't deny, though, that actually being considered a valuable part of the dining experience was remarkably refreshing.

2) Tiny little purse trees, like the one in the shot above - we saw these EVERYWHERE, and they were just the cutest dudes imaginable.  We don't need coat trees or umbrella racks in Phoenix, so we absolutely have room next to a table for one of these.  Let's make this happen!

3) Roman candles on top of birthday desserts - lest you believe I am exaggerating the flaming monstrosities that we routinely saw coming out of kitchens and toward unsuspecting diners in our visits to several of PV's eating establishments, I found a picture on the internets:

Faces smiley-d out, as these folks from Tripadvisor.com

didn't ask to be involved in this cut-rate, 8th grade writing project.

But for real, LOOK AT THAT FIREWORK.

Compare it to this:

Like, what the sh*t is this even?

Sad.  Really sad.

Anyway, as a country, we need to update our birthday celebration pyrotechnics immediately.  If the flame isn't tall enough to singe off your eyebrows as you try to blow it out, it's too small, and I stand by that.

Okay, ANYWAY.  Back to dinner.  It was amazing.  We went with the tasting menu option, and it was incredible - the great food, interesting wines and cocktails, and primo location made this a perfect experience for our last night in PV.

Our dinner menu - 

nobody freak out - that price is in pesos.

The fish course - 

since I have a mild allergy to coconut,

they substituted another seafood option for me

(something with herring, maybe?).

Chris' option, top, is the coconut, fish, and combava.

The third course:

the truffled "esquite" and summer truffle

Delicious chocolate truffles in a carved wooden box - 

the petite course

The dessert course - 

the terminalia cattapa - 

it was some sort of fruit/berry glace

with a meringue and sauce

As I mentioned above, the patio at Tintoque overlooked the Rio Cuale, the very same river that was super high lately and washed out several bridges, which we tried to cross in the Part 3 blog.  You can see how high the river was on our visit in the picture above with me and the purse tree, but here's a video to give you a better glimpse:

Dramatic, non?

We asked the waitstaff how much higher the river was than normal, and they mentioned that there's a retaining wall (I would call it a "seawall," but I guess you don't have those along a river) below the patio you can normally see; it's a six foot tall wall, and the patio clears the top of the wall by about another six feet.  When we were there, the wall couldn't be seen AT ALL.

Here's a picture from Yelp, taken in June, for comparison:

Yowza.

After we finished our outstanding meal, it was back outside and into the Uber we'd called, splashing through a few decently deep puddles on the way (our driver: "mucho agua!" Us: "Si!").  Instead of bouncing across the cobbles in old town, our route on the way home took us up onto a higher road, one that paralleled the coast and allowed us to look down on PV.  Once we were sure that we weren't being kidnapped (there was some quick, surreptitious Google mapping to ensure we were going in the right direction), we enjoyed the ride, including a quick jaunt through a tunnel.  We made it back to the Marriott before too long, and we sacked out pretty quickly, filled with amazing food and drink!

Later!

Amy

P.S. - No pictures of the girls from daycare today (they get a free bath the night before we pick them up, so there aren't as many pictures on those days), so I'm adding one here from a few weeks ago, mainly because it makes my entire being smile when I see it: