Sports Equipment–Rent or Bring, part 1, Golf
First off, I need to say I’m not a golfer. But having spoken to golfers, I’ve been told that they choose their clubs specifically for their strengths, gender, and even height. It’s definitely NOT a one size fits all here. Even though all the courses have pro shops and rentals available, avid golfers probably plan on bringing their own clubs. I did some searching to find out the various costs of getting a bag, clubs and shoes to your vacation location.
At all the Mayan resorts, golf is a BIG draw. For instance Read more »
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Massages in Mexico and our last full day
A chunk was taken out of our last day in Mexico by a meeting regarding our business. Later we wandered over to the Luxxe pools for a quieter environment to read and relax. We had Luxxe bands because our Grand Bliss was booked with a Luxxe contract. For our last night we decided to eat at our favorite on site restaurant, the Epazote. You can find more details on our trip report from Christmas 2010.
Massages on the beach in Mexico
Since our last day was dull I will use this space to talk about Massages on a mexican vacation. I have had 3 massages in my life and they were all in Mexico.
Mexico Massage #1
The first one was part of a timeshare tour incentive in Los Cabos. I asked for a deep tissue massage. It had the expected new age music and aroma therapy. It was just a bit intense in some spots, but really i had been on vacation a week and wasn’t all that tense.Mexico Massage #2
The second one was at the Riviera Maya Grand Mayan and (I know, it’s shameful) was another timeshare incentive. This time (in my foolish ignorance) i requested a Swedish Massage. This something my wife would like, but for me it was so gentle it didn’t do any good. It was a pleasant relaxing hour, but not really worth the time. Surely glad I didn’t pay the going rate of $100. So ladies (or men I suppose) with sensitive muscles, go Swedish. The third time was the charm. As mentioned earlier, we were walking around Bucerias (small town North of Puerto Vallarta) and took a small walk down the beach. I spotted the classic white tent and a, how can I say it…umm…. hearty Mexican woman standing outside. It was only $60 for an hour and $30 for a half hour.
Nohemi was a wonderful, friendly person. She explained that a deep tissue massage was just like it sounded and a “Sports Massage” had more fo the karate chop / pummeling action. I asked for a 30 minute combination, mentioning that my calves were especially tight. After 20 minutes or so I asked her how much for an hour and she said 450 pesos !! What a deal !! That is less than $38 dollars for an hour massage on a sunny beach. She even wafted a little lavendar under my nose to start. The ocean waves were one step better than the New Age music of previous times.
Getting down to my skivvies was a bit of challenge that the big towels overcame pretty well. “It’s OK, I no care” was Nohemi’s reassurance technique.
This was right on the beach near the Plaza and it is called Blue Sky Massage. Nohemi and Laura are the two women that do the massages. The owners full name is Mireida Nohemi Ramirez Torres. Mexican folks sure can put a string of names together !!
I should mention, you can get an excellent and more private massage at the Mayan Resort spa , but it will be a bit more than $38.There are many phrases that have brought people here, such as....
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Grand Bliss Nuevo Vallarta Part Two
Day Three and Four
After I took a morning run around the whole resort, day three was pool day. We hung out by the pool, Linda in the sun with a book, me in the shade with my kindle. It really does work in bright daylight. We took an occasional break from reading to take a couple laps in the lazy river on tubes. Why is that so incredibly relaxing?
ATV Tour
One day around the pool and we are now ready for a little light adventure. We signed up for an ATV tour into the Sierra Madre mountains. It took a $20 cab ride to get to Old Town in Puerto Vallarta. We went with Unique ATV tours. This tour takes you on dirt roads through villages. No off road. Things went fairly smoothly except for a small altercation I had with the guide who was going around corners literally balancing on two wheels and then told me i had to stop gassing it and sliding occasionally. I took great exception to this hypocrisy and after a bit of heated discussion a compromise was reached. I would bring up the rear where I wouldn’t affect anyone else. I could slide around to my heart’s content. We visited the River Canopy zip line and had a introduction to Tequila making and also Tequila tasting. Tequila tasting in the middle of driving a fairly powerful motorized toy….. only in Mexico.
The tour ended at a small open air restaurant by a river. We met a couple from northern california who were on the tour with us. They were singing the praises of JoJack’s Fish Shack and their two for one Mojito’s in the afternoon. Soon we were discussing every topic imaginable over said Mojito’s . After the second Mojito, they let out that they didn’t like me at first due to the episode with the tour guide. Guess my sparkling personality won out in the end because that was just the beginning. From the mojito’s, they took us to places they had discovered in Old Town. First a bakery that didn’t open until 7PM and we got fresh baked loaves right out of the oven . Next a classic taco stand with 6 or 7 different salsa choices. I am proud to say I tried one or two from the hot side. In a store front next to the taco stand they made crepes !! We split one filled with banana and nutella. Basic. And delicious. Finally our new found friends helped us sort out which bus went to Walmart (the cental hub for all busses in the area). From there we chose the convenience of a taxi back to the resort.
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Because we had meetings and we were only there for 6 days, we didn’t rent a car this time. That gave us a chance to try some different things. I’ll tell you about the best two. One in this post and one in the next.
Whale Watching
HUmp Back Whale Up Close and Personal
We did the Vallarta adventures whale watching trip. We walked over to the nearby Vallarta Adventures Nuevo Vallarta location. You can click here to see our Whale Watching in Vallarta Photos. We stopped at a restuarant overlooking the marina and had a lovely late breakfast. When we got there we found out that we were in the swim with dolphins area and the whale watching went out of the dock on the opposite side of the marina. Fortunately, they have a pontoon boat for just such an occasiona and they cheerfully ferried us over. Vallarta Adventures www.vallarta-adventures.com is a bit of a tourist tour machine. but they really do proviide very nice, well organized excursions. The trip is 4 hours in a 20 person inflatable raft. They are fast and smooth. December is a bit on the cool side in the morning, especially at 20 miles an hour, so we had wisely chosen to do the afternoon trip. We don’t always think this clearly.
The guide was a total ham and kept us entertained between pods of whales, but he really was very knowledgable and provided a monologue of humpback whale information that didn’t sound like the tourist drivel that you are sometimes fed on, well… tourist trips. Because they are very concientious, you don’t get close enough to the whales to look them in the eye, but you do get close enough to a WHOLE LOT of humpback whales to really make it worthwhile and get some excellent photos. We will post photos soon and put a link here.
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nuevo vallarta/christmas, vallarta adventures photosZip Line Los Veranos in Puerto Vallarta
Being independent minded cusses, we of course had to drive out to do this zip line. The brochures direct you to shuttles an don’t mention that they are about an hour south of town and you have to drive through a small village that wasn’t well marked and when we went a couple of years ago. GET GOOD DIRECTIONS.
However….. it was fabulous !! Our local info guys at Gecko car rental in Bucerias told us to “accept no substitute” and they were right. Maybe it was good looking Latino guys, but our friend Mary (afraid of heights Mary) was so psyched, she went before she knew what she was doing. It was almost uneventful until I tried to one hand it and take some pictures. I ended up sheepishly doing the hand over hand, pulling myself to the landing on the particular run.
This zipline is biggest, highest, longest and best run zip line in the Puerto Vallarta area, again it is called Los Veranos. We were at this place a couple of years ago and it looks like it has improved services even more since then. You can catch shuttles from several places, including in Nuevo Vallarta. They are highly organized, and run by rowdy fun loving young men that don’t make you feel like a stupid tourist. They are appropriately fanatical about safety and the gear is first class. This tour does require modestly strenuous uphill walking. They have a bar and restaurant on site, however, if you drive, we have an alternative place to recommend (see our next Puerto Vallarta post). They have some monkeys and some other interesting critters on site, see photo below
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If you are staying in the Nuevo Vallarta Mayan Resort head left when you get back to the main road.(away from Puerto Vallarta). In about 10 minutes you will be in the middle of the small resort town of Bucerias. Turn left and a couple of blocks down you’ll find the street that runs in front of the beach resorts. There are some interesting shops and some great restaurants. Mark’s is very nice as well as a couple of others that frequently have live music. If you want to make a day of it,head farther up the coast first to Sayulita, a little surfing town. Watch for the split where the road goes left to Punta Mita and right to a short cut across the tip of the Punta Mita peninsula directly to Salyulita. You should confirm this, but they often have an open market day with art work and just about anything else you can think of on Sundays.We have an oil painting in our family room that we purchased at the market. You could stop in Bucerias on the way home for dinner.
It is also a short cab ride from the Neuvo Vallarta Mayan Resort to Bucerias for a little shopping and a little dinner.