La Vida en la Playa

Just got back from Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco! Well technically we stayed in Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit which is next door. Bruno and I made the 10-hour drive on Tuesday. We arrived around 11PM. In total there were 11 of us who rented a house near the beach. We had a last-minute house switch and the one we stayed in was in a gated condominium community. It had 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, fully furnished with pots and pans and all!

I was really good about exercising on the trip and ran about 5K every day but one. After my run on Wednesday morning, we all hit the beach! It was only a 15-minute walk from the house. We stayed there most of the day. It’s was in the 80s and sunny the whole week. The beach was pretty crowded. We got hungry so we all went out for comida. When we left, we headed to Walmart to do some grocery shopping for the week then went back to the house to get ready for NYE dinner in downtown Puerto Vallarta! We were all pretty full from comida so we had appetizers and drinks at the restaurant. Then we walked down the boardwalk. We made it back to the house just in time for midnight! We all ate 12 grapes (one for each month of the upcoming year) and chilled at the house for the night because it would have cost an arm and a leg to go out in Vallarta NYE.

On Thursday we hit up the pool in the complex. Unfortunately, it was the only place with wifi. The water was unbelievably cold but it was totally worth it to cool off. We headed to the beach to watch the sunset. So beautiful. At night, some of us went to Puerto Vallarta to watch the Ohio vs. Alabama football game. Ohio won and I can’t forget the OH-IO chant even if I wanted to. We walked on the boardwalk to a bar for a little bit then headed back to the house.

Friday night we had a good ‘ol American cookout with burgers and dogs on the grill! Burgers and dogs on the grill isn’t a thing in Mexico like it is in the US. Mexicans grill but it’s usually a slab of meat. The irony was that the only two Mexicans in the house did the grilling. And they did a great job at that! After dinner we played some games and went to a club in Puerto Vallarta. I was passed out by the time we got home. I slept on Jordan’s back in the car. So I took a little nap in the car while everyone continued the party.

Saturday we explored a new beach in the afternoon after going to the pool in the morning. It was Punta de Mita. It was a cute, smaller beach town. The beach was pretty but the rocks were so painful for my feet! It was crazy how far out you could walk and still have your head above water. I paddle boarded for the first time! I knew you had to have good balance but you also have to pay attention at all times! I fell off twice. The second time I walked right off the back of the board as I was trying to tell Bruno how to paddle. I guess that’s what I get for telling him how to paddle board because he didn’t fall at all! We stayed until the sun set. We made a delicious spaghetti dinner with garlic bread and my bean dip as we watched Frozen to end the trip. We packed up camp Sunday morning and headed back to Toluca. I already miss the warm weather!