Did you know that Mexico is officially known as Estados Unidos Mexicanos, or United Mexican States? I think maybe I did at some point, but had long forgotten. We’ve always been Europe and Asia travelers, so beaches in North America were never really our thing. This vacation was booked back in the spring and  was meant to be a mental break from work and a mid-fall break from the Seattle doldrums. If I’m honest, the reason we chose it is because it’s sunny this time of year, is a direct flight on Alaska Air, and isn’t California… oh, and is considerably cheaper than Hawaii. Embarrassingly, we didn’t know much about the place going in. This was all before I was on leave and had any notion of van camping, Prague, or Vienna. So, yeah, it was meant to be a chill vacation with some sun, swimming, and hopefully some naps.

We stayed at Garza Blanca a few miles south of Puerto Vallarta’s more populated core. We wanted the ability to pool, beach, and/or drink alcoholic beverages with relative ease. I stumbled on this place having a big sale because apparently no one wants to go the second week of November, as most other kids are in school – we’ll enjoy it while we can. I did a bunch of math (shocking, I know) of the All Inclusive option and realized there was no way we’d break even with a three year old in tow. We opted for the Bed & Breakfast option, which meant we could always get some food in The Kid before he got too cranky. If you’re wondering, we saved quite a bit of cash even with both of us having adult beverages every day and us eating *off resort* only two meals (i.e. paying out of pocket for dinner at the resort other nights). Their market is people who don’t want to think about it and I guess that’s not me.

I think the property was everything we could have asked for, given our criteria. Our room was unnecessarily big, but it had two bedrooms, kitchen, nice balcony, there were pools to keep Dom happy, and the service was top notch. Meals at places like this are never ZOMG AWESOME; they’re fine for being able to walk back to your room. The unfortunate part of vacationing in such a heavy tourist area is you get a long, hard pitch for *excursion* up-sales both at the airport and when you arrive at your hotel. I got visibly angry at the airport because we’d been traveling with a tired pre-schooler and they refused to show us where our hotel transfer was until we listened to their hard sell. I eventually demanded they stop and show us – we later heard from other guests that the full sales pitch is 45 minutes… right after you clear customs in Mexico.  WTF??

Anyway, this hotel is away from the masses and is plopped right in the jungle. You’re not really in Puerto Vallarta proper, although that only matters if you want to go shopping or eat out every day.  It really was a nice place in a truly stunning setting, though. The sounds of the jungle surround you and the sounds of drunk tourists are miles away. The downside is you have to sit in a car or on a bus for 20 minutes to get to PV-proper BUT a ride-sharing hop there is < $5 US and the bus is $0.50 US. We spent our town time in the Malecon and Zona Romantica areas. The town was just cleaning up from Día de Muertos festivities, so we got to absorb of of the local culture. Those areas do cater heavily to tourists, but they’re not nearly as polished as the large shopping malls and restaurants farther north. Stay to the south if outdoor adults beverages at sunset is your thing. It’s kid friendly too.

I believe the Mexican people are the best part of Mexico. Conversing with them, sometimes in my very broken Spanish, I got the sense they were genuinely happy despite geopolitical and  challenges within their own government – much like Vietnam. In both places, people are proud of their culture and love sharing it with you. It would be great to visit more remote places and meet more people, but that’s where you start to run up against travel advisories. Not something we’re interested in… especially with a young child in tow. The good news early November appeared to be pretty slow, so we got to experience all the beautiful dispositions Mexicans had to offer without a crushing number of Americans. Yay Mexico!