Mismaloya Trip Report - Jan. 20 - Feb. 3, 2007

[Leia]

When I opened my present on Christmas morning and found travel brochures, I was thinking Playa here I come. Sadly, himself doesn't quite have that 'must go back now pull' towards Playa and really hoped to see somewhere different this year. Big sigh.
I set about trying to find a suitable replacement but nowhere compares! We finally settled on Puerto Vallarta because of the 4½ direct flight from a small airport close to home, Abbotsford. As I could not see myself at a large, all inclusive hotel anywhere, I looked for a hotel that might remind me of anywhere on 5th Avenue. While the one I chose didn't quite remind me of anywhere Quintana Roo, I did enjoy it.
Our holiday was with Air Transat Holidays but they use Westjet aircraft for the flight. More leg room! and each seat has its own little tv screen with satellite tv and pay-per-view movies. The lunch was delivered in a box, sandwich, cheese and crackers and a piece of butter tart cake. The flights leave Abbotsford at 2 pm but with the two hour time difference and the journey to the hotel, we didn't arrive in Mismaloya until after everything had closed! remember that lunch box? that was it til morning, except we did manage to buy a couple of bottles of water from the hotel restaurant that was actually closed.
We stayed at the Casa Iguana Hotel is Mismaloya which is a 20 minute local bus ride south of Puerto Vallarta. Each room is actually a 2 bedroom suite (3 - 3 bedroom suites are available) and all rooms look out onto the pool area. The beach is a short walk away. The hotel backs up to the Sierra Madres and the jungle with a river flowing by just across the road. The town of Mismaloya is famous for a couple of movies, 'The Night of the Iguana' and 'Predator' were filmed closeby.

We loved the hotel, it was great having the extra space and the kitchen which was well equipped, except it did lack a microwave, toaster and blender which I probably would have gone to Walmart for if we were staying any longer than two weeks. There were very good restaurants in the immediate area so we didn't feel we had to go in to Puerto Vallarta for dinner every night. The restaurant at the hotel was very good and we had a couple of dinners there as well as breakfast several mornings.
Of course the towel sculptures were the highlight of our return everyday!!


The town of Mismaloya was just a short stroll up the road, all three or four blocks of it. Everyone, or so it seemed, has chickens and at least one rooster and mornings could get a little noisy after the church bells rang, waking up every rooster within a two mile radius! It was quite a chorus that we soon got used to and just went back to sleep - 5:30 am being a tad early to wake up if we weren't included in the call to mass. There was a religious 9 day celebration happening in the town, honouring Guadalupe I believe and the church bells rang every morning and several times during the day.
We did have a couple of overcast days with some rain but the temperatures were incredible, absolutely bearable, about 80F most of the time. It didn't get too cool at night, so no need for the jacket I had taken with me. A couple of nights I wore a long sleeve t-shirt but would have been just as comfortable with short sleeves.
As the shops in Mismaloya are all very small, we did our major grocery shopping in PV at Rizo, a good sized grocery store. I like to have lots of fruit, avocados, manchego cheese and buns (I love Mexican bread), as well as snacks when we have a kitchen. That way I am not tied to a breakfast time and we can have our own snacks by the pool when we want them.
We had our first drink on the beach in Mismaloya, and got royally ripped off! $8 USD each and they weren't even good! My first Margarita, however, I wondered if I would have to be carried home.

It was at a restaurant called Tony's, run by a family, I think Mom cooked, Dad greeted everyone at the door and ran the bar and sons were the waiters.
Their menu consists of a large tray of all the meat they are offering for that night. I chose coconut shrimp with mango sauce. Good choice! Martin has pulpo (octopus, which he found a bit too salty for his taste). The flan for dessert was a large triangle piece cut from a flan pie and it was great. To get to Tony's we walked up into the town and then took the only road that branches off upwards.....it does curve back around to the main drag, Cinco de Mayo. It was quite light out when we walked up but when we were leaving, quite dark. There are a very limited number of street lights in Mismaloya...one at the end of the upper street and one and the corner of the main street. Cobblestones and dirt make up the road... they don't really mix with lots of tequila!

I had been to Puerto Vallarta before and knew that there was lots to see but the actual city can be done in a day or two. The big church in the centre of town is worth seeing, the malecon is worth walking, the old part of town is a great place to shop if you don't have enough of what tourist shopping has to offer already... and then you need to think about either tours or sightseeing on your own. We chose to do the latter. One day was spent going by local bus to the 'end of the line', a small town on the way to Manzanillo, El Tuito. Of course, there is a church there, and a square in the centre of town with little shops clustered around it and not much else that we could find walking. We did buy some coffee that was being roasted in a small store and watched a family making tortillas in a large machine, loading a huge lump of dough into the top and watching flat, perfect tortillas coming out the other end.

[Leia]

That night we had dinner at El Jacalito in Mismaloya. Everything on the menu is 99 pesos. Amazing value!

Many nights I forgot to take photos of our meals but by the middle of the week, I was starting to remember just as I picked up my fork! Most people around us thought I was nuts by the looks on their faces... They obviously don't write trip reports!

On Sundays there is a Mexican market, not unlike our flea markets here, in Bucerias, north of Puerto Vallarta in the next state up, Nayarit. (PV is in Jalisco). Getting there meant of couple of bus transfers but well worth the effort to get there. We saw very few tourists and we found everything for sale very interesting. I found a 'molinillo' - a kitchen tool used to make hot chocolate, and an orange squeezer to match the lime squeezer I had bought on a previous trip. I opted to go with the plastic versions as a doctor we met on our trip said he thought the metal versions were a little suspect! not the healthy alternative.


Moments before this shot was taken, the little girl was poking the eyes of the snappers!

We decided part way through the first week that we were probably going to need another memory stick for the camera. Where better to buy one but Walmart or Sam's Club? I have no clue where else we might have found one but from a previous trip I knew there were both of these stores. Sam's Club had them as soon as we walked in the door. It is very easy to get a day pass - they have started charging for them! a whole big 29 pesos on our 1 gig memory stick purchase. On our way back to the bus stop we had to take this photo, with her mommy's permission. The jugo naraja weighed more than she does! but she was going a great job looking after it while they waited for their bus.

We met another couple at the hotel from BC and you know how sometimes you just click with new acquaintances? We decided it would be nice to go up into the mountains to San Sebastian del Oeste but not on the tour bus and as we couldn't find a local bus service that would take us all the way to San Sebastian, the next choice was to rent a van and driver for the day to take us up there. One of the fellows on the front desk had a friend...you know the story! and it turned out very good for us. Originally there were going to be four couples going in the 9 passenger van but at the last minute a couple from WA state had to back out as she was sick. That left three couples dividing up the 4500 pesos we agreed to pay but it was still cheaper than the tour buses. With the extra space in the van, we encouraged the driver to go and get his wife to come with us. She was very pleased to be able to join us.
We had no set itinerary for the day, just take us to San Sebastian. Along the way, near the San Sebastian aeropuerto, we saw a sign and arrow pointing towards Hacienda Jalisco. Want to go? sure! so we turned down a very narrow road for awhile and then turned into what appeared to be a farm field, complete with barb wire gate that needed to be opened and closed. We drove along the airstrip and followed the perimeter of it around and the across a very narrow bridge and through an archway into the hacienda garden. It turned out to be where John Houston used to stay when in PV and there was all sorts of memorabilia from his visits and photos of Liz Taylor and Richard Burton when they used to frequent the area. It was quite a warm day but inside the hacienda the temperature was at least ten degrees cooler. The courtyard was absolutely lovely and very cool as well. It was the only place we saw avocadoes growing and there was a little vegetable garden and some orange trees as well.

An interesting poster was on one of the outside walls.

And then it was on to San Sebastian where we stopped for lunch at Restaurante Lupita. Of course I forgot to take photos of our meal there but the bill for 8 came to 725 pesos. The owner offers a package deal for tours which included quesadillas, meat, rice, beans and chicken in mole sauce. It was really good and we were all in need of a siesta afterwards but we pushed on. There is a museum in the town, Casa Museo Doña Conchita. It is run by a little old lady in a wheel chair and what a business she has going! it costs 10 pesos per person to go in to one room of her house and look at some memorabilia from her family's life. There is a christening gown with quite a few pictures of different babies who have worn it, some interesting bits and pieces but you're done in about 15 minutes. Good for her!! There was also a coffee plantation selling fresh roasted coffee, which we purchased to bring home. On the way back to PV, we stopped several times for photo ops. The fields of agave are quite beautiful and the new bridge on the highway is quite a feat of engineering. It hasn't been open that long while the old road looked very picturesque as it wound its way down into the valley and back up again, the new road probably cuts off a lot of time on the trip to Talpa and Guadalajara.

[Leia]

I had read online that there was a little school in Mismaloya that was quite in need of any school supplies anyone wanted to bring down. I had taken a box of pencils and erasers and quite a few packages of stickers down. I walked up to the school one morning and just walked up to the first classroom door as I couldn't decide where the office might be. It turned out to be a Grade five classroom and the teacher was very pleased to receive my little gift. She invited me in to see what the kids where working on and wanted me to stay for awhile! I wandered around a bit and looked at their math workbooks that they were working on but decided quickly that they were paying way too much attention to "the visitor" and the noise level got fairly high. Kids are the same everywhere!! so I asked if I could take a photo and then left her to try and get them back on task. She said she would use the stickers as bribes when she needed to get them to do their work! She spoke very good English and said that she hoped to travel to Vancouver sometime in the future.
We had seen a large cemetery while riding on the bus in Puerto Vallarta and decided to try and find it again to wander around for a bit. Before we found the gate to get in, we came across a great market. It looked like it might be for wholesale sales as well as retail. There was an amazing fish stall that did not smell at all! the guys were only too pleased to hold up a large tuna and a dorado for us to take pictures of. Sadly they are a bit blurred with the action shot!


Our two weeks were coming to a close and we had one more trip to take. This time it was a short bus ride south to Boca de Tomatlan and then a water taxi to Yelapa. There are several small communities on the bay that are served by the water taxi out of Boca. It cost us 60 pesos each and the boat ride lasted about half an hour. They call in to other coves along the way to drop passengers off. It is a great little spot, nice beach and nice little town area. There was a fellow camping on the beach in a little tent, sitting out front of his tent enjoying a morning smoke of a 'big fat one' and then off he tottered in search of some munchies! quite a civilized little spot and a great place to camp. The view was spectacular! (the aroma on the wind is unmistakeable whatever the country but I have to say the most hilarious offer we have had was in Playa when a guy on 5th Ave. tried to sell us some BC Bud all the way from Amsterdam!)
Boarding the water taxi.....

This poor little burro stood here all day...no food, no water, very patient.

And then it was our last full day in PV! shock! no! I hadn't even done any shopping for myself! I always take a couple of new t-shirts home and I love the cotton shirts from Miro, so that was the order of the day. We had to be back in Mismaloya for the evening as the celebrations were going to heat up with rides for the kids and games on the street and noise, and a parade and fireworks. We all decided to eat dinner at the hotel restaurant as it is right on the little road leading into the town. The parade would pass right by us. Funny, there were very few men involved, mostly women and children and candles and little kids performing some sort of dance, all walking up the road and ending up at the church. Then after they had passed, there were sirens and noise and along came a dozen or so runners - turned out they had been running for a day and a half bringing a lit torch to the church. They were accompanied by a small fire truck with the siren going full blast. A lot of excitement for such a tiny town! it was great to watch it all. The little kids were so excited. We walked up the hill to the "downtown" (the town is so small there isn't even a main square) and stood dumbstruck as we watched a firework go off target - if it had hit a palapa instead of a metal roof, there would have been a serious problem! they were lucky!

I had asked Lourdes at the front desk of our hotel if it was possible to have the use of a hospitality suite on Saturday, our last day. Our flight didn't leave until 9:30 but our transfer was picking us up at 5:30. She said she would see what she could do. We were blown away by her phone call early Saturday morning. We could stay in our rooms until the transfer arrived!! and she didn't need us to pay anything for the privilege!! We decided the least we could do was to take her a little something and slipped her a nice tip. She was so taken aback that she had tears in her eyes and insisted on coming round the counter to give us a hug!

If we ever decide to return to the PV area, we will absolutely stay at Casa Iguana again. I have stayed in town and in Nuevo Vallarta and after staying in Mismaloya, I won't ever be able to stand being in the city! It was so nice to return to the quiet little village at night and although waking up to the church bells clanging every morning was something I could have done without, the roosters were a nice touch!

We had a very uneventful flight home back to Abbotsford. Our son was waiting for us (isn't that what kids are for?) and it was COLD!! Back to reality. Everyone was pleased to see us. None more than our four legged little girl!

[roni]

Great photos...love it!!!

[Jesus]

Extraordinary trip report and excelent pictures, I can´t say enought good things. !!!!!

[Tesla 573]

Nice report, thank you for the pics....love that little girl standing by the fish! Kids will be kids!

[Leia]

Thanks for all the compliments!! we had a great time but it was no Playa... I have to say my heart is still on the Quintana Roo side.

[Jesus]

I worked two hours south in Careyes for a year and really had great memories of the area, but I really enjoy more the white sand in the Caribean. sighhhhhhh............

[Leia]

There's just something about that Caribbean Sea..... I thought maybe it was because I can see the Pacific Ocean anytime I want, living only about 10 km from the shore but yes, the white sand and turquoise water - like a magnet, pulling us all back.

[syl]

wow glad to see this we are going to nuevo puerto pv in a feww weeks we are plannig to explore the north end buceris and above but will definitly do a southtrip to where you were..any other suggestion????pm if that is easier

[redhairgirl1]

I love all trip reports from anywhere in the world! Thank you....this is great!

[Leia]

Bucerias has really grown in the last four years, I was amazed how much it had changed. Sayulita is another town in the north that is worth going to and we really loved getting back up into the mountains to San Sebastian del Oeste but couldn't find a bus other than the tour buses, hence the van and driver day. Yelapa was well worth the trip. You can get the bus downtown on Basillio Badillio in front of the OXXO store that will take you to Mismaloya and Boca de Tomatlan for 5.5 pesos and then the water taxi from Boca to Yelapa for 60 pesos. There is also a boat leaves from the pier in PV for Yelapa but more $s than the Boca water taxi. The bus to El Tuito leaves from the corner of V. Carranza and Aguacate in the old part of PV. The fare is 20 pesos and takes about 50 min.
I found this website was really helpful. http://vallartainfo.com/
Have fun! and enjoy your holiday!

[Leia]

I am glad you enjoyed reading about another area of Mexico. I didn't now if I should post it or not... but it does give an alternative destination that is quick to get to from the west coast. There are often cheap flights from this part of the world into PV. We paid about $1300 each Canadian for our air, hotel and transfers for two weeks.

[Brent & Kim]

I love P.V. ,I love the old part of town. (ie. Tequila Cantina)

[TAPPY]

Love the trip report. Thanks so much for posting. The shrimp with the mango sauce (?) looks yummy !!