For our third anniversary, Sara and I decided to go to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and add a two day excursion to my hometown, Ameca.
Puerto Vallarta is nested between palm-covered mountains, a river and an azure sea. Puerto Vallarta is very picturesque town. It's also full of cobblestone streets with whitewashed houses and sits in the middle of the beautiful Bay of Banderas.
Surrounded by such a natural beauty led us to really have a "real" vacation that gravitated around great food and relaxation. This vacation will be recorded on the history books as the 2006 Food Tasting Tour. For great tips on Puerto Vallarta visit http://www.vallarta-info.com/
Once again our friends Lynn and Jorge Gallegos helped us book a studio at the great Villa del Palmer Resort at an amazing price. http://www.villadelpalmarvallarta.com/cms/
This resort features expansive grounds with flowering gardens, lawns, tall palm trees, a supermarket/liquor store, and a complimentary barbecue/picnic area with gas grills.
The studios was spacious with a kitchen and huge living area. It does make a difference on your budget when you can cook or at least be able to reheat leftovers to avoid eating out every single time.
The studio was located at the top floor. The balcony was overlooking the pool area, and we had a partial view of the ocean. It was great to be able to seat here on the afternoons to enjoy the ocean breeze and a cold Negra Modelo.
On this trip, we took grandma Boots with us, and she was an amazing travel companion. It didn't take long for us to start our food tasting tour. We started at Cueto's Restaurant. A small, family owned seafood restaurant with very friendly service staff and awesome traditional seafood dishes.
After such a great feast, we decided to walk around town and head over to the Malecon for some ice cream.
Anybody who has visited Puerto Vallarta will tell you how wonderful it is, but you need to be there to clearly understand the enchantment.
It was a beautiful sunny day. Sara and grandma took a little break while I was looking around for one of the ice cream parlors.
All along the Malecón (sea front walk) you will find sculptures that probably have a meaning, but since this time I was on vacation, I didn't bother to find out their meaning.
Sara and grandma preaching or singing to the sun (I wouldn't be surprise that they were asking the sun to tune it down a little since it was pretty hot).
The sculpture of a seahorse in Puerto Vallarta's malecon, created by Rafel Zamarripa and called Caballo del Mar, has become a symbol of the city. This was the first sculpture in the Malecon.
After sundown on Sunday, Groups of young men and women dressed at their best will promenade up and down the Malecón making eyes at each other as they pass. Families will get dressed up and go meet their friends, sit, chat, watch others walk by.
Time to get back to our food tasting tour. The Palapa restaurant had an amazing setting. The food wasn't anything to rave about, but it wasn't bad either. Grandma Boots really enjoyed the "micheladas" (beer over ice with lime juice, salt and in some cases spicy sauce).http://lapalapapv.com/
After our meal, we decided to return to home base where grandma and I kept the party going. While at the Malecon, I stopped at La Bodeguita Del Medio Restaurant where I purchased a very nice Cuban cigar that was nicely complemented with some great Jerez.
Grandma Boots has been successfully converted. Look that happy face!!! That is the same face I make when I get a cold Negra Modelo.
It seems that we were not the only partying. Every evening there was a theme event at the resort with tons of food and liquor. It looked like fun, but I am sure that it wasn't better than our next restaurant stop, Archie's Wok.
Since 1986, Archie's has been legendary in Puerto Vallarta for serving original cuisine influenced by the intriguing flavors of Thailand, China, and the Philippines. Archie was Hollywood director John Huston's private chef during the years he spent in the area.
Today his wife Cindy and beautiful daughter Kyoki uphold his legacy at this tranquil retreat. The tropical drinks made with only fresh fruits and juices are a good refreshing start to what will be an outstanding dinner.
One of the main sights in PV is the picturesque Parish of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe church topped with a crown held in place by angels. The crown is a replica of the one worn by Empress Carlota, Emperor Maximilian's wife.
After visiting one more sight in our trip, we needed to get ready for our next food adventure.
Cafe Des Artistes. This is the place to be when celebrating a special occasion, and since we were celebrating our 3rd anniversary, we knew where to go. The award winning owner, Thierry Blouet, is both a member of the French Academie Culinaire and a Maitre Cuisinier de France. The food was some of the best we had in our trip, and the bar was a classy place to have a martini, beer or glass of wine. http://www.cafedesartistes.com/
Boots ordered pumpkin soup. I loved my French onion soup, but I feel that pumpkin soup was a little better.
Since we have to do something else than eating and drinking, we decided that it was a great idea to do a side trip to Yelapa.
The only way to get to Yelapa is via a 45 minute boat ride, so you either have to take a water-taxi or a cruise. We decided for the cruise since it included all you can drink. I think that they served food too, but who cared.
View of Boca of Tomatlan. Here is where you get on a water-taxi to take you to Yelapa.
We stopped for a few minutes, so people could snorkel with these fishes. Did I mentioned that they had all you can drink??? Why would we get off the boat???
Sara and Boots were excited that we were finally on our way to our final destination.
In Yelapa, electricity and telephones were introduced around 2002. Yelapa used to be a hippie hang out. The beach at Yelapa was great and refreshing since it was really hot.
Since we were only spending 2 or 3 hours at Yelapa, we decided to stay at the beach do a little swimming and enjoy a cold beer and some ceviche, shrimp cocktail and some chicken nachos.
The town is supposed to be a great place to explore, but sometimes there are somethings better left unexplored, so you have something to do next time you visits. Honestly, it was a pretty hot day, so I felt that it was better to see how a Pacifico tasted in Yelapa.
Okay, here we are back in business. Our final stop and dinner in PV was at the Arayan restaurant. It was a great place to have some Mexican food accompanied with an arayan (regional wild fruit) margarita. The mole with some added tamarind flavor was some of the best mole I ever had. It was a great way to finish our 2006 Food Tasting Tour in Puerto Vallarta. http://www.elarrayan.com.mx/
After eating at the Arayan, we went for an evening walk around the Malecon and headed over the hotel to pack since we were heading inland to my hometown, Ameca.
After about a 4.5 hour car ride from Puerto Vallarta, we arrived to the small town of La Nueva Canteria (better known as El Pochote) at my aunt Carmela's (my dad's sister) house. Pochote is a wild tree that has a cottom-like flower or fruit. El Pochote is located at 5km from Ameca.
My uncle Gustavo, my dad's brother, doesn't waste anytime to crack a few jokes at my expense.
Fireworks in Ameca's main plaza. We were lucky enough to arrive in Ameca during a religious celebration.
Primitive Ameca was founded by a fierce and feared indian, Jojouhquitecuani “El León Bravo”, in 1325. The first conquistador, Juan de Añesta, arrived in 1522. In 1833, Ameca was given the title of city. In 2006, Ameca received the royal visit of Sara and Boots. Ameca is about an hour from the state's capital city, Guadalajara.
It is always a pleasure to stand in Ameca's main square where I always find myself surrounded by great memories.
Ameca was celebrating Las Fiestas del Señor Grande de Ameca. The festivities last 9 days, and they start early in the morning (around 4 AM or so). A peregrination will start at different neighborhoods early in the morning that will consist of people singing prayers as they walk accross the city towards the main church in the center of the city. Live music is part of the peregrination along with very loud firework rockets. Lucky for us, our hotel was located right across from the main church and right next to another smaller church, so we were kept awake by the loud rockets and the church bells that would go off about every 15 mins. But, by going off, I mean really going off. We couldn't do anything but laugh. Originally, we were planning to stay in Ameca two nights, but we decided that we might be better off by spending our last night in Guadalajara (Tonala to be more exact), so we could get some rest.
Sara and Boots stand in front of the Main Church, La Parroquia de Santiago Apóstol. La Parroquia is a neoclassical building constructed in 1687.
For breakfast, we went back to aunt Carmela's house at the ranch, small town. Unfortunately, no picture was taken of the food because we were to busy enjoying the best food that we had in Mexico. El Pochote is a small farming community. From left to right, you can see my dad, his brothers Jose Manuel (blue shirt) and Gustavo (white shirt).
During this day, my uncle Andres, aunt Carmela's husband, was branding their cattle.
My dad's dad, Papa Goyo, built this house with his own hands. My dad still lives in this house, and it is like a family memories museum. All the young Contreras spent countless hours playing games ranging from soccer games to hide and seek while adults would sit in a circle in the kitchen talking about current events while drinking coffee.
This was a great way to finish our third anniversary trip. It was very special because Boots was with us, and she got to meet some of my family. She seemed to enjoy every minute of the trip.
For those that are familiar with Fiesta Del Mar Restaurant in Mountain View, CA. Aunt Carmela is the mom of my cousin Gilberto, the restaurant manager.
We spent two wonderful days in El Pochote. The time went by so quickly. It was time to get back home to plan our fourth anniversary vacation.
Aunt Carmela was an amazing hostess; she has always been when we visit El Pochote. Aunt Carmela to many of us is like a second mother. When I visit Mexico, I basically stay on her front porch the whole visit.
In our way to the airport, we stopped at the Centro Joyero in Guadalajara. The Centro Joyero is made up of three huge buildings that house thousands of small jewelry shops.