My friends and I decided to take a leap of faith and booked a trip during this pandemic. We wanted to go overseas, but the options were slim, so we spent a luxury vacation in AMAZING Puerto Vallarta (PV), Mexico. I love all things Bravo TV, and anyone who watches Real Housewives of Orange County knows that the OG of OC, Vickie Gunvalson, loves Puerto Vallarta. I was listening to her podcast earlier this summer and learned she had recently bought a condo there. This is what made me chose PV. We had all been to Cabo and Cancun a million times so, if we had to go to Mexico, lets at least choose a place we had not been to. We took our same overseas budget and Divas Travels, LLC booked a luxury private Oceanside villa for 7 nights.
Admittedly, I was nervous before our trip, I was nervous about COVID and the weather. We were going during the rainy season, but the weather did not affect us, while it did rain a few nights, the rain never put a damper on our fun.
Bougie or Safe?!
This was my first time in an airport since the beginning of March, so I was not sure what to expect. The airport was quiet in St. Louis (STL). My flight was on American Airlines and left at 7:30am, so I was not expecting too much at 6:30am, but it was much calmer than a non-pandemic Saturday. I opted for first class, not to suit my bougie taste, but I felt I would be more comfortable around less people and with more room. I had a million airline credits from cancelled flights, so this was at no cost to me; if I had paid outright for my ticket, it would have been around $700 round trip. I did have someone sitting next to me on my flight from STL to Dallas (DFW). He never said one word to me, but every time the flight attendant came around he ensured I had a fresh mimosa, now that’s my kind of plane neighbor. The only difference in first class, was there were no pre-departure drinks, all passengers were given a little baggie with a hand sanitizer wipe, a bottle of water and a Biscoff cookie (literally a cookie from God). Once at cruising altitude, we were able to order as normal in first Class and were given plastic cups instead of glass, which I personally preferred. I had a short layover in Dallas and met up with one of my travel buddies there. We sat next to each other on the connecting flight. The only difference on the flight from Dallas to Puerto Vallarta (PV), is a snack option was given to those in first class, chicken salad sandwich or fruit and cheese tray, of course I chose fruit and cheese tray to go with the red wine as my drink option for this flight.
But First Margaritas
The airport in PV was a breeze, by far the shortest and easiest customs experience I have ever had on any international trip. We literally got through customs in maybe 3 minutes. We had to fill out a form online about our health related to COVID, but no one ever collected or asked for them. I arranged airport transportation, so when we got outside there was a gentleman holding a sign with my name on it. We grabbed a margarita from the bar outside the airport, while we waited for some of our group, coming from Chicago.
Welcome to Paradise
We arrived at our Oceanside villa and it was AMAZING from the beginning. The staff were lined up waiting for us with a fresh cold towel and a refreshing bottle of water. The staff included Javier, the house manager and our EVERYTHING (bartender, exercise equipment retriever, sun-blocker, mood setter, etc.), Cesar, the chef, Luisa, the housekeeper, and Manuel the maintenance/pool guy and Sammy, the night time bartender/watchmen. They all wore masks to greet us, except for Luisa, I think she wanted to show off her bright red lipstick, but they all took them off once we got inside. They did not wear masks during our stay as they are tested prior to each set of guests arriving, so we felt comfortable being mask free while in the villa.
During the day Javier took care of all our needs, he served us our food and drinks and anything else we needed. Luisa cleaned our rooms daily and washed or ironed, if needed. Then Sammy came after dinner and was the night watchmen that took care of our drinks and needs overnight. Javier called and verified all of my reservations I made beforehand and like I said before he was literally our any and everything we needed and even thought we wanted. We literally can’t say anything negative about the staff at our villa. They were perfection and made our stay perfect.
We toured the villa in awe as we picked our rooms. The villa has 5 suites with en-suite bathrooms spread out on 3 floors. There is also a penthouse floor, which is not rented to guests. I believe the penthouse is only accessible via the elevator which requires a key to access that floor. Whoever was in the penthouse we never saw them. I chose the master bedroom, but of course. My massive room had a balcony that overlooked the ocean, a massive bathroom and a huge walk in closet. The villa had 3 rooms with king size beds on one side of the villa and 2 rooms with 2 queen side beds on the opposite side. Two bedrooms on each level and one bedroom on the lower level.
After we settled in our rooms we jumped in the pool. Javier started us off with fresh squeezed lime margaritas. Then Cesar provided us with a snack of guacamole, fresh pico de gallo and chips. Shortly after our last guest arrived from Michigan. We had dinner which was Tortilla soup, followed by shrimp tacos, and then dessert. Then we jumped right back in the pool.
Pool…Pool…more Pool
The following morning we started what would be our daily routine: breakfast at 11am, pool time, snack or lunch at 2/2:30pm, more pool time, then dinner at 6:30/7pm, then, you guessed it…more pool time, then perhaps a little hot tub time, then back in the pool to cool off until we called it a night.
Around Town
We did leave the villa on Sunday and Wednesday for dinner outside of the Villa for the 3 birthdays we were celebrating. We also had a cooking class one night outside of the villa and a fabulous private boat ride.
We ate at a restaurant called La Madelena for the two celebrating birthdays on Sunday night. The ambiance was cute, sexy and fun. Right away they seat you and a mixologist comes with a cart for specialty cocktails, 4 of us took the bait. They were all tasteless. We then switched to straight drinks or wine. The presentations at this restaurant was amazing. They come and let you pick your cut of meat or seafood and do all these table side presentations. The food was really good for the most part, but don’t order the seabass, they fry it (and it tastes like a fish stick). We then ordered churros for dessert and champagne; the churros were horrible. Overall a fun experience and would go again, but stay away from the churros and the mixologist. I will say this, at La Madelena was probably the only time we felt “non-COVID safe” in PV. The wait staff had on these clear mouth shields that were basically useless, and they always had several waiters come to the table at once for their tableside presentations.
We also ate at Sonora Grill Prime, which is a swanky steakhouse on the Marina. It had a very sexy date night vibe. They too have a mixologist, we didn’t bother. However, they offer 2 for 1 cocktails, and buy one get 50% off of bottles of wine. We indulged in cocktails and bottles of red wine. The steaks were better at La Madelena, but drinks were better at Sonora, and the wait staff had on regular masks.
We also took a cooking class with guy named, Mannie. The class was at his house…. well I wouldn’t call it a house, it was more like a 2 room living space. It was small, but well organized. We still are debating if he actually had a bathroom…the jury is still out. The cooking class was more of a demonstration than a cooking class, as we sat most of the time and watched him, but he was very informative, and taught us a lot, like, the proper way to cut a serrano pepper. He made fresh fish ceviche with mahi mahi, which I will be trying very soon, and enchiladas, authentic, not the American ones. The enchiladas were a bit too authentic for me (my idea of Mexican food is nachos and a margarita).
We also took a cruise on a beautiful private boat. They sailed us around PV and explained the different areas, we got a beautiful Oceanside picture of our villa. The boat crew prepared a nice lunch with a cheese and meat tray to start, then fresh fish and shrimp ceviche, guacamole and pico de gallo. The boat had a bar with rum, vodka, and tequila, I opted for Coronas with fresh limes.
Can Cesar be named a Saint?!
Our best meals were from our chef, Cesar. Cesar was quiet, he didn’t say much to us, but cooked his butt off. Breakfast started off with fresh fruit (kiwi, dragon fruit, strawberries, peaches, and watermelon) each morning, then a bread course, such as fluffy pancakes, French toast with fresh made bread, biscuits, or toast, then usually followed by, scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon (lots of bacon). We also had eggs benedict, chilaquiles, and a shrimp omelet. For lunch and snack we had beef and chicken empandas, massive steak tacos, steak and cheese quesadillas. Dinner was always amazing, we had a taco bar with shrimp, fish and steak, poblano fish with fresh vegetables. Our last night, the dinner was magical with bacon wrapped steak and freshly caught lobster by Sammy. We ate good, like too good. I mean who eats 3 meals a day!!
Is it a Vacay without Alcohol?
We drank until are hearts’ content. We pre-ordered a good portion of our alcohol, the first night’s dinner, and our first breakfast. We had margaritas for days with premium tequila, Tito’s Vodka, Bulliet for the whiskey drinkers, champagne for mimosas, Baileys for coffee every morning, Vevue Cliquout for the 2 birthday days and a couple bottles of Moet for the hell of it, and lots and lots of red wine for dinner and my drink of choice.
The final dinner we always go around and say our Rose and Thorn of the trip, literally no one had a thorn but me (My phone drowned in the pool on day 2).
Villa Bahia Puerto Vallarta left an impression on all of us. I would go back in a heartbeat. It’s bookable on Airbnb, but of course, Divas Travels, scored if for a couple thousand less than what was advertised. This literally was the perfect vacation to run away during a pandemic.
Divas Travels Adventures 