Humm…why such a title?
I guess I never thought I would see the status quo of the once
independent and vibrant, entrepreneurial and capitalistic United States be
brought to its knees by the mis-information strewn by the media created by the
ignorance of our duly elected leadership!
It has churned most all of my emotional state; as well as Kimble’s.
Our last trip report was July 2020 and I concluded that with
a statement that indicated it would not be our only report. We tried in earnest to execute another but
September fell to the west coast fires, that was followed by environmental
devastation on the eastern slopes of the Rockies in October, the Covid Virus
running through our family in November (so uneventful that we all pondered the
hype) and then the “holidays” (in quotes for media influenced political
correctness but for my family, Thanksgiving and Christmas!). In short, we failed in our travel attempts but not due to apathy.
We had an excellent Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year but
come the first business day of 2021, Monday, January four, we said enough is
enough and laid the ground work for a trip to the only possible destination
left for Americans to travel... Mexico!
7 January, we got on a plane headed for Puerta Vallarta; the closest airport to Punta de Mita.
As you know, assuming you have followed this blog since 2017, Kimble and I are pretty seasoned international travelers. As I laid my head to rest on the evening of 6 January, I had never been so uncertain about what would lie ahead; airport, connections, Mexico Customs and Immigration, etc. What I did know for certain is that Kimble and I decided to try something different for our final destination, The Four Seasons/Punta de Mita; a Five Star resort.
It might be said that is fairly fiscally arrogant but over
the past 20+ years, we had amassed quite a significant amount of points from
our credit card company that would offset the excessive fees of such allowing
us to experience a “5 Star” resort without going bust. We usually go for the 3-Star approach
focusing upon the outside adventures at the extra expense but we need a true
“no-go” relaxing trip and lets make this heightened experience the
adventure. I am sure the following will
be loaded with fun detailed realizations.
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| Four Seasons Punta de Mita |
At 0450 our Son and his lovely sweetheart dropped us off at
RNO and literally 15 minutes later we were at the gate. Where did the 2-hour advance arrival for
international flights go? We sat in a
morgue like airport, the Escape Lounge closed (could not in 9 months figure out
how to open), at the gate with 75-minutes left until boarding. No worries, I took a nap and Kimble played
her iPhone games and read. An
interesting thing here is that TSA had you remove your mask, less than 6 feet
apart and most people in the airport were mask-less while sipping coffee,
Budweiser or eating McDonalds; the latter is an organization certainly of essential status!
Once on board, the plane was actually full but it was a
small CRJ-900 (an 80 seater American Eagle) bound for Phoenix. No hiccups.
We landed 35-minutes early only to wait on the tarmac until the gate
opened. Still, no worries. All going well. In fact, spoiler alert, all went well right
through our private vehicle trip from the airport, where they were waiting for
us, to our resort about 25 miles (45KM) to the northwest.
The arrival experience at the Four Seasons was
unbelievable. Tequilla spiked native
fruit smoothie, on a couch while our concierge, Pedro, checked us in, got our
bags delivered to the room, answered our questions (so far) and showed us the
way to walk to our room – tres-zero-dos!
I could get used to this.
By 1600 we were relaxing on our veranda overlooking the
glorious Pacific. What beautiful
grounds. Incredible room and a view that
so far takes second to none; 25-yards from the water albeit a 50-foot cliff
created an insurmountable boundary!
We were met with a pitcher of iced “Lemonada Punta Mita”, banana chips and coconut water; the latter for me as Kimble is not fond of coconut in any form. We got squared away and then spent about an hour just enjoying our Pacific view.
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| Looking Right |
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| Looking Left |
As we were wandering our room, we noticed a nice snack bar and a fully stocked mini fridge. Now, being that this is our first time at such a high-quality establishment, are these amenities included? Would we have to show our hand to the front-desk that we were novice five star’ers? I dreaded such an inquiry, so I scoured the room. Found It! The price list for the airline sized bottles of hooch. Realization…at a rate 5-times our usual, the extras are EXTRA! 8 bucks for a Jack shot. $75 for a 375ml bottle of Tequilla or Vodka. Hilarious. Understand what follows will include prices. Not to brag but to illustrate the 5-Star experience. So, with some bearings and understanding, we set out for dinner.
There are a couple of restaurants to choose from but we went
with the family option, Dos Catrinas, for evening one. Very delicious and not outrageously priced;
$150 for both including 20% to the hard working and “masked” staff. The view spectacular! 2 hours later, we had a nice stroll around
the grounds and I enjoyed a Cuban Robusto Puro!
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| The View from Dos Catrinas |
With skies of blue and mid 70's temps, we started our first full day at Dos Catrinas for breakfast and were quite surprised that our breakfast included cappuccino, fresh squeezed juice or smoothie, a fruit plate and a main dish (just about anything from a normal breakfast menu). Cap was great, juice was incredible and a healthy dose (est 12 oz), Kimble had a smoothie and then the fruit plate, a whole dinner plate full of all the fruits you can imagine; a breakfast in and of itself. All this followed by the main dish and brought to us by very considerate, polite and caring service staff; they earned our 20%. I go into great detail here because we were truly impressed with the "Punta Mita Breakfast". It was $42 per person! Thanks AMEX!!!
Punta de Mita is probably about 2-miles in length and width. So…getting around by foot was very easy. In beginning to learn the “lay of the land” we did a 6-mile walk to the northeast. All along wonderful concrete walking trails meandering through the jungle terrain. Animals abound, armadillos, iguanas, wild parrots, woodpeckers, and birds from a birder’s wildest imagination.
Punta de Mita -
The colored tracks were our daily walks
Back to the resort for some R&R at the pool, a snack and
an adult beverage. $100 later we headed
back to the room to watch the humpback whales off the coast, the animals on and
around the ocean cliffs adjoining our veranda and the ocean lull us into a
state of low blood pressure and relaxation.
Perfect. Dinner and an evening
stroll would be our daily routine.
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| Dining pool side...nice! |
Each subsequent day was much the same. As Kimble defined it, "this is a vacation that is dictated by the resort not by us". Photos below will tell the story. A walk along the beach, swimming in one of the three pools, wandering the vast grounds of a very well-manicured resort , dinner and the dynamic action of the Pacific; 72f at sunset.
We have lost track of time The Four Seasons is magnificently contained and designed to keep
us on the path toward relaxation; on the property. We
have walked every day covering 100% of the walking paths. We dropped into the southern most point of
Punta di Mita where we could view the Bahia de Banderas and the mountains
surrounding it; more mountainous than I thought or remembered; we were here as
one of our Ports of Call on a cruise in 2004.
However, the reality is that our focus on reading, relaxing, enjoying 14.7psi, sea breezes and great sunsets, is being maintained well by
the “resort” infrastructure.
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| The Bahia de Banderas - Puerto Vallarta - just left of the end of the dock |
We did venture into the village of Punta di Mita for a whole 45 minutes. Much like Tijuana; not Kimble‘s favorite. There were a couple of nice establishments but mostly vendors vying for your dollar. We wandered the main street and cruised up a side street taking us to the most elaborate building the eye could see, a church, and then wandered back through the security gate onto the 400-acre private resort.
The resort staff? Incredible as expected. It is nice to see them with such an opportunity
as resort workers typically make double the average monthly income here in
Mexico of about $300 per month. Kimble
and I are doing our best to help this economy and truly enjoying the kind,
friendly and service-oriented staff. So
far we have yet to have a bad meal but the 240 peso drinks ($12 usd) are a bit
light on the alcohol.
We have frequented all the restaurants at the resort, enjoying incredible dinner experiences. The Amara was the finest of the three. Asian influenced. However, we simply cannot eat out every night. It is simply to rich so we discovered the in-room menu and dining on our veranda to be the most enjoyable. There is no huge room service mark-up like in the states.
Daily the resort has listed activities; some complimentary and some with a hefty price tag. Kimble and I enjoyed Enique’s talks on “Xocolatl – Atl” (Translated: bitter water or commonly known as chocolate) and tequila – the latter a tasting and quite educational. Both were attended by only Kimble and I.
I hope you are enjoying the photos and the captions. That will be primarily what is below. We have a couple more days but I think the tone of this adventure, which has been set to, “intense relaxation” will continue. Much needed for sure and as Kimble defined this vacation where the tone is set by the resort not by us, the latter being our usual preference, was a great addition to our continuing adventures!
Don't know when our next adventure will come but I suspect what we learned here in traveling during a pandemic has caused our planning to be reserved and likely not to return until some global common sense is enacted!
Enjoy the following photos...
SUNSETS
The typical crowds during the day! 
One of the Resort Falcons
THE PACIFIC OCEAN
