¿Cómo se dice…Puerto Vallarta Vacation?
day one: we had some issues when we first go to the airport, but all was not lost as the person at the check-in counter helped us out pretty quickly and we were on our way. Love recently changed her name so that her first name is now her last name legally, but this wasn’t reflected on the tickets we bought, but it was on her new passport. luckily, the person was really friendly and we were boarding in no time.
we arrived in Mexico City and from the excitement proceeded to the nearest bar. we had about an hour and half until our connecting flight and thought we would kill time by having a few beers and maybe some nachos. at about 10 minutes until boarding, we finally found our way to our gate. but, we were stopped by a security checkpoint. apparently, we were leaving the international terminal and had to board our plane in the domestic terminal. which would mean that we would have to go through immigration and miss our flight. shit. shit. shit. not wanting to miss our flight, i reluctantly headed to immigration and got in line. and from then on, i was just in a very bad mood. i knew that i wanted to get into puerto vallarta that night. i didn’t want to stay our first night on our very tiny vacation at the airport in Mexico City. after a very frustrating experience of trying to find Love’s bag that she checked and finding the right place to buy tickets for that night, we were finally on our way. we arrived in Puerto Vallarta only about an hour off schedule.
the resort was beautiful. it was a bit humid and not too hot. but, the place was dark and deserted. the lights were off and everything seemed shut down. how could this be? it was only about 11:30 at night. apparently, the resort has “quiet time” between the hours of 11 PM and 6 AM, which i find a little peculiar. i would figure that there would at least be a bar open all night, but the place really shuts down at 11 PM sharp. it really made things surreal for our first night there. Love and I just hung out in the room, exhausted from our experience in Mexico City. We ordered about 10 cervezas and a couple burgers from room service. it would have been nice to go in to town, but i was just so emotionally drained and tired from that whole airport debacle.
day two: saturday morning we slept in. i got up a few times in the morning to peak out the balcony, but was happy going back to bed for most of the morning. i ended up going to the gym for a little bit before we went to have lunch at the restaurant down in the courtyard, “La Cucina.” the entire restaurant was outside underneath a canopy and had a pretty great view of the ocean. Love ordered a salad and i got the grilled mahi mahi along with a couple of margaritas. actually, i had a bit more margarita, but hey, i was on vacation! we met this group of gay guys that were in from Chicago, but they were a bit conceited and didn’t seem that much interested in talking to us. Love says that they invited her to sit with them when i was at the bathroom, but when i got back, it seemed weird. she says they were kind of checking me out when i left. and part of wants to feel flattered, but the other part of me is just thinking that they’re conceited gay guys who just didn’t have all that much interested in talking to us. besides, by the time we started talking to them, i was a bit tipsy from too much tequila.
after a few more drinks, we decided to take a walk along the shore. it’s so interesting how many people are at the beach, all day long, selling so many different things, from dresses to t-shirts to jewelry, to pot and coke. i can’t tell you how many times i’ve said, “No, gracias.” and only for it to be followed by, “mota,” “grass,” or “coca.” the repeated attempts to sell us stuff kinda got on my nerves a bit later on. but on saturday, i was drunk and feeling pretty good. i was having fun on the beach and we decided to go back and change into some swim wear before heading back out again. on our way back out to the beach after changing, we met this nice couple from Michigan, Leah and David, at the pool. at that point, i was really drunk. and to be honest, i’m embarrassed to say that i don’t remember a lot of our conversation. Love did most of the talking anyway.
we left Leah and David and headed out to the beach where Love befriended some guys and took us down the way to this bar by the river. at this point, i was pretty far gone. if i had been any wiser, i should have just gone back to the hotel room and slept it off. among the group of guys was hot beach volleyball player with a son, Juan, and nicest guy in all of Mexico, Patricio (aka Patrick). I don’t really remember the names of the other guys there, but they all seemed pretty nice. Although, apparently at one point they were making fun of my drunkenness. but that’s understandable. i had taken off to walk in the shore and was mesmerized by the most amazing sunset and Patricio was so concerned about my safety that he and Love had to come out and rescue me. honestly, i didn’t think i was in any danger and it really seemed fine. i didn’t venture too far out, but i can understand their worry. i wasn’t exactly in the right frame of mind to make any judgments for myself at that point.
on the way back into the resort, we stopped by La Cucina and joined Leah and David for dinner. i remember the dinner and i remember some of the conversation, but i’m seriously regretting the amount of alcohol i drank. i snuck out and left Love at the table to pass out in bed. i feel really bad, but i was just so finished at that point and could not go any further. Love came in to grab me at about 10:15. we were supposed to meet Leah and David at the bar and then meet Patricio out in front so he could drive us into town and take us out to Senor Frogs. Leah and David weren’t there and they were leaving in the morning, but they did leave us a note the next morning which was really cool of them. i’m hoping to look them up on myspace or facebook. it’s really cool to have friends from all over.
Senor Frogs was amazing! i was surprised at how much fun we had. i expected some place really touristy and really straight. while both might have been true, i had so much fun. we danced and drank. Patricio bought buckets of beer that just kept coming. afterwards, he took us to one of the rental houses that he manages to check it out. oh. my. god. if i could afford it, i’d suggest staying there next time. it’s a $1000 a night for a 10 bedroom house. the pool was amazing and i got to just wade around in the pool and kick back for a minute just staring up at the sky. then, you walk up these stairs that leads up this roof patio where it over looks the beach and has this amazing view of the ocean. i didn’t really pay attention to the interior of the house, but if it’s anything like its exterior, then i’m sold! i say we get a group of twenty and double up on rooms and then it won’t seem so bad, right? okay maybe i’ll think about this for a bit before committing to something like that.
day three: so hungover. obviously. hurricane norbert was just around the corner and sweeping across mexico and lightly touching Puerto Vallarta. all day it rained and all day we stayed in bed. i felt so incredibly hungover that i thought i had caught something. but i knew this was merely the after effects of too much alcohol. we did manage to get up for breakfast and try the buffet. but mostly we went back to the room and just slept and stayed inside. plus, it was pouring rain and stormy out. it wasn’t the tropical sort of rain that came and went the night before. this was an actual storm and it made sense to spend most of it indoors. we did, however, head out to the sports bar, “Equipados,” downstairs. there we had a bit to eat and started drinking again. this time, i only stuck with Coronas. I figure, you can’t really go wrong with beer than to try my luck with the tequila all over again. and i thought i was pretty safe.
we met Alfredo, who was this waiter at Equipados. He was cute and really shy. it seemed like he had a thing for Love and every time i left for the bathroom, he would hang out a little longer and talk more than he would if i was around. we had cleared up that we weren’t a couple and that it was okay to flirt if he wanted to. okay, we didn’t use those words, but we had to make it a point that we weren’t a couple. since all the bars at the resort close at 11, it was perfect to invite Alfredo out in town. actually, he was already heading out anyway and invited us. or we invited ourselves along? somehow, it worked out.
we headed into town and went to “Dollar’s Bar.” we had a few to drink and go to know Alfredo a little bit more. we finally got a chance to walk a little bit through town as we headed to “Zoo.” (i thought we were going to a place called “Su” or possibly “Soo” and didn’t realize until the next day after remembering the sign at the entrance and that i misheard the name of the place due to his accent.) Puerto Vallarta at night was beautiful. it was surprisingly quiet in some places. but it was neat nonetheless. at Zoo, we danced and danced to funk and disco. some cheesey, but wonderful classics. once again our host of the night hosted with the cervezas and kept them coming right along. i was happy. i was drinking and in good company and i got to dance. afterwards, we took a walk along the shore and into town a bit before heading back to the resort and calling it a night.
day four: i think i might have been still a little bit drunk as we got up for breakfast. but, i was so happy to see the sun out and to finally see the sky and it was such a beautiful morning that i wanted to hurry up and get out for breakfast and to possibly lay out on the beach.
something happened immediately after i finished my breakfast. i started to feel a little bit nauseous. i definitely was not feeling good. we almost made it out to the beach when i really wanted to head back and lay down. once inside the room, i curled up onto the bed and tried my very best to go to sleep. i had a massive headache and it felt like i had a fever. my entire body was aching and i was in a little bit of pain. the only thing that seemed to make me feel better was to curl up as tight as i could and to moan a little. at first it was intense. large blasts of pain and nausea, followed by a throbbing pain in my head. my forehead felt warm to the touch, but my body felt cold. it definitely felt like the flu. but i didn’t want to say it out loud. there was a moment in the morning when i was brushing my teeth and that my gums were kind of bleeding, the way it does when you brush you teeth too hard. and i’ve been using the tap to rinse out. maybe some of that water got into my system that way and i got infected with something somehow. then all of a sudden, Love started to get attacked by waves of nausea and pain. so there we were in our beds, laying there. half watching the Hallmark Channel with its spanish subtitles and half laying in pain and nausea. it sounds so cliche if you think about it. the typical vacation to Mexico and you get sick. i’ve seen it in movies and tv shows, but i never thought it would happen to me. i’m thinking it might’ve been something we ate along with all the alcohol we’ve been drinking over that past few nights.
by 6 we were feeling a little bit better, though i still had some aches and pains and a headache that wouldn’t go away. i tried to eat, but could only eat my totilla soup and a tiny bit of my pasta. i also had a glass of white wine that took awhile to drink. we went back to the place and watched movies all night long. apparently the spanish A&E is a great channel! it was just what i needed. i didn’t really have anything to drink and i’m glad i didn’t.
day five/today: i was feeling better. yesterday was a nightmare. i was really worried about catching something. but it seemed to have passed. i must’ve just caught a bug or something, and all the alcohol paired with the inconsistent weather and humidity must’ve really screwed with my system. we had breakfast again and checked out. we went downtown to walk along the shore and check out more of Vallarta before heading to the airport. i had a moment of needing to rush to the nearest bathroom. but after the bathroom, i was fine again. this makes me want to think it was something i ate at breakfast and that the only reason i was much worse off yesterday was that i had a lot to drink the night before.
Puerto Vallarta was nice. it was nice a day out and i’m glad we got the chance to walk around a little bit during the day. my only complaint is that this trip was so short. if we had at least a day or two more, we could spend some more time downtown. i also missed going out to the gay clubs on monday night/last night. apparently, monday’s are gay days in PV. (note to self: come back and go out on mondays.)
although i’m going to miss being on vacation and would have loved to be in Puerto Vallarta a little bit longer, i’m looking forward to going home and getting back to reality. i’m not, however, looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. i have a little bit of anxiety of what’s to come. it’s been really busy lately and i haven’t been impressing a lot of people. but at the same time i’m anxious to be better. to start impressing people again. i hope this trip gave me some time to regroup. i wish i could say that it has, but i won’t know until i throw myself back into the fray tomorrow.
