Boy, are we lucky. Not only did we get blessed with two fine sons, we now have completed the set with the second wonderful daughter-in-law.
John and Meghan finally enjoyed the fruit of their year-long planning of their wedding in Puerto Vallarta. It took an incredible amount of work to pull this off so (apparently) smoothly. This was more like a vacation party for the guests than a formal event. But, let’s start from the beginning.
We took off on June 12 with our old friends, Chuck and Alice (John’s godmother), flying Alaska Airlines down to P.V. Can’t say as I have any complaints about the airline. In fact, they offer a “Mediterranean” lunch box that is pretty darn good. Much better than anything that Southwest offers. Hummus, olives, multigrain chips, pure fruit strip, almonds, and a square of dark chocolate. Yum! The 3 hour flight passed quickly with the Sunday Times to wade through, including the crossword. We left in about 60 degree weather in LA, and landed in 90 degree heat and humidity in PV. It was like someone threw a blanket over us.
Meghan had prepared detailed instructions for working through immigration, customs, and the taxi gauntlet. Of course, I left them on the counter at home. About all I remembered was to avoid the beseeching cabbies inside the airport, and go to the stand at the exit. I & C were very polite and relatively smooth. The taxi gauntlet was anything but. How many times can you waive your hand and say no, gracias? About a thousand. We got to the correct stand, had a coronary when I misread $ as standing for dollars instead of pesos, and eventually forked over about USD$45 for the 4 of us to minivan our way to the villas, about a 30 minute trip.
The minivans quickly became our preferred transportation. They almost all seemed in newer condition than the cars, and were much more comfortable for carrying four or more people. At times, we got mega-mini’s that carried 14 of us! Just about every place in PV will accept $USD, so we didn’t exchange any money at the airport bandits. Of course, the cab banditos had their own fluid exchange rates. Officially, we were at 12 pesos to the dollar, but anything other than an ATM got you more like 10.
And, before we go off to Paris in the fall, I definitely will open a Capital One account and get their ATM card. They don’t charge a transaction fee or take a percentage. Bank of effing America, on the other hand, charged us $5USD for each foreign ATM transaction, plus a 1% currency or something fee. I dunno, it wasn’t spelled out on my bill. The first time I tried to use the ATM, I didn’t understand the screen, and withdrew $11.85. I got charged $5-plus by BofA for that amount. To withdraw my own money! Fortunately, John gave me some Spanish instruction on my next withdrawal, so at least I got a decent amount of money for my fees. Die, BofA, die!
The airport is on the north side of town, our villas on the south, so we got to traverse pretty much the entirety of PV on our way there. As it is backed by steep mountains, it’s a long, thin city stretching along the coast. It’s an ok place, but the town itself isn’t much to look at. The real beauty was in our villas and the fantastic views from them. John & Meghan negotiated hard to get good rates on four villas located in the upscale (I’ll say!) Conchas Chinas area, about 5 bedrooms each, for the 34 in the wedding party. Three of them were together, way up the hill, and the fourth was below them. They all have names; ours was Villa Casa Serafines. Here’s the view from our bedroom, which just about says it all:
Not too shabby. Nor was the rest of the place. The outside is all high-walled off from the street. The entry is to an atrium courtyard with a fountain. It’s open to the sky, and the upstairs bedrooms are arrayed around the balcony. A nice spiral staircase takes you up. Our bedroom sported a painted-metal headboard that was really cool. We spent a lot of time in that infinity pool. Looking over the edge was an adventure, as you’re looking straight down about a hundred feet. I hope the structural engineers knew their stuff. All that water is tons of weight.
Each villa had its own staff that did daily cleaning and meals. We ate mighty fine, although we were guacamole’d out by the end of the week. They did make the palest margueritas I’ve ever seen. That’s a surprisingly good non-alcoholic beer at the left. I’d like to see that imported. Actually, the hardest working chef of the week was Janet, Meghan’s mom. She orchestrated a fabulous meal for the whole group, seen at the lower right.
I can’t say enough about the staffs. They were all just great. Always smiling, always trying to please, and very expert at their jobs. No slackers! Ole!
The “kids” villa was equally fantastic. Theirs was four stories tall, had a similar view, a really circular staircase, fancy bedrooms, interior courtyards and balconies, and a nice pool for Mike and Alia to laze about in. Yes, sigh, that’s another new tattoo on his left arm.
We had some of our meals in,
but went out four nights (including the wedding). First up was Cafe de Olla which is a lively, casual place. The food was good, but not to rave about, and priced fairly. A great place for a large party to make a lot of noise and not worry about offending. For the curious, from r to l, Loni, Meghan, M’s cousin, Dr. Sammy, her fiance, Dr. Mike, M’s aunt Susan (Sammy’s mom), M’s Uncle (Dr.) Art, M’s dad, Dr. Barry, John, and Liz, fiancee of John’s best friend Mike, who are getting married almost as I type this, in Chicago. John & Meghan are going. We had plenty of medicos to treat any ailments that sprang up. Good thing Barry packed a virtual pharmacy in his luggage.
The days took on a common theme. Kickin’ back. That’s Meghan’s mom, the indefatigable Janet, in the pool with Loni. Mike and John with brewskis. The corpse needs no introduction.
Our second dinner out was the “immediate family” dinner, with John & Meghan, Mike & Alia, Art and Janet, Meghan’s sister Ashley and husband Kyle, and us. We went to Le Kliff Restaurante, about 30 minutes south of our villas, on a rock promontory over the ocean. This is a famed wedding spot and a very romantic restaurant. It is all al fresco, with a huge thatched roof. We got the primo seating, courtesy of J&M’s good planning and the fact this is off season. Our party made up the majority of the guests that evening. The weddings are held on that little peninsula, down below the restaurant. Only Barry managed to hike down to check it out. The rest of us tucked into good food and drink and we spent nearly three hours there. It was Kyle’s birthday, hence the party hats.
We got a pretty nice sunset in the bargain as well.
With that, I’ll pull the shade down on this first installment of the wedding. More to come!
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