El Sobrio en México

So, I (Gregg) got to go on a little trip for work last week. I say "little" to reflect my expectations though the end result was anything but. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico was the destination and five days was the duration of a half work/half pleasure trip with my coworkers.

I knew our home away from home was going to be legit but I didn't realize just how legit it would be. At Kim's urging, here are a few tales from the trip.

MEALS
Each morning started with fresh pineapple, papaya, and cantaloupe served as the first course of a breakfast that was followed by juevos rancheros, fresh toast, or chilaquiles and scrambled eggs, bacon, and fresh squeezed orange juice.

Lunch was usually steak quesadillas, burritos, and all the fresh guac and pico de gallo we could handle.

Dinners ranged from bbq shrimp and sea bass to chicken mole and enchiladas, prepared by a staff of two cooks and served by the head housekeeper, Roger, and his assistant, Jorge. Every meal came with a stack of hot flour tortillas from the kitchen.

In between meals were nachos, more fresh guac and pico de gallo, and an endless supply of beer (except for the first night when they ran out at 9pm which led to two hours of dancing and pull-up contests at a beachside bar and me thereafter being known as "the sober guy" - or "el sobrio" from our attempted translation - by the bartenders we saw a few more times that week around town).

VIEWS
The temperature stayed right around 75 degrees both day and night. And if that's not enough, a few meals were interrupted when we spotted humpback whales breaching just a few hundred yards off shore.

The house was perched directly over the shoreline about 50 feet up which provided a great view of the whales, other sea life (like rays, schools of bright blue and yellow fish, and puffer fish), but also the ridiculous sunsets and sunrises. These two photos were taken with my phone but, thanks to a well placed infinity pool, still turned out pretty amazing.

What I may miss most, however, are the mornings. Sleeping with the window open as the waves crashed on the rocks below the house and waking up to views like this kept a massive grin on my face all week. I took the first pic from the couch in the main living room as I worked one morning.

Who else likes views of this kind? Turns out Mel Gibson, Felipe Calderon, and Vin Diesel have also stayed in this house.

THE BOAT
Finally, on Thursday, we took a 50+ foot catamaran south along the coastline and stopped at 4-5 beaches where we swam to shore, snorkeled, or just explored on the sea kayaks. This isn't a picture of us, but it is of the boat we were on.

Dolphins swam along side us as we started and the whole day was entirely amazing.  And who likes boats of this kind? Turns out Ronaldinho chartered this same cat during a trip of his to Mexico.

All in all, it was an incredible week. Honestly, as I thought back to vacations as a child with the fam or more recently with Kim, it was a strange sensation to be on the boats I had gawked at and staying in one of the houses that seemed so far away from my sphere of reality.

It was an amazing trip and, if the rumors are true that we're going back next year, I think I'd probably find a way to clear my schedule and go along.