Week Two of spring break saw us take a trip to the lovely seaside village of Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific Coast of Mexico.  This part of Mexico is sort of like what Fiji is to Australia – lots of resorts along the beach that serve all the food you can eat for one inclusive price as well as lots of poolside and evening entertainment – FUN!  It think we were the only Australian’s at the entire resort which made us a real novelty!  

We stayed at the Rui Jalisco – the rooms were clean and neat and big enough for our family of 5.  The food was plentiful but dare I say as is the case in most of these mass produced hotels very ordinary – there were 5 restaurants to choose from so we did not have lack of choice but you did have to  visit various restaurants to find the “good” things.  Alcohol was also part of this package so you had access to the bar 24/7 – I suspect they make the alcohol different in Mexico as it was incredibly watered down and I think we only saw one intoxicated person the entire stay!

The entertainment team was fantastic and had everyone involved in various games from square aerobics to zumba to bingo to beach soccer and volley ball.  The Mexican Pool Party that they held one afternoon in the main pool was so much fun – bubbles and floaties! What more could you ask for (see the photo below)  Every evening there was a different themed show and every night was “excellente”.  The kids really had a ball and were involved in lots of different things.   

Apart from plenty of relaxing, swimming, reading and of course eating, we did leave the hotel on two occasions to do some activities.  Our first outing involved a trip to a small local village to see how they live, meet the locals and play with a piñata before heading to a rodeo with traditional mexican games, horse riding, bull riding, dinner and dancing with the mariachi band.

Our 2nd outing was to celebrate Sofia’s 11th Birthday at the local water park where we swam with the dolphins – an amazing experience that the girls will remember for ever.

 We really did love our time in Mexico – the girls have voted it better than Fiji or Bali (I am still stuck on Bali as one of my favourite places in the world).  A big dose of Vitamin D was definitely needed after a Canadian winter and this place did the trick!