Sylvie's Travels Home

March 18 and 19, 2024

We went to La Isla for breakfast. We had our usual fruit platter and we shared eggs benedict. Graciela made us taste huamuchil, commonly know as Manila tamarind (I had never heard or seen it before). They had some growing in some of the trees on the restaurant property. To me it tasted like cabbage but I read that it was supposed to have a sweet tart flavor like apple-coconut or dried pineapple-peach. We walked around the parking lot, looking at their different trees and noticed iguanas on top of some trees. They apparently sleep and make their nests there because that type of trees has thorns and predators, like snakes, hawks, owls or humans, can’t get to them.

I spent the rest of the day organizing and taking pictures of toiletries and products that we are leaving behind. I can be very anal about it but I will know exactly what I will need to bring next year. Pogo decided to start packing his suitcase. He brought it to the guestroom bed, opened it and that was the extent of it.

Shaun made a St Patrick’s corned beef dinner, all by himself! I told him that he will have to make it for us when we come home as it looked so good and I am now craving it!

We went to la Hacienda San Angel in PV for a very special dinner. It was not easy getting there as it was on top of the hill on a very narrow street with no parking. When we found a place to park, it was a treacherous walk on old cobblestones and stairs and not much lighting at that time of day. But…the venue was breathtaking! First, to enter, we had to pull a rope by the front door which we found out later was attached to a bunch of big bells. After a few minutes, someone finally came to open the door. We entered a beautiful courtyard, full of religious artifacts. There was a beautiful fountain and stairs full of candles. Here is a little history of the place from their website:

Casa Bur-Sus to Hacienda San Angel
“A past filled with glamour and romance has led to a present brimming with intimate sophistication at Hacienda San Angel.

The late Richard Burton purchased the Hacienda’s main villa as a Valentine’s Day gift for his wife, Susan in 1977, after falling in love with Puerto Vallarta as he filmed John Huston’s The Night of the Iguana there in the mid 1960’s. The cult classic film put Puerto Vallarta on the map as a favorite vacation spot for the international glitterati, including Burton’s ex, Elizabeth Taylor, who owned a house mere blocks away from Susan’s. The Burton’s aptly named their home, Casa Bur-Sus.

In 1990, entrepreneur Janice Chatterton purchased Casa Bur-Sus from Susan Burton to use as a vacation home. Following the loss of her son, Chatterton poured her grief into nurturing her love for antiques and rescuing animals. Through renovation, purchases of surrounding villas, and innovation, Casa Bur-Sus evolved into Casa San Angel then finally Hacienda San Angel in 2003. It is now one of the top luxury boutique hotels in the world.”

I had read that Richard Burton had also bought a house for Elizabeth Taylor in 1964 a few months after filming The Night of the Iguana and a month before they got married. Ah, the life of the rich and famous!

Talking about the rich and famous, we had famous Canadian actor Eugene Levy sitting at the table next to us. Unfortunately, towards the end of their dinner, the waitstaff and even some of the mariachi band players came to ask to take pictures with him. Myself I just took pictures without his knowledge…

When I made the reservation through Open Table, there was a notification that they didn’t take request for specific tables but Pogo asked me to ask for a table with a view. To put a little more pressure, I said it was our anniversary when they asked if we were celebrating something special. I forgot about it… As soon as we sat down, not the best table by far, mariachis surrounded us and started serenading us for our anniversary! I was so embarrassed! Pogo was taken aback when they asked how many years we were celebrating that night and he said, it’s kind of personal but it is 32 years, haha! It really is 35 but it was all hush hush!

Our drinks were very tasty. Pogo had a Mezcalita and I had a Never on a Sunday, a tequila, cucumber, coriander seed and lime drink that was so refreshing. Our appetizers were just ok. The calamari was very chewy. The beef carpaccio was good but was covered with arugula, parmesan cheese and balsamic glaze so all the flavors were on top and when we finally got to the beef, it was just bland. We both had the Chilean sea bass and it was so so delicious! The butter lemon sauce on top was so yummy and the veggies were perfectly crispy. Pogo couldn’t resist ordering the coconut crème brulé and we ordered 2 decaf cappuccinos. When the waiter brought the dessert and coffees, he had an extra dessert with a Happy Anniversary sign on it! OMG, I felt like such a fraud but the flan with fruits and maple syrup was worth it :). We ate them while the mariachis came back to our table to sing Cucurrucucu La Paloma, a request Pogo had made while going “to the bathroom”. They were so good that I wiped a few tears, I’m not going to lie.

It was a fantastic evening with a beautiful view of PV, the mariachis were so talented, certainly a little extravagant pricewise (well it was our anniversary after all 🙂 but we both enjoyed it so much and would love to go back eventually. They also have a Sunday brunch with a violinist and it could be nice to see the place during the day. It is also an hotel but each rooms are over $1000/night. Gulp…

Unfortunately our decaf coffees ended up NOT being decafs so Pogo didn’t sleep and didn’t go to pickleball the next morning. I was wide awake until 1am and kept waking up all night. Should I complain and ask for a free dessert next time we go??

We went to Paradise Village and went to Ama for a late breakfast. There was a huge group of about 20 people but thankfully they had been served. They were celebrating a birthday. Hopefully they didn’t pretend it was someone’s birthday. You can’t trust anyone nowadays.

I bought a pair of sandals for Max. I think it will be the 3rd pair that we buy at that store. She lost the last pair in the Philippines. I hope I bought the right size for her otherwise I will be the proud owner of a very sparkly pair of sandals.

I spent more time gathering all our stuff, I’m sure I will find some more, took more pictures of it then we packed our bin as efficiently as could be. We won’t be able to fit it all in. We will have to leave stuff in a garbage bag and hope it will stay intact.

3 or 4 years ago, Pogo had put locks at 2 corners of the bin that we had bought to keep all the stuff we were leaving behind here. He then hid the key in the light recess in the hallway ceiling. The following year, he couldn’t find it so he had to cut around the locks to open the cover and since then, we have been using zip ties in the 2 other corners. He decided to look for it again today. He attached his phone to his selfie stick, started recording with the light on, going very slowly all around the light recess and he found the key!! Great sleuth work!!

We both took a nap then went to play a game of dice with our friends.

We went to La Isla for dinner to say goodbye to Andreas. We had the ribs again and they were excellent. The restaurant was very busy but he still ended up spending a lot of time with us. At the end of the evening, he sat with us for almost an hour. He said that he had just started culinary school. He has been cooking for years at the restaurant when needed but this course will be about learning all the basics for sauces, breads, etc. It will be going every Mondays from 8am till 2pm, for 2 years. He also took a 4 month class about restaurant administration. Even though he knows about the business, he wants to learn more about it because it looks like he will take over eventually as Graciela is losing interest and wants to concentrate on her spa business. He seems very excited about all the changes he wants to make.

He told us that the restaurant was broken in twice. He showed us the footage but the police haven’t caught the guy yet. We were also asking him about an older couple from Colorado, Lynn and Jessie, who they are really close to, and that we had not seen this year. He said that last year, the four of them were on their way to Talpa de Allende and stopped by the bridge to go to the bathroom (just beside Carmen Panaderia) and they both fell down the stairs!! He broke a knee and she twisted an ankle. They obviously drove straight back to town and their insurance medevacked them both back home to Colorado. Jessie has had a bunch of surgeries and is just starting to walk again but not enough for them to come back. Graciela and Andreas feel a lot of guilt even though it was obviously an accident.