Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico

This is our first trip to Mexico without my Aunt Ruth. She passed away December 12 but had organized this trip when we were with her last year. Her plan was to come to Ontario to celebrate my mom’s 90th birthday, stay with us over Christmas, then we would accompany her to Mexico for 9 weeks, then make sure she got back home to Mississippi safely.

This trip involves stays in 4 different resorts over 9 weeks, all of which are places that my aunt and uncle owned or were members of, all close to their preferred location of the condo at Playa Royale.

When it became clear my aunt’s days of travel were over, she insisted we stick with the plan as all the arrangements were made and we might as well make the most of the opportunity. So that’s what we are doing.

We arrived Saturday at the Grand Bliss in Vidanta, which is on the other side of the canal from where we will be the rest of the time, further south along the beach and closer to Puerto Vallarta. The resort here covers an enormous area, 2500 acres of land and lagoon, with a mile long beach. It has 5 fancy hotels with lots of activities, a golf course, tennis and pickle ball courts, spas, pools, palapas on the beach, and more than 20 restaurants. My aunt and uncle have been members for years but have never actually stayed here as previous plans fell through for health reasons. There are beautiful boardwalks that meander through the trees to each of the buildings and restaurants, and to and from the pools and the beach, and they are quite lovely to walk along, but it’s not clear my aunt and uncle would have been able to enjoy much of the amenities given their limited mobility. There are shuttles so perhaps that would have worked but it seems it would be a difficult place for them to have stayed. However, they would have loved to entertain family and friends here and to hear all about their adventures at the end of the day.