In a wedding: 10 days in Puerto Vallarta

Last week, one of my best friends got married. She was a gorgeous bride and it was a beautiful day.

I arrived a day before most of the wedding party, so I stayed downtown at the Oasis Hostel for one night before moving to the Now Amber resort. It was a pretty nice intro! Sunset, yoga, beach (and maybe a Starbucks..). Perfect.

Sunset from the roof of Oasis Hostel

The old church next door (which reminds you of its presence every 15 minutes – dong!

Yoga in the morning. Perfect.

Morning walk along the “Malecon” boardwalk before moving to the resort.

After that nearly sleepless night (the noise from the busy street below is SO LOUD), I went to the resort to wait for all the Viponds! I checked in, and immediately felt out of place in my room. I couldn’t even sit on the bed, it felt so fancy! So I lounged on the patio for a while, and then decided to go down to the lobby to begin my stakeout (literally. I sat in the chairs opposite the reception desk for at least 3-4 hours waiting for all the blondes to start pouring in).

View from my room on the 14th floor!

Which of these things does not belong?

The town itself is SO charming and beautiful.

The infinity pool in the lounge

Sunset from the lounge

I’ve never done all-inclusive before, but once I adjusted to the luxury of the hotel and not paying the bill after dinner, it was pretty nice… We bummed around for a few days and then got into wedding gear. The bachelorette was a fun but very busy day of nails, photo scavenger hunt, fancy dinner, and a poorly-executed music trivia night (thank you, Now Amber wifi, for your atrocious download speeds, so that I could not get the proper playlists. And thank you again for your obscure movie theme song tracks that you provided instead.)

Funky Cuban restaurant where our team had our compulsory tequila shots

Getting our nails done before the wedding

The bride and her two bridesmaids!

For the bachelorette, the ladies had a photo scavenger hunt!

Then came the big day! It was so, so lovely. Though of course, without some last-minute dress alterations. Apparently 2.5 months of sedentary Port Alberni life has not done good things to my waistline 😦

As I was part of the wedding party, and also had the ceremony music on my phone (which therefore was with the DJ for the afternoon), I did not get many pictures of my own. I am so looking forward to getting the pro shots back!

So. Gorgeous.

Head table selfies!!

Bride and Groom speech

We had a day to recover (I did a lot of napping and hiding in my room) and then everybody parted ways. I moved back to the hostel, and spent three more nights there, getting a taste (literally) of Puerto Vallarta.

Best. Burrito. Of. My. Life.

The town is so freaking charming.

Cobble stoned streets and red tiled roofs! Love.

And the mountains. Oh, the mountains

I love how green it is.

Beautiful river runs through PV.

Crossing the little suspension footbridge over the river.

I found a bookshop! It was wonderful, but not many books fall under the 5pesos category, but they were still cheaper than home!

Cactus – whole, chopped, and cooked!

My only real “lounging” photo, made better with a hoop to play with!

Oh man, words cannot describe the bliss of these tacos, and all of those fiery sauces.

On the bus to the airport

This flight was more than half empty. Pretty much everyone had their own row!

There’s definitely a lot more allure and charm to the town of Puerto Vallarta than I was expecting. I thought it would be compounds for staff that was built solely around the resorts; my idea of a “resort town”. But instead, it is resorts that hijacked the nicest beaches in an already existing and beautiful town. I would love to see more of the country, and one day I will surely go back.