Great community and bed and breakfast
It is nice to travel to a place like Casa la Ventana that meets one’s expectations for lodging and location while providing a couple of nice surprises that were not anticipated.
I was staying at Casa la Ventana during November and December because I was going to start writing a screenplay. I wanted a modern and quite place that provided good Internet access. I was not disappointed with theses demands. The owners and the local staff provided great service and support. The property is gorgeous with all of its plants and vegetation. The room had a comfortable bed with great lighting, climate control, storage and fantastic bathrooms with a very nice shower. The top floor of Casa la Ventana is unique because one can view the whole village, the steep Sierra Madre Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. I had a couple meals that were cooked by one of the owners, which were outstanding because she gets the fish, tamales, cheese and other food from local vendors.
Casa la Ventana is located in Boca de Tomatlan, which provides an authentic atmosphere of a small working community with its commerce, schools, churches and people. The town has some grocery stores that provide fresh fruit and vegetables and other items at reasonable prices. Wanting more variety is a twenty- minute public bus ride for sixty-five cents into Puerto Vallarta; affording an opportunity to practice one’s Spanish with local riders. There are numerous restaurants that cater to local residents and people from Puerto Vallarta spending a day on the beach for the weekend. Ramon’s beach restaurant is excellent example of place that a person brags about after the vacation to others, with great seafood dishes, friendly and funny staff and a great jukebox with Mexican songs. It is also the local hangout for the non-Mexican residents that live in Boca de Tomatlan.. Both non-locals and locals provide good conversation and stories. The weekday ritual of the school children in their uniforms going to school and playing conjures nice images of one’s earlier schooling years. While the ritual of firing the cannon to announce the commencement of Sunday services is something most people may have not had while growing-up, it is an event that will always be remembered. The people of Boca de Tomatlan – Mexican and non-Mexican are a delight that enhances the emotions of traveling. These are people truly love living in this community, which, without sounding trite, makes a person appreciate the communal aspect of life.
The surprises of the trip were the following: 1. The local soccer field provided a great area to do my daily jogging – it was almost like a college track for softness of ground.. 2. There is a private beach that is a thirty-minute walk through the mountains, which is good for swimming and snorkeling. 3. The zoo at Mismaloya provided the necessary animal accommodation while maintaining a great environment to observe the animals, which the majority is indigenous to Mexico, according to the zoo brochure. 4. The Botanical Gardens, couple miles south of Boca, with its orchids and other flowers and plants, especially the vanilla plants were something that I didn’t think that I would like; I was wrong. The zoon and gardens offer some unusual settings for photographs. Especially nice was that I didn’t get sick for two months, always felt safe, and the accommodations, food, drink, attractions were well within my budget.