Riviera Nayarit Where Time Loosens Up
Ana Álvarez & Benjamín Alcántara
Escala Magazine – Aeroméxico Airlines
March 2008

Overlooking the Pacific Ocean from Villa Bella´s high perch, a couple begins their honeymoon in a diaphanously draped bed. Across the way, aromas wafting from the Garza Canela kitchen magnetize members of the British nobility. In between, New York´s leading designers confab at the Cielo Rojo, while in Villa Corona del Mar, legends are recounted against a background of waves and norteña music: the very essence of Nayarit Rivera diversity.

It might be a little hard to believe that in the five minutes it takes to drive across the Río Ameca Bridge, separating Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta, the clock winds back an hour. But once you’ve done it, it doesn’t take long to dawn on you that you’re in another zone altogether; one where time loosens up. Time is not the only thing that gets relaxed, though. Space, too, seems more congenial, more malleable, when you discover that creativity not only applies to the culinary and plastic arts but also to places where you can stay. No matter if it’s a cozy little bed and breakfast or a slinky minimalist boutique hotel, some honest-to-goodness signature hotels lie in wait beneath traditional Nayarit tiled

A converted stable serves Villa Bella’s owners as headquarters, where they make plans for arriving guests as though beloved family members were coming to visit: they pick them up at the airport, prepare their favorite breakfast, suggest things to do, whip up some chicken soup if someone gets sick and, once guests go back home, they send them letters describing the pool terrace view of how the flower-strewn road looked for the Cruz de Huanacaxtle fishermen’s pilgrimage to the Virgen de la Paz Church.

The absence of phones and TV sets in Casa de Mita’s eight rooms is clearly a comfort, not a drawback, to its guests. After a relaxing massage, feeling as pampered as royalty, what could be better than delving into a great novel? Every now and then, though, they glance up to take in the beauty of the white sand dunes, and when the feeling moves, saunter off a few steps to the Four Seasons, for a dinner of Chat Masala tuna steak fit for a king. Truth is, on this chunk of turf where so many artists thrive (like the Michoacán-bred farmer-turned-painter and Californian surfer-sculptor), oases definitely abound.




In Sayulita, this concept is reinforced by the flute melody that sweetens the night air at the Hafa (“luck” in Arabic), a small, Moroccan-themed boutique hotel that reflects the refined simplicity of its owners, whose Chihuahua pooch is never far away. Decorated in angel wings, seashells and silvery stars, the hotel is a universe unto itself, right in the middle of town.

In San Pancho, on the other hand, all it takes to get transported to another planet is watching the sunlight on the sand: no sweat, no strain, but cool all the same. Here, on streets named Saigon, Cambodia, Kenya, Ceylon and the like, fishermen’s houses stand beside Italian bakeries, turtle-protecting ecology NGOs, yoga centers, art galleries and a boutique hotel called Cielo Rojo, where guests delight in a unique blend of “charm and culture”. Amid walls festooned with blackand-white photos of boxers, dancers and such, the owner, who formerly designed posters for Hollywood movies, pours shots of small-batch tequila, while holding forth on his favorite subject: antiques. He has a wealth of information about the background of the pieces decorating the place. Is it any wonder this hotel’s a veritable art gallery?

The tales told at Villa Corona del Mar are certainly worthy of the Hollywood treatment. Until recently, guests to this once family-owned villa had to arrive on horseback. Now, though, it’s a bed and breakfast with a lore-chocked master suite, complete with private elevator. The owner, who once managed the Seattle Marriott, believes that trust makes for a luxuriously relaxed atmosphere and proves his point with an honor-system bar, where a logbook lets guests keep their own running tabs. Surely, too, the hotel’s location near a water tower dubbed the ovni (UFO) by the locals helps make a stay here an out-of-the-ordinary experience. Not to mention that strip of solitary beach right outside Villa Corona del Mar’s big picture windows, even though it’s snuggled in amongst Rincón de Guayabitos’ shrimp and fish kabob joints and boot-scootin’ dance halls.
Here, the toughest decision is whether to listen to the waves lapping up just outside the “Los Delfines” room or to the jukebox in the beer garden, a spot designed by a woman from Munich who left her job in Las Vegas to come live in more tropical climes.

From Basic to Fantastic

The wide variety of accommodations is not all that recommends Nayarit’s Riviera. Rave culinary reviews are not limited to the handmade pastas, jumbo shrimp and curried ice cream prepared by international chefs attending the two-week-long, November, Puerto Vallarta and Nayarit Riviera Gourmet Festival, that takes place in Frascati, Aramara and other fancy restaurants. The region’s own culinary treasures are even being exported to the Nikko Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Chicken breast, stuffed with dates, prunes and orange, with ancho chile or baked fish filet with parsley, garlic and powdered Spanish ham are just a couple of examples of Betty Vázquez’s repertoire of dishes to “pamper and satisfy the souls” of visitors to San Blas. Betty, who first wanted to be an airplane pilot, now cooks for ardent fans of the Hotel Garza Canela’s El Defín Restaurant, surrounded by the cookbooks she has collected in her travels. To further hone her skills, she recently did an “apprenticeship in alchemy”, learning to make marvels like fish scale powder, under acclaimed chef Juan Mari Arzak, in San Sebastián, Spain. An avid traveler, yet deeply rooted to home, Vázquez will shortly be departing for Malaysia as guest chef, an event about which her father ironically observes, “San Blas, so connected with the world, but so seemingly forgotten.” So, while savoring herbed shrimp with chipotle chile, plantain and cinnamon, diners discover that the Nayarit Riviera has the same effect: it subtly enhances the flavor of life.

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