Ixtapa, Mexico: Day 1

Andi and I left Thursday morning for our vacation in Ixtapa, Mexico. We drove to the airport amongst a few inches of fresh, dense snowfall and bumper-to-bumper traffic. If that doesn’t say “ready for vacation,” I don’t know what does.

I was perfectly fine leaving Tory in the care of family until the night before we left for our trip. Then, the butterflies in my stomach set in and I felt anxious about leaving her for even a few days. I knew she’d be in capable hands, but still. I was really going to miss her.

We arrived in Mexico around 2:00pm Thursday and took a taxi for the 30 minute ride from the airport to our hotel, called Capella. A free bus shuttle was included in our room package but knowing Andi and I, that just wouldn't fly. A giant bus full of tourists, making stops at a dozen different resorts before reaching ours or, a $40 taxi ride by ourselves directly to our destination? Money well spent.

Just an hour later, Andi and I were having a bite to eat at one of Capella’s restaurants, Las Rocas. We were served with fresh, house-made tortilla chips and guacamole to start (absolutely to die for – best chips I've ever eaten!) and split an order of fish tacos between the two of us. I’m not a big fish lover, but the fresh catch has been very good so far on our trip. The fish tacos were marinated in Capella’s house sauce, grilled nicely and served Mexican-style with onion, cilantro and pineapple on the side.

After a late-afternoon lunch, Andi and I laid by the pool to relax and let the feeling of vacation swoosh over us. He was still feeling a bit twitchy about work and for some odd reason, I was paralyzed by not having my iPhone in hand 24/7. Apparently, SAHM-hood means I have constant access to social media and it took a stark separation to break the habit.

Our hotel room at Capella is absolutely breathtaking. Our room is suite-style containing a typical bedroom, bathroom, shower and walk-in closet. There’s a private outdoor patio, complete with two lounge chairs and our own infinity pool overlooking the ocean. As I type this now, I’m watching the ocean waves roll in over cliff-side rocks below the property. It’s pretty magical.

Our hotel suite

Hotel suite's private pool overlooking the ocean

View of the Pacific Ocean from our patio

Side view from our patio - the entire hotel is built with ocean views

All the staff at our hotel has been so friendly and helpful. I know we’re in Mexico so we shouldn’t expect everyone to speak English, but it’s nice all the staff at the hotel does with ease. They also don’t seem annoyed by our broken attempts at Spanish. Everyone gives us a “ha ha, you’re so cute, that’s not even close to the way you pronounce that word” chuckle and instead, says “No problem, I’m happy to do that for you.”

The food so far has been fantastic. For dinner Thursday night (on Valentine’s Day), Andi and I ate at Capella’s Seafood Market restaurant. We made a 7:00pm reservation and funny enough, we were the only people at the restaurant so “early.” I joked to Andi how sweet he was for reserving the entire restaurant for a romantic candlelight dinner by the water.

At the seafood market, we were ushered to a display area with fresh fish and a scale to select our dinner. The waiter told us about all the various local fish – Red Snapper, Lobster, shrimp, Tuna, Mahi Mahi and some flounder-type fish of which the name escapes me – and suggested various marinades which would compliment each one. For dinner, we were served a first course of lobster soup; second, tuna ceviche; and third, our main entrée selections of red snapper, shrimp and the flounder fish. Everything was delicious.

Fresh catch of the day - Seafood Market

Andi and I were both beat from traveling and still hadn’t shaken the stresses of real-life, so we turned in early and fell fast asleep in our comfy bed as we listened to the ocean waves outside our window. Quite a lovely Valentine's Day and first day of our Mexican vacation.