Want to see a part of Mexico you probably never envisioned? Well, Grand Velas resorts in Riviera Nayarit and Riviera Maya are offering special packages to entice visitors. One is the Whale Watching Photo Safari in Banderas Bay, the other a Muyil Forest and Float Tour through the Yucatan’s Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve — home to 800 plant species, 350 species of birds, as well as jaguars, pumas, monkeys, crocodiles and turtles. You will also visit ancient Mayan ruins. The resort is 40 miles from Cancun.

The Whale Watching package starts at $352 per person per night and is available Jan. 4-March 31. The Sian Ka’an Biosphere package starts at $438 per person per night and is available Jan. 3-April 30. Both rates are based on double occupancy and include suite accommodations, a la carte gourmet dining at a choice of specialty restaurants, premium beverages, 24-hour in-suite service, use of the fitness center, activities for adults and children, and taxes and gratuities. Call 1-888-320-7569 and mention promo code GVNYKWEWHALE, or visit www.grandvelas.com.

Planning your next vacation in Puerto Vallarta? We have gathered top insider information for exclusive Puerto Vallarta travel tips. Discover everything from where to eat, where to dance and the must-sees of this Mexico Pacific Coast paradise.

Puerto Vallarta is a Mexican seaside haven for pleasure seekers to indulge in the extensive coastlines, gorgeous landscape, chic restaurants, manicured golf courses and abundance of sun-filled activities. With a lot to choose from, we’ve narrowed down some favorites of Puerto Vallarta locals and seasoned veterans who can’t help but return to the Pacific beaches year after year.

via:
http://blog.paradizo.com/luxury-vacation/where-to-go-puerto-vallarta-travel-guide/

I often stumble upon festivals through sheer serendipity while traveling around Mexico. The first encounter occurred during a solo week in Oaxaca in the 1980s. While sipping a beer at a sidewalk café one evening, I heard an astonishing clamor that brought me to my tiptoes. Devil faces were popping up over the hedges on the other side of the plaza. Drums, flutes and guitars played dueling harmonies.

Mexico’s Grand Velas Resorts Offers Travelers Eco-tours and Wildlife Packages in 2010
From a Whale Watching Photo Safari in Banderas Bay to a Muyil Forest and Float Tour through the Yucatan’s Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, Grand Velas Resorts is offering special packages for guests to see an exotic part of Mexico while enjoying luxurious all-inclusive accommodations.

Safari in Banderas Bay to a Muyil Forest and Float Tour through the Yucatan’s Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, Grand Velas Resorts in Riviera Nayarit and Riviera Maya are offering special packages for guests to see an exotic part of Mexico while enjoying luxurious all-inclusive accommodations. With the Grand Velas Riviera Maya Sian Ka’an Biosphere Package, guests will experience this UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site that’s home to 800 plants species, 350 species of birds, as well as, jaguars, pumas, monkeys, crocodiles and turtles. Guests will also visit ancient Mayan ruins, boat across the fresh water Muyil lagoon and float and snorkel towards the sea. With the Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit Whale Watching Package, guests ride out to Banderas Bay on an all weather inflatable speedboat and get within feet of the magnificent Humpback whales as they make their annual winter migration to these waters.

Via:
http://trak.in/india/mexicos-grand-velas-resorts-offers-travelers-eco-tours-and-wildlife-packages-in-2010/economy-37116/

Well, this year’s fifteenth Gourmet Festival, as always, offered us some new, delicious and interesting things. For starters, the opening night was held at the hotel Casa Velas and the setting was delightful, a lounge ambiance around the poolside that made you feel like you were in a new place, an unknown new venue.

Gourmet FestivalThere were other new items added, like the dinner safari, in which you had hors d’oeuvres at one spot, soup or salad at another; main course at still another location and dessert at yet one more of the leading Vallarta restaurants, so in one night you could get to know four of the best dining spots in town, one safari by van and another on foot, all arranged according to the geography of the tour..

But the one thing that truly got my attention was the Winemaker’s night. Because you got to meet a new special breed of people, the oenologists.

They are the scientists that know the land, the components of the soil, the altitude, the temperature and the timing and of seasons and rain. They know what grapes can be grown and where; how and when they ripen. They know when to harvest to the day, the time of day, or even the time of night.

Spending time with Bernhard Güth from Trío and Vitea restaurants as well as with Joaquín Prieto, producer of Vinos Tres Valles winery in the Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California, was an intense immersion course on wine making, wine tasting and food and wine pairing.

Gourmet Festival When I went with Bernhard and Joaquín on a degustation visit with the sommelier, chef and maitre d’y of the San Angel Hotel; a most charming and unique inn that really belongs in the very heart of Puerto Vallarta; as they went through the menus and chose the wines to go with them, the experience took me back in time to when I watched the movie “Amadeus” about Mozart. Antonio Salieri, his rival, was mesmerized by Mozart’s music, just by reading the sheet music he knew the beauty of it and the genius of Mozart without ever having heard it.
Being an amateur musician and wine lover I can only hope that these experiences will enable me to enter my next reincarnation with the benefit of a handicap on those intricate fields.