Bucerias, Mexico

I'm not really an all-inclusive sort of girl. It's nice to be pampered at a fancy, beach side hotel, but truthfully I'd rather spend my time exploring and venturing into the country I'm visiting.

I was happy, therefore, when we went beyond the confines of the Puerto Vallarta - Nuevo Vallarta hotel chains and headed just north of them both to the beach city of Bucerias.

Bucerias was certainly geared up for tourism. The streets nearest the beach were filled with booths selling t-shirts and all sorts of tourist knick-knacks and wares. Some restaurants advertised fancy, polished menus.

But Bucerias also felt very real. Elementary aged kids were making their way home from school dressed still in their uniforms. Men were hanging out and playing checkers on the sidewalk. Tamale vendors were doing brisk business in the plaza.

After strolling up and down the thin cobbled Bucerias streets, I left thinking that if I were to return to this area for a beach vacation, perhaps I'd seek out lodging here.

Taming El Tigre in Nuevo Vallarta

One of the great things about being on a press trip is that you get behind-the-scenes treatment.

For example, today I got to pet a real, live, cute and cuddly baby Bengal tiger!

The tiger -- Junior -- lives at the "El Tigre" golf course in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. He's about a month old right now.

He was rejected by his mother, which is why he now hangs out in the golf course offices.

The golf course's director, Jesus Carmona, has a fondness for tigers and a flair for raising them.

A couple cages on the golf course house adult tigers Carmona rescued from bad situations. When those tigers breed, Carmona tends to the cubs until they are large enough to be transferred to a zoo that can care for them.

So far, about 70 Bengal tigers have been born at El Tigre golf course.

If you go golfing there, you can stop along the way and take a peek at the tigers. Or, if you're vacationing in the Puerto Vallarta-Nuevo Vallarta area, you can head to El Tigre for it's Sunday brunch and then see the tigers once there.

Villa La Estancia in Nuevo Vallarta

I made it.

My plane touched down in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Then I gathered my bags, met my driver and arrived at a hotel north of the city.

I'm staying in the municipality of Nuevo Vallarta at a place called Villa La Estancia.

The hotel is beyond belief. It is absolutely gorgeous. Even though it is nearly almost brand new, it has this old world charm about it. The wood work is a deep, dark hue. The lobby furniture is solid and heavy.

And the service is divine. As soon as I climbed out of the car, a bell hop met me with a cool, scented cloth. Next, I was given a mango smoothie to sip while I signed all the check in paperwork. A fruit plate was delivered to my room while I was still checking out all the closets.

But the best, by far, was that when I came back to my room after dinner, not only was a chocolate tartlette waiting by my pillow, but a secret fairy had slipped into my room and filled up the bathtub with hot bubbles, topped the bubbles with flowers, lit several candles and a relaxing stick of incense!

Bound for Mexico and San Blas

I'm bound for Mexico.

I'm headed there on a press trip for GoNomad. After my journey, I'll be writing a story about what I experienced for the site.

My trip will take me into Puerto Vallarta, but that's not where I'll be staying. After getting my bearings and finding my group, the trip will take me north into the state of Nayarit.

I'm going to be traveling along the coast of that state, in an area called the Riviera Nayarit, and checking out the small beach towns there.

The one I'm most excited about visiting is the city of San Blas.

I'm a fan of the Mexican rock band, Mana. One of my favorite songs by them is called En El Muelle de San Blas.

It's about a woman who says a tearful goodbye to her sailor boyfriend and vows to wait for his return on the pier of San Blas. She waits and waits and waits but he never comes back.

Once, years ago, I remember Googling "San Blas" and discovering that it was a real town on Mexico's Pacific coast. And now I'm off to see it for myself.

To help you get inspired about my trip, you can listen to Mana's San Blas song...

Rudo y Cursi

I went to see Rudo y Cursi. It's a Mexican film about two brothers, soccer, fortune and tragic flaws.

It stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna.

Both did a good job and I enjoyed the movie much more than the recent Hollywood productions I've seen.

If you can find it playing somewhere around you, and you don't mind subtitles, I'd recommend it.

Japanese Kit Kats

A friend of mine recently returned from a trip to Asia. In a layover in a Japanese airport, she picked up a bag of fruity Kit Kats.

The bag included peach, berry and green tea Kit Kats.

Hmmmm. Not too sure these will catch on here in the U.S.

Inclusive Junk Mail, Part 8 & 9

Again with the inclusive junk mail. And not just once. Twice.

These two letters arrived one day apart.

And again, from Direct TV. And again from US Bank Visa. And once again, in Korean.

If you're new to my inclusive junk mail saga, you can catch yourself up to speed here.

Haunting Tunes of Nirmala Rajasekar

A few months back, I had the pleasure of interviewing Nirmala Rajasekar. She's an internationally touring musician, who happens to live in the Twin Cities area.

She plays the veena, which is a classical Indian instrument. In our interview, she told me the veena is as old as India.

My article about her was recently published. You can check it out here:

Venerable Veena

If you've never seen or heard a veena before, take a gander at this YouTube video of Nirmala playing her instrument.

French Milk, A Graphic Travel Memoir

Graphic novels are hot right now. The trend is something I've never much understood. I was never a comic book reader and my attention even wanes over daily cartoons. I prefer a good old-fashioned read with pages full of words.

However, the other day I decided to give a graphic novel a try.

The book I picked up was called French Milk and was written and illustrated by Lucy Knisley.

I initially picked up the book because it looks like a regular book. It is the shape and size of a normal paperback. I was surprised to flip through the pages and see that it was a graphic novel.

Well...graphic "novel" isn't really the right genre title. The book isn't fiction. It's memoir. Travel memoir, to be exact.

The book is an illustrated travel journal of a five-week trip to Paris that the author took with her mom.

It didn't take me very long to read, and it didn't convince me to abandon the traditional, text-laden travel memoir.

But I did find it interesting, if more from a composition standpoint than from a reader's standpoint. I liked seeing how she really pared down her text and used pictures to get across details that a traditional writer would have described with words.

Nonetheless, I think the next travel memoir I pick up will probably be full of words, words, words.

My Very First Lady Slipper

Even though I was born and raised in Minnesota, I'd never ever seen the state flower, a lady slipper, in person.

I'd only seen pictures or sketches of it in text books or on postcards.

Well, after my road trip to northern Minnesota, to the Walker-Leech Lake area, I can now say I've seen not one, not two, not three, but many many lady slippers growing in the wild.