Miraflores District in Lima, Peru

On April 27, 2020 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn South America6 Comments

If you visit Lima, Peru, we would suggest staying in the Miraflores district. Miraflores is an upscale district that sits along the coast of Peru with beautiful beaches, excellent restaurant choices, nice hotels, and it isn’t far from downtown Lima. We visited Lima during one of our trips to South America and it is a truly beautiful area. We took advantage of the time to go down and enjoy the beach as well as go into downtown Lima and see the historic sites.

Obviously, many people make this a destination of its own to enjoy the beaches and take advantage of the festive nightlife. We enjoyed walking down to the beach area and sitting at one of the outdoor restaurant patios. The food of Lima is well known for being some of the best in the world, so we made sure to sample a variety of different dishes. While we were at the beach, we tried the some local sandwiches with fried potatoes, but for dinner we chose to have some fusion food.

In addition to the restaurants, there are also several shopping malls and other stores for those who would like to do some shopping. This is a typical beach resort area where each of the various hotels have restaurants and cafes in addition to those that you can find along the beach itself. Whether looking for a place to sit in the sun, stroll along the beach, go for a swim, Miraflores is a perfect place to visit.

All Inclusive – Do You Get Your Money’s Worth?

On March 20, 2020 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Travel Tips6 Comments

Many resorts in Mexico, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and other beach destinations tend to require that you purchase all-inclusive packages that cover all of your meals and drinks for the entirety of your stay. While there are plenty of reasons that all-inclusive resorts are nice, we tend to think that it really favors the resort more than the people who stay there. A lot of it depends on your vacation style and whether the resort offers all of the variety that you are looking for.

Generally speaking, we prefer not to do all-inclusive plans for several reasons:

We like to eat where the locals eat and not just sit at the resort all day and all night, so we feel like we’re throwing money away if we leave the resort to enjoy a local restaurant.
We’re not big eaters. Under normal circumstances, we’ll split meals or even just share appetizers rather than sitting down and eating an entire meal to ourselves. That means that giant buffets or full course dinners are overkill for what we’ll end up eating.
It’s just the two of us so even if though we don’t track everything that we’re spending on a trip, we have a budget and pay attention to the prices that we’re paying for meals.
You feel the pressure to get your money’s worth, so you end up eating and drinking more than you should or would normally do. The last thing you want to do while you’re sitting at the beach is to put on a few pounds.
The only activities included in the ones that we have seen are non-motorized activities, which generally aren’t expensive anyway. We tend to find the more interesting things that we want to do are not part of the all-inclusive package that the resort offers.

With all that said, we’ve done all-inclusive plans a couple of times. When we went to the Dominican Republic, we didn’t have a choice, all of the resorts that we looked at were all-inclusive. On the flip side, there really weren’t any local restaurants near the resort at Punta Cana, so staying at the resort was perfectly fine. The other thing that is nice about the all-inclusive plans is the alcohol. When we’re on vacation and don’t have to drive anyplace, we’re going to have a good time and part of that is having a few drinks, so not having to worry about that expense is kind of nice. Again, though, we don’t want to over-drink, so it is a balancing act of not feeling like you have to have one more because “you’ve already paid for it”. The other time we did the all-inclusive was actually the last time we went to Cabo a few years ago. We did three days of all-inclusive and four days on our own. That allowed us to go to the theme nights, eat and drink at the resort for a few days and then let us hit the restaurants on the beach and in town for the rest of the trip.

Regardless of what you think of all-inclusive resorts, chances are you’ll end up staying at one during one of your trips. If you have to stay at an all-inclusive resort, try to take advantage of the amenities without overindulging unnecessarily. The prices of all-inclusive resorts tend to be fairly expensive, but don’t assume that you won’t have other expenses or want to do things outside of the resort, so be sure to plan your budget accordingly.

The Beaches of Acapulco, Mexico

On March 3, 2020 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Mexico1 Comment

We really enjoyed our recent trip to Acapulco and the beaches were definitely the star of our time there. We have been to other Pacific resort towns in Mexico including Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta. Acapulco was unique in comparison to both of those for a variety of reasons. One is the proximity of Acapulco to Mexico City, which makes it a destination for locals who would like to get away from the city and enjoy time at the beach. Another is the combination of restaurants, water sports, and water that is suitable for swimming throughout all of the beaches that line the bay.

The beaches are very walkable and you can easily spend all of your day exploring all along the beach. You will find many different companies offering you the opportunity to rent jet skis, parasail, or take a ride on a banana boat. There are also people selling various items, especially jewelry, which is inexpensive in the area, as well as food. We didn’t find them to be as pushy as perhaps they are in other resort areas. As you walk passed all of the palapas that line the beach, you will get many offers to join the different restaurants for lunch and there isn’t anything that distinguishes where one restaurant’s tables end and another begins.

Perhaps because Acapulco is so close to Mexico City or because it is so far south and not as easy to get to from other countries, but there were not nearly as many foreigners as we have seen in other resort cities. It also meant that the crowds were much larger on the weekend than during the week during our stay. Regardless of its popularity among people outside of Mexico, we found the people to be friendly and the beaches to be very beautiful. The temperatures were quite warm, even in February, with daily temperatures reaching 90 degrees Fahrenheit (about 32 degrees Celsius). Fortunately, the ocean temperature was perfect to get a break from the heat by walking in the gentle waves or going for a quick swim.