VIVO Beach Club Experience

I know, I know I have been talking about my trip to Puerto Rico nonstop for the past week. I have ALMOST accepted the fact that my trip is over and that I am back in the cold and snow, where there are no sunny beaches or palm trees, but just not quite yet. I needed to share one last story with you all.

When Rob and I booked our flights to Puerto Rico about two months ago, I was really eager to 1) visit Puerto Rico and 2) be home in the United States to see family + friends. I knew before heading off to Puerto Rico I was going to be in Illinois for one day, but that just wasn’t enough for me. Although I fly into Chicago and used to live in the Chicagoland, my hometown is about 2 and ½ hours away. Therefore, I would have to put in extra effort to see my family and friends. When we booked our flights to PR, I wanted to come back to Illinois early Wednesday so I could drive home to the Quad Cities to stay with my parents for three nights before our flight back to Germany on Saturday. Unfortunately, the earliest flight we were able to find wasn’t until Wednesday night. I was pretty bummed because I figured we’d be spending our entire day in the airport on Wednesday because Rob’s family fly’s standby, as his mom is a retired flight attendant. Flying standby usually entails getting to the airport nice and early to try to guarantee a spot on a flight. 

Wednesday rolls around and we get to the airport at 8:30 am and our flight wasn’t until 5:30 pm. We tried to pay for an earlier flight but that would have bumped the standby’s from flying so we didn’t want to jeopardize his families chance of getting on a flight. I was slightly grumpy because I didn’t want to sit in the airport for the day and all I was thinking about is how I wish I could be home with my family. We asked an airport worker if she had any recommendations for a place we could go spend the day at. The worker suggested, “VIVO Beach Club”. We googled it and it looked amazing so we decided to hop in a taxi and go for it. I was a little skeptical because at this time it was only 9:30 am and so I didn’t know if it would be open. A $20 taxi ride later, we arrive and not only was it not open yet – it wasn’t even open to the public! It was a private beach club where their members pay a good chunk of change to be members at. It did have a public restaurant that opened at 11 am. 

As we were standing there stranded in front of this luxurious, private beach club in the sunny 80 degree weather, fully dressed in clothes to head back into the cold in, with all of our luggage, trying to order another taxi to go back to the airport an older gentleman approaches us and asks, “What in the hell are you guys doing?” Rob immediately begins telling him our situation and that we were going to order a taxi to head back to the airport. The older man immediately tells us to come put our bags away and to follow him. That older gentleman just so happened to be an owner of VIVO Beach Club! He shortly turned our stressful day of being stranded and possibly sitting in the airport for 7 hours into one of the coolest experiences.

He gave us a tour of the whole facility, even into the kitchens and offices! He introduced us to all of his staff, which he knew all of them by name. VIVO has been open for two years and has an outdoor venue for live entertainment, with big name artists like Steve Aoki and Sean Paul playing there. VIVO is on Isla Verde Beach, a beautiful beach with gorgeous sand and water. They have three different restaurants, five bars, a coffee + gift shop, convention centers, and their own brewery, Ocean Lab Brewing Company. I mean VIVO was incredible and Matías allowed us to enjoy our day there. He treated us to lunch and drinks and even accompanied us the entire time. He told us about his struggles growing up and all of the different obstacles he had to face throughout his lifetime. His story was truly inspiring and it was so intriguing to listen and learn from him. He made such a lasting impact on us. 

Looking back on the experience, it just feels so surreal how it all went down. It was literally a moment of being in the right place at the right time. I am so thankful to be able to have met such a great man with the biggest heart. He easily could have asked us to leave his beach club, instead he invited us with a warm welcome. I cannot wait to go back to PR and visit our friend. If you ever find yourself in Puerto Rico be sure to check out the VIVO Beach Club restaurant that is open to the public, and grab yourself a beer (or a few) from the Ocean Lab Brewing Co., and tell Matías, that Rob and Victoria say hola! 

Until next time,
Tor