Puerto Vallarta (PV) 2022: Sunday 2/6 | |
It may not be large, colorful, or gaudy, but it is still one of my favorite murals that we pass on our way to the ATM. Today, it was ATM then PV. | |
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I was expecting to hear from the dentist today regarding my plan-of-action options, so we didn’t want to go too far. The options are supposed to be emailed to me. I thought that we could run into Puerto Vallarta. It is an easy bus ride back to the dentist clinic from PV if need be.
We still needed some pesos to pay for Wanda’s permanent crowns and implants. Back to the ATM. We can only take out 7,000 pesos at a time. We only have 14,000 pesos accumulated so far after two trips to the ATM. This time I experimented with trying two back-to-back withdrawals for a total of 14,000 pesos in one trip to the ATM. It worked. After tons of excruciating head-hurting math crunching, I discovered that using pesos from this ATM, using my new trick (declining the exchange rate offered), I will end up getting a 15.7% discount on our dental work.
OK, I promise that I’m done writing about dentist bills, peso conversions, and ATMs.
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Scenes from our walk to the ATM. | |
Yet another example of the typical neighborhood sidewalk eateries. These are in the older sections of town and they are mostly patronized by the locals. Even lacking the fancy tourist surroundings, the food can still be wonderful. We have found some real gems in these more humble areas. | |
Bucerias’ main church situated in the downtown plaza. The clock has been stuck at 1:05 for at least three years that we know of - probably much longer. | |
We have walked past this shop in Bucerias several times and I always marvel over these spectacular pieces of wood. I wonder what 500-year-old rare tree had to be sacrificed for these. | |
Getting to PV involves two buses. The Compostela or the ATM buses work. That gets you to PV’s Hotel District, which is still a long walk away from Zona Centro, also known as Zona Romantica. Zona Centro is the downtown and main beach area. | |
One of a giant fleet of buses that run up and down the Bay of Banderas. This is an ATM bus (not to be mixed up with ATM money dispensers). Compostela buses also make the trip. Colectivos, white compact vans jammed with 15 seats, add to the fleet of people movers along the bay. You never wait longer than a couple of minutes for a ride. | |
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To reach Zona Centro from the Hotel Zone, you must hop on a city bus. The routes have changed from the first year we visited PV. I liked the old route system much better. Anyway, city buses are divided into two kinds: Centro and Tunel (tunnel). Centro buses run from the Hotel District to the very northern tip of Zona Centro. This still leaves a fairly long walk, but an extremely pleasant walk, along the coastline ocean walk to reach downtown. Centro buses used to go all the way downtown. I don’t know why they changed it.
The Tunel buses are more complicated. Their routes vary and they go farther inland. As one would predict, PV becomes rougher and poorer the farther away from the ocean you go. As the name suggests, the Tunel buses go through a tunnel as they travel south. As far as I could comprehend, all the Tunel buses do end up downtown.
It is on the return trip to the Hotel District that gets confusing. Not all the Tunel buses end up there. Some go to other neighborhoods even farther inland. Like most Mexican buses, each city bus has a list of neighborhoods it serves painted on its windshield. I know all the communities up and down the coast so I can easily figure out where the area buses go. I don’t know all of the neighborhoods within PV, so I don’t always know where the city buses go. I just need more practice.
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This wonderful ocean walk is where the Centro buses drop you off in PV. Although it is still a long way from downtown, it is a pleasant walk. | |
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PV, within the city limits, is a modest-size city of 200,000. It occupies a spot a little below the middle of the large Bay of Banderas. The entire bay, of course, is ringed with towns and communities. Bucerias, La Cruz, and Punta de Mita occupy the northern arm of the bay, just to put things in perspective.
PV is one of the prettiest cities in Mexico. It certainly ranks way up there in quality of food. Actually, the entire Bay of Banderas has great food. It is the gay tourist capital of Mexico. Gay couples of all ages can vacation here and not get hassled. It must also be the voodoo capital of Mexico. There are many sculptures of skulls, porcelain skull trinkets, booze bottled in skull-shaped containers, skeleton mannequins, etc.
We weren’t on much of a mission. I did want to verify that the bus stands for buses running to the towns south of PV are still where they were two years ago. The only other mission was to get a good meal. So, we reverted to our zig-zagging-the-streets technique.
The city was vibrant. It weathered the COVID lock-down that killed tourism last year reasonably well. All the hotels, shops, restaurants, and street vendors near the ocean were doing gang-buster business. Farther away from the ocean might have been affected a bit more by COVID, but that is only speculation on my part. It just seemed to me that an ever so slight patina of dullness pervaded in these parts. I first saw it in the iconic glistening mosaic wall across the street from the restaurant, Margaritagrill (a clever play on words). It seems to have lost just a touch of its luster. That made me sad.
That said, roaming PV is always fun. The long ocean-front walk is glorious with its beautiful sculptures along the walkway. The downtown hotels actually have some character to them, unlike the bland Miami-style hotels in the Hotel District. The cafes all pumped out delicate aromas of cuisine that encouraged my hunger pangs.
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These statues along the ocean walk are fabulous. | |
This guy has quite an interesting street hustle. He balances rocks on the beach for tips. | |
This has always been my favorite statue along the ocean walk. | |
Shops line the ocean walk for about a mile. | |
Crossing the Cuale River denotes the northern border of the Zona Romantica (downtown). | |
The hotel that overlooks the downtown plaza, Parque Lazero Cardenas. | |
Puerto Vallarta hosts a heavily advertized “drag queen” show. Each “star” has his stage name, special spiel, and his unique advertising banner. This guy’s banner caught my eye. | |
An example of PV’s fascination with skulls (and skeletons). | |
Seating in the plaza is colorful. | |
Do you think it would fit me? | |
There are street vendor stalls everywhere. | |
There are street taco stands everywhere. | |
There was a guy inside the white costume dancing and jumping and frolicking. | |
On a street several blocks away from the touristy ocean area, where the town starts to lose its glitz (but not its character), I looked inside a doorway of an unassuming building. I was rewarded with this elegant dining room. There you go. Never judge a book by its cover. | |
Deep in the back streets of old PV, well away from the hustle of the ocean area, street shops still prevail. The streets were very dead here. This guy has a ton of magazines. I wondered if he ever sells any, or if he just perpetually rearranges them. | |
Part of the iconic mosaic wall. As I said, to me, the wall has lost just a hint of its luster. | |
Speaking of Margaritagrill and hunger pangs, we settled on dinner at Margaritagrill. This usually ends up as our go-to meal option in PV. The food is fabulous and the margaritas are the best in PV. The portions are notoriously humongous. Even when we split a dish they have to wheel us out in a wheelbarrow. | |
The entrance to Margaritagrill. The guy in front was dancing up a ferocious storm all by himself. I guess that’s what margaritas do to you. | |
When you place an order for guacamole, here is what you get for your 120 pesos ($5.80 US). You get a waiter to come over and whip up a fresh batch of guacamole and salsa. The salsa is especially wonderful. He started with a couple of large whole fire-roasted tomatoes that he cut and chopped, added diced onions, a bunch of fresh spices and herbs, some chunks of cheese, and squeezed a little fresh lime juice over the whole concoction. The chips were homemade and delicious. It was a meal in itself. And the guacamole? Heavenly fresh. | |
Presenting our chicken fajitas. On the side, we also received a bunch of tortillas, refried beans, and more guacamole and salsa. We did not order a margarita. I know that this is controversial - not ordering a margarita at Margaritagrill, the home of PV’s finest. Quite frankly, we were just too stuffed. | | | | |
