As a change of pace from the wave of recent off-topic postings, I thought I'd post how my trip to Puerto Vallarta went. We were staying at the Sheraton. It's a decent enough hotel/condo, but their restaurants featured bland, Americanized cuisine, so we only ate on the property once. The good thing about the Sheraton was its location. It's close to the old part of town, and there's a bus stop right outside the hotel. Buses are owner operated, I think, and run in a constant stream. You get to ride as far as you want for 1.5 pesos (20 cents!), and we took advantage of that, big time! For a small town, PV has TONS of good restaurants, and like everything else there, dining out is incredibly cheap. We ate at a place called Bombo's at sunset one night. The place has an open air feel to it, and being as it's in the hills, also has a spectacular view of the sunset. My wife and I each had a jumbo mango margarita and a soup course. For the main course, I had red snapper, and Cathy had their special shrimp flambe, prepared tableside. We added coffee and dessert, plus the house threw in a free flaming Kahlua after dinner drink, and we walked out spending about $40! All of the nicer restaurants in town are priced similarly. There are loads of carts spread around town that prepare various Mexican dishes. Since PV has a clean water supply, we took a chance and tried them. The food was unbelievably good, and cheap even by PV standards. We ate our selves practically into a stupor one afternoon for about $5, total. We spent a lot of time veg-ing on Playa Los Muertos, the happening beach in town. There are several bars set up in the sand with palapas for shade. A palapa is sort of a thatch beach umbrella. One of the bars sold Coronas for 5 pesos, which is 70 cents. Another wanted 6 pesos, and we actually felt that bar was to pricey. It's all relative, I guess. Vendors come by selling fresh baked muffins (around noon, when the town first starts to wake up) and, later, marlin on a stick. The marlin is caught, cleaned and grilled on the beach. You get what must be close to a pound of fresh marlin, plus limes and picante sauce for 10 pesos. About the best fish I've ever had. I could go on and on, but I won't. Suffice it to say, we had a great time, and a week was too short. We went in the end of April, and the crowds were way down, while the weather was perfect. The town is clean, and the natives friendly. We both thought PV offered the best value we've ever had in a vacation. In fact, it was one of the best at any price. Lastly, thanks to everyone in this group who gave me tips on where to eat!!
Mexico