Puerto Vallarta Living

Mexican Stocks, Silver, and Real Estate--A Ten Year Review: The Consumer Price Indexes (CPI) program of the US Department of Labor produces monthly data on changes in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of goods and services in the United States. Tracking the CPI data began in 1913 and by 1983, inflation had reached... Read More

Live in Mexico Without Spanish? ¿Donde esta el baño? ¿Como esta usted? That pretty well sums up two years of high school Spanish taken as a college prep course almost 50 years ago! Of course, why would anyone ever need to know Spanish having never met a Mexican, let alone thought about going to Mexico? My, how times have changed... Read More

Don't Drink the Water? Years ago, the rule throughout Mexico was, don’t drink the water. We moved to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in 1997 and one of the selling features of our beautiful new villa was an in-house water purification system. It had dual cartridges, one charcoal, the other chemically treated paper, and dual ultra violet lamps for additional treatment. We also had filtration units below the kitchen sink as well as in the refrigerator... Read More

The Facts Concerning Violent Crimes Committed Against US Tourists in Mexico. Since shocking and misleading headlines such as "Mexico the Most Dangerous Country for Americans" are designed to be attention grabbing, tourists that read such nonsense might want to do their homework before considering vacation destinations in Mexico; they must understand the facts and not be frightened by ridiculous fear tactics put forth by those with ulterior motives... Read More

Escape From America Without Leaving America. As we all know, Christopher Columbus, while searching for China, first discovered the Americas when he arrived in San Salvador in 1492. On his second voyage, he landed in the Caribbean Islands, and on his last voyage in 1498, he arrived in the area of Venezuela. In 1497, the Italian sailor Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot), exploring on behalf of England, landed in Labrador and Newfoundland... Read More

Christmas in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Five centuries ago, Christmas was virtually nonexistent in Mexico; in fact, Christianity had not even been introduced to the New World. The native Aztec Indians weren't even aware of the concept of Christianity until 1524, when Twelve Franciscans (Twelve Apostles of New Spain) came to Mexico; about a decade later, the Dominicans followed... Read More

How Do You Get to Paradise? Paradise, as defined by some dictionaries and religions, is heaven or any environment that is ultimately pleasurable. We can’t help you get to heaven; however we can give you some good tips on getting to a place that’s almost ultimately pleasurable! It’s difficult to imagine that one of the routes to such a place is through central Mexico, a drive that we first made in the late 70´s... Read More

The Three Eyed Iguanas of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The word "iguana" is the Spanish derivation of the Carib (Amerindian) word, "iwana"; a name given to a family of lizards that are found throughout the Americas. Iguanas are one of the five generally recognized infraorders of the lacertilian suborder of reptiles which includes all lizards. The Iguanidae family is only one of about 17 families of the lacertilian suborder; it includes the subfamilies of iguana iguanas (green) and spiny-tailed (black) iguanas which are abundant in the Puerto Vallarta, Mexico area. This entire order of reptiles has been traced back to Tianyusaurus who roamed the Earth during the Late Cretaceous Period, 65-100 million years ago... Read More

The Magnificent Sand Sculptures of Puerto Vallarta. Do you remember your first few vacations to the beach as a child with your parents when you had your little shovel and bucket and could let your imagination run wild as you built sand castles with moats around them? Obviously, we were not the first to mold sand. Sand sculpting as an art form has been around for thousands of years; it is conjectured that the ancient Egyptians made sand models of the pyramids... Read More

The Fountain of Youth Rediscovered in Puerto Vallarta. Puerto Vallarta, the sleepy little Mexican fishing village that's no longer sleepy or little is located at the same latitude as Maui, Hawaii. Being at that latitude, Vallarta experiences the same perfect daily temperatures as Maui from November through May averaging about 73°F. However Vallarta is much more hospitable for vacationing or retirement during those months because it experiences an average monthly rainfall of less than 0.4 inches, whereas Maui receives anywhere from 1.7 to 2.6 inches of rain per month depending upon your location on the island... Read More

The World’s Only Natural Island Green in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Some historians trace the sport of golf back to the Roman game of paganica, in which participants used a bent stick to hit a stuffed leather ball; however, according to the most widely accepted account, the modern game originated in Scotland around the 12th century with shepherds knocking stones into rabbit holes on the current site of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews... Read More

History of Sport Resulting in Sudden Death Near Puerto Vallarta. Synthetic rubber, plastics, rayon, nylon and other synthetic materials were first developed from hydrocarbons such as oil, natural gas, and coal in the late 19th century but not really commercialized until during the 1900‘s... Read More

The Last of the Obsidian Artifacts in Puerto Vallarta. More than 30 years ago during one of our first visits to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, while browsing through a small souvenir shop, we noticed a handful of small black objects high on a back corner shelf... Read More

World Class Fire Opals Mined Near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We all know that Puerto Vallarta, Mexico is a world famous resort destination and retirement haven. We also know that just about all of the Mexican Riviera cruise ships make Vallarta a normal port of entry providing the visitors with numerous fun and exciting things to do, sights to be seen, side tours to be taken, beautiful beaches to enjoy... Read More

Puerto Vallarta & Lake Tahoe--The Best of Both Worlds. Upon retiring fourteen years ago, we spent a great deal of time traveling the world in search for the perfect retirement haven. Eleven years ago we selected Puerto Vallarta, Mexico as the location for our main retirement residence... Read More

Ready to Live in Luxury? After a lifetime of hard work, isn’t it about time that you enjoy the fruit of your labor? By now, you should be ready to start living large, living like a king, living the life of Riley, or just plain living in luxury... Read More

The Influence of Mariachi on Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico. Mariachi music, quite obviously the heart and soul of Mexico to anyone that has traveled south of the border, frequently permeates the Puerto Vallarta evening air. Mariachis can be heard serenading women at weddings, special occasions such as quinceaneras (girls’ fifteenth birthday celebrations)... Read More

Want to Find Treasure in the Sierra Madres? Do you remember the 1927 novel, "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", which was about a couple of down-and-out Americans that joined up with a crusty old timer to prospect for gold in Mexico... Read More

Live in Mexico—Cheap, Huh? Mexico on $5 a day? Sure, not a problem if you can survive on four cervezas during the day and sleep in a tent pitched somewhere in the woods during the night... Read More

What Makes Banderas Bay So Special? Some say that Banderas Bay was formed from a volcano; that it is so deep that no instruments have ever been able to accurately detect its depth. Others claim it to be two miles deep... Read More

Have You Seen Puerto Vallarta's Green Flashes? Perhaps you're among those fortunate enough to have witnessed a green flash at the instant the sun sets; however for most, they've only heard of the phenomenon... Read More

What is the Most Popular Fruit in the World? It's probably safe to say, that when asked which fruit is the most popular fruit in the world, the majority of Americans and Canadians would respond with apples or bananas... Read More

Puerto Vallarta Deep Sea Fishing: Picture this; it’s a 75*F day in November, the sky is blue, and you’re with your best fishing buddy, 20 miles out in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico ... Read More

Puerto Vallarta Golf: Are you tired of shoveling snow, scraping windshields, and wading through slush throughout the winter? Would you prefer having the ability to play golf everyday this winter? ... Read More

Puerto Vallarta's Tecomeae Tribe Takes Center Stage in the Springtime: During the months of March and April, a couple species of the Tecomeae tribe come out in their full regalia in Puerto Vallarta. The Tecomeae tribe, included in the Bignoniaceae family, has numerous genuses including the Tabebuia genus ... Read More

What Makes Banderas Bay So Special? Some say that Banderas Bay was formed from a volcano; that it is so deep that no instruments have ever been able to accurately detect its depth. Others claim it to be two miles deep ... Read More

Just Hanging; Around Puerto Vallarta. During the hustle and bustle of today's life, many of us never have the time or take the time to stop and smell the flowers, let alone closely observe the wildlife around us... Read More

Want to Learn Something in Your Spare Time? Now that you’ve finally retired and have some free time, perhaps you might be interested in learning some things that you previously never had time to learn... Read More

Why Are All Of Puerto Vallarta's Bougainvillea Flowers White? Bougainvillea, a strikingly beautiful plant seen in abundance in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, derived its name from Louis Antoine de Bougainvillea, an admiral in... Read More

What Makes Puerto Vallarta Quaint? Quaint, as defined by Webster and others, means unusual or old fashioned in a pleasing way, with a charming old fashioned quality, or oddly picturesque... Read More

Where Exactly is Margaritaville? Before deciding whether or not we want to retire to Margaritaville, we must ask, where in the world is Margaritaville? Where exactly was Jimmy Buffett when he got wasted away, searchin’ for his ... Read More