$4 visit to Puerto Vallarta

We figured out how to take the local bus from here to downtown Puerto Vallarta. We walked about 2 kms into the town of Valle de Banderas and asked at the central square where the parada (bus stop) was.

Only had to wait about 5 minutes and the bus came along. Cost was 13 pesos ($1.02) each for the 32 km (20 mile) bus ride.

32 km bus ride into town.

The bus ride took about an hour. Then, we got off near the northern start of the malecon and looked for the second bus we were supposed to take to the "romantic zone" where my cousin Darl and his wife Cindy have a rented apartment for the month. But we couldn't see what we thought was the right bus, so we decided we could probably walk. It was a pretty long walk, probably about 45 minutes. I had told Darl we would probably get there around noon, and sure enough we arrived at about 5 minutes before noon!

Walking along the malecon in Puerto Vallarta.

You almost wouldn't think you're in Mexico here. Many tourists, and everybody speaking English. It's okay just to say that we've been here, but Puerto Vallarta is definitely not our thing. Almost everything advertised in dollars. Very expensive part of Mexico. There's a bunch of restaurants and bars on the malecon advertising $1 beers, as if it's some kind of deal and many people think it is without realizing that is pretty much what a beer costs in a restaurant in the real Mexico anyhow.

This guy spends his days balancing rocks for donations.

It's actually totally amazing!

View from Darl and Cindy's balcony.

Visited with Darl and Cindy for the afternoon, and three hours went by very quickly. We wanted to get back before dark and we walked all the way back to where we thought we could catch the bus, but two of them went by without stopping. We asked a taxi driver and realized that we had to be at "Los Glorias" to catch the bus which was only another five minute walk. It was sort of funny when we got on the bus, the driver kind of questioned us because no tourists ever take a local bus to Valle de Banderas. He wanted to make sure we were getting on the right bus!

The church in the old part of town.

We enjoyed our day, but probably won't make an effort to go back into the city unless it's to catch a bus to San Sebastien, a town about 60 kms inland that we want to visit. That'll be a story for another day! Spent a total of $4.08 yesterday for our visit to Puerto Vallarta.