Paradise Village
09 December 2014 | Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico
Pat
We've been at Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta for a week now. Most people have heard of Puerto Vallarta, the large city just to our south. Nuevo Vallarta is a suburb just to the north. It's a lot like Kaanapali outside Lahina on Maui, lots of big resorts outside of town. Staying in the marina here gives us access to the hotel pool and other amenities.
We took a dingy ride up the canal that the marina is located on. We saw a crocodile on the trip. There isn't anything in the photo to judge size, but that one is a baby, only about 24 inches long.
We took the bus into town for only $15 pesos each, that's just over one US Dollar. We went shopping at COSCTO. It looks exactly like the ones in the US. They had many of the brands you find at home, plus some exotic ones. We stocked up on a few treats, like chocolate covered pomegranate balls. We had trouble finding the right bus to get back to the marina. We ended up taking a $50 peso cab ride back to the bus terminal. The cab driver offered to take us to the marina for $240 pesos. By the time we got out of the cab, he'd dropped his price to $200 pesos, but he still could not beat the $15 peso bus ride.
We also took the bus to the old part of the city. We walked around and looked at the tourist shops. I went into a Tequila Store and asked about a bottle of tequila. The salesman was happy to teach us about the various grades of tequila. I was about to buy a bottle when he saw I had taken a $100 peso bill from my wallet. He said no, it wasn't $100 pesos a bottle, it was $100 dollars US! I apologized for the misunderstanding, but I was not in the market for a $100 USD bottle of liquor.