Puerto Vallarta & Cabo: What to do?

Ok you don't agree? So what "facts" can you cite to support what you say? We did spend some time researching the issue (just out of curiosity) and can find absolutely nothing that supports what you said. I am not trying to prove you right or wrong but merely trying to find out the truth.

 

 

Hank

P.S. Our curiosity is enhanced because we live in Mexico 2 months a year and have never noticed what you stated.

What Do the Two Lines on the Dollar Sign Mean?

This was also on the internet !!!! If you want to "prove" your theories, I am sure the internet will provide a variety of solutions. My personal knowledge and experience doesn't seem to influence you.

The one line through the 'S' symbol means pesos. The two lines through the 'S' symbol is for dollars. My friend Roberto Martinez told me.

This also from the internet.

What Do the Two Lines on the Dollar Sign Mean?

 

This was also on the internet !!!! If you want to "prove" your theories, I am sure the internet will provide a variety of solutions. My personal knowledge and experience doesn't seem to influence you.

 

The one line through the 'S' symbol means pesos. The two lines through the 'S' symbol is for dollars. My friend Roberto Martinez told me.

 

This also from the internet.

Ok, you win :) Your amigo Roberto Martinez trumps all the world financial publications, dictionaries, encyclopedias, world financial markets, world financial newspapers, all the current keyboards, and even the historians. So I suggest you send your friends info to the Wall Street Journey, Economist, Financial Times, every computer keyboard manufacturer in the world, etc.

But getting back to my earlier post, cruisers (this forum is about cruisers) need to be aware that the symbols used in Puerto Vallarta (and all of Mexico) for the dollar and Peso are exactly the same ($) so you might want to be aware when pricing out items. But if anyone happens to see a price label made by Roberto Martinez (Swedish Weave's amigo) it might look a little different :).

Hank

P.S. I really wish what you said was true (it is not). Because when we ran up a $150 tab at the supermarket today (in Pennsylvania) I would have loved to give them 150 Pesos and tell them that the single stroke means Pesos :).. But I suspect they would have called the cops.

At the end of the day . . . one line or two, if it doesn't have "USD" or "US" leading or trailing the printed price, it's pesos.

Ok, you win :) Your amigo Roberto Martinez trumps all the world financial publications, dictionaries, encyclopedias, world financial markets, world financial newspapers, all the current keyboards, and even the historians. So I suggest you send your friends info to the Wall Street Journey, Economist, Financial Times, every computer keyboard manufacturer in the world, etc.

 

But getting back to my earlier post, cruisers (this forum is about cruisers) need to be aware that the symbols used in Puerto Vallarta (and all of Mexico) for the dollar and Peso are exactly the same ($) so you might want to be aware when pricing out items. But if anyone happens to see a price label made by Roberto Martinez (Swedish Weave's amigo) it might look a little different :).

 

Hank

P.S. I really wish what you said was true (it is not). Because when we ran up a $150 tab at the supermarket today (in Pennsylvania) I would have loved to give them 150 Pesos and tell them that the single stroke means Pesos :).. But I suspect they would have called the cops.

I take this as misguided sarcasm. I do not know the person you call my friend because the quote was from the intrernet as I stated in my post.

Experience trumps opinions except when the opinions are too firmly embedded in ones mind.

We're going to be in Puerto Vallarta and Cabo on a HAL cruise in April and none of the shore tours are really jumping out to us. I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on things we could do or organise on our own?

 

We are a married couple in our early 30's from Australia. Cost is not important to us.

 

Any recommendations would be great. We don't really want to drive if we can avoid it.

Wow....sorry about the spitting contest above. My opinion? For PV: Grab a cab at the cruise dock. Head for the "new pier" (the driver will know.) From there wander back on the Malecon back towards the cruise docks. Stop to shop, re-hydrate, and snack as you will. It is really a great walk. If you tire before returning to the dock, just grab a cab. Don't be afraid of wandering off of the Malecon. You will find great places, wonderful people, outstanding food, and cheap beverages....if you walk downhill, you will find the Malecon!

Cabo: Wander the Marina, take a water taxi out to the Arch (highly recommended), maybe have the water taxi drop you off at Medano Beach, rather than back at the Marina ($12pp). Stop at any of the great Cantinas on Medano, eat, drink, and be happy! After eating, drinking, and being happy, wander out and grab a land cab back to the dock ($10-12 total for up to 4), and enjoy the view of Cabo that you might have otherwise missed. Just remember, if the menu says $100 for a hamburger, no matter how many slashes are through the "S", it will most likely be in Pesos, I have never seen a $100.00us hamburger in Mexico...($100.00 Pesos is $6.72)

In February of 1985, my wife and I made the first of our many visits to Puerto Vallarta. So much has changed so that, in some respects finding our original haunts has become a bit of a fun challenge. At that time we had the great good fortune to be befriended by Hania Bartle, a noted American travel writer. Armed with her letters of introduction and transit, not to mention her considerable pluck and inquisitive nature, we prowled and probed the town. Hotel gardens and lobbies, restaurants including visits to the kitchens and chefs were all fair game. We ventured further afield down to remote Yelapa. This you understand, was well before the internet and cyberspace popped into being. Word of mouth and the written word on the printed page were the means at our disposal. To this day we employ her wonderful spirit and attitude. It is a gift that was bequeathed and is treasured. We have arrived in PV by air and by cruise ship. It is a place of the heart as much as a destination. Here then is a short essay on the nature of such explorations. Enjoy.

Travelers and Tourists

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes but in having new eyes.” ~ Marcel Proust

Each week, many cruise ships carrying thousands of passengers make their port of call in beautiful Puerto Vallarta. Tour buses transport the visitors off to a variety of diversions; some of which are well favored by seasoned visitors such as the tropical foliage canopy tour, whale watching, and the boat excursion to Las Caletas beach as well as town oriented excursions into El Centro, Isla Cuale, the Malecon and on to Southside PV. For the city centered tours there will be requisite stops at mega-sized jewelry stores and brand name outlets, many which are little different in their nature from those found at home. The bus passengers are literally herded from one point to another on a time-driven schedule. Their activities are for the most part, proscribed. They may have prudently been cautioned notto drink any water that is not bottled or, unwisely, not to try the local restaurants. The latter admonition, given PV’s consistently reliable array of fine cuisine, is simultaneously limiting and woefully misinformed. The passengers might easily be forgiven if they seem to stare out from the bus windows at the vibrant street life, the cafes, and the parade of daily life of PV as if it were taking place on another planet. It’s not that personal exploration is forbidden; it’s just not freely encouraged. To be fair minded, taking a tour can potentially be an enriching and pleasurable experience. Perhaps this assessment is dependent on the size, locale and content of the exploration. A knowledgeable guide and an intimate group, for instance, can be quite a rewarding pairing. I for one would sign up in a moment for a culinary and wine tour anywhere in Italy. In the evening some all too fleeting hours after arriving, the ship departs. A few intrepid travelers may have ventured by taxi or (gasp!) local bus and made their way beyond Centro deep into Southside PV, the “Zona Romantica”, and further south to Colonia Conchas Chinas and Mismaloya or perhaps northward to not too distant Bucerias. They may have, in their explorations, found intriguing shops such as Galleria de Olla in Centro with its vibrant and imaginative Mata Ortiz pottery, one of a kind jewelry creations at Cassandra Shaw Jewelry, or fun costume jewelry at La Piedra (the stones), and the hand selected high quality Mexican folk art/crafts at Lucy’s Cu Cu Cabana all located on Basillo Badillo. Perhaps they stopped for cooling refreshments at the funky Burro’s Beach Bar or Cuates y Cuetes adjacent to the graceful new pier on Los Muertos beach or dined at La Palapa, Marisco Polos, Café Bohemio or La Piatzetta or, further afield in Bucerias, the superb local and seafood cuisine found at Aduato’s on the Beach. The home-made flan there is seductively otherworldly. In doing so, by engaging in commerce and exploration, they may have opened themselves up and discovered the true hospitality and genuine warmth of Vallartans.

There is in the end, you see, a distinct difference between the tourist and the traveler. Do we see what others direct our attention to or do we seek out for ourselves a world of possibilities? What has living in a world of being relentlessly exposed to crassly linked nano-second imagery done to our imaginations, our capacity for curiosity? Has our ability to look beyond the ordinary or programmed been impaired? John Steinbeck, the great American writer, once observed, “You don’t take a trip, it takes you”, that by virtue of undertaking a journey, you open yourself up to the unexpected. What you make of the opportunity is a gift that is yours to unwrap. Try something new or unexpected. Ask the why or how of something. Shake awake your perceptions. What have you got to lose? For many ship visitors, I suspect, PV will be remembered as yet another stop on a very pleasant cruise vacation where the vendors and stalls of the Mercado near the marina took on an indistinguishable dimension; one stop not too much different from the previous one. Out of the tens of thousands of cruise ship visitors, an adventuresome few will remember fondly their exploratory day in this beautiful city on Banderas Bay. Late that night as the ship is well underway at sea, fewer still will feel they have been touched by something magical, by this enchanted place and will make, and keep, a promise to themselves to return.