Self-Guided Afternoon in Puerto Vallarta

We were able to visit Puerto Vallarta, for the first time, on our cruise to the Mexican Riviera aboard the Majestic Princess.

Puerto Vallarta Cruise Port

Puerto Vallarta’s cruise terminal was the heart of a non-tourist shopping area. This gave a nice insight into what day to day life really looks like instead of what the tourist area is designed to look like. From our balcony you had a beautiful view of the city, high-rises, and most surprising was the mall right across the street.

None of the excursions offered here fit our cultural and food desires, so we decided to explore on our own instead. While excursions are great, it can be nice to find your own way around and see what you can come up with. Some of our most memorable trips to new cities are just that!

Since we didn’t have to be off the ship at a certain time, this meant we were able to sleep in for the first time in a few days and we couldn’t pass up that opportunity.

Side note about us

Early on in our travels we tried to find our niche item. You know how some people collect spoons, t-shirts, mugs, or any a variety of other items. We really wanted to find something like that but we really didn’t want to pack around ‘stuff’.

Instead, we decided our memories would be based around eating (or drinking in a pinch). This means every trip and adventure in a new place must include food at some point to officially say that ‘we have been there!’.

Lunch

So after we had slept in, got ready, and disembarked from the ship it was after noon. This meant we were hungry and ready to find a place to eat.

We always try to find somewhere local if can. That is the most authentic way we can experience a location and have a memory to show for it. Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier we were docked in the heart of a busy shopping area so local food was not close.

We found a few restaurants on Google Maps and started walking. We later realized they had trollies running that would have saved us probably a mile of walking, but now we know for next time!

I should also mention that it was a beautiful sunny day in Mexico on the ocean. Which also means it was warm and humid. Normally this would not have been a concern, but once we added walking to the mix it got hot quickly.

After about 20-30 minutes of walking (which felt much longer) we realized our selected restaurant was actually a Hotel and didn’t seem open to the public. At this point I was a little desperate for a drink of some kind so we started to walk back towards the ship in the hopes of finding something else.

We stumbled on a taco stand that many locals were stopping at, and what better way to enjoy Mexico than eating tacos with locals! Thankfully not much Spanish is required to order tacos so we were able to easily order since they did not seem to speak English. The tacos were good and we were happy to have a drink to quench our thirst from walking around in the sun.

Local Currency

However, we did totally mess up when we paid and still feel bad. We didn’t exactly plan to pay cash somewhere so we really only had $20 US dollar bills with us and a few $1 bills. Without trying to complicate things by asking for prices and converting to pesos we gave them a $20.

Well tacos are not exactly expensive, especially when you are not paying inflated tourist prices, so we needed ~$10 in change. It didn’t even cross our minds that they wouldn’t have change (a bad habit we need to work on!). More specifically they didn’t have US dollars to return in change. While we would have understood if they needed to use pesos instead, the currency conversion would have been more of a pain and headache for everyone.

After a few minutes they were able to gather together enough change for us, but we know it basically took all the small US bills they had.

We WILL do better next time!

Exploring

Now that our stomachs were happier with us, we continued our walk back to the ship but exploring along the way.

When we were on the ship and walking around we saw that in addition to the Galerias Vallarta Shopping Mall, there was also a Walmart and Sams Club right next to the port. Which is a good find if anyone is looking a more traditional store due to lost/forgotten items.

We don’t love Walmart at home, so we were in no hurry to go there in another country. So instead we decided to go to the mall.

Since we didn’t eat much at the taco stand, and our walking had continued, we were quickly hungry and thirsty again. So we decided to stop at the food court in the mall.

McDonald’s

After years of travel, we really haven’t run into the opportunity to eat at restaurant we would normally have access to. Its always a nice chuckle when we pass a KFC or something in another country but its usually in passing as we are driving to another destination.

McDonald’s is a guilty pleasure of ours, and we knew that one of two things could happen. 1) They are consistent, so we were pretty confident that there was no risk or complication getting a meal here. 2) They may have a unique menu item that we can’t get at home and we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try something new.

We did have a few moments of panic and preparation before we ordered. We tried making sure we could pronounce everything correctly, using as much Spanish as we could. Also, we wanted to be sure they wouldn’t have an issue taking a credit card, especially an Amex.

Thankfully we didn’t run into any issues. The staff seemed to speak a little English so that helped bridge any potential gaps there were in our Spanish. Sadly, there are no unique menu items so we kept it simple an easy with a two cheeseburger meal, fries, and a coke.

While they seemed to have a functioning ice cream machine, their soda machine was broken and they were pouring drinks from 2 liter bottles instead. Not a big deal at all, but always funny to see things you don’t expect.

It took a few more minutes for our food to be done and we were entertaining ourselves by trying to read the receipt as well as doing the currency conversion to see if the price varied significantly from home (in case you were also wondering, there was basically no difference).

While reviewing the receipt we saw ‘Beicon’ written on it and we spent probably too much time trying to figure out what that would mean in Spanish. Nathan finally realized that when the employee asked for a name for an order and we said ‘Nathan’, she must have heard ’Beicon’ instead.

You can’t help but laugh at the differences between languages, naming culture, and how much an accent can alter what people hear.