The Real Puerto Vallarta

Welcome to our neighborhood. Welcome to what our life, living in one of the top tourist destinations, is really like here in Puerto Vallarta. I'll start by saying there are a. lot of "gringo" neighborhoods here. Ours is not one of those. We aren't living in deep Mexico either, but it's definitely more Mexican inhabited than some others. All these pics I've posted with this blog are all within our neighborhood. The last picture is our condo building next so someone's house. We have two condominium buildings in this neighborhood and a third is currently under construction.

Within Puerto Vallarta, in general, you can pretty much get by without speaking Spanish; most places have at least one person working that speaks English. Our neighborhood however leans a little heavier on the Spanish speaking side. One block down from us is a little tienda where we buys snacks and sometimes veggies we forgot to grab at the grocery store, they speak zero English there. But we are getting better at knowing numbers in Spanish and knowing about what things should cost so we know about how much pesos to give them. 

There is a place called The Stadium about 5 blocks down the street from us. We try to take Bolt there as much as possible. The goal was to go daily but I work til late in the night and you have to get up early here to walk anywhere if you want to beat the heat, otherwise the walk is pretty miserable. Anyhoo, the Stadium is this freakin amazing huge multi park. It has a baseball field, futbol field, racket ball courts, basketball court, tennis court, pickle ball court, volleyball court, running track, outdoor gym, skate park, dog park, and probably more things we just haven't spotted yet. We love that there is a dog park nearby for Bolt even though there aren't always dogs there for him to play with. 

Now let's talk about walking around the neighborhood, it is not for the faint of heart lol. The streets are cobblestone and not very even. The sidewalks - oh dear lord - the sidewalks. The sidewalks are a hot mess to say the least. They are not smooth or even, lots of cracks, splits, raised cement, sudden stairs, sudden drops, sudden gaps. So you really gotta pay attention to every step. Also our neighborhood is full of dogs! We love dogs so this is great and also a challenge. The street dogs are mostly nice and won't get too close. The dogs with owners can be obnoxious and bark a lot, also these dogs will approach you so we always have to be ready for that with Bolt. 

I love our neighborhood. It's just about exactly what we were looking for when we moved out here. There are plenty of walkable restaurants, So many little tiendas that sell groceries and snacks. There is a furniture store that sells used furniture from the big hotels that we love. We have a papeleria that sells paper, envelopes, pens, pencils all individually! A cellphone store that sells and repairs. Bombers (fire department) 3 blocks away from us. A huge open air gym. And so much more, all within walking distance of our home. 

Now let's talk gentrification. I hate it! But I am part of it. And I struggle with it, because these are my people and I want more and better for them. But I am part of the problem. And I go round and round over this in my head because I know that even though I am actively contributing to it, it will happen either way whether or not I participate. This is just how the world works. We all want nice things and a more affordable life. And for US and Canadians making those US and CN dollars, life in Mexico can be very affordable and comfortable, which in turn raises the cost of things and makes life for the long time residents more expensive and harder to afford. And I hate that for them. But even if I quit my US job and got a job here in Mexico that would not solve the problem. Because everyone else is not going to quit their higher paying jobs and work for Mexican pesos. So the cycle continues. Ughhhh

Anyhoo, that's our life. This is our barrio. Those are my thoughts. - Nolan