After the Cabo San Lucas trip in February of 2022, we decided that the next stop on our tour of possible Mexican retirement locales would be Puerto Vallarta! We made that decision based on feedback from friends that had visited, research online, and the well known fact that Puerto Vallata (or PV as locals like to refer to it) is a well known LGBTQ friendly city. We found an Airbnb in the Zona Romantica that was close to the beach, restaurants and centrally located. Our visit was timed to coinside with my August 18th Birthday! We made contact with a local realtor and made plans to meet up with him while we were there to take a look at some properties. We arrived at Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport mid-day. The airport is modern and asthetically pleasing. The signage was adequate and we were able to find our way to customs very easily. The first thing we noticed about PV whas that it was extremely hot! I can honestly say it was unlike any heat I have ever experienced! We swiftly made our way through customs and ran the guantlet of vendors inside the terminal offering transportation (we had been warned by our realtor to ignor them!) and opted to catch a cab service conveniently located curbside. Note: If you are adventerous, you can walk a short distance to a nearby brige where it’s possible to catch an Uber. Uber is not allowed to pickup at the airport. If you are staying at a local hotel or resort, you should inquire about transportation in advance. We also withdrew Pesos from an ATM located inside the terminal. While most pruchases can be paid for with credit cards (be sure to notify your card company that you are travelling so you don’t have your access frozen!) it is advisable to have a small quantity of pesos on hand for incidentals. Most ATMs will give you the options of accepting the bank conversion rate or to decline it – always decline as you’ll get a better conversion rate. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the locals will be glad to accept your U.S. dollars. Pesos are the preferred currently in PV! The quickly calculate the conversion, take the total amount in Pesos, divde by 2, and move the decimal two places to the left. Example: $5,000 Pesos would be $25 USD. We caught a taxi that was clean and thankfully, air conditioned! Our driver was friendly and asked us where we were from. It took about 25 minutes to reach our AirBnB in the Romantic Zone. The Unit was located in the 105 Sail View condominums in the heart of the Romantic Zone https://105sailview.com/ We were impressed with how nice and modern the building was. We were met by the AirBnB owner’s assistant named Oscar. Oscar didn’t speak English, but he used his smartphone to translate the instructions he had for us. He demonstrated how to use the unit’s digital lock, showed us the washer and dryer, told us to enjoy our stay and left us to it. The unit had a huge terrace overlooking the Romantic Zone (the photo for this post shows the view). We took a minute to take in the view and decided we wanted to get lunch. We walked about a quarter of a mile from the condo to the iconic pier that features a towering sail sculpture and had lunch. We also took the time to find a local mercado (or grocery store) to stock up on some snack and water items for the condo. Note: water in most buildings is filtered, however, no one I’ve spoken to will tell you it’s ok to drink the water directly from faucets. We were advised that most people (even locals), order bottled water. We also noticed that every restaurant we patronized brought bottled water to the table. After taking a few hours to relax and enjoy the condo, we decided to take an Uber to a local restaurant for dinner. Uber was a relatively inexpensive option to getting around. The price was such that I opted to order Uber XL and we were always able to secure a clean air conditioned vehicle with a friendly driver. We caught an Uber to a restaurant that wasn’t very far away – River Cafe https://rivercafe.com.mx/ The restaurant is in the Romantic Zone and is appropriately named. It’s located on Isla Cuale which is a narrow island along the Cuale River. The night we were there, it was raining and the abiance was very nice. The food was good too!