Five Things I Learned in Mexico

This was my first time to Mexico, and even though we spent most of our time in our resort, or out on the water, I observed a few things about the country. Maybe these observations are only true for a tourist town, but here are my top five things I learned in Mexico.

1. The town sleeps until noon. We would be the only people up at breakfast at 7:30 or 8:00. I think Puerto Vallarta is more visited for its nightlife than what the town has to offer during the day. Since Syd and I are not interested in drinking until 4am, we saw very few open stores and restaurants when we went downtown for lunch.

2. Pesos are the currency but people think in dollars. Everywhere we went there was an option to pay in dollars or pesos. I counted more ATMs that spit out dollars than pesos and when leaving a tip, people looked genuinely disappointed when you left 15%-20% of the bill in the local currency.

3. It is impossible to walk down the street without being asked at least 8 times to buy a tour or listen to a schpeil about the benefits of a time share. We were constantly being called at. "Tours, amigo?" "Looking for a boat tour?" "Want a fun tour?" I guess the sales people have Americans pegged as people who are only willing to adventure or go sight seeing with a guide.

The lifetime time share business was also amazing to me. We saw so many people listening and signing time share contracts, both in our hotel and out in the Marina, that I was really surprised. At home we have been hearing about time shares being a huge scam and money pit a lot lately and I guess not everyone is getting the same news as KTLA.

4. Mexican Internet has no sense of urgency. I think for this country to have a booming economy they would need to start with a complete overhaul of the infrastructure, and this would include bringing some high speed Internet. The only time our Internet worked was in the morning before anyone else was awake and using it.

5. Everyone knows where West Covina is

in California. We had multiple conversations with locals (cab drivers, waiters, tour guides) that went like this:

"Where are you from?"
"Los Angeles."
"The city?"
"Um, no, Pasadena."
"Ohhh West Covina? Covina?"
"Yes, that is very close to us."

I thought it was so bizarre that the biggest association with LA and Pasadena was West Covina. I have only been there a few times and associate two things with it, the mall and where I bought my wedding dress. I knew there was a big Hispanic population there, but geeze, maybe I missed something in terms of it being a cool place.

Other than these five observations, It was nice to get out of LA for a little bit and I realize how much I miss traveling. We had a great vacation and it a was fun cross a new country off my list. Adios Mexico!