Watch Out for Those 2 for 1 Specials

In the touristy areas of Mexico, like Cabo and Puerto Vallarta you will often see the 2 for 1 special. 2 beers or 2 mixed drinks for the price of one. Being from the states where 2 for 1 usually means they are offering you a good deal in order to drum up business and to get you through the door where presumably you're going to spend money on other things while you're there, we fell for the 2 for 1 deal more than once. 2 for 1 in Mexico usually means, it turns out, that they are really trying to fleece the unsuspecting tourist. For example a beer in most places in Mexico, especially in non touristy areas, would be around 12 pesos, but when you order a 2 for 1 beer, it's 50 pesos for your 2 beers or 60-80 pesos for your 2 mixed drinks that come in small glasses with 1/2 the liquor you'd find in a normal drink. The other cute trick they play is the 1/2 for 1, which means you go into a place and ask how much the beer is and they say 12 pesos and you think great let's order some beer and they bring you out the chico, the 1/2 sized beer.

We spent about 8 days at the La Cruz anchorage a few miles outside of Puerto Vallarta and 2 days at the marina over Christmas weekend. The small town of La Cruz is actually pretty nice, lots of inexpensive and good places to eat, a couple small markets, tortillaria, veterinarian, laundry, and buses that run every few minutes to Bucerias and Puerto Vallarta. We did make into Puerto Vallarta a couple times, did a little sight seeing, met up with some good friends from the bay area, and yes, we got fleeced. I would have to rank PV below Mazatlan but well above Cabo because it does have character, lots of artwork and once you get to know your way around you can find the good yet inexpensive places to eat and drink.

Christmas turned out to be really nice, we had planned on having dinner with Lenard and Wilma from Midnight Sun, we bought a ham at Costco, made some wild rice and scalloped potatoes. We ended up with an impromptu potluck-dock party with about 16 people from several different countries, who all joined us in the celebration. Everyone from a couple we had 1st met back in Emeryville to people we had just met that day.

There are no photos of PV, I didn't bring the camera on the 1st trip and on the 2nd one the camera decided that it wasn't going to work that day (time for a new camera). Here is a photo of the tortilla machine in La Cruz.

Tortillas maize, made fresh daily. 12 pesos/kilo

12 pesos = 1 dollar