Puerto Vallarta is a tourist town.  Over 50 percent of the employment of this city of 255,000 people is directly related to tourism: hotels, restaurants, personal services, and transportation. So why do people come here? The weather? Ah, yes, for the weather, for sure! It’s beautiful here, and the weather is perfect, at least in the winter. Do they come for the friendly, open people? Of course. For world-renowned cuisine, a foodie’s paradise? Yes, that’s huge. For the Mexican culture? Yes again, otherwise you might as well just vacation in Arizona, Palm Springs, or Florida. Still, what’s the real attraction? It’s the beach!

All of Puerto Vallarta tourism is oriented to the beach. Why not? The water is warm — not too warm, not too cold, just right, Goldilocks! The sand is clean, and beachfront restaurants and bars abound, serving all kinds of drinks, the most popular being margaritas, beer, and micheladas which are margaritas made with beer.  They are served with marvelous food, right under your palapa or umbrella. Locals and US expats, Mexican honeymooners, families from Guadalajara and Mexico City, and travelers from all over the world come here for the beach – for the sun and salt water.

 We’re no different, we love the beach! We like to get up (when the next door construction starts), have breakfast in the condo, and then head down to the beach about 11:00 or 11:30. And I mean down. We are on a hill and it’s downhill all the way to the beach. We then head to our new favorite beach bar, Swell, to get a table under an umbrella for the day. We don’t do this every day, but at least a couple of times a week, enough that we have become regulars and they know our names. Lately, when we know what day we’ll be coming to the beach next, we’ve been making reservations so that we get a table up front on the water, with our favorite kind of chairs. We order an iced tea or maybe a bloody mary. We stay until the sun is getting low, at 4:30 or so.

 Pulpito Street down to the beach

Gisel, our lovely and helpful hostess at Swell Beach Club who takes our reservations

Peggy at our reserved table

So what do we do all that time? There’s so much to tell you. The people watching is great, really great. Then there are the vendors, of everything from beach umbrellas to toys to sunglasses to jewelry to  clothing to tablecloths to hats to pipes and cigars. It does get a little tiring to say “No, Gracias” so many times, but we do like to engage with them. And if we need to buy something, we like to support the vendors and their families by buying on the beach. Sometimes we read (everyone, including us, seems to have a Kindle) . We also strike up conversations with other beachgoers – vacationers as well as people who have been coming to the beach every day for years. It’s also fun to watch the parasailing, crazy people getting towed by boats, suspended on parachutes way up high around the bay. Sometimes whales and dolphins make an appearance. And did I mention the people watching?

And then there’s the eating and drinking! The price for the table, attentive service and location is consumo, consumption. We may start out with iced tea, but before long I’m into Cerveza Pacifico and Peggy is ordering a glass of chardonnay. And then another round, plus food for lunch. We nurse our drinks – still, it’s the most expensive thing we do.  But the alternative would be to buy a beach umbrella and chairs, find a place to set up, and haul all that stuff plus a cooler up and down the hill – it’s just not worth it to us.

Here are some pictures of the beach life.

 It’s early yet, and there are lots of empty chairs.  That big building in the background is La Palapa restaurant and condos, mentioned in a previous post.

This is the lifeguard station in front of La Palapa.  These guys patrol up and down what must be several miles of beach.

The beach day is now in full swing. Whenever the umbrellas change colors it’s a different beach bar area. You can see the parasails in the background.

Here’s a view looking north. The highrises in the background are in the Hotel Zone, on the way to the airport.

Swimmers in front of Puerto Vallarta’s fancy new pier. The pier is supposed to be lit up at night, an impressive sight, but we heard it got hit by lightning knocking out the electricity, and for now there’s no money to fix it.

 Hammock vendor

Hat and beachwear vendors

Jewelry vendor at an adjacent table

 Heeere’s Johnny! We have known Johnny for years, he’s Mexican but spent a lot of time in L.A. He’s a seafood vendor by day, lounge crooner by night. Just look at that presentation!

 Finally, at the end of the day, we trudge back up the hill to our condo. Or, in a phrase I have coined, “What goes down must come up!” The hill is steeper than it looks here, but we are muy felices, very happy. I guess it’s time for a quick siesta before we have happy hour and dinner, either in our condo or out at one of Puerto Vallarta’s great restaurants.

To paraphrase Willy Nelson, the beach life is a hard life, but it’s our life! Thanks for following OnVallartaTime. Until the next post!