Puerto Vallarta Rentals Blog

This is a general, skeletal look at Mexico. There are 31 states and 85 million people in Mexico. The largest cities are Mexico City, Puebla, near Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey in the northeast.

The impression many people have of Mexico is poor folk, hot weather, deserts, banditos and corrupt cops which is an erroneous stereotype. Mexican people are a cross between the Spanish conquerors of the past and the native Indians who have lived there for thousands of years.

Most Mexicans are hard working, honest people. Mexico is a beautiful country with a large, diverse landmass and a variety of climatic patterns within its borders.

Accommodations are not nearly as grandiose and extensive as north of the border but Mexico is generally accepted as an inexpensive vacation and a retirement/ winter getaway for many Americans and Canadians. There are places there you can live a king on very little money.

Mexico has two economies, one for tourists and one for locals. In the tourist areas, everything is marked up and costs a mint but go down the road to where the locals live, shop, eat and drink and everything is easily less than half the price of the tourist spot so use your head, avoid those high profile tourist areas with all the American franchise hotels around.

The big tourist spots are Cancun, Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and to a certain extent, some parts of Tijuana. Most of these spots are overbuilt. You can get cheap rooms there simply by going 12 or so blocks away from the main strip and looking around.

Don’t ask your cabbie to take you to a reasonable hotel of his choosing because he’ll take you to a place where he gets a kickback or a place one of his relatives owns. Ask him to take you to a place where there are several hotels that the locals use when on vacation.

If you can arrange it, just buy airfare to wherever you’re going to in Mexico then when you get there, look for an independent middle class hotel run by the locals. It’ll save you money over booking a hotel through a travel agent from where you live because he wants his commission so he ain’t about to recommend some local hotel to you.

The geography of Mexico is diverse. You have deserts, the Gulf and Pacific coasts, the tropical jungles and the temperate plateaus in the mountains.