Low Season in PV

The amount of tourist traffic on the Los Muertos Pier seems to have almost stopped, and sometimes when we walk along the Malecon these days we think we are the only ones left in Puerto Vallarta. Well, not really but it sure has slowed down a lot. As soon as the sun starts heading north and heating up snow bird country, they all stop coming here – who would have guessed that?

There clearly are 2 seasons in PV - high season and low season – and there is quite the difference between the two. During high season it seems we are having to navigate through and around people all the time as it is quite crowded everywhere we go (streets, shopping, restaurants, beach, etc). We have noticed a change / difference in demographics too – high season is mostly American and Canadian tourists, and low season is mostly Mexican nationals on vacation, or visiting PV for a religious holiday, or locals out shopping for the day.

Only one cruise ship comes into port during low season, whereas in high season there was typically two or three per week. The “Tribune News” estimates the amount of cruise ship passengers arriving to be approximately 30,000 per month in high season. We believe them. We are always having to shimmy our way through the walking tours that arrive to enjoy the ocean views and tequila shops on the Malecon.

High season keeps the shop owners and vendors busy, and it was great to be able to just walk by without having to respond to their calls for business... “You must be from Canada – come in; Almost free today; Cheaper than Walmart; OK it's my turn; Come in for tequila – it's almost noon...; Glad you came back again; Good to see you again; Only one dollar today; Come in and buy some junk you don't need..” etc..

During the low season we are sometimes the only targets walking buy and it seems they line up outside their stores and have their funny little quips ready for us (as their next victim) when we get within earshot. They really don't like to hear us say “no gracias”, or that “we live here”. Sometimes they start raising their voices as we walk by and then they follow to tell us that we need to support their family. Most of the time it's a lot of fun to interact with them but it gets rather tiring some days. We do understand how difficult it must be for them as there are so many vendors selling the same stuff. We just walk fast on our way to the grocery store and continue to politely say no gracias and buen dia. Some of them say loudly that we are walking too fast and we should get a speeding ticket!

Some stores and restaurants close for part of the low season as they are not really making any money. It also gives them a chance for a vacation. That's great for them but not so much for us as we have gotten used to shopping in several of those places or enjoying their great food in their restaurants. But I must admit that going to restaurants in low season is a pleasure - no waiting and great service. A definite plus, although some restaurants have a smaller menu but we can work with that. Still great stuff - and Jan likes it because he doesn't have stand next to the hot stove cooking.

This time of year we can really feel that it's getting more humid and muggy. Jan has turned into a walking sprinkler again – he did that when we first arrived in September. Thank goodness we were able to find those little wipe cloths that Jan always has on him. Trouble is, the sun tan lotion he puts on his forehead every morning gets dabbed off during the first 1/2 hour of our daily walk-about. If you look at any picture of him you can see the constant lobster effect.... good thing he uses spf 60. We just had our Costco membership renewed and his picture is hilarious!

It has rained 4 nights out of 5 this last week, which has been welcomed with open arms as the rain brings cool air with it when it falls. However, it's really noisy. The rain seems to wake up the frogs and crickets – they are loud on their own - and then there is the thunder, lightening and once in a while a strong breeze to make it all very exciting. All of this makes people go outside in the middle of night and stand in the street yelling woohoo!

Coming from Vancouver, where it rains constantly day or night (and never ending it seems), we find it odd here that rain waits until late evening or night time to come out. Jan says it must have something to do with the way the land heats up in the day time and the ocean cools off at night – who knows - I don't get it. So far (knock on wood) that there hasn't been any rain during the day, so we can still continue to do all of our errands and shopping without fear of being carried out to sea by raging waters in the street. I guess that will come in due time as we move further into the summer months as we are just in the beginning of the rainy season, so we don't fully know what to expect but I'm sure it will be interesting.

The apartment complex population where we are living has changed drastically. There are a lot of people who come here for 4 to 6 months and then the apartments sit empty for the remainder of the year or they are rented out to others who come for a week or two. There hasn't been too many visitors for a while now. There are five buildings in our complex and each building has 26 apartments in them. Only a half dozen or so apartments in our building are occupied full time - the rest are empty.

December to February had the most people at the pool. There were days when there were no free chairs available on the patio and we had up to 10 people join us for water aerobics every afternoon. You couldn't even try to swim lengths as there too many people to swim around. At this point in time we can go days being the only people in the pool doing our little workout routine – kinda nice but also kinda lonely .... We miss all the yakety yak with people about what they did with their day, about family, silly politics, painting, our previous lives, comparing different restaurants and places we must see. We especially miss all the bad jokes and singing.

It's quite the community we have here. I hope we can find this again during the next leg of our travels as we feel very safe and comfortable here with our new friends. It is very comforting here as we all look out for each other. We have hosted, and have gone to some fun parties within the complex, and all I can say is thank goodness we don't have to drive anywhere ....