Puerto Vallarta Scene

Puerto Vallarta Information & Events

In & Out of the Puerto Vallarta Airport

Flying into and out of a modern international airport like that of Puerto Vallarta is easy. Tickets are electronic and check in is relatively straight forward and simple.

RevisedJanuary 9, 2013

VISAS / CUSTOMS INSPECTION

red greenFor most international travelers, passing through customs at the Puerto Vallarta Airport is simple and fast.

On your airplane, the stewardess/steward should give you two forms, an FMM (visa form) and a customs declaration form on which you list items (beyond $300 US) and currency (above $10,000) being brought into the country. Some airlines do not do this and passing through immigration and customs will be a more difficult experience because you will have to find the forms in the airport. Most now do this.

After getting off of their planes, fliers line up and pass through immigration booths where the officers do little more than look at passports and your immigration form and issue a temporary (up to 180 days) tourist Visa. This visa must be kept until your departure or you will be fined approximately $40 (US) for failure to present it. All classes of visitors must complete this form, whether they are temporary tourists or residents with FM2 or FM3 visas (or the new versions of these).

If you hold an FM2 or FM3 visa, you will have to fill out one of these FMM forms before you leave Mexico and turn in the second half of it when you return (this is opposite of the procedure of visitors).

Then passengers pick up their luggage off of the carousals. Before arriving at the carousels, there are free luggage carts available. There are no porters available before the luggage inspection stations. There are porters available after the inspection for help in transporting your baggage to your taxi, bus or car. Travelers with pets will now have to stop at a special room where your pet documentation is checked. This room is close to where you are able to pick up the free luggage carts.

When you pick your luggage off of the carousels, you then proceed to a customs inspection point. For most passengers, this involves only putting all of their bags (including purses, coats and other carry-on items) into an X-ray machine where they are either allowed to proceed or are directed to personal inspection stations. The people who pass the xray inspection then press a button which shows either a random red or green light. If green, the passenger proceeds into the main airport area and on to their hotel or condo. If red, a quick manual search is made of the luggage. Many times travelers are directed immediately to personal inspections stations without pressing the light button.

The items of most interest to customs officers are those new or used items being brought into the country to sell (or look like they are being brought into the country to sell). These would include computers, audio equipment, DVDs, etc. The officers have little interest in other items although they may occasionally confiscate food or other “illegal” items. See your airline for lists of “illegal” import items.

THE SHARK TANK – BEWARE

The only tricky part for many tourists in this process is passing through the two rooms upon exiting through large, automatic sliding doors immediately after the customs “inspection” area.

These two rooms are known colloquially as the “shark tanks.” Here passengers are propositioned, often quite obnoxiously and deceptively, by time share salespeople under the guise of being “official” welcoming personnel and officers. There are even official looking counters where unsuspecting tourists are suckered into signing up for “free” items or services like taxi rides with their attendant time share presentations. The question immediately comes to mind, “Why is this allowed?” The answer is simple: timeshare is Vallarta’s greatest moneymaker. The more people who complain about this rather disgusting practice, the better the chance that it will end.

The best advice we can give you when passing through these shark tanks is to just say “No, gracias” and to keep walking on to the *real* terminal exit (you’ll know when you’re out of the timeshare shark tanks when you see car rental booths and crowds of people waiting for their friends. Even if you were to be interested in time share, the offers made in the airport shark tanks are much lower than would be made on the streets of Vallarta. Just say No.

CURRENCY EXCHANGE

There are currency exchange booths (cambios) and ATM machines in the Puerto Vallarta Airport. ATM machines are recommended for the best exchange rates and the airport cambios should used only as a last resort because their exchange rates are quite a bit lower than you will find in banks and in other cambios in town. Before you fly down here, check with your bank to see what Mexican banks it has a relationship with so that ATM fees are not exorbitant.

American and Canadian dollars are readily accepted for tips and most purchases (although at very bad exchange rates) in Puerto Vallarta if you don’t have the time or energy (after a long flight) to exchange currency at the airport. Banks in town will readily exchange dollars for pesos and cambios and ATM machines are available almost everywhere. Passports are necessary to exchange currencies in banks and cambios.

AIRPORT TAXIS
taxi stand
There are 3 taxi companies that operate out of the Puerto Vallarta Airport. Fares for transportation are by zone or distance from the airport and these fares are approximately double what you will have to pay for the return taxi fare to the airport when you head back to the airport to leave our fair city.

Specially licensed Airport taxis are stationed solely at the airport and are not allowed to pick up passengers anywhere else. Likewise, no non-airport licensed taxis are allowed to pick up passengers at the airport. The 3 companies have approximately the same prices and sell their rides out of the same booths.

Tickets for Airport Taxis should be bought at one of two stands that look like the illustration here. It is possible, if you have little or no luggage, to get approximately half fare taxis if you walk across the elevated bridge over the highway next to the airport where you will find ‘normal’ Vallarta yellow and white taxis waiting and often bidding for your fare.

TAXI RATES

Airport Taxi fares are determined by the zone of the destination. Below is the official Airport Taxi Zone Map. Current Airport Taxi Rates may be found on signs at the taxi booths. Prices range from 160 pesos to around 700, depending on the destination zone. The rate to Old town Vallarta, the last time I checked (Summer 2012) was about 260 pesos total for up to 3 people. Vans (for more than 3 people) cost more. A standard taxi, anywhere in Vallarta, will charge the same for 1-3 people (… for 4 if you’re lucky or small).

Puerto Vallarta Airport Website (English)

taxi zones

PUBLIC BUSES FROM THE AIRPORT

Public buses are also available to downtown Puerto Vallarta if you go out of the airport head toward the highway to a spot under the elevated pedestrian bridge over that highway (usually people will be standing there waiting for a bus). City buses stop here and cost 6.5 pesos to anywhere south of the airport or north to Las Juntas, just before the bridge to Nuevo Vallarta. Take one marked “Centro” to go to the Puerto Vallarta downtown area. These buses generally stop at or near all major hotels on the way to town and the routes end on the south side of Vallarta in Old Town.

If you wish to take a bus north from the airport to anywhere in Nayarit (Nuevo Vallarta, Bucerias, La Cruz, Sayulita, Punta Mita, etc) the process is a bit more complicated. You must cross the elevated pedestrian bridge and wait for a bus (not a city bus, but, rather, an ATM (not to be confused with the cash machines) or a Compostela (white) bus with the name of your destination on it. The price is usually 25 pesos or less. Ask the driver if he is going to your location. He will answer even if asked in English.

Bus travel from or to the airport is recommended only if you have very little luggage. As a common courtesy, it is best to sit in the back of the bus if you are carrying anything larger than a handbag. Buses often become crowded quickly.

AIRPORT PARKING

More and more people visiting Puerto Vallarta are being picked up at the airport by friends or family. Parking at the airport for private cars is sometimes limited in busy periods, especially on peak holidays, but normally there is ample parking. The rate, as of summer, 2012, was 19 pesos an hour. The parking lot is secure but is not conveniently located. It is quite a walk now to the parking lot from the terminal and private passenger pickups are discouraged. If you do want to pick up passengers, it is best to have them stand at the departure door area of the airport. Never have them wait for you at the arrival area or near the taxis.

The parking lot has an automated charging system. You receive a card when you drive into the lot and you must put that card into one of several machines inside the airport within 15 minutes of your departure. You pay your parking in these machines and you take the card with you to the automatic exit gate.

A new addition to the Vallarta Airport is an OXXO convenience store just outside of the arrival area. The restaurants inside the airport are quite expensive and OXXO offers an alternative, though not a very high quality one, for passengers and airport workers seeking fast food and drink.

ONE LAST THING about the Puerto Vallarta Airport: There are many arrival and departure screens scattered all over the airport, but this is the only airport in the world without a clock or any time reference at all. Wear a watch.

Volunteering Time in Puerto Vallarta

– by Rick Hepting and 2 anonymous reporters

On March 5, 2009, at the International Friendship Club (IFC) there was a presentation by the Puerto Vallarta local Immigration Delegate, Lic. Alejandro Sandoval Hernandez and his assistants, with explanations by Kelly Trainor, the US Consular Agent, regarding enforcement of regulations concerning expat participation in volunteer work in Puerto Vallarta and in Mexico, generally.

The Mexican Immigration Department is concerned that American and Canadian visitors and tourists are taking jobs from Mexican workers by pretending to “volunteer” at local charities, businesses or events.

IN SUMMARY:

  • If you are a short-term visitor with an FMT tourist visa and do a small amount of charitable work here during your vacation, you are fine and there is no problem. You need do nothing extra.
  • If you do regularly voluntary non-lucrative work for one or more charities (say once a week or more) it would be advisable for you to get a notation in your FM2 or FM3 to let immigration know of your activities.
  • If the purpose of the volunteer effort is to raise money for any purpose, whatsoever, a visa endorsement is mandatory.

To obtain this visa endorsement, a passport and FM2 or FM3 must be presented to the Immigration Office with a letter request (in Spanish), together with a conformation letter of need (in Spanish) from the non-profit organization (Samples of these letters are available at the IFC).

Each request is judged on its merits and the proper endorsement will be issued by Immigration within 10 days after being submitted to the Immigration office. If the volunteer work would/could displace a Mexican worker from employment the Immigration officer will decide if the requested endorsement for volunteer work is appropriate.

Volunteering for income producing activities (such as acting in a theater company) without authorization may result in a significant monetary fine and possibly jeopardize one’s tourist privileges in Mexico. If volunteering, a person should keep a copy of his endorsed FM2 or FM3 with him/her at all times while performing that service.

This recent “crackdown” on volunteerism began because there are “too many tourists, visitors, non-working residents, etc” working illegally in bars, restaurants, real estate, theaters, etc. and Immigration wants to control these illegal activities. These violators are its main focus. At the same time, however, many volunteers, donating their time for good causes, can be caught in the crossfire. Remuneration of any type (food, discounts, event admissions) are counted in the same manner as cash payment.

ALSO:

People that volunteer their time as members of the boards of Condominium Associations (or any type of “board”), should also get a letter from the administrator of the condominium stating their roles and the fact that there is no remuneration. They should take this letter, along with their own letter (as explained previously) to the Immigration Office.

If a request is made for a visa amendment for volunteer work in the next four or five weeks (during March, 2009), Lic.(licenciado) Alejandro Sandoval has stated that it should not be necessary to stand in line with everybody else at Immigration.

There WILL be a form letter available so only your name and the charity’s name and your activity will need to be inserted (From now on, all charities should be registered with Immigration, which will facilitate this process).

These are not new regulations according to the officials. They have been on the books for a long time. Immigration is being more aggressive about enforcement because of perceived and real abuses.

This article is a compilation of the reporting of two members of the VallaraScene Forum who attended this meeting at the IFC on March 5, 2009.

Living the Dangerous Life in Mexico

Fear of Mexico

Where to begin?…

– By Rick Hepting
March 2, 2009

For background, I run a forum in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and the most popular posts lately have been in reference to fears of the “dangers” of traveling and living in Mexico.

I live in Puerto Vallarta permanently and have for three years. Before that I visited Vallarta many times and was a bit of of a snow bird, coming and going with the seasons. I have traveled in many parts of Mexico, as well as South East Asia, the US and Europe.

I’m not a normal tourist by any measure, and I frequent many parts of this town that most tourists would never consider visiting and, certainly, no tourist guide would ever recommend. I live in a barrio, of sorts, far from the gringo enclaves and condo developments. And I don’t blend: I’m an old gringo with red hair, blue eyes and freckles.

No Stinking Badges
The American and Canadian media have been painting Mexico with a broad brush of danger and fear: Heads rolling into nightclubs, police being gunned down in their driveways, tourists being knifed in their condos, etc. Mexico is now being compared to Middle East war zones by US Pentagon spokesmen.

Supposedly, 6000 people have been killed in the “drug war” here last year (2008). I say “supposedly” because this figure discounts the people normally killed in those cosmopolitan areas and supposes that the cause and motives are the same in all of these deaths. It’s a lot of deaths.

  • I have had a friend here mugged at 3 am when he was walking home drunk from a night of partying. He was beaten and kicked when he didn’t let go of his camera bag.
  • I know of another person who challenged a burglar in his condo (there because the balcony door had been left open), and he was killed when the burglar picked up a kitchen knife to try to get away.
  • There is a report of a gay man who was given a “date rape” drug in a strip bar and then robbed and beaten. Details are sketchy on this instance, but you get the picture.
  • A transsexual was killed a year ago when she had an argument with a trick over payment (or so the street story goes…).
  • A young man was killed almost 2 years ago when he withdrew thousands of dollars from a bank and fought to keep it as he was being robbed.

These are all real stories and all horrible and all things that could happen anywhere. I know. I have lived in places, like Oakland, California, where life was described by everyone as a “war zone.”

The Usual Bandidos
To some, this statement of perspective and universality is a deflection from the “dangers of Mexico” that are now being portrayed nightly on all major US and Canadian media outlets.

To others, this is the reality of anyone who has any life experience in any place in the world. I don’t believe that I left any major “crime” involving tourists out here in the last several years.

So why this media blitz about the “dangers” of Mexico? And, more importantly, why is any of this “sky is falling” propaganda rubbing off on Puerto Vallarta, which is definitely outside of any drug cartel battle grounds?

I don’t have a clue. The cynic in me says that it’s just a marketing ploy by the “buy at home” tourist industries of the North, but can big business really be that cold as to slander a whole nation to get a few more tourists to spend their extra $$ locally? I don’t think so, but I’m not one of those trying to get that tourist $$.

Should tourists be warned of the dangers here? Of course, but, then, they are already warned by any travel guide or travel agent in the world that they would talk to. The warnings are standard for any country:

  • Don’t display ostentatious wealth inappropriately
  • Don’t engage in illegal activity
  • Keep aware of your surroundings.

Many people on vacation try to make over the locaton of that vacation to fit an idealized version of their homes, often forgetting that their homes are no where near any imagined ideal. This tendency is the concept behind the walled, AI (All Inclusive) compounds being constructed in Nuevo Vallarta, it is the concept behind the tacky, white bread, Taco Bells of life.

Mexico isn’t Taco Bell.

One last comment about the “Mexican Cartel Drug War.”
The question no one asks is what, exactly, are the “cartels” fighting over? It would seem that they are fighting over access to the huge drug market in the US. I’ve heard no other reasons.

If so, does that mean that the actual sale and distribution of drugs in the US is so easy and so readily accessible that outsiders are fighting each other simply to reach it? If so, the problem, as well as the solution, would seem to be in the US, not in Mexico.

The Kinsey Sicks » Club Mañana, January 30 to February 11

KINSEY SICKS IN PUERTO VALLARTA JANUARY 30 to FEBRUARY 11

The Kinsey Sicks are once again bringing their south-of-the-borderline personality disorders to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for seven shows between January 30 and February 11.

SEVEN SHOWS ONLY!

The Kinseys return to beautiful Club Manana in sunny Puerto Vallarta. For information, visit Manana or just stop by. Club Manana is located on Lazaro Cardenas, between Vallarta Street and Constitucion.

SHOW SCHEDULE:

  • Friday, 1/30, 9pm
  • Monday, 2/2, 9pm
  • Wednesday, 2/4, 9pm
  • Friday, 2/6, 9pm
  • Saturday, 2/7, 9pm
  • Monday, 2/9, 9pm
  • Wednesday, 2/11, 9pm

[Read more…]

Pearlene Dubois » Santa Barbara Theater, January 8 to 31

Pearlene Comes Alive at the Santa Barbara Theater

From a Gay Mecca East, Provincetown MA, comes the wildly demented Drag Artist Pearlene Dubois with her one hour twisted cabaret show. “Twisted” cabaret because she is, or at least her songs are. You’ll swear you’ve heard them before only to realize you’ll never hear them the same way again.

She’s been belting them out for nearly 15 years, not her first appearance in PV either. You may have seen her about ten years ago at the Aria piano lounge which used to be located on Pino Suarez, or perhaps on Sally Jesse Raphael’s the “Sally Show” or Jay Leno (short viniette) or maybe even in Provincetown. You’ll hear parodies of Madona, Willie Nelson, Tammy Wynette, Ricky Martin and more as she shares the highs and lows of her being on the planet.

From New York to Key West, Provincetown to LA and again to Puerto Vallarta, she’s been everywhere. You can see her show at the Santa Barbara Theater at 351 Olas Altas, Thursday through Saturday at 10:30 pm in January with an additional 8 pm show on Fridays. Warning; You may laugh so hard you’ll pee a little.

pearlene-web

Can Beer Bottles be Recycled with lime wedges inside?

Empty Corona Beer BottleOf course, any type of glass can be recycled with lime wedges inside. At the recycling plant, the glass is shattered and melted at 1600 degrees, well above the flash point of cerveza-soaked lime wedges.

OK, so this question isn’t totally relevant down here in Mexico where the beer bottles are reused, not recycled.

Can the bottles be reused with wedges inside?

This question was answered rather obliquely late one night by a local bartender who used to work at a Corona Bottling Plant. He said that you will know if a bottle is cleaned and sterilized if it doesn’t have an old lime wedge floating in it before you open it.

And then there’s the old bar bet:

(Indicating an empty Corona with lime wedge in bottom of bottle).

  • “I’ll bet you a beer that I can get this lime out of the bottle in less than a second.”
  • “No, way – you’re on”.

(Rapidly swing the bottle down towards the floor with the opening facing downwards. The lime slides out like grease through a goose.)

If you’re the type of person who thinks that the way to win this bet is to break the bottle, you have perfect personality traits to hang out in a *real* cantina.

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