Back in the USA

It's good to be home.
But I have several reflections and thoughts about my three weeks in Mexico that I want to share. For the most part, these are currently unorganized thoughts that I have and will be spending some time thinking about as I enjoy my time sipping coffee, tequila, or lemonade, while smoking cigars and contemplating life's mysteries from the comfort of my deck.

First of all, I'm back to my rural setting with no internet service other than to tether to my phone. I guess we're going to breakdown and pay for the high cost of rural internet. (sigh) We'll offset some of the cost by dropping our satellite TV service and just use several streaming services for entertainment. It is kind of weird that I had better internet service in Mexico even though the overall infrastructure seems to be less stable than here.  

On infrastructure...
It strikes me as odd that in a city the size of Puerto Vallarta you still can't safely drink water from the tap. Buying bottled water and bags of ice is the normal way of life. Availability of potable drinking water is still a big thing in much of the world. While we have cities with poor (even toxic) water and rural areas with old pipes and infrastructure, for the most part you could pull into any gas station in the country and safely drink the water from the hose spigot on the outside of the building.
I'm wondering what type of filtration systems the breweries and coffee houses have to purify the large amounts of water that they use on a daily basis.

On space...
It's an old city and there is little space for growth in the old town area. Like many modern cities, growth means building up. There are quite a few new developments under construction. If you are looking to move to Puerto Vallarta in the not too distant future, pre-buying a condo might be a good idea. 

I mentioned infrastructure...
It is surprising how many homes and businesses do not have air conditioning. With the mountains to the east and the ocean on the west, the temperatures of this tropical city aren't too bad, but the humidity is something else. The daily highs were often below the temperatures of the Midwest, but even temperatures in the mid 80s would leave me soaked with sweat in just a few minutes of walking or working around the house. Sweating is just a way of life during the rainy season.
In truth, I don't think the current infrastructure could handle the load if even a small portion of the homes added air conditioning.

Less regulation...
Life is pretty simple. I don't know what kind of licensing or health inspections (if any) are needed to operate a road side food stand, but there are a bunch of them and the food at the few we tried was pretty good. I guess you just trust your instincts. If it looks and smells good and lots of locals are buying food, go for it. If you have concerns, don't.
The tropical climate means lots of good fruit and fresh vegetables in small neighborhood shops. Many of the small stores had little in the way of refrigerated foods, but plenty of produce. The bakeries had fresh, unwrapped loaves of bread or other baked goods on shelves or in cabinets that you could pick up and buy. 
There were larger grocery stores--even a Walmart and Costco in Puerto Vallarta, but they were a little further out and not convenient for regular day to day kind of needs.

I have more thoughts about the lifestyle and the people of Puerto Vallarta, but it can wait for another morning. For now, I have things that I need to tend to.

John