C7 - Wednesday, February 23, 1983 - North Shore News

WHEN OUR neigh-
bors, Graham and
Miriam Olney, headed
for Mexico this winter,
I asked Miriam to take
notes for me as I doubt
if 'll be dropping down
there in the near
future.

Here are some of Miriam's
observations:

“When we chose Puerto
Vallarta for our winter

holiday, the peso was at 30
tothe DS dollar When_we
arrived it was 150! I ex-
pected that our $40 a night
hotel room would not cost
less than $10. Not so. A
little-publicized fact about
the devaluation is that it was
accompanied by a lifting of
price restrictions AND by
the revocation of the law
prohibiting Mexican
business from dealing in
currencies other than their
own.

“The vast majority of
hotels and condos were
financed with foreign
currency and if they invested
US doilars, they want US
dollars back.

“There are some bargains

to be had in hotels, but then
there always were. If you
want to stay in town, you can
get a beachfront hotel just
south of the Rio Cuale for
$20-40 US a night. Most are

clean and comfortable with |

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good restaurants. The beach
in town, Los Muertos, is
more crowded than the one
on “Hotel Row” and
definitely not as nice in some
parts but it has more
character. Parasailing is
cheaper. Beach vendors
prices are lower.

_.“The best part of staying
in town is that you can walk
anywhere. Although taxis
are a bargain (city controls
prices) trying to get one at

___certain times of the day can

be frustrating. Siesta time.
between 2-4 p.m. is ‘an
impossible time to hail a cab.
We waited 40 minutes.

“Tourists staying at the big
hotels out of town also
reported difficulty finding a
cab after 11 p.m. That's
when the restaurants close
and the discos open. The
cabs make 100 pesos taking
disco patrons from bar to bar
and don't want to make the
long run to a hotel for 150
pesos and an empty cab
back.

-——“Food-1s-a real bargain.

The most expensive meal we
had was five courses and
wine for 6 people about
$100. Most meals were from
$4-6 per person.

“Supermarket prices were
unbelievably low but if you
could find 50% of the items
on your list you were lucky.
‘ve never seen so many
empty shelves. If you are
looking for real vanilla, buy
it in the supermarket. The
same stuff in the tourist
shops, with an English label,
costs ten times more.

“We took a one-day
shopping trip to nearby
Guadalajara ($20 round trip,
were lower than in Puerto

Vallarta although __ the ....

selection is limited. Wallets
were $2 and $3, beautiful

pottery, leather and
glassware for practically
nothing.

“There are real buys. in
imported goods but good
luck in finding any. The
Christian Dior store had only
six men’s sweaters ($15-18

or 32. The Vogue store was a
little better - it had at least
two dozen ladies’ outfits.
Unfortunately, the only one
that fit me was bright yellow.
silk with red polka-dots. A
steal at $90 but not quite my

style. Lots of Charles
Jourdan shoes for $40-50 if

“We heard a lot of stories
about people buying semi-

precious stones set in silver -

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for as little as $5 but no store
we tried had any. Neither
had the market.

eeeee

We stopped at two places

in Mexico after our passage
through the Panama Canal
last summer. In Acapulco,
our kids went bananas over
CONTINUED ON PAGE Co

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