“What’s going on in Puerto Vallarta?”  Before I start answering that, I think Jim Scherrer’s sort of history of the past ten years in Puerto Vallarta is an excellent summary of where the Bahia de Banderas has come in that same period.

During the past decade, Puerto Vallarta, known as PV or Vallarta by the local residents, has changed dramatically. The population has exploded to 350,000 inhabitants, most of which are now speaking or at least understanding English. We have many new businesses and stores including a Super Walmart, Sam´s Club, Office Depot, etc with all the latest in electronics, hardware, and building supplies. The many new huge and modern grocery supermarkets are equal to the finest in the US with a complete selection of frozen foods and most of the other food products that we 50,000 Americans and Canadians are accustomed to, all of which are imported from the States.

Scherrer is an excellent source for knowledge – not only about the city, but about fishing and a wealth of other intriguing stories.

As to the crummy swine flu, all of the statistics that I am reading on swine flu still are nowhere near being of any more concern in Puerto Vallarta than they are anywhere else on the planet. There are new and still serious outbreaks in other parts of the country as there are in countries all over the world – but Puerto Vallarta is not in the line of fire more than any similar county on the coast of California.

And in addition to what has been generally a good response from the Mexican Government, all of you investors should consider that Mexico is far better accustomed to picking itself up and dusting itself off and slogging on - far better accustomed than some other much bigger countries that may or may not border Mexico to the north. And the future is going to belong to those who keep going.

And don’t forget, Puerto Vallarta is very much a developed economy with a full first-world infrastructure, albeit a first world economy that is part of a much bigger Mexican economy with it’s own set of considerations and pitfalls. And lots of people want in on the action that is Puerto Vallarta.

So - what is going on in Puerto Vallarta? Everything – exactly as you expect it.

Well – the expat happy hours are anounced for August 4th and 18th. That’s just for starters, Banderas News lists a whole slew of events coming up in the next month and I am not sure it’s complete.
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Nayarit's magical island of Mexcaltitán

Thus continues our quest to better document the Pueblos Magicos of Mexico.

If you’re at all familiar with “Vallarta” as a concept in luxury living - try adding to that the concept of pueblo mágico or “magical town”.  Nice?

About 2 and a half hours north of Puerto Vallarta - up the long road that affords occasional but magificent glimpses of the Pacific Ocean - you can arrive at the Island of Mexcaltitán very near to San Blas – the northernmost point of infrstructure development in Nayarit. This is actually a very early infrastucture project as the island is actually man-made – in the fashion of better known man-made islands at Xochimilco – and which made up a good part of the land beneath Tenochtitlán, the precursor to today’s Mexico City.

With the often flooded streets laid out like the spokes of a wheel, Mexcaltitlán is every bit as charming, thought provoking and striking as it appears in the photo above.

If you're sick of cars, like in Venice, Italy, Mexcaltitán, will transport you. (this image from the Birding in Mexico website)

The name dates back from the Mexicas and some say it means “home of the Mexicas or Mexicans”, others mention that it comes from the word Metztli, the moon goddess of the Nahuatlaca people. And one final story is that the Aztecs are rumored – or mythologized – to have actually originated in this island before departing in 1091 to later found the city of Tenochtitlan in 1325.  See OurMexico.com for a more complete history of the island.

This small island relys economically mostly on fishing for shrimp, so you can imagine the number of dishes prepared with as fresh as it gets: shrimp.   It is common that residents leave their doors open, inviting visitors to come in – and locals love to share the stories and myths about this island Pueblo. And there is no shortage of great history.

Tourism is increasing, but the island is not swamped with visitors, and the few that visit are normally from other parts of Mexico rather than international tourists – so you may very well have the place virtually to yourself.

Please wait while the map loads.

Scroll out on the map above using the scroll tool (+ – ) on the left.

How many islands do you know that are actually “just in from the coast” ?

Guided tours of the Island of Mexcaltitan go for about US$60/person and they include a boat to and from the island, a tour to the sites where you can see the wildlife and mangroves, meals and beverages and a good tour could last all day.

Now doesn’t this sound like a great way to spend the day?

Want to know more?

Derek’s Travels includes a good history of the island and some more nice photos. And author, Paul Kekai Manansala, reprints in full a (difficult to find) Jeremy Schwartz/Cox News Service article on the academic and immigration-rights argument over the place of Aztlán in history, mythical or otherwise.

The Nayarit state government is paying serious attention to the island’s needs and they are investing several million pesos into improving the roads taking tourists to the island from the coastal highway, rehabilitating the environment and painting many of the islands few, charming and priceless buildings.
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Nayarit - set to boom?

Be sure to check out this NuWire Investor article on government investment in tourist infrastructure along the Riviera Nayarit.

Nayarit won’t be a carbon copy of Cancun. Although Cancun was a huge success, its development wiped out any trace of traditional Mexican charm or authenticity. In Nayarit, height restrictions, density regulations, and stricter zoning will help make the resort more sustainable than Cancun.

Puerto Vallarta is visible at the bottom of the screen cap above. The Marker “A” – at the top – is the northernmost point of development at San Blas.  See more (very recent) photos of San Blas here.

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I did have 2 things in my favor. I understoood – pretty well – the U.S. and Canadian mind-set and I’ve lived here in Mexico – for 30+  years. Plus I’ve been closely involved in the purchase of quite a few houses even before I ever thought to try my hand at helping other people purchase their own.

So – it was always easy to talk to and write to people and frankly – to answer their questions as to why Mexico, how to do this or that, and to provide some guidance to bridging the culture gap in general. All of it became pretty much second nature.

I started out working with a retirement services company that tried to offer absolutely everything to everyone. I was coordinating a team of service providers in almost every corner of the country and heading a team of people dedicated to answering phone calls and emails almost 24 hours a day. Trouble was  – and maybe still is – most folks don’t want a lot of help.

Most of the people that I talk to today simply accept Mexico for the challenge it is – and they’re happy to jump in head-first and start tackling and studying and trying to learn everything there is to know about Mexico’s amazingly diverse and fascinating culture. It can be a big project for people who’ve only heard recently about everything Mexico has to offer. But there are also people who’ve been visiting Mexico regularly for decades and who only now want to take advantage of the great opportunities that Mexico represents today.

There are alot of reasons – maybe that seems obvious. Great destinations and locations to live in and to just be closer to: Michoacan, San Miguel de Allende, Merida, Playa del Carmen, all of La Huesteca, Cuernavaca, Mazatlan on the Pacific and the list goes on and on. Obviously Puerto Vallarta is still a big draw, and San Miguel de Allende just never goes out of style.

The cost of living is almost always reasonable, healthcare is very good and more affordable and if you eat the fruit and vegetables in season and shop your local market – you’re almost guaranteed to see a long healthy sun-filled retirement. Property taxes are a steal compared to the U.S. – ridiculously low – and maintenance fees and help at home or in the garden are very reasonable. For most of the people I’ve worked with it’s the very first “help” they’ve ever had in their lives.

But let’s face it – most of the websites you’ll encounter on the internet today have (at least some of) the information you may or not need posted up on their internet pages. It’s not always there so that you can truly get answers to your questions – but so that the proprietors can better position themselves to scoop you into the net of their list of sales leads. Finding someone to clarify the finer points – or to really answer your own unique questions is no easy task. Well, that’s the niche I’ve carved out for myself – and with Cristina who works more with the Spanish language side of things – the two of us do a pretty good job.

And we do get questions. Maybe it’s obvious, but this blogging business we’re doing now is just one place where we’re trying to answer some of them. Here’s the most common from foreign buyers.

If you really want a home in a beach destination – as many of my clients do in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Veracruz – you still have to purchase it through a bank trust. There was a brief glimmer of hope that the Mexican government might lift the restrictions on properties on the coast or near borders, but with this year’s elections again any chance of reform seems hidden away again. And as I wrote on Fideicomiso before – I don’t think there is much chance of this bank and finance cash-cow to be stolen away from the big guys – at least not in our life-times.

Make no mistake – BANKS LOVE THESE TRUSTS. They put your title into a safety deposit box and charge you anywhere from US$450 to 750 depending on the state and then they pocket that fee – every year -  without doing any work – for 50 years! Not pretty – but what you get in return can be very pretty.

Perhaps we can get all the foreign owners to start to complain. And some of you may have a better understanding of lobbying and pressuring congressmen and some of you may slowly start to understand and even to become adept at – the grinding slow nature of the Mexican political process.  Maybe we can get the fees reduced by SRE and the banks? I don’t have an answer really.

At the end of the day – this is a popular article in the Mexican constitution and changing it for our sake is probably not going to happen. If you think the Mexican people have some influence over the process of legislating – compare that to the influence the banks have over the same process.

So – let me tell you – I’ve been involved in about 40 fideicomiso set-ups and purchases. Do my clients lament every year that the fee goes into the hands of the banks? Maybe some of them do. I can think of one client who cried when she saw the view from her balcony and – she told me while laughing at the same time – “I keep crying everytime I see the ocean from here.” She’ll pay US$450 for every year she enjoys that view, and there are some other added costs. There’s some headaches with learning Spanish and some confusion here and there at the pharmacy or with a payment that needs to be sent back home. None of it comes anywhere near to what she was paying – in money and headaches – to hold onto the house where she raised 2 kids in Minnesota.

None of the purchases I watched were dirty nor difficult though I have witnessed quite a few tricks that made things a lot more pleasant and faster for the people I was working with.

And that is where I start to answer questions every time I sit down here…
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