Searching for Inspiration... and Permission to be Bored

We’ve arrived in Puerto Vallarta! Due to some family commitments that require easy access to the U.S., we are scheduled to stay here for 6 months.

This is the longest we’ve been in one place since we left Ecuador in January of 2025.

It’s…. strange.

We picked PV because it is highly livable…decent grocery stores, balmy weather, a few North American comforts (helllloooo, Costco), and a built-in community. Although we don’t have any close friends here currently, we have several friends of friends.  Come November, we will have a few close friends arrive from Seattle, escaping the gray for the winter months, and further enhancing the social aspects of staying here.

Our beloved Seattle friend, Mike, introduced us (remotely) to Don, our new friend.

When we were here last year, we found a real estate agent and secured an apartment, as getting one that straddles low and high season can be difficult. Given that we saw the apartment for 6 minutes last year, we’re very happy with our choice. It’s comfortable, we have a pool and a gym, and one of the aforementioned grocery stores is a 3-minute walk away.

Because we are here for six months, we're settling in in a different way. We're willing to buy a missing kitchen tool or two. We aren't afraid to buy the big pack of toilet paper (helllllooo, Costco), because we know we'll be here long enough to use it. We've spoken up about the one or two things in the apartment that really needed attention- something we aren't prone to do when we are staying somewhere for thirty days. In fact, as I write this, Javier has been spending the day fixing a light fixture, re-setting a toilet, and dealing with some bathroom drains.

The view from our living room.

It’s incredibly hot right now, but that’s to be expected. It does mean that, since we walk almost everywhere, we’re ready to be inside, in the air conditioning. We tend to average 5-7 miles a day of walking, and we’re pretty worn out by the sun and humidity afterwards. That said, by early October the weather should shift to a lovely, livable temperature.

So, all in all, it’s a great place to hole up.

There’s just not a lot to… do.

After 20 months of constant movement, this respite has us both a bit lost. There aren’t great museums here; no symphonies or classical concerts. There will be some great stuff when the high season starts- Art Walks, architecture tours, food tastings- but as we speak, half the town is preparing to shut down and go on vacation for the month of September, to rest up before the high season.

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But in the meantime, we are learning to do less. And there are still some great taco stands and some interesting people-watching. And reading. And catching up on the 'admin' of life.

Come high season, we’ll surely have opinions about all the wandering tourists clogging up the malecón and making the restaurants busy. Until then, we’ll enjoy the somewhat sleepy interlude and our time with the weather-hearty full-time residents.

...and if we get really bored, we can always go to the 'Boobies and Booties' show.

I mean, they ARE galore.

We're the wrong audience for this.