At the airport, we exchanged our cash for Pesos. $1200 some odd dollars got us around 13,500 pesos. According to John (http://mark-us-on.com), the nice gentleman ex-pat that we later met beachside, we got ripped off on the exchange – we would get the best rate at an ATM (exact exchange less a 34 peso terminal fee), even with an ATM fee. But, since we had $1200 in cash, it was moot. The exchange rate is around 13 pesos per dollar, but the Cambio gave us about 10.5. They basically made about $230 off of us (13-10.5 x 1200=3000, 3000/13= $230.76)
As we went to exit the airport, we had to run the timeshare sales gauntlet. All the sales guys pretended to work for the cab company and told us they would get us to where we needed to go. Took about 4 minutes to realize we were being suckered in. We walked away, and found a cab outside. We decided we would stay at Hotel Eloisa, going on nothing but Nicole's PV travel book. A cab ride to our hotel, Hotel Eloisa ran us 200 pesos, or around $20. I think we could have got it cheaper. Not knowing the tipping policies of the Colectivos, we didn't tip the driver.
Hotel Eloisa is quite nice and block from the beach in Old Town Puerto Vallarta. We got three days for 2700 pesos, or about $77 per night. I think we could have haggled a better deal, but we were so tired we just wanted to relax. The room was quite large, with a large kitchenette, a separate bedroom, and a living area, along with a nice sized balcony.
After settling in, we went exploring. On the roof top, we found a pool, and a nice view of the Bay of Banderas. We decided to go get a margarita and some food at one of the beachfront bars. Two shrimp fajitas and three margaritas set us back 450 pesos. A little spendier than I had imagined. That is where we met John, the ex pat.
While sitting beachside, we were bombarded by trinket salesmen, mariachis, people selling temporary tattoos, ironwood turtle carvings, etc. We must have said "No Gracias" at least 50 times. It was nearly unbearable. Learning from that mistake, we will sit further from the beaches edge in the future.
We decided we could save some money by going grocery shopping. We spent about 196 pesos on bread, bananas, mangos, some peanut butter, milk, instant coffee (the grocery store had no other kind) and a six pack of canned cervezas. That translates to just around $20 dollars. We have to get out of the more touristy areas if we want to stick to our budget.