# Puerto Vallarta vs. Mazatlan



## PatrickMurtha

I would be interested in hearing comparisons of Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan from people who are familiar with both. Pros and cons of living there, costs, amenities, the expatriate communities, anything and everything. I am reasonably familiar with PV, having spent two vacations of ten and seven days there. I have only spent a few hours in Mazatlan, visiting from my current home base in Culiacan, and that time was all spent in the Zona Dorado; I haven't been to Old Town/Centro yet, although I will make a visit there soon. 

Ever since I visited Puerto Vallarta for the first time, I've had this notion that it would be lovely to retire there (year-round), although it might be beyond my means.


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## sparks

Mazatlan seems like a real Mexican town and is much older than Vallarta. Vallarta to me is all about tourists. I still like smaller than either


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## PatrickMurtha

Both times I visited PV, I stayed in the Old Town/Zona Romantica, which seemed much more flavorful to me than most of the downtown. Although the downtown got better as you moved up from the Malecon into the neighborhood with the cathedral, and Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton's Casa Kimberly.


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## cuylers5746

*PV vs. MAZ.?*

There is a previous thread started by an English Bloke going by the name of Charlie Austin?

Read through that and you'll find out the differences. He was looking for a place to relocate
from PV to.

What brought you to Cuilican? Strange place for a retired NOB to relocate to?

To keep it super simple and top level here's the high level thoughts.

Both places are places NOB types move away from not to after they've been in Mexico awhile.

PV: Very transient population, cute, quaint, charming but lacking in depth in the Mexican Community. Very hot in summer, rainy season.

MAZ: much the same, but you go inland from the malicon two blocks and you're in a normal
Mexican town. So, it's your lifestyle you choose or both. Party like all the visitors and live there
or party like the vistors and live in a normal Mexican environment? 

It actually form our experience though get's hotter in the summer time than PV. PV has those mountains to trap the ascending moisture and late in afternoon in rainy season it acts as a cloud cover cooling things more than in MAZ.

But, MAZ has more cultural things to do. It has Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Troop and is on the
International Concert Circuit. I think are real pluses. MAZ living there is a little less expensive than living in PV.

We're in our 60's and visit both on vacations, but our favorite in MAZ, excepting we would never live there year round because of the really hot and humid weather in the summer time. PV in the summer is bad, MAZ. is worse.


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## PatrickMurtha

Oh, I'm not retired yet, far from it. I came to Culiacan to teach at a university high school - I'm a "Profesor de humanidades" whose courses include world history, philosophy, economics (all taught in English). I'm just thinking ahead a little bit. Culiacan is a perfectly serviceable city to live in while you're working here, but might be a bit dull as a place to retire. I turn 55 in 2013, and I don't want my retirement to sneak up on me without having given it proper thought.

I like it here in Mexico very much, and the extremes of weather don't seem to affect me at all, which astonishes Culichis.


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## PatrickMurtha

By the way, I haven't the slightest idea what a NOB is; I must have missed that part in orientation. I have a feeling that it can't be good.


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## Isla Verde

PatrickMurtha said:


> By the way, I haven't the slightest idea what a NOB is; I must have missed that part in orientation. I have a feeling that it can't be good.


I guess it means North of the Border and is a way to refer to expats from the US and Canada. Whether or not they're good, or not, depends on who they are, I suppose  .


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## cuylers5746

*Good Plan*

Actually, I think you have a great plan.

I think for several reason's 2013 will be a great time to snap up a great bargain where ever in Mexico. 

1.) Quite probably we're going to have a meltdown in USA Economy like in 2008?

2.) Increased severe income restrictions on those that want to become permanent residents here
in the new Immigration Law signed into law in Nov. this year. If some of the reports on this 
site are correct, some people are already leaving?

Those two forces I think are already creating some great bargains, but will get even better in 2013.

I think those bargains coupled with relatively cheap % rates for mortgages (although higher here in Mexico) will go quit a bit higher in an economic crisis. 

Then I think with the Chinese investing by the $Billions USD here in factories and the new North American Union, which I think Mexico will come out better than USA and Canada in the deal and you just might have an ideal climate to buy before everything starts going up in price in the coming Manufacturing Boom here?

Next best time to buy will be in 2016-2017, at the bottom of this World Wide Depression.

I hope, that this helps?


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## TundraGreen

cuylers5746 said:


> Actually, I think you have a great plan.
> 
> I think for several reason's 2013 will be a great time to snap up a great bargain where ever in Mexico.
> 
> 1.) Quite probably we're going to have a meltdown in USA Economy like in 2008?
> 
> 2.) Increased severe income restrictions on those that want to become permanent residents here
> in the new Immigration Law signed into law in Nov. this year. If some of the reports on this
> site are correct, some people are already leaving?
> 
> Those two forces I think are already creating some great bargains, but will get even better in 2013.
> 
> I think those bargains coupled with relatively cheap % rates for mortgages (although higher here in Mexico) will go quit a bit higher in an economic crisis.
> 
> Then I think with the Chinese investing by the $Billions USD here in factories and the new North American Union, which I think Mexico will come out better than USA and Canada in the deal and you just might have an ideal climate to buy before everything starts going up in price in the coming Manufacturing Boom here?
> 
> Next best time to buy will be in 2016-2017, at the bottom of this World Wide Depression.
> 
> I hope, that this helps?


Are you going to report back in 2017 on these predictions?

And, when is the "North American Union" happening? personally I would like to see it and maybe it is inevitable eventually, but I suspect it is a long ways away. I think the combination of US capital and ingenuity with Mexican labor and work ethic would benefit both.


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## cuylers5746

I sure will, and I have no doubt about them!


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## mickisue1

cuylers5746 said:


> I sure will, and I have no doubt about them!


Happily for me, I have many doubts about them.

A friend of ours, about 4 years ago, spent much of what was otherwise a pleasant evening having a barbecue on our deck preaching gloom and doom about the US and the international economy. Not just a recession, but worldwide panic and social destruction.

I was willing to believe that the economy could fall; it has and will, over and over because economies tend to cycle. But I doubted the rest of it. 

It appears that I was right, not him. 

And Cuyler, I have that feeling that it will be the same with these predictions. Economies are not static, so they WILL go up and down. But it's a rare confluence of circumstance that causes things like the Great Depression and the Panic in the 1890's.

Will the Mexican economy change? Yup. Will it change, in part, in the ways you are suggesting? Possibly. Will it change, in total, in the ways you are suggesting? Doubtful.


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## MonarchSalt

PatrickMurtha said:


> Oh, I'm not retired yet, far from it. I came to Culiacan to teach at a university high school - I'm a "Profesor de humanidades" whose courses include world history, philosophy, economics (all taught in English). I'm just thinking ahead a little bit. Culiacan is a perfectly serviceable city to live in while you're working here, but might be a bit dull as a place to retire. I turn 55 in 2013, and I don't want my retirement to sneak up on me without having given it proper thought.
> 
> I like it here in Mexico very much, and the extremes of weather don't seem to affect me at all, which astonishes Culichis.


I think youre smart re planning ahead. Im new to the stages of choosing just as you are and hope to have a firm plan/move in 2013 as well. I think we will gain alot of information via forums such as this!


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