Every time I go down to PP, I learn a couple fo new things about the best way to get things done. This trip was no different. Hopefully someone will find a few of the tips useful.
1. There's a frickin' Walmart in town!! Not that I'm a huge Walmart fan, but having the Bodega Aurrera nearby was handy when i needed a couple of things not easily found at at the SuperLey or a farmacia (like a $4 outdoor volleyball). I've been calling my wife "Mama Lucha" ever since we first went there on Monday.
2. Whenever possible, use plastic. The vendors in town were giving 12-13 pesos per dollar. My bank is giving me 13.27. Saves 5-10% right off the top which was signifcant when it came time to buy shrimp and steak for the trip home.
3. Don't buy shrimp from the port, go where they go, Sea Products on Sinaloa behind the Pemex just south of the baseball park. No worries about weight, no slipping in smaller shrimp with the bigger ones. Flounder filets were under $2.50 a pound. Shrimp come frozen in 2 kg blocks which fit my cooler perfectly. The worst thing you could do to a shrimp is buy it defrosted at the port and then refreeze it at home. :evil:
4. A good taco al pastor is a wonderful thing and Tacos El Poblano on Benito Juarez near the ballpark may make the best anywhere. They have a rotisserie holding a pork shwarma like you see in gyro joints. When you order, the guy cranks up the heat, crisping the outside before he shaves off the crispy parts. He ever dips the tortilla in the grease at the bottom. The result is essentially a bacon taco. Crispy, salty, porky ... I just got home and just writing about it makes me wanna go back. Best buck you will spend in PP. :ham:
5. Cedasa on Ocampo and Barrera is an awesome butcher shop. They will cut exactly what you want the way you want it. TBones were about $5.30 a pound, boneless ribeyes were around $5.75.
I'm sure there are some other things I just can't think of right now ... I'll add more if it occurs to me.
Does anyone know if Tacos el Poblano is open at lunch time?
So many of these places don't open until 7:00PM and that's when I have to be back home in my oxygen tent.
It is open 7 days a week, so far, from 5pm to depending how many people is still eating!! if you have not tried it yet, ask the waiter to have the cook preper your taco, they add finely chopped white onions, culantro and guacamole, in either the carne asada or al pastor, do not need to add anything else, just enjoy!!!
From the traffic light at Blvd Fremont and B. Juarez, going north towards PHX/TSN, Melchor Ocampo will be the second traffic light, first one will be at Calle 13 with the overhead walkway, keep going north past Pollo Lucas, plug!! to the next traffic light and turn right, right? and go two blocks + o -, almost across form Farmacia Lux, plug!!.
So, if you are coming from No Reeleccion, Sandy Beach way to go, turn right at B. Juarez, same corner as Tacos EL POBLANO, super plug!! and go south towards Calle 13 or the fish market to the second traffic light, junction of Constitucion (diagonal on right hand) Chon's dog around the corner, plug!!, Melchor Ocampo and B. Juarez, you will turn left onto Melchor Ocampo, on the corner of AKA SI store, awesome lemon/lime sqeezers and cheap!!! super dupper plug!!
Where is/are any Santander's?
I use an app called "city maps to go", and downloaded the state of Sonora. A search shows no Santander's. Closest is in San Luis, 170 miles away.
The one legged guy, got pissed off at me one day. My boat and trailer together, were probably about 50 feet long and I was first at the stoplight, so he started to walk back to the next car and then the light changed, I could hear him yelling at me and just told my wife, he'd have a problem kicking my ass..
Yes, they do. We noticed on our last trip that various merchants in town are adding 3% for the use of a credit card. That was something new that they did not do before. In addition to that, most credit card companies also add a 2.5% to 3% foreign transaction fee.
Jack, I just logged on now, to my account. The rate is .0815, you can do better here..Thats 12.26 down by telmex the Casa de cambio was buying dollars at 12.6
Not my Capital One Visa, no FTF's. I use it exclusively when in Mexico.
That is the only card that I am aware of that does not charge the FTF. I've been saying for a while now that I need to get one of those. Guess I'll need to do that soon. I didn't mind so much paying it, but now that various merchants in town are also charging 3%, I mind. Wrecked and La Curva both charge the 3% now for credit card transactions.
Rate is as I predicted in 2011, thread where Wahoo bet me 20 bucks the Euro was on it's may to 1 to 1 with the dollar and that we should all run out and buy pesos because 15 to 1 here we come! note, in any transaction between two parties if the loser defaults on a obligation ( 20 dollar bet the Euro would be below 120 on Jan 1 2012) the loss of trust caused by nonpayment slows all commerce.
We noticed on our last trip that various merchants in town are adding 3% for the use of a credit card. That was something new that they did not do before.
I don't blame them. That's about what it costs them to accept your payment by CC. What is convenient and a good deal for you is costing them money.
my first trip to pp....I went in a group,..all cousins and their children, total of 27 including nine children ages fro 2 to 9 .We caravanned thru the desert, soo much fun.most od the adults are late forties thru age 60.We checked in to bella sirena on the 12th of this month ( sept),. our check out date was sept 16 2014,. we made our reservation using one credit card for all five rooms. one person made it with a separate cc. there were only two towels in the room for a family of four, and they would not gives us xtras. finally after much insisting we got two more the second day. some of my family members can get rather loud, especially when drinking,. on the third day, we were at the pool that closes at eleven, about nine thirty, security came and told us to turn down our radio and we did, later that nigh the came back, there were two people smoking in the pool, he told them it wasn't allowed so they turned their ciggs off. furthermore, when they came back a third time and they had the head of security with them, he told us we had continuously broken all the rules, had insilted the guards. and that we had to vacate the premises and that we would be escorted out by police.. that easy!!.no prior warning to consequences nothing..some of the people in our group were already asleep in their condo after being at the beach all day, and so were children.they already had our rooms numbers ready . Some of the ladies that were in the pool went outside and pleaded with him to let us stay till the next morning, but he, (Daniel lopez dehasa refused, he said if we stayed the night , we would not leave the next morning., and later he accused the men of physically threatening him which is a lie because I was there, there was a group of people from Arizona that got very upset with the guards, cause they could hear what was happening and they came to our defense and said we had done nothing wrong . the police arrived, they were very nice to us they told us they couldn't physically evict us, they were just there to make sure nothing got out of hand, . we were evicted at about 12:45 am, all five rooms, children sleeping, people were woken up, we were escorted out. I am a 60 and a cancer patient in California , there was nine children there, THEY JUST DIDNT CARE. We were evicted in the m idle of the nigh in a place we didn't know, . bella sirena does not care about the safety or well being of their guest, unless of course, you happen to have a lot of money, or be involed in illict activities,then of course, they are willing to look the other way. we lost our last day stay, we did get our deposit back cause we went to ministerio publico. I loved pp but my vacation was ruined , please re post so this won't happen to other travelers. bella sirena does not re about it's guest safety, are not people friendly, and sd be better trained handle customer service and issues.......please repost , I cant see what happened to us happening to some one else........
Sorry that happened to you regardless of the details kicking a group with kids and people that may be drunk after midnight was wrong.
ty jerry, I also thought so. .some of us did nothing wrong, but they didn't care or want to hear us out, and u r right some of the men were drunk, but not belligerent,
no we were in 402 yeah a guard told us about that while we were there...scary, I think if I had rented a villa we wouldn't have been evicte, lots of $$$ lol