SETTING - Puerto Vallarta - Restaurants

My favorite restaurant is Archies Wok. They serve great Tai food (as good as anything I have had in the U.S.) and they have wonderful atmosphere, with a courtyard area shown in picture to right, and live flute and guitar music.

If anything, there is too much to choose from and never enough time. I have liked the first few restaurants that I visited, that I tend to go back each year to revisit them, and as a result I know little about all of the others, save what they look like from the street.

Food in Puerto Vallarta is safe to eat as long as you stay with nice restaurants. The street vendors are more problematic as they cater more to locals than to Americans, and thus are not used to having to be as careful about preparation of food. Having said this, some of the vendors have wonderful food for sale at amazingly low prices, and the more adventurous students who have eaten there loved it.

As a general rule, it is safer to eat foods that have been cooked. Salads are more problematic as they are often rinsed in tap water that can make westerners sick. Nicer restaurants that cater to tourists and expatriates who live in Puerto Vallarta are careful to clean their salads and fruits in a safe manner.

Bottled drinking water is for sale at every store you pass, so it is always easy to find. If you are still worried about the water, purchase some Grapefruit seed extract from a health food store and take several drops in water 3 times day for a few days before visiting Mexico, and continue to take while in Mexico. This does not replace common sense when eating out, but should be thought of as an added insurance.

Also be careful not to get water in your mouth or eyes when showering, or to rinse your tooth brush in tap water.

Once you get to the retreat center in Yelapa, all food and drinks are perfectly safe, and as long as you eat at the center you will have no problems at all. April (our cook at the retreat center) has a catering company in the Pacific North-West during the summer, and spends winters cooking for retreats in Yelapa. She knows how to live and cook in Mexico, and has never had anyone get sick from her cooking on these retreats.