Mordidas is on a cobble stone road on the outskirts of Puerto Vallarta.
Our street, Manantial, parallels the Rio Cuale and starts at the Libramiento and continues, many, many miles away to Talpa/Guadalajara. At one time, many years ago, it was the main route from Guadalajara to Puerto Vallarta. Our restaurant is the second floor of a 3 story building across the street from the river. We live in the bottom floor and the top floor is our garden.
Across the street and on the river’s edge are taco stands and a large metal walk bridge that crosses the river. Other businesses in the immediate vicinity are a deposito, a feed store, a barber, an internet cafe, a beauty salon, a papelaria, a meat market and a vegetable store.
Our colonia, Buenos Aires, named for the good air that flows down the Rio Cuale canyon, is a community unto itself. It has a large public square, a church, 2 schools, a meat market, a vegetable stand, many taco stands, two restaurants, a hardware store, a feed store, several beer stores, a large water company well/pumping station (Manantial means “water spring” in Spanish).
Half of our restaurant is open air balcony. From this viewpoint the extremely active and energetic street life of the colonia is totally visible. We are serviced by a bus line, the Paso Ancho R-04, so buses pass by about every 10 minutes. Trucks loaded with locally produced corn, papayas, pinas, pigs, cows, etc., come down the mountain frequently to supply the city’s needs. Trucks selling everything from propane to shrimp drive by, each with its own distinctive announcement or musical slogan. Long lines of tourist ATVs drive by occasionally, heading up the river play in the mud. And Chano brings his horses in and out of a small stable across the street each day. When school is in session, dozens of kids, all of the girls in miniskirts and all of the boys in slacks and white shirts, fill the sidewalks just before the sessions start and end.
At night the scene changes dramatically when people come out after the day’s heat is gone and the work is over. The tacos stands open at dusk and close at about 1 am except on Sunday when Martha sells ceviche only during the day. Also, Jose, just under the walk bridge across the street from us, sells charcoal roasted chicken during the daytime.
Although we are in the tourist town of Puerto Vallarta, we are not in the tourist zone. Our neighbors are all people who work here. We are the only gringos on the street.
June, 2018 update:
This page was originally written in 2013 and is still basically the same in 2018 except that the road is now rebuilt into a modern cement thoroughfare without cobble stones and with a large sidewalk alongside to encourage people to walk and bike along the river.