Traveling Through Mexico! An Airbnb in Tepic, Nayarit & The Elusive "Tortilla Man" in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco
One of the delights of renting a single room in the home of an Airbnb is that you have the opportunity to have conversations with your host. Each host we've stay with in Mexico has been generous enough to give thoughtful recommendations and advice about the country. We eagerly soak up and apply these nuggets of wisdom to our travels.
"Where should we go in Mexico?"
When the young couple who hosted us in Ciudad Obregón suggested we visit the mountainous city of Tepic, we gladly incorporated it into our journey. Due to Airbnb availability and the constrictions of our schedule, we could only stay one night, but we still had the chance to stay in a gorgeous house with a view overlooking the city. Before heading to Puerto Vallarta, we got to sample some local cuisine, too.
Tepic, the capital of Nayarit
We took a chance by booking a new Airbnb without a single review. Airbnb listings without reviews are almost always cheaper because the hosts have to compete solely on the basis of price in order to get bookings. So far in our travels, we've been blessed with great experiences when booking review-less rentals, despite the risk. One of these times our luck is going to run out, but until then, we'll count our wins (and dollars saved).Here's what less than $9 got us for a night in Tepic.
New to Airbnb? Get a $40 travel credit when you sign up!
After our night in Tepic, we stopped at a nearby restaurant to grab a bite to eat. As always, I (Jordan) didn't really know what to expect when ordering my 120 peso ($6.44 USD) dish. The menu described it as a combination of vegetables, fresh citrus juices, octopus, and shrimp. It was all served it in a coconut, which holds a deceptively large amount of food!
The biggest risk I was taking on this dish was the octopus. I had tried it in the past and it was extremely tough to chew—akin to what I imagine it would be like to munch on some rubber bands. The sight of octopus still grosses me out with all the suction cups on its tentacles, but I couldn't leave Tepic without trying it. As it turns out, not all octopus is rubbery and chewy. It was really tender and reasonably tasty!
If you've been following along with our adventures up to this point, you're probably wondering why we're talking about Tepic if we've been in Puerto Vallarta for two weeks. In a nutshell, we had a lot of videos to edit/post and not enough time to finish them. We were getting so many great recommendations for cities we had already left, so in an effort to get caught up, we temporarily skipped a few videos.
Now let's fast forward to our current location: Puerto Vallarta!
Our Airbnb in this city is up on a giant hill. Starting the very first morning, we woke up to an orchestra of unfamiliar sounds...roosters, dogs, cats, insects, and birds all doing their thang. It was as if we could hear all the sounds of Puerto Vallarta from this hilltop!
In addition to nature's symphony, we heard a man walking around our neighborhood yelling "TORTIIIIILLAAAAAS!" to sell his freshly-made product. We fondly dubbed him the "Tortilla Man" and if you've been following our videos, you've probably heard us mention him several times in our videos over the past couple of weeks.
The elusive Tortilla Man evaded us every day for two weeks straight until we FINALLY ran into him today—our last day in Puerto Vallarta. Que suerte! We could hardly contain our excitement when we saw him and managed to get a short (and highly embarrassing) video clip of our interaction.
We let you all down and deeply apologize for it.
It turns out The Tortilla Man is a sham. We're a sham. We've been talking about The Tortilla Man for two weeks straight and he doesn't even exist! In reality, our beloved Tortilla Man was actually yelling "bolillo." He's selling loaves of bread similar to baguettes, according to the helpful advice of a Facebook group we asked."The Bolillo Man" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
RIP Tortilla Man.
@sharingeverybite (Maddie)
@shenanigator (Jordan)
(and Laska the Siberian Husky)
That's great! It seems like your travel is totally amazing. But isn't Mexico a bit dangerous nowadays? A friend of mine who lives there told me it's not the safest place to travel at the moment... How did you feel?
We’ve been traveling for 6 weeks, have visited numerous cities, driven 1,500 miles, and have yet to feel unsafe.
The most unsafe we’ve felt was when we were attempting to cross select streets on foot in Puerto Vallarta. If there was one place we would’ve been hit by a bus, it was there!
Mexico is a deceptively large country, so they’re are certainly parts that are less safe than others. Where does your friend live?
He lives In Puebla. Have you been?
We haven’t. It’s pretty close to Mexico City and we don’t have any plans to go near there in the immediate future.
Whaaaaaat?!!?? That place for less than $9??? Even your dog knew it was a bargain. It shows in the excitement.
That is one massive food. I doubt i could finish that. Another interesting post to catch up on. Thank you for this again. I'm learning about Mexico through you.
Yeah, it sure was! And it was the least we had paid for a night’s stay in our 6 weeks of travel.
Laska definitely knew it was a bark-ain!
-Jordan
Hahaha i love that; bark-ain, it is. That's really impressive. Well done.
I did write that comment, but should probably give Maddie credit for the pun ;)
-Jordan
Hahahahaha. You two are just too adorable.
CHECK OUT THAT DISH! That's...glorious.
I loved seeing these pieces of your adventure, and especially your doggo. I'll be following to see more!
Since coming to Mexico, I’ve been wanting to have things served in a Coconut, especially a nice tropical alcoholic drink.
Unfortunately, this was the first and only time I’ve had something from a 🥥 :(
I’m happy to hear you’re enjoying it! Thanks for following along.
-Jordan
WOW!! I often use Airbnb when traveling. I will also use Airbnb if I go to Mexico.
It has been really helpful for us to find accommodations here. Especially considering we need it to be pet-friendly and have WiFi. We definitely recommend it!
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beautiful yes his viewers are seen distance away..i like it that way
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is very nice to travel is part of education and exposes
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Travelling through the never before seen Mexico, a good insight in to travel diaries.
“Travelling through the never before seen Mexico” Sounds like the title of a documentary we should make :)
Thanks for watching and commenting!