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Puerto Vallarta Travel Guide »

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Puerto Vallarta, Mexico — THE young girl in the shop was helping. "We-CHOL," she instructed, the second syllable sliding off her tongue.

Hundreds of Huichol ornaments, gourd bowls and animals filled the small shop near the Cuale River Bridge. The Huichol Indians, who live high in the Sierra Madre not far from Puerto Vallarta, are said to get the inspiration for their symbolic yarn paintings and beadwork from peyote.

I pointed to a table filled with distinctively painted winged animals and asked what they were called. "Alebrijes," the girl replied. I later learned that the tradition of carving and painting this style of fantasy animal had originated with a Mexican man who had seen them in a dream.

My most vivid recurring dream — nightmare, really — is one in which my plane is about to leave Puerto Vallarta and I haven't bought a single item. Fortunately, this was not the case on a November shopping expedition when my sister, Lynda, and I emerged from a three-day spree with more than 50 treasures.

After selecting several items at Arte Huichol Decolores, I found I was already running low on cash and didn't have enough to cover the purchase. And the shop didn't take credit cards.

"No problem," the girl assured me, gesturing to a boy of 10 or so. He trotted ahead of me over the Río Cuale Bridge to an ATM and waited politely while I extracted pesos from my bank back home. He not only had change for me, but he also pointed me in the direction my sister had wandered.

This was Lynda's first trip to a place I had fallen in love with 25 years earlier. I can't speak more than a few words of Spanish, but this city is tourist-friendly. Modern high-rise hotels lining the beaches to the north and south of the city provide a comfort zone for first-time visitors. From there, it's an easy cab or bus ride to the downtown area, El Centro, with its narrow one-way cobblestone streets.

El Centro is split by the Cuale River; it's along the river and to the south where some of the best shopping bargains along Mexico's Pacific Coast can be found. Many tourists, however, never stray from the north side of the river, preferring to stay along the Malecón, the city's scenic oceanfront promenade.

After our arrival, we headed south of the river to Daiquiri Dick's, a beach-side restaurant where shopping comes tableside if you show the slightest interest in any of the roving vendors' wares.

While nibbling on a shrimp appetizer, I made my first purchase — a hand-carved elk — and the shopping marathon had officially begun.

Markets

After leaving Daiquiri Dick's, we walked along Olas Altas street, a block from the beach in the Romantic Zone, as this part of South Vallarta is called.

We picked up momentum at several street stalls, purchasing a cloth purse, hand-painted dishes and delicate papier-mâché animals. Two blocks inland, some trays crafted of colorful fused glass caught my eye at Galería Serendipity, and the manager explained they were made in Tonolá, a small market town outside Guadalajara.

The next morning, we caught a bus with El Centro painted on its front windshield, intent on breakfast at Le Bistro along the river. (The bus route is easy to navigate, and a ride is only 45 cents.) Distracted by stalls lining both sides of Cuale Island, which is in the river, we didn't make it to Le Bistro until almost lunchtime.

Its Casablanca-meets-Mexico décor of zebra-skin chairs and monkey sculptures in an open-air setting under bamboo trees along the river created an exotic oasis. The array of dessert coffees was tempting, but we were on a mission.