The “Notario” and the real estate transaction: You’ve found the perfect place to purchase in Bahía de Banderas. Now, meet your Notario. Although the translation of “Notario” is “notary public,” the Notario in Latin American countries has a very different role than the notary in the United States or Canada, who authorizes signatures.

Appraisers in the Real Estate Process: You’re ready to commit to a property in Mexico – now comes the paperwork phase. Actually, this is pretty painless when managed by a competent Notario, or notary.

Mexican Lawyers: That beautiful home or condo on the bay is now yours, and you’re planning to enjoy more time in Vallarta. Not meant as a dire prediction, but a practical approach, you may need to spend some time in a lawyer’s office in Mexico, as well.

While Los Cabos and Cancun...: ... seem to always be in the news as appealing Mexican destinations, Puerto Vallarta has been keeping a low profile in the background. And while the spotlight’s on them, it is actually Puerto Vallarta that has created this country’s largest resort real estate market – more Americans own homes in “PV” than in the other two cities combined!

Fractional is the new high-end product: Of a recent real estate conference in Mexico City, local developer Miguel Angel Lemus says, “I discovered the new evolution of the real estate market, how it’s moving toward a new phenomenon that combines lodging elements.”

Best Place to Get Branded: Cooper Tattoo: More and more visitors are discovering the advantage of getting a tattoo during their Puerto Vallarta vacation, namely significant savings when compared to prices up North.

Best Place for Free Entertainment: Around the Main Square: Vallarta offers an abundance of free concerts, plays, movies, dance performances and much more all around the bay. But when it comes to consistently conveying Vallarta’s vibrant cultural manifestations, nothing beats our Main Plaza beside City Hall and the oceanfront Malecon right across from it at the Los Arcos outdoor amphitheater. And here’s what our senior photographer, Eduardo Solorzano, saw when he wandered there awhile.

Best Looking Female Impersonator: Ida Slapter: We met because of a tin-foil tiara. I was wearing it while celebrating something or other at the Red Cabbage five years ago, when in sauntered Shane Clabaugh with his entourage. As beautiful as any woman, eyes startlingly blue and the longest legs I’d ever seen, he took my breath away.

Best Place for Free Mariachi Music: Tequila’s Cafe: By day, Tequila’s Café on the Malecon offers a panoramic view of Banderas Bay, complete with the spectacle of humpback whales cavorting in the crystalline waters during the winter months. By night, patrons can enjoy some of the best mariachi music around, ideally while dining on the restaurant’s romantic wraparound balcony perched one story above the street action, just opposite the seahorse sculpture.

Best Time to Try New Restaurants: Restaurant Week: While any time is a good time to enjoy our thriving and super-varied world-class dining scene (No, folks back home, we are not subsisting on beans and tortillas here!) everyone gets to try some of the best restaurants at low fixed prices during Vallarta Lifestyles’ Restaurant Week, May 15 – 31 every year.

Best Commercial Makeover: Plaza Caracol: You’re in for a big surprise on your next visit to this popular 17-year-old plaza in Puerto Vallarta’s northern Hotel Zone, an incredible number of exciting recent changes and additions making it Banderas Bay’s most comprehensive plaza by far.

Best Place to Buy (and Enjoy): Cigars: Demi Moore, Bill Clinton and Sadam Hussein would all feel at home here, enjoying Puerto Vallarta’s incredible selection.

Best New Dance Craze: Tango: Whether you speak English, Spanish, Swahili or all three is irrelevant when it comes to learning tango, the hot, sensuous dance that originated in 19th-century Buenos Aires and has taken PV by storm since tango instructors Barbara and Al Garvey moved to town two years ago.

Best After Hours Club: The Zoo: If you are a night owl, the Zoo is the place for you. With a 4 to 6 am curfew and an unbelievable atmosphere, the party just never seems to end. The Zoo is Puerto Vallarta’s favorite after-hours club, and on Saturday nights it is packed with both tourists and locals. Located at Paseo Díaz Ordaz 630, on the Malecon, it is the first choice for late-night dancing, socializing and partying. Prices are reasonable, the atmosphere is great, the security is good, and access to taxis in the wee hours is no problem.

Best Enduring Recognition: That Given to Sculptor Ramiz Barquet: It’s quite a tribute when the governments of two countries — Mexico, the country of his birth, and Lebanon, where his parents were born — honor a man beloved by all who know him. Much of Puerto Vallarta’s monumental public art, including the oft-touched “La Nostalgia” on the Malecon, is Ramiz Barquet’s creation, this town his home since the ‘70s.