I completely agree! I recently traveled to Paris to visit a friend of mine who has been living there for the last few months. While we did go out for some incredible meals, by far the most memorable dinner that we had was the one that was the most economical. We stopped at a little grocery store and picked up some beers and dessert (a box of cookies ). Then grabbed some warm crepes and sat on a bench on the Seine River. The night was beautiful and we just spent hours eating drinking and catching up. We also made friends with some locals who were just passing by and even met up with them the following night for some drinks. I love those memorable moments that happen when you least expect them

Kate, thanks for your response. I was in Paris for just a couple of hours three years ago. I had flown in from Portland, Oregon, and taken the train from the airport into town. I had a little time to kill before catching another train down to the south of France to catch up with a group, so I bought a crepe and a cold beer and just sat on a park bench watching everyone rushing around. It was a simple yet great meal and it was the perfect way to relax after the long flights.

Hi thepiranaha... I'm going to Sayulita in February with my husband and friends. My husband is a great wanderer and very big on purchasing foods from street vendors and such. I'll be looking forward to what he brings back for our lunch!

I've had many memorable meals from street vendors, but the best was in Guangzhou, China where I was attending the Canton Trade Fair. The Fair (which is insanely huge) provided little kiosks with horrible hotdogs and cheese sandwiches for all the Americans/Europeans. I wasn't about to eat this, so I started following some of the Chinese participants down an alley between the trade buildings in search of some decent food. This lead me to a street packed with food vendors serving all sorts of Chinese food... and the best fun was finding the "potsticker" vendor who was making potstickers by the truckloads... and I picked up 18 of them for about 1 dollar! Boy were those potstickers great!

cmdavilacli

If you haven't been to Sayulita before, it's a very small beach town with gravel roads. Don't be surprised if you're awoken by the vendors with their incessant loud tape recording describing the wares that they are selling. We enjoyed running outside to buy fresh fruit for the day. One morning we looked outside and there was a truck loaded with toilets driving by. The house that we were staying in already had two toilets so we didn't buy any.

Make sure that you get a barbecued chicken with all of the fixings from the ladies that sell them in the street. Their setup is a couple of blocks from the beach and you can buy a half or whole bird. Don Pedro's is a pleasant place for lunch or dinner on the beach. We sat in their open air bar and watched our Oregon Ducks and UCLA Bruins play in the NCAA basketball tournament in 2007. Choco Banana is a good place for breakfast. It's right on the main square. So is Sayulita Fish Taco, which has great local seafood tacos and burritos.

I strongly advise a trip north to San Pancho, formally known as San Francisco. It's a quick taxi ride up the coast. The beach is long, beautiful and empty. There are two palapas on the beach where you can get food and drinks. We enjoyed some ceviche and cervezas in the shade of palm fronds. Dinner at La Ola Rica is not to be missed. It's reputedly one of the best restaurants on the entire coast.

You can get to Sayulita by walking over the overpass from the Puerto Vallarta airport and taking the bus. It costs only around $2 per person. Conversely, a taxi will run you around $60 or $80.

As for your story, can you imagine eating hotdogs and cheese sandwiches in China? Staying home and watching a travel show on T.V. would be more of a cultural experience.

Hi thepiranha and cmdavilacli - I thought I'd jump in here as I just stayed in San Pancho a few months ago. Thepiranha, I'm pretty sure we discussed this in some posts elsewhere. Although I've heard excellent things about Sayulita, I was in San Pancho exclusively for about a week and it is an adorable town with excellent restaurants! La Ola Rica is great for dinner, as is the upscale Mar Plata. Maria's is not to be beat for breakfast and lunch. They have pancakes to die for and wonderful fresh salads at lunchtime.

Thepiranha, don't want to offend, but I don't think that Sayulita is 2 hours up the coast from PV. San Pancho was just a 30-40 minute drive....isn't Sayulita even closer?

You're absolutely right about Sayulita being much closer than two hours from Puerto Vallarta. As I mentioned in my post, we took the bus that the locals take and I'm sure that it took much longer than the half hour it would take by car. Maybe it seemed like two hours since we had been traveling all day and the bus was pretty uncomfortable. No offense taken. When I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

Yes, we did previously discuss Sayulita and San Pancho, and we agreed that La Ola Rica is a great place for dinner. We were in San Pancho for only one day, so we didn't get to try Maria's or Mar Plata.

I forgot to mention that I edited my post, so it's correct now. Thanks for pointing that out to me.