Puerto Vallarta was just a small little fishing village with a very small community here in Jalisco on the ocean with a beautiful bay when, in 1964, John Houston came down here to film the movie Night of the Iguana, which put Puerto Vallarta on the map. Then Elizabeth Taylor bought a house here and Richard Burton bought a house across the street from Elizabeth Taylor and movie stars started coming down here. This really drew the attention of foreigners, who started coming down here to vacation.
So Puerto Vallarta grew from a small village to where it is now, with a population of several hundred thousand people. We’ve got an old sign that’s falling over on the south side of town that says “Welcome to Puerto Vallarta. Population 250,000 people.”
Perhaps my personal story will help to illustrate the growth of Puerto Vallarta. I have some wonderful friends from Los Angeles who purchased a big house here in 1976 when it wasn’t that easy for Americans to purchase property, and the whole concept of foreigners purchasing here was fairly new for Puerto Vallarta. I started to come down about 4 or 5 times a year to visit my friends. On one of my trips I was asked by some people who own a property management company if I would like to move down here and help them set up a real estate sales division. In 1999, I accepted.
When I first moved here we didn’t have all of the services here that make life a little bit easier, like Costco, Home Depot, Sam’s Club, and Wal-Mart. Back in those days there were a couple of Mexican grocery stores that we could go to. There was one grocery store in the middle of town that would import some of the stuff that US and Canadian consumers are used to purchasing, but it was just a very small grocery store with not much available. Since then we have grown so much that everything is available. We’ve got Megaplex movie theaters all over the place now. We’ve have two Sam Stores. We have a number of Wal-Marts, Costcos, Home Depots, and I understand there’s going to be a new Lowes that’s going to be coming into town. So there’s a lot of growth. A lot of things that were a little bit more difficult to get when I first moved down here that we had to bring down from the States are now fairly readily available.
This is all a good thing because Puerto Vallarta has kept its character, its personality and its soul. It’s not like the invasion of McDonald’s so that you may feel “Oh, there goes the culture.” Puerto Vallarta still very much has its culture and the hospitality of the Mexican people here. Given all that, it’s just nice to be able to go get some of those things that make our life easier.
(Richard Burton and Ava Gardner in the movie, Night of the Iguana, shot in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, pictured.)
In my opinion, everything in Belize is cheap except for electricity. I have not paid an electric bill in the US for 8 years, but I believe that the cost in the US over the last 8 years has gone up and should continue to rise. My most recent electric bill in Belize was $196 Belize, which translates to about US $98 and that powers my entire house – fans, two refrigerators, a large freezer, and my dryer. 
I’ve had a number of clients, owners, and tenants in the Oaks Tamarindo who have moved dogs to Costa Rica. You can get a pet passport, which can be easily found on the Internet. In fact, I’ve found it for a number of clients. 
You can rent a smaller, old apartment in San Juan Del Sur for US $250 to $300 per month. These are Nicaraguan style apartments, with no air-conditioning and with a shared kitchen with others, and it would be right in town. 
Yes, as a foreigner, you can buy or own land or other real estate in Portugal. There are no restrictions for owning any land or other real estate asset in Portugal based on nationality. Moreover, care to note that Portugal allows individuals and/or companies (regardless of the nationality) to own the freehold of land or other real estate assets for perpetuity. 
Having lived in Belize as an ex-pat for almost 30 years, I guess I qualify as a bit of an expert on the country. 
