Jalisco is the state containing Puerto Vallarta. We are told the best place for us to camp in Puerto Vallarta would be in Vallarta Viejo (Old Vallarta), specifically near Playa de los Muertos (Beach of the Dead):
We find this area and the beach and immediately love them both and settle in for several days. We park the camper on the street and just camp in it right there.
Puerto Vallarta has a hotel zone as well on the northern edge of town but other than riding our bikes there one afternoon, we avoid it. Vallarta Viejo is where the action is: good restaurants, great beaches, night life, great hiking, interesting stores, etc.
Behind Play de Los Muertos the condos rise into the hills looking quite spectacular.
South of Puerto Vallarta is Mismoyola, the town where "Night of the Iquana" (Starring Elizabeth Taylor) and "Preditor" (starring Arnold Swarzenager) were filmed.
Then we came to Melaque, the town the old couple in San Carlos had told us about. This turns out to be my favorite town that I visited in all of Mexico.
It is a very small town that was recently hit by an earthquake last year. It is a town frequented on weekends in the summer by day-tripers from Quadalajara. We were befriended by Phil, a lady who ran the best restaurant in town (Los Pelicanos) and she was an amazing character.
She is personal friends with Steve Wozniak (an Apple computer founder) who sails into the bay on his sailboat, drops anchor, and dines at Los Pelicanos quite regularly.