| Vallarta's
Whale - balance, equilibrium
and harmony.
By The Editor - May, 2004
- Leer en Español
If there exists something
in our town that - even though it is not a natural
attraction - draws the attention of everyone as if
it were, it is the monumental sculpture of "Vallarta's Whale",
located at the entrance of the Marina Vallarta area.
 The history of its creation
started approximately in the year 1992, when the
idea began to form in the mind of its sculptor, Octavio
González. During
an intimate analysis the sculptor reached the conclusion
that he did not take advantage of the gift that he
had blessed with. Therefore he decided to take up sculpting
again. Feeling gratitude for Puerto Vallarta he worked
on creating a huge whale in bronze, homage to women
as tireless warriors and as the essential point of
balance in the family. The sculptor says it is women
who breed and life is granted through them. It is the
woman who devotes herself unconditionally and takes
the risk against all odds in order to offer livelihood
and protection to her sons, to her family.
The sculpture is almost 13
meters long and 8.90 meters high and weighs 12 tons.
It is incredible that all this weight rests on a
point whose surface measures less than a square meter.
With this the sculptor desires to transmit to us
that the family is sustained by a point of equilibrium
that comes from harmony and balance. According to
his understanding, it's there where The Higher Power
or God manifests itself. Harmony and balance together
offer resistance and when one of them breaks everything
comes to an end. The purpose of the sculptor is to
collaborate with "Vallarta's Whale" so that we
may remember every moment that harmony and balance
should prevail. The second message is to invite us
to recuperate the importance of family and the importance
of unity. According to the sculptor's understanding,
family is the most important thing for any human being
and for him Puerto Vallarta is his family.
When the sculptor decided
to carry out the work, the first thing he thought
about was the place where to put it up and it was
precisely in its actual spot. He had already tried
several times to obtain it, however for various reasons
he never succeeded. Until one Civic Wednesday in
the year 1997 during the administration of Fernando
González Corona - godfather of sculpture - Octavio
told him that he had a project to sculpture a whale
and that he wanted to donate it. Fernando González
listened and asked him to hand in his project within
3 days. After having presented it and having been approved,
Octavio began to receive support to carry out his master
piece. A committee was formed immediately with Ramiro
Sierra, Cristian Flamas and Francisco Ruiz Higuera
as members; thanks to them as well as to the sculptor
himself and to more than 50 donors, the project could
be carried out. The sculptor says that he is especially
grateful to Mr. Ramiro Sierra and with engineer Juan
Vela who got involved personally in a most critical
moment to make sure that the whale finally could be
put in place.
 The job was not easy and it took a total of 4 and
a half years to finish the work from its beginnings
to is placing. In result, all of it was a great conjoin
work, with 8 people participating besides the sculptor
and something worth mentioning is that those who helped
in the development of the work were adolescents.
"Vallarta's Whale" was officially inaugurated on March
14th, 2001 by the mayor Pedro Ruiz Higuera. At present "Vallarta's
Whale" is a symbol of Puerto Vallarta and of Banderas
Bay. As a matter of fact the sculpture is a Guinness
Record, amongst other aspects due to its size and to
the material used for the melting - even though it
is not registered officially.
The most incredible fact of "Vallarta's Whale" is
that Octavio González only used his observation,
his imagination and his common sense in order to obtain
all the necessary calculations for his creation. One
of the students said the following about the sculptor: "Master
Octavio has a tape measure in his eyes, lead in his
forehead and volume in his hands" . Unbelievably
the measurement of the sculpture compared to the circumference
of the body of a real whale varies only one inch.
 At this time the most precious
gift that the sculptor receives in his life is being
able to sit down and observe how people come to look,
to admire and to interact with "Vallarta's Whale". The sculptor says that in
that precise moment, without revealing his identity
to the people, he perceives that his work transmits
emotions to the human being, too - just like a violinist
makes us vibrate with a masterly interpretation. For
Octavio this is a confirmation that we are all interconnected.
There were many stories that
were experienced during the development of the sculpture,
however it is most important for the sculptor to
acknowledge that everything was possible thanks to
the committee and the donors. Octavio González says that it is thanks to them
that Puerto Vallarta counts with a sculpture - unique
in the world - distinguished with beauty, sensibility,
courage, devotion, passion, harmony, balance and equilibrium.
"A successful person stays
united with his family, gets along well with them
and leads them to a safe haven during the exciting
process called life."
Octavio González
The Editor
editor@pvmirror.com
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