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SHE SAID…
June 8, 2003
The last time I saw so many people
gathered in the main square and spilling over to Los
Arcos Amphitheater was, to the best of my recollection,
on the occasion of the Fiestas Guadalupanas in December
of the year 2000. Saturday, the last day of May, was
just like that - fabulous. If you missed it, I hope
you enjoy the photos we took.
 On
the way back to the car which we parked on the other
side of the bridge, my friend and I happened to walk
by Guerrero Street, that’s where Trio Restaurant
is located, and Judith Ewing’s gallery too. I
just had to take a picture of the sign for you, my readers
…to make you smile.
And when it comes to municipal government
departments, sometimes I wonder how some of them function
around here, and if they ever communicate among themselves.
The folks at Tribuna de la Bahía (the Tribune’s
mother publication) received an official e-mail on Friday
afternoon, May 30th, from the representative of the
State Department of Tourism in Guadalajara, the same
e-mail that had been sent to all the local media. It
advised the recipients that there would be a “Tourist
Encounter/Reunion” with some 300 travel agents
from a region of Mexico called the Bajío and
it invited all the media reps to join the agents on
a cruise leaving the Port Terminal the next day, Saturday,
first thing in the morning. Now we all know that Saturday
fell on the 31st of May, the day scheduled for the official
closing ceremonies of the Cultural Festival, Puerto
Vallarta’s birthday and anniversary, a day chock-full
of wonderful events. So does this mean that the State
Department of Tourism was unaware of this? Did they
take it for granted that everyone on their mailing list
would check their e-mails Friday evening? And even if
they did, how could they assume that everyone would
drop whatever plans they had made way ahead of time
in order to attend an event for which they had been
given a couple of (working) hours’ notice? I have
no answers.
Mind you, I didn’t fare much
better on that particular day. Yes, I did spend a wonderful
time at all the events that took place in the main square
and at Los Arcos, but in doing so I missed a telephone
call from the Tribune office advising me that the closing
event of the annual Sports Celebrity do at Paradise
Village was taking place at the same time. No one ever
told us that it would be taking place again this year,
or when. Some of you may recall that I had gone last
year in order to see the celebrities, one of which was
Lorenzo Lamas. As it turned out, he had to bow out at
the last minute …but he came this year. I didn’t
know. Ramona (our Sales Director) got the hug and the
souvenir photo I had so hoped for last year. Oh, well,
easy come easy go … I suppose.
Talking of “anniversaries”,
this week marks one year since Puerto Vallarta was witness
to what became known as the “eclipse that wasn’t”.
I remember how bad I felt for all those eclipse-chasers,
scientists, astronomers, etc. who had traveled all the
way down to our usually beautiful little paradise from
all around the world, just to witness the once-in-decades
annular eclipse of the sun …only to find cloudy
skies.
And on the subject of folks from
all around the world, I am very pleased to see more
and more Asian tourists in town, especially these last
couple of weeks. I don’t know whether they’re
coming from the U.S. or Canada, or whether they’ve
flown over all the way from the Far East. Regardless,
I hope they have been welcomed. And the other day, I
even saw a Sikh gentleman driving a car with Nayarit
plates in the lane next to mine. We really are turning
into an international resort, slowly but surely.
We heard from the honeymooning couple,
the owners of the delightful ice cream shop, “Once
Upon A Time…”, the one I like so much. They
were calling from Playa Carmen near Cancun where they
had just spent the greater part of one day looking for
a hotel room… Can you imagine? Here, some 5-star
hotels are offering rooms at $ 60. U.S. to students
of the “Invasion” group just to get some
cash flow, while over there, out on the Caribbean, there’s
“no room at the inn”! See what great marketing
can do for a destination?
Enough sour grapes for now. Among
the many wonderful things about living in Vallarta,
there’s one that always makes me smile, something
I discovered on the actual evening of my arrival in
PV: when it comes to dress, there’s no pretense
here. It’s just to darn warm - or hot as the case
may be. On the day of my arrival, my business partner
and I had been invited to the wedding of the real estate
agents who had represented us in the acquisition of
our place of business. I thought I had to get all dressed
up and our luggage hadn’t arrived at the same
time as us… The bride-to-be had assured me I had
nothing to worry about. The simple sundress I was wearing
would be just fine, she said. And of course she was
right. A few months later, we were invited to a New
Year’s Eve party at the home of some V.I.P.’s
in Gringo Gulch. Same thing: some of the ladies, well-known
local socialites all, came in their bathing suits, wearing
wraparound pareos in lieu of long skirts. To those “formal
outfits”, they had added earrings, bracelets and
necklaces for the occasion. I loved it then, and I love
it now. Sandals too are accepted everywhere. (It’s
no wonder that Viva Jewelry is doing so well! What they’ve
got is what the “ladies” of Vallarta need…)
We “weathered folk” -or
“pata salada” as some Vallartan friends
call us- often comment on this. We reminisce the way
we were, back then, when we were just starting out on
our Vallarta adventure... And then someone inevitably
comes out with a statement like “I’ve been
trying to reach you lately.” To which the addressee
usually answers: “I’m in the phone book!”
The exchange is always the same. The first looks at
the second, speechless for a moment, and then comes
out with, “Gee, I never thought of looking you
up,” and we all burst out laughing.
After all, who -except for tourists
and newcomers- would ever think of looking up someone’s
phone number in the local phone directory? We all know
that’s an exercise in futility. Did you ever try
to find the phone number for a store or a hotel or a
person in the Vallarta directory? It doesn’t happen.
That’s because when someone is lucky enough to
rent or buy a place, residential or commercial, that
already has a telephone line installed, we don’t
want to rock the boat trying to change the name with
Telmex. So we stay under whatever name that line had
been assigned to originally - forever. And more often
than not, businesses are listed under the name of the
owner, whose name may be that of his/her mother, father
or husband as the case may be.
Okay, on to good stuff. We received
a Telecable guide for the month of June on Saturday,
May 31st. That’s a first, ever. I just stood there
like a dummy, looking at it in total disbelief. Bouquets
to Telecable! Hip, hip, hooray! 
The other day, I took a picture of
the eggs we used to make a delicious Mexican dish based
on cubed cactus. What are the odds of breaking five
eggs in a row, all of them with double yolks? Do you
think that all the chickens were on fertility drugs
…or was it just one chicken that was who laid
all the eggs in the container I bought? Hmmm…
I wish you all a great week and most
especially so to all the fathers out there! Some women
say, “Men? You just can’t live with them!”
But really, fellows, where would we be without you?
Happy Father’s Day to
all the daddies and daddies-to-be out there! Take good
care of each other, dear readers. Hasta luego.
pvmomto3@hotmail.com
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