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January 4, 2003
Hello: I
am a freelance writer for the Washington Post travel section, and wondered if
you could clear up a few questions for me. 1. I have heard
population figures for city at both 250,000 and 350,000. Is the lower figure more
accurate? Is this city still growing? 2. Do you know damage
estimates from hurricane on local economy? I heard tourism was down 33 percent,
as result of hurricane. Would that be accurate? 3. Do
you know how many hotels were closed/are still closed? I saw quite a bit of construction
going on at Thanksgiving, when I was down. In fact, the Malecon opened during
my one-week stay, so I know how hard people are working, and how fast cleanup
can go. Any idea of progress? Will arches be replaced? 4.
Buses downtown are all 40 pesos, yes? Thank you so much
for answering. You're very lucky (and smart) to live in such a sweet spot in the
universe. Mary Lynn Lyke
The Washington Post, www.washpost.com Dear
Mary Lynn, To answer your questions in order:
1.
Around 250,000 would be more accurate and yes, the town is still growing!
2.
We wouldn't even venture a guess as to the amount of damage caused by Hurricane
Kenna. There have been too many conflicting reports. With regards to the Tourism
Board's statistics, tourism has not gone down at all. As a matter of fact, the
numbers are slightly higher than last year's.
3. The Malecon was only "officially
inaugurated" in mid-December, and the arches were rebuilt and ready -better
than ever- for the Arts Festival that began on December 1st.
4. No. Buses downtown
cost FOUR pesos ($4.) and not 40! And yes, we who
live here do indeed consider ourselves lucky to be doing so. We wish you a Happy
New Year and hope that you will write good stuff about us, Mary Lynn, just to
counteract the damaging and erroneous information put out by CNN that scared so
many people away from our "sweet spot in the universe".
The Ed.
Hi
guys! I read and look forward to reading your magazine
as often as I can. Good job! You definitely make me want to come back over and
over. Here is something I do not understand: all the brochures
I read about PVR mention that the Wednesday night bullfight is ¨bloodless¨...
I was given two tickets through a promotion and went today. I was expecting to
see a show not unlike some I have seen in France where they use ¨vachettes¨,
which are smaller cows and whose horns are covered to prevent injury to the toreador. Instead,
what I saw, in the first two minutes since I only could stomach two minutes, was
far from bloodless. The bull came into the arena with a small arrow already sticking
out of his spine, blood spitting at every turn he took. After
a few runs around the arena, it charged a horseman and almost flipped the horse
he was mounted on. The Picador then took his lance and started twisting and turning
it into the bull... that was enough! I could not stay one more minute and stand
this inhumane treatment of a defenseless animal! You call
this bloodless? I don't know if the bull got killed in the end, it was the impression
the beer vendors and the staff certainly left with the public!!! But I can assure
you of one thing: I have never before engaged in any kind of crusade, but now
I will! I realize that this activity may be the livelihood of a certain number
of locals, but surely, the travel brochures and tourist guides WILL HAVE to change
their statements about the bloodless nature of this activity. As
a former travel agency owner, I will make sure that everyone I know, everyone
on my still active mailing list, every Humane Society organization and everyone
else I can tell, will know of this travesty! Sincerely
yours,
Laurent Matte
Missing paradise Hello,
my name is Raquel Estrada. This is just a little piece of my mind, a need to write
what I am feeling, hopefully you can give me ideas on how to ease my sadness. I
was born in that little corner of God's Paradise. After happily living for 31
years in Puerto Vallarta, I moved to California. The reason?? I had a wonderful,
happy life, a marvelous family, a great job, a nice home; but I didn't have a
partner to share it with, and because of that I felt incomplete and very lonely.
I had lost all hopes to find a good husband; there was just no man that could
fit the needs for a serious, lasting relationship in Vallarta. I
moved to California in August of '98, met a wonderful man in '99 and got married
in 2000. I am grateful to God for such a blessing, I am very happy that I found
him and I love him to death; but I didn't realize what I had done until recently;
it just hit me: I had to leave my loving family and wonderful hometown in order
to find love, I had to quit watching those daily amazing sunsets in order to find
somebody that would commit himself to me, I had to sacrifice the feeling on my
skin of the cool ocean breeze in order to not feel alone. I
wanted to find somebody to share my wonderful life with, I wanted to share my
happiness in Paradise. Now that I am in California, what do I do?? because I know
that right now is not possible to move back with him to Vallarta. There is not
much I can do about it, but God I miss so much the kindness of my people!!!! I
miss so much the warmth of a sunny day!!! I miss so much those breathtaking sunsets!!!
I miss so much the warmth of my own culture!!!. It's
weird and funny at the same time; I am in the very same situation that I was four
years ago, but backwards: I had paradise to share, but no love; now I have love
without a paradise. I guess the saying "you cannot have the cake and eat
it too" is true.. Oh well, I have to learn to be happy where I am, I guess
it's not bad compared to other areas, but the point here is: the sacrifices one
has to make to find love. Maybe when we get older, we
could probably retire and live in my paradise, but there is a long ways before
that could happen. In the mean time I have the NEED to know, to see, to feel,
to be involved with my own people. I am planning on visiting my hometown quarterly,
even if it's just for a weekend. I would like to somehow help the poor, so I am
asking you to please let me know where can I get information on how to get involved
in this kind of organizations in Vallarta or what can an individual like me, do
to support my lovely and so much missed hometown. I would
love to hear from you. Thank you very much for all the articles you write about
the people, about the traditions, about the local news, it keeps me posted and
also, it makes me feel like if I am still living there even when I am far away.
Keep up the good work and congratulations for such a great website. God
Bless You Raquel. Dear Raquel,
There
are many organizations you might consider if you wish to help the less favored
in your home town. A number of them are listed in our "Non-Profit Charitable
Organizations" section.
Come back soon!
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