|
SHE SAID…
August 17, 2003
 Firstly,
I must thank all our readers who were so kind as to
ask what happened to me a couple of weeks ago when I
did not hand in a column. (As “she” was
out of town at the time, “she” really didn’t
have much to say that would have been of any consequence
to lovers of Vallarta...) Nevertheless, their e-mails
were most flattering and I thank them all.
A few days ago, we decided to start
at the northern end of town and head for the Malecon
to mingle with the thousands of tourists who were doing
the same as us that evening - taking a leisurely stroll.
First we stopped for some food at that restaurant that’s
open 24/7, Mac Taco. Great grub if I may say so myself,
the best lamb stew I’ve had in a long time. Afterwards
I just had to stop at Hidalgo Park for a French crêpe
filled with yummy stuff. (Yes, I love to eat…)
I still think that lady and her daughter make the best
crêpes in town. We had to wait for a little over
a half-hour to get our treat, that’s how long
the line was. I realized that we were the only foreigners
there. Perhaps Mexicans appreciate thin, perfectly prepared
crêpes more than North Americans do, I don’t
know.  Anyways,
as we were waiting, chatting with the other folks in
line (tourists from Zapopan and Mexico City), we had
plenty of time to watch the goings-on along Mexico Avenue.
That’s when I noticed the “Imported Hot
Dogs” store and the “Rehabilitation Center”
with all the youngsters whooping it up below the big
sign. So much for the highly controversial “La
Calle No Es Barra Libre” campaign that the authorities
have been trying to implement for so long… I thought
I would share it with you.
As we neared the Malecon, it gave
me great pleasure to note that the folks who owned that
lovely little café next to “Los Milenios”
(the spiral sculpture at the northern end of the Malecon)
have reopened with the same name as they had prior to
Hurricane Kenna’s visit - Pravda. The locale is
a little smaller, but there are still tables outside,
the view is fabulous at all times of day, but especially
so at night.
Last week, the Tribuna de la Bahía
published a full-page article entitled “Out of
every ten restaurants that open, four close.”
When we first came to Vallarta, there were a little
over 400 eating establishments registered with the City.
Today, there are over 1,400, including everything from
family “fondas” to five-star gourmet restaurants.
That’s a 350% increase, way more than the increase
in the local population or the number of tourists who
come to this port. As the general director of the local
restaurant owners association stated in the article,
proof of the lack of planning, feasibility studies,
foresight, etc. is that half of the 1,400 have closed,
either for the season or for good. I, for one, am not
surprised. I remember when a friend of ours back in
Montreal wanted to open a restaurant. He couldn’t
get authorization to do so because the City felt that
there were already too many similar eating establishments
in the area he was considering. Wouldn’t criteria
of that kind help locals avoid great financial losses?
In her first article since her return
to Vallarta, my fellow Canadian and friend Angeline
Kyba tells us how to make paper. Well, I found out that
if your daily paper is delivered really, really early
in the morning, while the skies are clear, and then
there’s an unexpected, strong rainstorm, and then
the sun comes out again, you too might find a ready-made
papier maché work of art right there on your
front step like I did. No need to get your blender dirty.
Whether you’ll want to frame it or not will depend
on the headlines of that day and the colors of the front
page photo, I suppose.
Gotta go for now. Take good care
of each other, dear readers. Hasta luego.
pvmomto3@hotmail.com
Archives
by date |
Current
Weather Report
