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December 29, 2002.
My neighbors
must feel vindicated just about now. They never took down their Christmas decorations
from last year, and now they were able to just plug in the little blinking lights
again and presto! They were ready for this year's celebrations. What forethought! Seriously
though, it is very nice to see the decorations all over town. And the tourists
are starting to arrive in droves - finally. There were 122 flights into PV last
weekend alone. Thank goodness that not everyone listened to that stupid ABC announcer
who did the commentary for the World Golf Cup held here a couple of weeks ago.
That thoughtless man told a viewing audience of millions that the town had been
destroyed and the hotels were closed… I think he must have gotten lost in
some rough patch along the beautiful Vista Vallarta golf course and never really
made it into town… For my part, I had the honor of
having Mr. Howard Richler ("On The Lighter Side - Of Language") and
his lady as guests in my home all of last week. What a delight and a privilege
it is to converse with such people! Did I keep them all to myself? You're darn
right I did. I considered it my Christmas gift to myself… Over
the years, mention has often been made in the various local, and sometimes international,
publications about the "surreal" nature of this particular town. Frank
Kafka's name comes up regularly. In one of the Opina's issues last week, the headline
read: "Kafka? Kafka? In Vallarta, (he would have been) just an apprentice."
The first allusion I ever read to this concept of surrealism was a quote from
André Breton, the famous French surrealist who returned to France after
only a few days in Mexico. When asked why he had returned so quickly when he was
originally intending to spend an extended period of time teaching in this country,
he purportedly replied, "I cannot teach the concept of surrealism to Mexicans
…they live in it!" We may have entered a new
century and a new millennium since Breton spoke those now-famous words, but nothing
much seems to have changed since his short stay in this country half a century
ago. Back in 1924, Magritte's contemporary had defined surrealism as "Thought's
dictation, in the absence of all control exercised by the reason and outside all
aesthetic or moral preoccupations." As I said, nothing has changed. Personally,
I think that this is one of the main reasons, though it remains unspoken most
of the time, why so many of us continue to be mesmerized by this place. Think
about it. Where else can you drive along a highway and come up against a traffic
light showing all three colors - red, yellow and green - at the same time? That's
what we have along the main drag in the hotel zone. And unless one is truly "in
the absence of all control exercised by the reason", how can one explain
that shop owners who have been eagerly awaiting for business to pick up, knowing
that Vallartans receive their Christmas bonuses around the middle of the month,
don't have any inventory in stock? Only what they could put out on the shelves,
nothing "in the back"… Many locals told me of their fruitless search
for Christmas presents during the days preceding Santa's arrival. Every
day for over two weeks, we read how the reconstructed Malecon would be ready and
inaugurated. And every day, we read how this event had to be postponed …because
it wasn't ready - until December 24th. On that day, both of Vallarta's two big
dailies carried the same articles dealing with the unwillingness of the workers
to complete the job because "they wouldn't have any more work once the job
was completed…" So they prefer to take a siesta, literally. And everyone
at City Hall is away on holidays. Could it be the "absence of all control
exercised by the reason"? On the "lighter side"
of surrealism was the sudden appearance of a Santa Claus parade on Monday evening,
December 23rd. There were police cars at the head of it and at the end, lots of
cars honking …and big red trucks whose passengers were handing out Coca-Cola's
new peach drink! What fun! At the risk of repeating myself,
I believe that these are some of the reasons why so many of us have been literally
"charmed" by this place. There is never a dull moment in Puerto Vallarta.
Every day brings with it a new series of "happenings". And
for more of the positive, the days are getting longer, the sun did come out, beaches
have appeared where none existed before, the people of Vallarta are still as warm
and friendly as ever …life goes on and it is great! The universe is unfolding
as it should… and I will turn one year older next week. Oops. On
Christmas eve, my family and I went out with some dear friends to Daiquiri Dick's.
The place was packed. Every table was full, but what really surprised me the most
was that it looked as if the entire Jewish community from New York and New Jersey
were there... Very odd indeed. Like always, the food was superb. By the way, executive
chef and manager Rafael will be the star of the Camino Real's traditional Cultural
Thursday event on January 2nd, so don't miss it. He is as wonderful a pianist
as he is a chef. This multi-talented fellow whose full name is Rafael Antonio
Nazario has also authored a bilingual cookbook entitled "Sand in Your Shoes",
available at Amazon.com. The restaurant used to have it on sale too but I'm not
sure if they still do. I also have to offer my sincere apologies to Peter and
Tari Bowman who have owned Daiquiri Dick's for the last 21 years. (Last week,
I erroneously wrote that Rafael was the owner…) I
wish all our readers a New Year filled with good health and happiness and most
of all, peace. Feliz Año Nuevo y hasta luego. pvmomto3@hotmail.com Archives
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