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July 15, 2002.
Exactly eight years ago, a friend
of mine who had moved down here a few months earlier
called me to ask when I was moving to Vallarta. Would
I get here in time to catch at least part of the rainy
season, she asked. Could I move my moving date up a
little? And then she added, "If you thought Vallarta
was wonderful in the wintertime, you ain't seen nothing
'till you see it in the summertime!" I remember
thinking that she must be crazy, perhaps the excessive
heat and humidity had gotten to her... I was wrong.
She was right.
Eight years have come and gone and
I am still awed by everything the so-called "rainy
season" brings to this blessed bay, the tropical
downpours with the blazing sunsets on the horizon, the
thunder claps that reverberate and echo throughout the
valley, amplified to the point where you feel them deep
within the marrow of your bones, the clarity of the
air and the smell of the plants right after the rain
stops. As is always the case, the grass always seems
greener. But here in this little paradise, it is. I
agree that maybe, if I had spent my life in Costa Rica
or the Amazon jungle, I wouldn't feel this way. But
I spent my life in a big city so this remains extremely
special to me, even after eight years. I still go out
on my little terrace in the middle of the night, just
to watch the lightning dance horizontally across the
sky, and then I count the seconds before hearing the
thunder, just like they taught me when I was little…
And then we get back to reality,
to man-made noise, the kind that no one appreciates.
I know that the media published a report last week stating
that there had been a 50% reduction in buses in the
historical center of Puerto Vallarta as of June 1st,
but I'm not sure about that. I've had the opportunity
to discuss it with many local residents over the last
few weeks. No one has noticed any change whatsoever.
Having been brought up to be punctual
for appointments, and having functioned that way for
most of my adult life, I find it difficult to change…
Consequently, I always time myself to get wherever I'm
supposed to be …on time. I left with plenty of
leeway to meet my friends at that new fish 'n chips
place last week, but I still got there late. Not much,
mind you, but still late. They (foreigners like me)
were already sitting down. The reason for my delay were
the buses along Insurgentes and then Colombia. There
were five of them, one after another, with no more than
five passengers in each. And they kept on passing each
other, blocking all traffic behind them as they did
so. I experienced the same thing along the main drag
coming back into the center after our delightful lunch.
So what gives? Are we all hallucinating or were there
really twice as many buses before June 1st?
There's an interesting debate going
on at City Hall lately. It deals with the subject of
tables and umbrellas on sidewalks. From what I understand,
this practice is indeed allowed, but only on Olas Altas
in the old part of town, on the south side. There the
tables are set out in such a way that sidewalk space
is left free, in a straight line, in between the tables
so as to enable foot traffic to flow smoothly. Personally,
I am very biased. I have always loved the look and feel
of sidewalk cafes, all over the world, in tourist resorts
of course but especially in the areas frequented by
tourists in major cities.
Now it appears that a number of local
businesses have requested permission to set up tables
on the sidewalk in front of their establishments. The
problem is that sidewalks are of different sizes in
different areas of town. At some places, they are no
more than three feet wide at most and pedestrians have
a hard time as it is. In other spots, they may be as
wide as 12 feet. Some council members are pushing for
each case to be determined separately, on its own rights.
I was wondering if it wouldn't be easier to establish
minimum sidewalk width measurements and maximum numbers
of tables according to such sizes and the frontage of
the shop.
There's also the matter of plants,
bushes and trees. Municipal regulations state that when
a business plants a bush or tree in front of its location,
it becomes the property of the town. That's fine. The
owner still has to care for it, mind you. But when that
plant grows so big that it hides the façade of
the establishment and the business depends on passing
traffic and the owner wants to move it -not REmove it-
he may not be allowed to do so. On the other hand, when
huge beautiful mature palm trees growing alongside a
major condominium complex are cut down in the middle
of the night (illegally of course), nothing happens.
That's all for now. I'll take my
friend Laura Quiros' example and leave you with some
words of wisdom uttered long ago by the famous French
painter, Pissarro: "Blessed are they who see beautiful
things in humble places where other people see nothing."
Hasta luego!
anna@pvmirror.com
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