As I was going out to the airport (again) on one of my recently frequent pick-ups, I noticed something new between the port and WalMart / Sam’s: a traffic light showing a little green person running for its life, a traffic light for pedestrians! Congratulations to whichever municipal department is responsible for its installation! What a super idea. Now pedestrians stand a half a chance of making it to the other side unscathed. I have to tell you, that little running person is really funny…
On Monday of the long weekend, my out-of-town guests wanted to see if perchance the controversial Explo fair was still there in the main square (neighboring shop owners complained that it had no right to be, that it was unfair competition for their businesses, etc. etc.) The fair was gone, but as we approached, we realized that the entire northbound street, Juarez, was closed to traffic. No signs, no traffic cops, no warnings whatsoever. I don’t know exactly what it was they were doing, digging up every intersection along that main thoroughfare, but it was all finished within a couple of days.
Nevertheless, as they wrote in our sister publication, the Tribuna de la Bahía daily, in its issue of March 19th, about a similar situation that occurred when they installed the traffic lights I mentioned above: «…with dozens of vehicles trying to enter and leave Puerto Vallarta, in the heat of the midday sun, such traffic! The reason? Well, our authorities decided to change the traffic lights to «intelligent» traffic lights, but they are still more intelligent because they decide to do it during mid-morning hours, closing off the central lanes of those all-too-few city streets.
The question is: did no one think that it might be better doing that work at night, or early in the morning, so as not to affect circulation? No, definitely not, that would imply asking them to think of others - something that is always asking too much.»
There’s one thing that always baffles me at this time of year: whatever administration is in office, it always undertakes major clean-up campaigns just prior to the two weeks of Easter, the Mexicans’ big vacation time. River banks, beaches, streets, store fronts… I’m not criticizing it by any means, on the contrary, but I just don’t understand why they don’t do the same for foreign visitors.
Oh, before I forget… As you may know, the very popular and tasty outdoor coffee shop and lite restaurant adjacent to the former Lazaro Cardenas Park (which is now an underground parking garage) was practically put out of business by the construction. I guess the noise and dirt was not a good accompaniment to coffee… Anyway, now that the job is done, the Café de la Plaza located at 155 in the Plaza Mar condo building just north of the park is eager to welcome us back. Check it out, it’s a super little hang-out!I'm running out of space - again. So let me close for this week by wishing everyone a most Happy Easter, or Passover, as the case may be, filled with myriad good feelings, lots of loving and lots of sharing! Hag Sameach and hasta luego! pvmom04@yahoo.com
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