May 6, 2007 - Mother's Day

There’s an advantage to being a “foreigner mom” here for Mother’s Day: you get to be fêted twice! There will be loving phone calls, and emails, and hugs and kisses on Thursday, the 10th, and then again on Sunday the 13th, when Americans and Canadians –like me- celebrate their moms. My cousin (who’s back down here, visiting again) and I decided to celebrate the day - without children! I think that’s a grand idea. Yeay, moms! And then, the folks at the Tribune might organize a dinner for the moms (and grandmas…) of all the kiddies featured on the cover of last week’s issue of the paper. They did that in past years, so who knows?

Living here, in the land of mañana, one must learn patience, lots of patience. Nothing gets done in a rush, and even the governments are in on the game – not like the telephone company that will cut off your service if you’re one day late in paying your bills... The municipal real estate tax department is a good example. Every year, they try to entice folks to pay their back taxes (that were never collected) by offering them 50-75% discounts on the accrued interests. I guess they’re not convincing enough though, ‘cause they haven’t been too successful thus far… A couple of years ago, I read about the city of Rajahmundry in southern India, where tax defaulters were forced to face the music (literally) in a most innovative fashion: “The municipal authorities that were owed more than $1.2 million dollars in outstanding taxes sent teams of drummers out with tax officials on a door-to-door collection drive. Drummers pounded outside the offenders’ homes, refusing to stop until the harried residents settled their bills. In less than a month, the city drummed up 74% of the money it was owed, and tax collection has hit an all-time high of 95%”! Can you imagine if Puerto Vallarta’s City Hall adopted something of the kind? They could probably collect a whole bunch of $$$ for the city’s coffers. I know for a fact that some of my neighbors have NEVER paid taxes on their properties, and for some of them, it’s been some 30+ years - tax free. But at the same time, Hacienda (Mexico’s equivalent of the IRS or Revenue Canada) says it would like condo and time-share owners to register, so that they may be taxed on the revenue they derive from leasing or renting their beautiful homes and condos. We’ll just have to wait and see who pays up first. Their job will become even more difficult when all those hundreds of condos in the towers being built around the bay are sold, and the owners who don’t live here year ‘round rent them out…

Although the powers-that-be have finally agreed to change the name of this section to “Living in Vallarta” instead of “Opinion”, and I’m very grateful for it, I do have something that may be considered an opinion this week… Regarding this whole “parks vs. parking lots” situation, in my opinion, I never saw Hidalgo Park as a park per se. All I ever saw was a whole bunch of stands, selling all sorts of souvenirs and trinkets, and of course …delicious crêpes in the evening. Benito Juarez Park? Shameful, abandoned, uncared for, dirty, filled with mud during the rainy period. So I wasn’t really upset when they said they would build a parking garage there. But Lazaro Cardenas Park was something else altogether, again, in my opinion. Although it may not have been Central Park, or Mount Royal Park in Montreal, it was really a park, with grass and beautiful old trees and a lovely little gazebo. Now that it looks somewhat like a park again, I still wonder what the politicking was all about with regard to the lot right next to it, which is still an eyesore, and a breeding ground for those godawful dengue-carrying mosquitoes. Why didn’t they use that space instead, like so many had proposed, for the parking garage? I don’t know.

April 28th marked the 40th anniversary of the inauguration of Expo 67 in Montreal, Québec, my former “home town”. Wow, how time flies! Decades… gone. I was supposed to work there, at the Dow pavilion, but I blew it ‘cause I didn’t like the company’s president as much as he liked me… But I did get to enjoy those six wonderful, surreal months. Except for the ’76 Olympic games (for whose stadium we paid for years and years), I don’t think I ever saw that city so united, French and English setting their differences aside for the duration, so much joy, optimism. Hair was long, skirts were short, and the future looked oh, so bright. It was ...the best of times. Of course, we were younger then. But everything was perfect then, and anything seemed possible.

I wonder a lot, and my wooden Don Quixote hasn’t helped me with any input, he’s been wondering too, pondering, for nearly two years now. We both wonder about the situation in Amapas and Conchas Chinas, with all those towers built on slopes way steeper than the 15o set as a limit by the city regulations, and all those other towers being built right at the mouth of the river, about the back-and-forth double-talk whenever all those government bigwigs are interviewed about that and the city dump which was declared obsolete over six years ago, about the long-awaited convention center whose construction –all prefabbed in Guadalajara- appears to have stalled once again (see why we need patience?), about the hundreds of millions invested in the airport expansion to service all those people going to Nuevo Vallarta and other points along the north shore of the Bay, thinking that they’re going to spend their holidays in PUERTO VALLARTA, ‘cause that’s what their travel agent told them, about the promises made to reduce the number of buses downtown …among many other “wonderings”. And why didn’t I notice that there would be a quadruple (!!) arrival of cruise ships at the end of April? Never did get to see that “Regal Princess”…

There are some six veterinarians listed in the Puerto Vallarta telephone directory as living in the city proper. Most of their ads show an emergency phone number to call in such cases. Just so you’ll know, not one of them responded, and one of the automatic messages even stated: “you cannot leave a message for this person as his message box is full”! I couldn’t reach anyone, and my dog died. I will never know if a veterinarian could have saved her. I’m just sharing this with you because if you have a pet you love, it might be a wise move to ask your vet for a real emergency number, one that will be answered – just in case.

When I spoke to my friend Angela early the next morning, this wonderful lady who has taken in so many street dogs and cats over the years said to me, “you know, at first, when one of them would die, I would cry and cry. But then, after thinking about it a lot, I decided that my job here was just to offer these little creatures a loving home, and a good life, for however long I had them. I’ve been able to handle it better now, now that I look at it that way.” How wise!

If you are one of those people who give credence to astrology, this month of May is seen as particularly special because there will be two full moons instead of one - an event that occurs approximately every 2.7 years! That means that this month should be ideal for doing things you'd only dare to do “once in a blue Moon”, which is what the second full moon is called.I wish all the moms a most Happy Mother’s Day, filled with hugs and kisses and lots of loving. And I hope you gentlemen enjoy it too. Show your wife, mom, grandma, how much you love them – tell them! And not just on Sunday, but often! Hasta luego. pvmom04@yahoo.com

April 29, 2007

At this time of year, I find it a good thing to address our faithful readers - the year round residents in this town - who are sometimes miffed at the fact that we reprint articles. (This is a reminder I touch upon more or less regularly.)

Although we realize that these folks are the backbone of Vallarta's foreign community, the ones who support the local economy all year round including during the "low" seasons, the Vallarta Tribune was conceived as - and continues to be - a publication whose primary market is made up of foreign tourists. By this I mean those visitors who come to our town for one or two weeks of fun and relaxation. Many of them want to find out all they can about Puerto Vallarta while they're here, what we can offer them in terms of entertainment, food, culture, etc., what we (foreign residents) are like, how we function here, and so on. That's probably why the "Letters to the Editor" section is so popular. And although we foreigners, expatriates, whatever you choose to call us, who live here think we already know all there is to know about PV, these tourists don't and that is why we reprint articles dealing with topics of general interest. Like what? Well, like those dealing with national and sometimes international holidays, those that deal with the multitude of topics particular and specific to the Bay of Banderas area and those that deal with typically Mexican subjects, like chocolate... for example.

Consequently, dear resident readers, please bear with us. We'll try our best to offer you as much "fresh" reading material as possible every week. But do remember our visitors, they are the reason why Puerto Vallarta has grown so much over the last decade, and, if we look at all those high-rise condo buildings whose units are being bought up like hot cakes, it looks as if many of those visitors are going to end up like you and me: permanent residents.

Okay, I'd like to get back to more mundane things that we know all about - but tourists don't. I'd like to explain something about the telephone system here, for those who don't understand why there may be a whole list of telephone numbers appearing in ads, on people's business cards, on billboards, etc. - all for the same person or establishment. The reason is very simple: Telefonos de Mexico (a.k.a.: TelMex - my all time favorite company…) has not implemented, at least not for mere mortals living and trying to do business in Puerto Vallarta, a system whereby one could have a single phone number, with an endless amount of additional lines on a "trip" system like those that exist in other countries. Example: If a company in Canada or the States has one main number and numerous additional lines with which to service their clients, when the first X lines are busy, the next incoming call is automatically transferred ("tripped") to their next available line. Some local hotels do have this system, but that requires a great deal of money here, plus additional installations with special telephone systems. The average restaurant or individual wouldn't even consider such expenses. Just getting a single telephone line here is a most arduous and time-consuming affair, an exercise in saintly patience. One of our readers in Las Juntas had to wait one year to get her line installed. Another large enterprise in town, hoping to shame the ruling telecommunications company into doing something, resorted to publishing a huge ad in the local papers asking TelMex why they were still waiting for a line X months after making their request! Yes, eventually they both got "connected". A landlord/landlady wanting to rent out an apartment with a telephone line can expect to receive a higher rent for it than if it did not have one. Telephone lines are sold here, from one person to another. And they are also rented out, i.e.: if a tenant managed to have a telephone line installed in his apartment during his rental period, and then vacates the apartment at the end of the lease without "taking" the phone line with him, the landlord will often have the line brought in to another unit whose tenant has expressed the wish to "rent" it. All this is also the main reason why you may be surprised at the number of people walking around with cellular phones. They're not trying to impress anyone, most of them are on TelMex' "waiting list", waiting for a regular phone...

Well, believe it or not, I finally made it to Louise and Luc Mullins’ now famous breakfasts (brunch in my case) at Mama Dolores’ Diner. Our friend Gary Beck’s review of the place is somewhere else in this issue. True, he’s been in the restaurant business for years and knows all about the industry, but from a regular customer’s point of view, let me tell you: those folks deserve the great reputation they’ve earned! Despite the fact that nothing on the menu is over $58. pesos, our little group of seven ended up waddling out of there, satiated to the proverbial gills! The chocolates we picked up at Xocodiva went home with us to be savored at a later time…
It was the week for Mama Dolores. I was invited to “her” birthday party on the 20th, at Bench and Bar (formerly known as The Palm). It was to be Canadian-born Kim ‘s last performance this season, and all of Grant’s friends were there, including Len (of the famous blu by Len beauty salon) who got up on stage not only to fix Kim’s hair when she appeared dressed as Mama’s “cousin”, but also to dance! Boy, can he move! To summarize: the place was full, the entertainment was super, and everyone had a fabulous evening.

By the way, I’ve heard that June will be the last month for Ida Slapter in Vallarta. If you’ve never caught “her” show this past season, do make sure you see it before “she” leaves us to pursue her career in San Francisco. You will laugh yourself silly. She performs at the Bench and Bar, just a couple of doors down from Mama’s place.That’s all for now, folks. Have a super week, share your good fortune with the less fortunate …and don’t forget to slather on that sun block! Hasta Luego! pvmom04@yahoo.com

April 22, 2007

Just when we think we’ve seen it all, inevitably something happens to remind us that we have not. A friend repaid me for a loan with an American Express Travelers’ check a while back. Now, we all remember their ads… «Don’t leave home without it!» Those checks are supposed to be just like cash, right? Wrong. At least not at the Santander-Serfin banks in this town.

I had a little bit of free time, and I wanted to find out why I had not been able to use my S-S ATM card for a couple of weeks. Every time I tried, the machine would tell me that I had already withdrawn my authorized maximum for the day - even though I hadn’t made any withdrawals in weeks. So I parked in the Benito Juarez parking garage, and walked over to the Santander branch next door, the one I’ve always dealt with. I explained my dilemma to Esther, my friendly bank manageress, and the both of us walked out to the ATM to test it. Of course, my card worked. I told her she must have scared the machine into obeying. We both got a good laugh.

Oh, and by the way, could she cash this AmEx Travelers’ check for me while I was there? Oh, no. Why not? Because the only person who could cash it was the one who signed it. Huh? But it was made out to MY name, and I had my passport with me to prove who I was, just in case… No. No way. Bank regulations. As I walked out of the bank, rather incredulous and very much dejected, I wondered: How do all the local shops and restaurants do it? They get paid with Travelers’ Checks often. Where do THEY cash them in? So I decided to call American Express to find out, but first I had to get home. That didn’t turn out to be as easy as it sounds.

Something was wrong -again- with the «automatic» arm at the garage, the one that’s supposed to go up when you insert your paid ticket into the machine. The line of cars wound its way all the way up to the top floor of the building (that was the only place I could find a spot, the garage was full…) What was supposed to be a five-minute affair turned out to be exactly ten times longer. It took a full 50 minutes for us to be able to leave the place. Well, at least we didn’t have to pay extra for that time as we had already paid for our parking - with the attendant at the wicket ‘cause the «automatic» payment machine wasn’t working either… I did try to call the «Customer Service» number indicated on the ticket, but that number is out of service. Gee. Why are we not surprised? They must have been inundated with cell phone calls from angry customers, so they probably just stopped paying their bills and had the number cancelled. (My theory.)

When I finally did get back home, I attempted to find a telephone number for American Express. No luck there. I tried to call TelMex’ information number -040- no luck there either. They must still be recuperating from their Easter holidays. Or perhaps Mr. Slim gave them the day off when he found out he had become the second richest man in the whole wide world …but I doubt it.

So I called our friend Bill at Barcelona Tapas. I know his fabulous restaurant accepts the AmEx card (and only that card), so I figured he might have a local number for them. No, but he suggested I look it up on the Internet. Oh, what a smart young man! Did that, got the number, dialed it, only to find that all its employees (both Spanish and English-speaking) somehow happened to be away from their desks too… But, they all gave me the opportunity to leave a message.

No one returned my messages. However, the next day, I called again and this time I got to speak with a real human being, a very nice one at that. I told him my story and he said, yes, Mexican banks did have some very strange regulations indeed. Although I should have been able to deposit the funds into my account (WITHOUT cashing the check), he suggested I visit the American Express office downtown, with my passport, and they would cash the check - no problem. Guess I'll have to go downtown...

Getting back to Bill and good food in general, I was lucky enough to be invited out to dinner by some new friends I made last winter. They asked for suggestions and I recommended Coco Tropical - just because I hadn't dined there in a while. They agreed, and as expected, everyone was delighted with the fare, though a little frustrated by the fact that they didn't have enough room left for anything more than sharing a fabulous chocolate crème brûlée for dessert. I think they would have liked to sample more from the mouth-watering list...

Although my fellow Canadian Heather (Wilson) is a good friend of mine, and I do truly empathize with her current plight, I must confess that one particular item in her Pet Tails column this week made me laugh, the part where she mentions the different kind of cats, «kneaders» and «talkers». The three kittens I adopted three months ago do both - knead and talk - at the same time. It was fine while they were little, but now that they’ve grown, they still think they can all sleep on my lap while I work at the computer. Problem is that they don’t fit anymore. And when they start kneading, and «talking» to me to let me know that they’re not particularly impressed with the arrangement, it becomes very funny. Eventually, one or more end up rolling off onto the floor. Not happy. So he or she will jump back up, landing on top of the remaining cat(s). And so it goes. It’s also becoming increasingly difficult to find space for myself in my own bed since the older cat, the one-year old «matriarch», has finally authorized these unsolicited newcomers to share the bed space with her. (My opinion doesn’t count.)

Can you believe the way they sleep?

I found out that it drizzled in the early morning of Monday, April 16th, in the Colonia 5 de Diciembre, and in Versalles too. Not a drop down our way in the Old Town, a.k.a. the South Side, a.k.a. the Romantic Zone. Hmmm… a little early for that. As much as I love the rainy season here, I sure hope it doesn’t augur another change in our microclimate.

And talking about rain… Our friend who lives up on the hill above us, on Hortensia, called me to ask if I could send some of the Tribuna de la Bahía’s (our mother publication, the daily Spanish paper) photographers and reporters to take photos of the Colina II building that had just lost part of itself. Why do I have this uncomfortable feeling that it won’t be the last to come tumbling down? We’ve already seen the foundation of another development come sliding down during last year’s rainy season. All those big buildings erected on iffy sites up there, with iffy permits, worry me. And those big mega towers built at the mouth of the rivers do too. I just hope I’m wrong, and that my worries are unfounded (no pun intended).

ICON Vallarta is one of those new developments projected for our town. It envisages three towers with some 300+ condos, to be built out by the Krystal Hotel. The big promotional sign that wraps around the wall at Christine’s disco has a line that reads something like «For information and sugerency about this site, please call…» Sugerency? I’m nearly sure they meant suggestions, but you would think that if they’re selling condos to folks with the purchasing power of the rich and famous, they would have sprung a few dollars to hire someone who knows English to write the text on their humungous signs…

That's all I'm going to bother you with this week. I wish you all an excellent one. Keep well, keep smiling and do share your good fortune with the less fortunate. Hasta luego! pvmom04@yahoo.com

April 15, 2007

"And what is to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance." - Khalil Gibran

The phone call came first thing on Monday morning, definitely not the kind one wants to get at any time. My friend had died in a motorcycle accident the day before. I was honored to be able to call Patrick Denoun my friend. It’s one thing when we know that someone is very ill, and that the end is near. It allows us to prepare for their departure, at least a little. But when death happens suddenly, unexpectedly, as was the case with Patrick, it is devastating.

The friend who called me kept on apologizing for being the messenger of such bad tidings. Obviously, it wasn’t his fault. I hung up, dumbfounded. How could it be? Why? Here was a man in the prime of his life - and an international career. He had found the love of his life when he had given up hope of ever doing so. He and his beautiful wife Kathy were blessed even more with the arrival of a set of twins. Patrick was overwhelmed, and he remained in that state of euphoria.

When I first moved to Vallarta, I was invited by friends of ours to celebrate my birthday at Café des Artistes. That is where I first saw one of Patrick’s paintings, one that has remained in my mind ever since. It is the huge one, the one with a Bedouin on a camel, seen from the ground, with a deep, clear blue sky behind him, his face veiled with a pure white kaffia. It made me think of Lawrence of Arabia and all the Bedouins I saw while traveling through the Sinai Peninsula so many years ago. It is a most powerful, impressive painting.

I first met Patrick by chance a number of years ago, at Eric Lenoir’s Pastel du Village (now closed). Puerto Vallarta’s little «francophone» community used to gather there for breakfast, brunch, lunch, hours and hours of just chatting, about everything and about nothing. Patrick was sitting by himself. It took all my courage to go up to him, introduce myself, and tell him what an honor it was for me to finally meet him in person, how much I admired his work, etc. etc. He invited me to sit down at his table and we started talking. We didn’t stop for about four hours. A friendship was born.

Over the years, I had the pleasure of visiting his home-retreat up in El Nogalito a number of times. A haven within paradise. He showed me unfinished works, and even complimented me by asking for my opinion on certain photographic / computer points… It made me feel so special. Patrick did that to people. That special, famous man was one of the most humble and unassuming people I have ever met.

You who are reading this in its printed form can admire the photos he sent me recently, of his beloved twins - just because he was so proud of them, so much in love with them and their mother, so much in love with life itself.

Perhaps that is why he so enjoyed his motorcycle, the one on which he died. I hate motorcycles. Riding them has hurt so many friends of mine who love them. The fact that the driver of the vehicle with which Patrick collided tried to flee, but the police caught him. He was released after paying a $21,000. US Dollar fine. It makes me sick.

Rest in peace, our dear, dear friend. All of us who admire your work thank you for the beauty you shared with us through your talent. And we who knew you, loved you and admired you for who you were, will miss you very, very much.

Once again, I am reminded of that saying, the one that says something like «live every moment of every day as if it were your last, but make plans as if you will live forever.» I think Patrick did that.

Among the notes I made for this writing last week, prior to Sunday, April 8th:
Back in 1970, futurist American writer Alvin Toffler and his wife Heidi wrote a book entitled Future Shock in which he pointed out the acceleration in the rate of change occurring in the world, stating that change itself «is non-linear and can go backwards, forwards and sideways.»

I have found myself thinking of him -and the ideas he expressed in that book- more and more often over the last three years or so. I did so again the other day as I was driving past the corner of Insurgentes and Basilio Badillo on the south side of town. The huge corner lot was once home to a bus terminal. Now, from one day to the next, everything was razed. No one is sure as to what will be built there. It appears that everyone is into building condos, perhaps that is what will go there too. Across the street from there, a six-story «hotel» has gone up over the last year or so. Rumors have it that the owner of that particular lot only had a permit to «renovate» one floor… In his book, if my memory serves me right, Toffler gave the example of woman asking her son to go get something at the corner store, but when the child got there, it was gone. Yes indeed.

And on an even more mundane level, a reader by the name of Casper (could be the friendly ghost… he didn’t add his family name) sent me an email that read as follows: «Waste paper in toilets is a subject that needs to be addressed. The public toilets in this town are downright shabby looking and smell bad because of the overfilled wastepaper baskets with soiled paper. I find this very offensive in this day and age to see dirty paper put into bins next to the toilet we are sitting on. The soiled paper is not collected often enough to stop bad odors. The Walmart store, Sam’s and several of the grocery stores have this problem as well as public bathrooms all over town. PLEASE people, do not put the paper in bins, this is 2007 for god’s sake! Are we back in the stone age?»

It appears to me that Casper is unaware of the sewage system in this town. I cannot give you exact percentages, but I do know that outside of the hotels, the plumbing in a great number of the buildings in town -if not the majority- cannot handle waste paper in the toilets. It also appears to me that our friendly ghost hasn’t traveled much around the world, because if he had, he would know that patrons in many countries, all of which are in the year 2007 just like Mexico, are asked to please deposit their waste paper, sanitary napkins, etc. in the waste baskets. I agree that the baskets should be emptied frequently, but that is something Casper should mention to the supervisors at establishments he mentions in his email. That’s all I have to say on the topic.

Actually, that's all I have to say this week. Please forgive me for the lack of levity. Just have a wonderful week, dear reader. Live life! Hasta luego. pvmom04@yahoo.com

April 8, 2007

This is one of those times of year when locals, folks who live here most of the year, or year ‘round, go into the tropical equivalent of what is sometimes called cocooning up in the Great White North. We try to stock up on supplies, and we try to venture outside our own homes as little as possible - until the madness subsides.

Unfortunately, I did run out of some very important stuff (dog and kitty food!) and had to go out. I was very glad that our neighborhood market on the south side - Gutierrez Rizo - stays open until 11 p.m. At ten o’clock in the evening there was no traffic and no lines at the cash. So once that was done, I felt better knowing that at least my little mini-zoo had enough to last a couple of weeks. Mind you, it didn’t help my situation with my favorite company, Telefonos de Mexico, affectionately called TelMex. You see, I did not receive my telephone bill this month. (I guess the messenger service fellow in charge of delivering them decided to take his holidays early…) I tried -again- to log on to their web site in order to pay it on line - unsuccessfully. The screen told me I would get a password sent to my account within 10 minutes. Never happened. So now I have to find the time to go to their office to pay it. What a system! I confess that I long for the time when such conveniences become available, along with being able to make deposits in an ATM instead of having to enter a bank and wait in line for hours with the other folks who wish they could use the ATM for such simple transactions…

I also ventured out on another occasion, to attend the Passover Seder at Café Bohemio. Now that was really worth it! Not only was the restaurant full (they even had to turn away a number of people…), but Chef-owner Sol truly outdid himself. In a one-man tour de force, he replaced traditional Ashkenazi dishes with Sephardic ones that were not only new to us, but also super delicious! As was to be expected, the reading of the Haggadah, led by Broadway star Sol himself, was touched by this man’s renowned stage presence - and humor. It was a most enjoyable evening, with participants from all over, Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

The Jewish celebration of Passover ends on Monday evening, but Semana Santa will be going full strength all week throughout Mexico, including all the municipalities around the Bay of Banderas. And then… the long awaited calm. Snowbirds will have flown back to their northern homes and only we full-time residents will remain. Don’t get me wrong. I love reading positive statistics, tourist numbers, income, flights, etc. as they help our ever-growing "little paradise" survive and thrive, but I also enjoy the calmer times. Here, around our beautiful bay, they occur twice during the year: once from mid-April to the end of June, and then again from mid-August to the beginning of November, after the summer holidays, when the kids have to go back to school.

I’m also looking forward to the rains because I want to believe that all those palm trees they planted in the three parks-turned-into-parking-lots …will survive, somehow, ‘cause right now they look like they’re in the throes of death. On a positive note: the authorities must have figured that Mexican tourists don’t have as good eyesight as we local Vallartans and furrners do… they replaced most of the burned out lights in the tunnel! Now we who have gotten used to driving through that tunnel over the last year or so, in near total darkness, are truly "blinded by the light"! Yeay!

Please drive carefully, dear readers. The roads are full of visitors unfamiliar with the town, some in pick-up trucks with three or four generations in the back. When I see those, I always find myself praying that those drivers never ever have to apply their brakes suddenly.I wish you all a wonderful holiday, and don’t forget your sunblock! The sun’s gotten quite a bit stronger these last few days. Hasta luego. pvmom04@yahoo.com

April 1st, 2007

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

March 25, 2007

Spring was near. The primavera trees finally began to bloom in town, although they had done so a month earlier out in Pitillal. Everything was pointing to another beautiful Saturday. The day before, I had picked up my friend and her daughter at the airport. I hadn’t seen her since her last visit to PV, back in November. We were going to have such a great time! The last time her daughter had accompanied her, she fell upon the one and only week of cloudy, rainy days in the month of January 2004. This time would be different, I just knew it… and then came the phone call. It was Jan, to tell me that Mary Sue had passed away. A few weeks earlier, I had heard that she was in remission, that she was feeling much better, but now she was gone.

Mary Sue was my friend. It is an honor that she bestowed on me, one that will stay with me for as long as I am given life. Mary Sue didn’t befriend just anybody. And not everyone was ready for her manner, her integrity and her elegant, but at the same time in-your-face honesty and straight forwardness. Her physical appearance was deceiving. That petite body garbed in loose blouses or safari suits betrayed a ball of energy, a tireless voyageuse, flitting around the world in search of new, undiscovered talent in the most remote corners of the world, or attending international jewelry trade shows - a visionary. And she loved Puerto Vallarta. She openly bemoaned the lack of vision –and caring- on the part of the past municipal administration. She wanted to see the lush south shore of the bay developed, with boutique hotels and expensive villas. I think she saw a future Puerto Vallarta as a Monte Carlo of Mexico. What beautiful dreams she had!

So many have sent in their thoughts and feelings and remembrances about Mary Sue that there was only room to print a part of them in this week’s issue of this publication. But all agreed on one point: We have lost an icon. Rest in peace, dear friend.

I spoke to Jan a couple of times during the week. During one of our conversation, it suddenly occurred to me, what an ironic coincidence, what ludicrous timing, that such a beloved and respected lady should be eulogized in an issue of the Tribune dedicated to April Fools’ Day. I expressed my concern to Jan. There was a moment of silence, then she broke out in laughter. She said, “You know what? Mary Sue must be laughing her cowboy boots off up there! It’s perfect!” Knowing Mary Sue’s sense of humor, she’s probably right. So let us all remember all the joy she brought us –whenever she wasn’t traveling- and celebrate this great little lady’s life.

Mary Sue has been on my mind all the time since last Saturday. And as I went about my daily routine, looking around me, I became more aware of those little things that she and I used to laugh about on our all-too-rare outings. As I was driving on the Libramiento, on the way to the airport to pick up my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, (who had finally managed to get away from the 30 below weather of the Great White North) I marveled at the brightness of the colors that surrounded me, and then I saw the palm trees. I had never really noticed them before. There are nine of them, Royal Palms all, planted in a row, along the side of the road just east of the corner of Francisco Villa Blvd… directly beneath the telephone and power lines! Hallooo! I figure they’ve got another year or so before they uproot the telephone posts, wires and all. Mary Sue would have burst into that infectious laughter of hers…

I also noticed the cruise ships anchored in the port, the immense Oosterdam, right next to the Carnival Pride, the former twice the size of the latter. What amazing technology enables these floating cities to …float!

Back to more earthly matters, I promised you a photo of the street on which the Tribune’s new facilities are located, so here it is. The end of civilization as we know it. The very foot of the Sierra Madre… It’s the end of the road, friends, can’t go much further, other than up. Gee, sounds like an epitaph…

Inevitably, spring did arrive, on Wednesday, March 21st. There were floats and pick-up trucks filled with costumed children and brightly-colored balloons throughout the city, and in the evening, beneath the nearly-new moon shining its thin Cheshire cat grin down upon the big fiesta on the beach at Cuates y Cuetes, the Jazz Fest. It attracted a huge crowd this year, and everyone had a fabulous time, listening to the various bands and watching the dancers in ancient Aztec dress performing their traditional ceremony to welcome this season of renaissance.

Celebrate life, my friends. It is all too short for us to risk missing a moment.
I wish you all good health, and do share it, and your good fortune, with the less fortunate around us. You will feel so great! Hasta luego. pvmom04@yahoo.com