Vallarta Blog

 By Juan Pablo Hernández

For the third year in a row, Mexican Sean Farley Gomez won the Kiteboard World Tour 2007, celebrated this year at Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco. “In Mexico we based the contests on the freestyle, that is how I won the competition, but in the world edition I will dedicate my efforts to the regatta where I’m really good,” said the winner. The regatta is a race among buoys, like the sailboat race “we had (in Puerto Vallarta) a race like this the last day of the World Tour. I organized it to show the other contestants what I do, why I’m representing Mexico on the world champions and why I’m a three-time champion winner.” According to Sean Farley, Kitesurf has an increasing fan base in Mexico, he is even training any of them. “I’m glad to teach what I know to increase the sport’s awareness.”

Currently, Sean Farley Gomez has the sponsorship of a renowned Mexican sports company that specializes kitesurfing gear. “I’m very happy with my sponsors. Mexico’s Tourism Promotion Office is one of them and I have their logo on my equipment to promote their brand all over the world. Last year there was not a single katesurf competition race in any part of the world, so now I’m one of the ones pushing to make this race possible because I want to be the first world champion at this category.” Sean Farley will continue competing at international kiteboarding competitions, the next one to be held in Portugal where he will go on July 20th, after a training period in the United States.

by Andrea Carman Ruesga

Although I’ve been in Vallarta for many years, there always seems to be something new to try as was the case last night when a group of us hit a spot called “Banana Cantina.”

“Banana Cantina” is located above the old “Choco-Banana” location just up the street from La Palapa. It’s a hip little spot with some interesting decor and a really tasty menu of offerings including a variety of original salads and some fabulous looking coconut shrimp. It’s a good place to check out if you’re looking for something comfortable and not too pricey. The place has somewhat of an interesting history and my husband and I play a small role in that history.

Many, many years ago a woman jumped ship here in Puerto Vallarta. I can’t remember her name but she was a crew member aboard the Cruise Ship “Canaval” originally from England and she was just having so much fun on the weekly calls to this destination that she decided to ignore the boarding call. Shortly after jumping ship she developed an enterprising idea in an effort to provide an income for herself. She was soon seen all over town with a cooler over her shoulder going from business to business offering her homemade chocolate covered frozen bananas. Well, at the time I recall Vallarta hadn’t seen anything like her or her product so her fame grew quickly. One day we were driving by and she asked us for a ride and we obliged. She had been at our ranch a few times to party and ride the horses so we knew her story. Well, that sidewalk business grew into a fixed restaurant called “Choco-Banana”which still operates and I heard she eventually sold that business for a pretty penny to as American couple and the new owners opened up the more expansive sit-down eatery above the original.

That’s the history of Choco-Banana/Banana Cantina here in Vallarta.

Visit their website for more information:
www.bananacantina.com

This project is called IslaMoin, and it is the first five-star marina to be built between Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and the Panama Canal. IslaMoin will also be the first five-star resort on the Atlantic coast of Costa Rica.
For the first time in Costa Rica’s history, there will be a luxury resort, residential community and marina development on the Atlantic side of the country. This location is outside the hurricane zone and is convenient for those who enjoy boating or yachting. An international airport is located within 15 minutes, along with a major sea port that is home to several cruise lines.

This unique location provides views of the water from all angles: from the dramatic ocean views, deep-water canals and a natural river that flows through IslaMoin. It is a community designed with quaint streets and walking paths between the low-rise resort residences, beachfront villas and home sites. One of the unique features of this property is the natural beauty of the preexisting landscape that has matured over the years and provides large palms, beautiful wild orchids, and hundreds of species of other flowers and fauna. IslaMoin is also surrounded by national parks and rain forests.

A luxury hotel is planned on the property so that full-time and part-time residents will enjoy all the amenities of a resort community. A residents-only clubhouse is planned and will provide owners with a recreation and fitness center, social center, a facility to accommodate special events, and a movie theater. Concierge and room services will be available anywhere on the property.

The City of Limon, with its native and colorful history of the old Costa Rica, was discovered by Christopher Columbus in the year 1502. Many of the old traditions, architecture and culture have remained much the same. In recent years tourists have been drawn to the area because of the national parks and natural beauty one can only experience in this part of Costa Rica. IslaMoin will help you discover what will be one of the most unique real estate and lifestyle opportunities.

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BELOW THE FOLD
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According to the developer of the marina, residences, hotel and resort at IslaMoin, because the development is taking place on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica rather than on the Pacific Coast, residents’ yachts will be assured safe harbour away from the threat of damaging storms and extreme hurricanes.  But what’s of far more interest to us property lovers is the fact that IslaMoin is offering up some rather tasty real estate options to boot.

So, you can moor your boat at the IslaMoin harbour and have access to such luxuries as dry storage units, full staff available to service and maintain your baby and also excellent security to prevent pirates…and you can reside in a home with beach access in the vicinity of national parks, rivers, tropical forestry and the stunning and diverse flora and fauna that Costa Rica is quickly becoming so famous for.

Sounds like a pretty good all round solution to us!

The properties for sale at IslaMoin vary from luxury apartments in low rise blocks to individual custom built homes on spacious water fronted parcels of land – and apparently interest has been sustained and intense so if you want to reserve your very own hurricane free Caribbean marina property in Costa Rica you have to move fast.

Within the IslaMoin marina resort there will also be a five star hotel – the facilities of which will be accessible to the residents of the IslaMoin villas and apartments.  There will be a spa, gym, restaurants, bars, swimming pools and plenty of outdoor activities and amenities.  What’s more, the residents of IslaMoin will also have 24/7 concierge and room service available to them meaning that if you decide to buy into this excellent property development in Costa Rica you can live in your own Caribbean home, have your yacht to hand and have all the benefits of being in a five star hotel…pretty nifty I think you’ll agree.

Check out www.islamoin.com for all the information you could possibly require.

One of the most wonderful aspects of gay Puerto Vallarta’s coolest neighborhood, Zona Romantica, is that it still has a handful of rambling, historic haciendas from the days before this sunny resort town on Mexico’s Riviera became the major tourist destination it is today. Just a couple of seasons ago, one of these grand old estates morphed into a pulsing, see-and-be-seen gay disco called Club Manana. And this beautiful, open-air compound has helped to transform gay Puerto Vallarta’s already bustling bar and club scene.

There are nearly a dozen gay nightspots in Zona Romantica, which also offers a nice range of accommodations, vacation rentals, and worthy cafes and restaurants. Some are cozy and intimate, others oriented toward piano cabaret or early-evening martinis. Some are more popular with gay men, others with lesbians. Manana is the single Puerto Vallarta address that seems to unite all types of revelers, even drawing its share of straight friends of the community, who appreciate the outstanding sound system and high-energy vibe.

The club consists of two main areas. As you enter, you’ll find an attractive, airy courtyard anchored by a picturesque, in-ground swimming pool (very romantic to look at, but keep in mind that nobody actually swims in it – this is a disco, not a resort). To your right there’s a sizable dance area overlooking a stage where drag artists and guest dancers and musicians perform. On the other side of the pool you’ll find a slew of cafe tables. Efficient cocktail waiters move quickly about the place, taking orders, and you can also order drinks at a bar near the main entrance.

Manana’s other big feature, to the far left as you enter, is a fully indoor, air-conditioned lounge and disco where go-go dancers perform to extremely enthusiastic crowds, and patrons dance at other times. The outdoor area is more atmospheric and romantic, but the energy inside can be great fun.

The club offers a wide range of specials and themes, from Sunday beer blasts to Wednesday guest performers (these have included Kristine W, Lady Bunny, Thelma Houston, and plenty of other icons).

Club Manana is at Venustiano Carranza 290, a short walk from several other popular gay clubs. It’s open nightly and remains open into the wee (as in morning) hours. Drinks and the door cover charge are among the priciest of any other gay club in town, but you get what you pay for – this is the place to party in gay Puerto Vallarta, and it’s run with the professionalism you’d expect of a top-notch, international gay club.

by florcanto.com 

This morning I heard an interesting report on the radio from Kent Patterson of KUNM regarding issues of development in Puerto Vallarta. Because of unchecked development, Patterson says, there are increasing health problems and concerns that this resort town will become a sprawling city plagued by crime, much like Acapulco.

One of the issues that Patterson mentioned that really struck a chord is the fact that private companies are taking over public parks and turning them into parking structures. Parque Hidalgo was one of the victims of such development.

Mosquitoes, and consequently dengue fever, are said also to be increasing problems because of standing water related to construction sites. You may have also heard reports about ocean water contamination in Mexican resort beach towns.

Right about now John Houston must be rolling over in his grave and reaching for a golden derringer pistol….. I’m not sure about Puerto Vallarta, but an issue I’m personally troubled by is the fact that many foreign hotels set up shop in these resort towns, paying low wages and offering mostly menial type jobs.

I know this to be the case in Cancun, with a lot of hotels from Spain operating there. I couldn’t find a transcript of the report on the web, but I did find this older report from Kent Patterson that covers a lot of the same themes. Click down the page to about half way down. This whole issue basically says to me that changes need to come from consumers of mass tourism.

If consumers don’t support these kinds of developments, then perhaps the Mexican government will be less like to build them before it’s too late. If consumers actively say that this is not what they want, maybe changes can come. I know it’s a complicated issue, so I recommend checking out the Planeta.com website, which serves among other things as a forum for responsible tourism.

The locals eat very economically at the many street stands here in Vallarta. The most common is the Taco (this is not like the tacos that Taco Bell serve), it’s served flat and you can fold or roll it anyway you like. Quesadillas and Burritos are also available at certain stands in Vallarta, among them both you have the choice of carne or sencilla (simple)..
You can also have whatever you want in it – totally ‘a la carte’. Home made salsa ranging from very hot to mild, guacamole, grilled onions, radishes, frijoles, cilantro and much much more!

The biggest problem associated with Taco Stands is hygiene, since they do not have running water. The good ones are easy to spot.
Look before you buy – see that the person who handles the money and dirty dishes is NOT the same person who handles the food.
Also notice if the paper / plastic plates are reused or are covered with a fresh plastic bag for each new customer.

All in all if you are to afraid to try eating at one of the many taco stands here in Vallarta for different reasons; maybe because someone told you of a bad experience or you read in a travel guide book to be wary. You are missing out on a great authentic mexican experience not to mention some fantastic food!

I have tried out many of the taco stands here in Vallarta , although I cannot eat beef or pork there is always a wide variety of choices for me and I have come to find my “favourites”, one of them being Marisma Mariscos and another being a small indefinable stand with the best homemade tortillas I have ever eaten! A big factor on which ones I like the most are the salsas and or gaucamole served on the side.

An easy logical way to define a “good” taco stand from a “bad” one is weather or not there are many locals eating there. As any chef knows: order specials on the weekends and don’t eat where no one else is!

Don’t let your fear of getting sick stop you from trying new foods while travelling , yet don’t be dumb enough to not notice that the frijoles are green!
Happy eating and enjoy!

Salsa, merengue, cumbia do they leave you spinning, even off the dance floor? This primer is designed to help you wrap your mind around Latin beats popular in Pacific Mexico. Unfortunately, it can’t cure two left feet.

These and other popular Latin dance rhythms were born of African drumming brought to the Caribbean by slaves. Dancing was vital to West African religious ceremonies; these rhythms spread with importation of slaves to the New World.

Evolving regional tastes and additional instruments have produced the Latin music enjoyed today from Tierra del Fuego to Toronto, and beyond.

While the steps in most dances can be reduced to some basics, these flat-footed styles of dancing are completely foreign to most non-Latins. Dance classes can definitely help your self-esteem as well as your performance. In Puerto Vallarta, the dance club J.B. is the place to go for lessons.

From Colombia, wildly popular cumbia combines vocals, wind, and percussion instruments. With a marked rhythm (usually 4/4 time), the sensual music is relatively easy to dance to. Hip-hop and reggae influences have produced urban cumbia, with up-tempo, accordion-driven melodies. Listen to Kumbia Kings, La Onda, Control, and Big Circo to get into the cumbia groove.

Fast-paced and with short, precise rhythms, merengue originated in the Dominican Republic. Although the music sounds almost frantic, the feet aren’t meant to keep pace with the melody. Check out Elvis Crespo’s 2004 album Saboréalo.

Born in Cuba of Spanish and African antecedents, son is played on accordion, guitar, and drums. The folkloric music was translated to various dialects in different parts of Mexico. “La Bamba” is a good example of son jarrocho (from Veracruz).

American Prohibition sent high-rollers sailing down Cuba way, and they came back swinging to son, mambo, and rumba played by full orchestras — think Dezi Arnaz and his famous song “Babalou.”

In New York these styles morphed into salsa, popularized by such luminaries as Tito Puente and Celia Cruz and carried on today by superstars like Marc Anthony. Wind instruments (trumpet, trombone), piano, guitar, and plenty of percussion make up this highly spiced music.

Mexicans love these African-inspired beats, but are especially proud of homegrown genres, like música norteña, which has its roots in rural, northern Mexico (in Texas, it’s called conjunto).

The traditional instruments are the bajo sexto (a 12-string guitar), bass, and accordion; modern groups add the trap drums for a distinctive rhythmic pulse. It’s danced like a very lively polka, which is one of its main influences. Nortena is the music of choice for working-class Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the United States.

A subset of música norteña is the corrido, popularized during the Mexican Revolution. Like the ballads sung by wandering European minstrels, corridos informed isolated Mexican communities of the adventures of Emiliano Zapata, Pancho Villa, and their compatriots.
Today’s “narco-corridos” portray dubious characters: the drug lords who run Mexico’s infamous cartels. Popular norteño artists include Michael Salgado and the pioneering Los Tigres del Norte, whose album “Americas Sin Fronteras” was terrifically popular way back in 1987.

But the quintessential Mexican music is mariachi, a marriage of European instruments and native sensibilities born right here in Jalisco, Mexico. Guitars, violins, and trumpets are accompanied by the vihuela (a small, round-backed guitar) and the larger, deep-throated guitarrón.

Professional mariachis perform at birthdays and funerals, engagements, anniversaries, and life’s other milestones. You won’t find mariachi music at nightclubs, however; the huapango, jarocho, and other dances the music accompanies are folk dances.

For concerts, clubbing, and dancing, Mexicans look to the contemporary music scene. Latin jazz was born when legendary Cuban musician Chano Pozo teamed up with the great bebop trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie.

aCurrent Latin jazz acts worth applauding are Puerto Ricans Eddie Palmieri and David Sanchez; representing pop, Obie Bermúdez also hails from that Caribbean mecca of music.

Check out Latin pop by Cuba’s Bebo Valdez, and rock en españolby Colombian-born Juanes as well as Mexico’s own los Jaguares, El Tri, Ely Guerra, Molotov, and the veteran band Maná.
 
 

The city council of Puerto Vallarta, through the Department of Culture, is preparing a special concert for this coming May 31st to celebrate two anniversaries; Puerto Vallarta’s, 89th as a municipality and 39th as a city. On this occasion; violins, vihuelas, guitars, guitarróns and trumpets will liven things up downtown at Los Arcos del Malecon with their music, when three of the best-known interpreters of the Mexican music appear together for on big public celebration. They are: the Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán, Mariachi Los Toritos and Mariachi Navidad of Mascota.

The concert, is scheduled to begin around 9:00pm on Thursday May 31st, and is expected to last three hours with the sole purpose of help Vallartans and tourists alike to take part in this grand fiesta.There, amid one of Puerto Vallarta’s most famous landmarks, the three bands, each with a long and successful career as ambassadors of Mexico’s music both within and beyond the borders of the country, will do what they do best as they help us celebrated these two important anniversaries of the Vallarta.

One should mention here that the band, Nuevo Tecalitlán, was founded in the year 1965 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, being its founders Señor Pepe Martínez Barajas and his brother Fernando Martínez Barajas who brought together a group of major Mariachi musicians; who, thanks to their individual abilities, and under the musical direction of Pepe Martínez, quickly took their place as public favorites, becoming one of the best Mariachi bands in Mexico. It was in the year 2000 when this band reached their current status as more and more major achievements and recognition came their way. That was the year they took part in the “International Encounter of Mariachi and Charreria” that took place in the city of Guadalajara, being music teachers for the many Mexican and foreign mariachi bands that were taking part in this event as well as varies other similar activities.

The New Mariachi of Tecalitlán is currently made up of thirteen musicians: six violins, two trumpets, a vihuela, a guitarrón, two guitars and harp.

For their part the band, Mariachi Los Toritos heightens the celebration of Vallarta with their presentation with their celebrated discography. Los Toritos have to their name, the Mara de Oro Trophy from Venezuela; something they are quite proud along with their numerous international tours, as well as being named as one of the best mariachi bands in the world.

The group Mariachi Navidad has 35 years of music behind them along with four albums featuring 20 hits, Volume 3: “Te parto el alma” (I leave you my soul), promoting our music: waltz, polkas and marches, and our fiestas with the Mariachi Navidad. Also among the current group of band members are two of the founders; Daniel Rubio López, on trumpet, and Domingo López Macedo, playing the guitarrón.

At the end of the concert, according to tradition, will be a fireworks extravaganza, to top off one of the most important events in the Puerto Vallarta’s entire May, 07 anniversary.

Every Tuesday or Wednesday some chicken place has a special with 2X1 chickens or a special price. I prefer a grilled chicken from Pollo Feliz as I do not always trust a roasted chicken from grocery stores as they can sit under a heat lamp for hours. I also do not trust rotisserie chickens from some places as they often throw in a new rack of chickens that drip on the cooked chickens and the potatoes below.

Anyways…
Prices went up at the Pollo Feliz, the whole chicken dinner is now 110 pesos, with all the accompaniments, and the half chicken meal is now 55 pesos. The Pollo Feliz outlets elsewhere in town still are charging 75 pesos for the whole chicken meal. I’m seeing more and more gringos at Pollo Feliz now, as they’ve been “discovered.” And they don’t have grilled onions now, only grilled jalapenos, with the salad bar… but still probably the best 2×1 meal you can get in Vallarta if you are not a vegetarian.

Dont risk and throw your money away by ordering a dominos 2×1 pizza… its really sh!…tty

Just phone me and we will make you a better one for the same price. You can pick it up here in Olas Altas, Conchas Chinas or the Romantic Zone.. we will deliver to your home if you are in one of these zones for an extra charge of $20 pesos or $2 USD

By Marla Dickerson

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico · A few years after retiring to this Pacific resort city, David Bender was bored with golf. His new hobby, the American decided, would be tackling Mexico’s income inequality. He would do it by teaching English to Mexican children.

Never mind that Mexico didn’t ask for his help. Or that the former advertising executive knew nothing about running a school. Bender saw working families hungry for affordable English-language instruction and a shot at upward mobility for their kids. 
 
Credit a seasoned adman for knowing his market.

Fewer than five years since its founding, Colegio Mexico-Americano has become the largest school in Puerto Vallarta. The nonprofit school’s tuition is 70 percent cheaper than that of the city’s priciest bilingual academy. Enrollment has grown to 1,135 students, with dozens on the waiting list.

Not bad for a project that began in August 2002 with a few preschoolers learning their ABCs. It is vindication for Bender, a preacher’s son who never lost faith when the current campus was a weed-choked vacant lot with no funding and plenty of doubters.

“We saw a tremendous need,” said Bender, 71, a former Chicagoan. “We are trying to build a middle class.”

Some might chafe at the notion of an American who speaks little Spanish presuming to remake Mexican society. But the school’s enthusiastic reception here speaks of parents’ desire for their children to learn English in a town where most of the good jobs require it.

About 85 percent of Mexico’s exports go to the United States. Americans and Canadians constitute the majority of its international visitors. More than 400,000 Mexicans migrate illegally to the U.S. each year in search of work. The money these expatriates send home — $23 billion last year — is a pillar of Mexico’s economy.

But while Hispanic nations such as Costa Rica and Chile have seized on English fluency as a key to global competitiveness, Mexico requires just three hours a week of English instruction for three years during Mexico’s equivalent of junior high school.

“Pencil. Window. Door. It was useless,” said Jose de Jesus Alcantar Delgado, a Puerto Vallarta workman recalling his rudimentary lessons. Lack of fluency has kept him from higher-paying jobs in the city’s air-conditioned resorts.

Often blamed are scarce resources, an inflexible teachers union and widespread resentment of U.S. hegemony. But Puerto Vallarta mother Kenia Salazar Torres isn’t buying it. English is standard in elite academies where the children of Mexico’s wealthy matriculate. Salazar wants the same chance for her three boys.

Her oldest son, Jose Rodolfo, 9, has a partial scholarship to Colegio Mexico-Americano. Salazar earns the rest by rising before dawn to prepare refried beans for local markets. Her husband, Arturo, is a ticket seller at the bus station. He’s trying to land a better job to earn tuition money for their twin 5-year-old sons.

Jose helps out by collecting cans to earn recycling money. On a recent afternoon, he was too shy to practice his English. But the serious, handsome child knows what’s at stake.

“That’s how you get a good job,” he said softly in Spanish.

Such stories keep the balding, bespectacled Bender focused on his all-consuming second career.

Conversations with the mostly Mexican congregation of his local church, the New Dawn Christian Center, led to the idea of a secular, nonprofit, bilingual school that working-class families could afford.

But as the school expanded, slots were taken by the children of well-heeled parents who knew a bargain when they saw one. The annual tuition and fees of $2,645 for a grade-school student are 40 percent below the city average for comparable private schools and less than one-third the annual cost for the American School, the city’s priciest academy.

Bender said he and school administrators dismissed reviewing a family’s financial standing for admission criterion as unworkable. The solution, they agreed, was a bigger campus to take all comers.

Unable to secure financing from banks on either side of the border, the school appealed to those with the most at stake: parents. Some risked everything they had.

Maria Elena Covarrubias Ibarra was among those to pledge their homes as security to a landowner who agreed to sell the school 5 1/2 acres on installment.

Others raided their savings accounts and mattresses, extending unsecured loans on little more than a handshake. Tradespeople swapped building materials or labor to get their children a seat in class.

The new school opened in August 2005.

“It was worth it,” said Alcantar, who has two daughters enrolled. “I hear my girls speaking [English] and I feel so proud.”

The Los Angeles Times is a Tribune Co. newspaper.

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico – Keepers at a Mexican zoo are bottle-feeding round the clock after four big cats gave birth to nine cubs in two months, among them a rare white tiger.

Three 20-day-old Bengal tiger cubs, including the white female named Brisa, romp around a grassy enclosure while two lion cubs, a baby jaguar and three other tiger cubs frolic and chew each other’s ears in a nearby wooden pen.

The arrival of six Bengals, three each from different parents, is rare — and Brisa represents a coup for the endangered white Bengal tiger, which often fails to survive in the wild for its lack of camouflage.

The owners of family-run Zoologico de Vallarta, set deep inside virgin jungle in the Pacific coast state of Jalisco, say there is no big secret behind the rash of births — just a propitious natural environment and lots of hands-on care.

“The zoo is magical. It’s situated in such a precious area which is almost completely the animals’ natural habitat, and that has a lot to do with why they procreate happily and naturally,” said veterinarian Xochitl Nicteja, who is bottle-feeding the youngest cubs with milk every two hours.

“If you observe the animals they are very comfortable. You can see they enjoy their habitat, and the love and care we give them, so the rest of it is up to them.”

The 350 animals at the 12-acre (5-hectare) zoo, set in 142 acres (59 hectares) of tropical forest filled with monkey shrieks and birdsong, range from hippos to flamingos. Many seem almost tame.

Visitors, many of them tourists from the nearby resort of Puerto Vallarta, can buy food on their way in and get close to many of the animals.

“It’s not often you get to scratch a lion’s belly,” said Canadian Mike Whitner, cuddling one of the cubs.

Behind him, an American woman squealed as a baby tiger clawed its way up her leg.

The Vallarta Zoo was opened in 2005 with a focus on breeding endangered Mexican species like jaguars and wolves.

source: reuters

By KRIS HUNDLEY

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico — Once you shake the time-share salesmen, who cling like ticks from the minute you clear customs, Puerto Vallarta proves to be a surprisingly laid-back place for a family vacation.

This resort town on Mexico’s Pacific Coast is wedged between the Bay of Banderas and the craggy Sierra Madres. Walk four blocks inland from the Malecon, the broad city sidewalk that follows the shoreline, and you’ll find yourself hiking up cobblestone streets at a San Francisco-like angle. Stop at any point for a breath and a view of the sea or of a hideaway straight out of Architectural Digest.

Puerto Vallarta was a speck of a fishing village until the 1960s when it was used by director John Huston as the setting for Night of the Iguana. The film’s stars, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, who were married to others at the time, scandalized the world with their love affair during filming.

Taylor is said to still visit Casa Kimberley, a three-story villa Burton bought her overlooking the bay. The thrill of touring her former home, most recently a B&B, is muted a bit when your kids ask: “Who is Elizabeth Taylor?”

Bypass the sales pitch

Like any resort town, Puerto Vallarta offers a wide range of accommodations, from the frankly flea-bag to the exorbitantly out-of-my-price-range. A spacious condo that sleeps six at a four-star resort runs about $250 a night in season. You can keep costs down by picking up breakfast and lunch foods at the local Sam’s Club or Gigante, the Mexican deep-discounter.

Puerto Vallarta has everything, from golf to parasailing to deep-sea fishing to flying along zip-lines through the jungle canopy. Arranging such tours, however, is another matter. Our “personal concierge” promised several times to get us great discounts on a dive trip, but the discounts never materialized. A call to the dive shop was the solution.

It is simple to get around Puerto Vallarta by cab, though the $17 fare from the airport is a bit of a burn when you consider the return ride is only $5. The best deal for traveling around town is to grab a bus: 50 cents for a tooth-rattling ride over cobblestone streets.

Walk along the water

Other low-cost entertainment can be had by strolling the Malecon. The city is a magnet for Mexican families on holiday. Everybody parades the Malecon, clambering all over fantastical sculptures that dot the walkway.

One night, the Malecon’s main event was a performance by four Indian voladores, or flyers, who climbed a 90-foot pole, deftly wrapped ropes around the pole as well as their legs, then proceeded to swirl, upside down, to the ground, all to the music of a fifth Indian, who was playing a pipe and dancing on the top of the pole (big tips appreciated). At the town’s central plaza, a crowd gathered around a big outdoor movie screen to see a ’50s Mexican sci-fi film.

A peaceful discovery

The best part of any trip is always the unexpected. For us it came when we rented a car and headed out of town. Going north on Carretera Federal 200, we pulled off the road at a gin-clear beach at Destiladeras. A thatched roof restaurant served beer and fish tacos on the sand. Around the point we came to the hippie surfing village of Sayulita.

The second day we headed south, to the Botanical Gardens of Vallarta. Only a year and a half old, the nonprofit gardens are a promising work in progress. We arrived early, walking through the paths that wound through jungle, across streams and along a river where enormous boulders created hidden swimming holes. The crowds and the mosquitoes and the time-share salesmen had not yet arrived. It was heaven.

Turtle-loving travelers heading to Puerto Vallarta in the coming months can join the region’s Sea Turtle Release Program to help thousands of hatching baby sea turtles survive long enough to reach the sea.

This past month, sea turtles began laying their eggs on beaches as part of a yearly natural phenomenon that lasts through September. Normally the eggs would incubate in the sand, but recreational resort activities now make the beaches dangerous places for baby turtles.

On the Puerto Vallarta coastline—one of the world’s most important breeding grounds for endangered species of sea turtles—the Sea Turtle Release Program helps the reptiles complete their breeding cycle. Staff at participating resorts gather eggs each night and take them, still in their nests, to incubators where researchers gather and study data.

Turtle liberation ceremonies are held daily throughout the season at participating hotel beaches. Local eco-tour operators also host night tours to the research camps to see sea turtles laying eggs and hatchlings being released. Open Air Expeditions (vallartawhales.com), best known for whale-watching trips, is one operator that maintains a nesting nursery and research center where small, guided tours are welcome.

By early November, when hatchlings emerge from their eggs, resort guests can join staff in releasing hatchlings at their nesting sites. Traditionally, children name their baby sea turtles, wish them luck and free them to find their way to the water.

Before the Sea Turtle Release Program, only 40 percent of the eggs hatched. Now, 96 percent will hatch, according to Dennis Whitelaw, general manager of the Marriott CasaMagna, which participates in the rescue.

Cancún: If You Build It, They Will Come

On May 17, Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa and Quintana Roo Governor Félix González Canto cut the ribbon to inaugurate Cancún International Airport’s new, $100 million terminal, effectively doubling the number of passengers the airport can funnel into the Caribbean resort city.

The new Terminal 3 offers 84 check-in counters and 11 gates, with open public spaces and a variety of services. The advanced security system includes what the airport says is Mexico’s first CT scanning system for all checked baggage.

The number of daily flights to Cancún will increase from 266 to more than 450, and airport officials say they expect to double the number of airlines flying into Cancún within three years. Nearly every major U.S. carrier except Southwest operates flights into Cancún, Mexico’s busiest international destination. For flight and airline information, check cancun-airport.com.

Deals & Steals: Free Passports

Despite the Mexican government’s fears that the January 2007 requirement that U.S. travelers returning from Mexico and other Western Hemisphere countries carry a valid passport, 15 percent more U.S. travelers have visited Mexico during the first quarter of 2007 than did in the first quarter of 2006. Still, some of Mexico’s major resorts aren’t taking any chances, which means two intriguing deals for U.S. visitors:

1) Marriott and Renaissance Resorts have extended their Passport to Paradise promotion through Dec. 15. A $100 resort credit per room, good for spa treatments, meals, water sports and other services, will be granted to guests holding new passports who book a minimum stay of five nights. The new passports must show an entry stamp only from Mexico. Participating properties include CasaMagna Marriott Cancún, JW Marriott Cancún and CasaMagna Marriott Puerto Vallarta.

2) Baja’s One&Only Palmilla resort, which tied for the top spot in the Zagat survey of “World’s Top Hotels, Resorts & Spas” for 2007/08, will reimburse guests for the cost of new passports for up to two children: $82 per child under 15, $97 per child 15 to 17, and $60 per expedited passport if necessary.

The One&Only Palmilla resort deal is good on new reservations for seven-night “Escape to Baja” specials, which include two nights free with five paid nights, for stays from June 1 to Oct. 31. Passport costs will be credited at time of check-in to guests providing a printed copy of the resort’s Complimentary Children’s Passport Form, proof of passport purchase between the date of booking and date of travel, and a valid passport with an arrival stamp for Los Cabos airport—and only Los Cabos airport—on the day of check-in.

By Juan Pablo Hernández and Paco Ojeda

Four cruise ships arrived simultaneously in Puerto Vallarta’s Maritime Terminal on April 25. And for the first time since its major expansion was completed, the Maritime Terminal was able to dock three of them.

Carnival’s Pride arrived at 7 am with 2,307 passengers at dock one, Regal Princes docked second with 1,514 passengers at 9 am. TheRyndam arrived at 7:30 am with 1,183 passengers at dock 3. Finally, the Radiance of the Seas arrived with 2009 passengers on board.

Cruise ships began visiting Mexico’s Pacific Riviera long before Captain Stubbing and his Love Boat crew of misfits appeared on our TV sets in the late seventies. “Puerto Vallarta is a very attractive destination for cruise travelers,” according to Francisco Martinez Narvaez, general manager for Administracion Portuaria Integral, or API, the company that oversees our Maritime Terminal.

“And since other destinations on the Pacific Riviera depend on this popularity, the efficiency of our terminal affects the entire cruise circuit.” An experienced engineer, Martinez Narvaez came to Puerto Vallarta from Mexico City seven years ago to administer API.

Under his skilled supervision, the expansion of Puerto Vallarta’s Maritime Terminal, a gargantuan project full of technical and logistical challenges involving hundreds of workers and specialists, was begun in September 2005.

Attend your local cineplex and, if you pay attention to film credits, you’ll find an increasing number of incredibly talented Mexican artists contributing in many different capacities to high-grossing films.

For example, the third installment of the successful Harry Potter series was directed by Alfonso Cuaron, whose futuristic thriller “The Children of Men” won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s Best Cinematography Award. The breathtaking views of eastern Wyoming’s lush landscapes (actually filmed in southern Alberta) in “Brokeback Mountain” were captured by Best Cinematography Academy Award nominee Rodrigo Prieto, who went on to collaborate with Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu in last year’s narrative drama “Babel.”

By the time you read this, “Babel” may have won any of seven Hollywood Foreign Press Association Golden Globe Award nominations at the presentation of the 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards, giving Mexico’s creative force an even more prominent presence in the world’s cinematographic limelight.

Many of the aforementioned artists, along with several others, have played a pivotal role in Mexican cinema development, which started at the beginning of the 20th century but has experienced a tremendous surge over the last couple of decades. Thanks to the advent of the DVD, we are able to discover (or, in some cases, rediscover) many Mexican films that are considered representative of what is now referred to as “el Nuevo Cine Mexicano,” or New Mexican Cinema.

The following is a selection of such films. Regretfully, if you are in Mexico, chances are that the versions of these films available at local video stores will not have English subtitles. However, we’ve verified that the versions available through online retailers, such as amazon.com, not only have subtitles but also often have insightful commentary by actors and directors. Pursue any of these enlightening films and you will acquire a deeper understanding of their creators’ roles in the production of some of the later films mentioned above.

Like Water for Chocolate (1993) “Como Agua para Chocolate,” Alfonso Arau’s beautiful adaptation of Laura Esquivel’s first novel, is a tour-de-force in the magic realism artistic genre present in the work of many Latin American writers, where magical elements manifest themselves in an otherwise normal environment. In this case, Tita, the main character, expresses her love of the kitchen through her cooking. When people try her dishes, unexpected things happen.

Amores Perros (2000) Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu, “Amores Perros” (also known as “Love’s a Bitch”) features three separate stories linked by a car accident that takes place in Mexico City. This film served as a springboard for Gael Garcia Bernal, who went on to star in the two following films and is presently enjoying international acclaim for his performance in “Babel.”

Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) This film by Alfonso Cuaron was Diego Luna’s big break. Along with childhood friend Gael Garcia Bernal, they appear as teenagers in a coming-of-age road trip with an attractive older woman during which they learn about friendship and sex. Set in contemporary Mexico, the film offers a candid view of the country’s political and economic realities during the leadership of PRI, Mexico’s revolutionary party. Its strong language, violence and sexual scenes made the film an international hit.

The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002) Uncovering the lifelong relationship between church and corruption, “El Crimen del Padre Amaro” tells the story of a young priest (Gael Garcia Bernal) who struggles as he uncovers drug-related financial assistance in a small town’s church community, and as he fights falling in love and having a passionate sexual relationship with a local 16-year-old (Ana Claudia Talancon). Thanks to the many Roman Catholic groups in Mexico that opposed the film’s controversial subject, “Padre Amaro” became Mexico’s biggest box office draw ever.

Frida (2002) Although not a Mexican film per se, this film by acclaimed American director Julie Taymor is the result of actress Salma Hayek’s eight-year struggle to bring the life of successful and tormented painter Frida Kahlo to the big screen internationally. The production of a Frida film by director Luis Valdez was in the works in the early 1990s, a period during which Frida Kahlo’s work had captured the world’s interest.

A longtime fan, Hayek auditioned for the part but was turned down for being too young for it. She prophetically replied, “Then you are going to have to wait until I’m old enough.” Eight years later, acting as co-producer and as Frida herself, Hayek ensured that the film accurately recreated Mexico in the first half of the 20th century, along with her relationship with Mexican painter Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina).

Garnering six Academy Award nominations among its international cast, “Frida” not only secured a spot for Hayek but also set the foundation for many other multinational collaborations featuring Mexican talent, such as “Babel” (with Brad Pitt), “21 Grams” (with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn) and “Desperado” (with Antonio Banderas and Quentin Tarantino).

By Juan Pablo Hernández

Many Mexican cities consistently woo national and international movie producers to use them as backdrops for ambitious movie projects, which traditionally leave behind substantial amounts of revenue and tourism promotion.

As a result, Puerto Vallarta could be the location for Silvester Stallone’s latest Rambo installment. The production of movies in Puerto Vallarta and the city’s development have evolved hand-in-hand for many decades. and the State of Jalisco is committed to maintaining this industry alive. Presently, Destilando Amor, a popular Mexican TV soap opera, is using our magnificent landscapes to record their episodes.

The State of Jalisco has made more than 348 million of pesos just for being the location of several movie and TV projects, documentaries, and reports for national and international TV channels. The income includes hired services for food, drinks, lodging, transport, among others. Jalisco’s Promotion and Region Development Director Francisco Salas Montiel said “The mythical scenes of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton at Puerto Vallarta all the way to the action of Tanrantino’s Kill Bill and the recent Pirates of the Caribbean have captured the beauty of the Bay.”

Salas Montiel emphasized that state authorities will supervise the responsible preservation of local flora and fauna. “We will pay particular attention to the use of explosives that could damage the environment in all projects that are produced locally.”