Finaly! A dear friend, Carlos Juvera, has published his discontinued magazine again: Paradise Magazine. It is a free modern magazine about Mexican culture, cuisine, beaches, beauty, nature, art, history and so much more.

The independent magazine focuses on many things, places and stuff that you don’t find in many magazines circulating the Bay of Banderas. Even though it’s focused mainly on Puerto Vallarta and its surroundings, it is about Paradise in Mexico. The official website can be found at www.paradisemagazine.net and to read the full online version you can click here.

We wish him and his magazine the best and hope that it will stay around for a very long time.

It is expected that this year Vallarta will have one million visitors until mid August 2008. It is definitively more than we had in the low season of 2007. One thing is for sure: There are more, much more cars and traffic than last year. Maybe it’s due to all the new Americans, Canadians, Nationals and other International visitors that have moved to Vallarta, adding not only a long-term multi cultural touch to it but also a demand for bigger, better, cheaper stores, houses, cars and services.

Puerto Vallarta is absolutely serious about growing. It has planed to spend over $80 million pesos (around $8 million usd) to finance development projects. Some of the approved projects are the “rescue of the historical center” for 8 million pesos and the “Pier in Boca de Tomatlan” for 2 million pesos.

Somehow, Vallarta seems to have managed to clean up its beaches that Greenpeace tagged back then as polluted. The Health Secretariat of the state of Jalisco said that the water was clean enough for recreational purposes in Vallarta but they added that the test results for the beach in Boca de Tomatlan were not in the recommended parameters by WHO (World Health Organization) standards, showing 504 enterococci in 100 milliliters of water. Six days later they did the tests again and it showed only 226 enterococci, so now the beach is officially clean.

They also said that if a beach reaches too much pollution, over the recommended parameters by the W.H.O. there “will” be a sign pointing out that the pollution of the water is high and that it is not recommended to swim in it. “If you don’t see a warning sign, it means the beaches are clean and good for recreational use,” they say. Let’s hope they don’t “forget” to put those signs up!

The truth is, that especially now in the rainy season, there is much more movement going on. There are more insects and more humidity and heat, allowing diseases to grow and procreate, which is why the levels in the water vary so much depending on the time of measurement. There is no record of any red tide in the Bay of Banderas, and there are just so many hotels and people in the high season, that it’s hard to believe that the water directly in front of Vallarta, is clean and good for “recreational use”. Let’s just hope we’ll never have to read “for excrementional use only” next time we go to the beach.

But let’s don’t worry too much, in fact there has never been so much attention regarding the pollution of our waters and if we believe what they tell us, it seems they will let us know of more health issues in the future. Besides Vallarta has been one of the top cities in Mexico for clean tap water and it is planed for someday in the future to have the water clean enough to drink.

Vallarta has also planed to check on food stands, restaurants and seafood places so that awareness is raised for more precautions handling food that can cause illness because of the increasing heat.

What else is new?
Well.. low season is slow season, but the grass keeps growing, so let’s check out what’s new in PV:

• 18 crocodile babies born at CUC university. Crocodiles can have between 15 and 70 babies! The name of the crocodile is “Morrita” and the biologists Helios and Pablo Hernández are very glad she had babies because it reflects the good care it got this year. They say that last year there were a few problems and it seems like it had to do with the food and the sand.
• 22 million pesos will be spent in Puerto Vallarta this year for security issues. Vallarta is getting ready for the real deal, a big city needs big security, especially in times like these, where the war on drugs seems to be affecting every corner in this country.
• Last Friday there was the inauguration of the ten cinema screens of the corporation MM Cinemas in the new Plaza Galerías. Now Vallarta has, like any other bigger city, at least three cinemas to cover popcorn demands.
• After the horrible incident that happened in a disco in Mexico City where many people lost their life, Puerto Vallarta confirmed that mostly all of its places are secure and have enough exit doors and competent personal to handle difficult situations. There has never really been a real emergency in Puerto Vallarta discos and we’ll hope it will never happen.
• Our neighbor state, Nayarit has its election day today. Who will govern this beautiful place up north of us? Will it be PAN, PRI, PRD, PT, PVE, PRS, NA or AS ?? You can keep track on elections on the official website ieen.org.mx
• Mario Bueno, director of the public work of the Ayuntamiento, admitted that there were many flaws in the repairs / construction of many streets before the rainy season in Vallarta. This is also due to the increase in traffic, which adds more usage to the fragile streets of Vallarta. Sad only that Ayuntamiento sees the problem when it’s too late and only there where there is extreme traffic. There are many streets that haven’t been dealt with for over 20 years! Those streets aren’t some forgotten old hidden paths far far away from Vallarta, they are actually right by Fluvial, the new fancy area of Puerto Vallarta. Not only do the streets damage the cars, they also get very flooded when it rains, causing more and more damage.
• Oil prices force American Airlines to eliminate 11 flights to Mexico. These are only 11 of 190 planed cancellations by American Airlines for the coming months.
• The creation of new artificial reefs in 20 different spots around the Banderas Bay will take place in a few weeks, by dropping concrete blocks into our ocean which will be a basic foundation for the reefs to grow. This will also help the reproduction of many species in the bay, and will also increase the fish industry.
• And at least, Vallarta receives 27 new teachers. Good that our administration sees the importance in educating our future fruits. There is a lot of money flowing around, every year repairing streets instead of making them better the first time, artificial reefs, events, security, and the endless need of more and more that it’s sad to say that most of the people do not have and never had access to good education due to the lack of qualified teachers and money.
• The first real rain showers are coming quick. We’ll see if the city actually did do something against the flooded streets here on Francisco Villa (Pancho Villa), but it wouldn’t be a surprise if the streets turn into lakes and seas all around Vallarta. Let’s see the bright side, where the rain cools us off from the unstoppable heat and where beer and ice cream taste so much better and colder.

Good sweat!

PRESENTATION GUELAGUETZA

Another Expo Oaxaca will be held in and around the Puerto Vallarta area this coming weekend, February 21st-23rd. With a large display of arts and crafts as well as clothing, food, sweets and jewelry, this will be a great event to enjoy and get to know more about the Oaxaca area and its culture. Sure to have some great food and be a colorful display, the expo promises a good time, and some great shopping for everyone who attends! The dates, locations and times are as follows:

21 IN PITILLAL 20:00 hrs.
22 THEATRE AQUILES SERDAN (LOS ARCOS) 20:00 hrs.
23 PLAZA HIDALGO 20:00 hrs.

Don’t forget to get your tickets for the 46th annual Becas Ball at the Westin Resort & Spa on Thursday, March 6th. The traditional free cocktail hour will again be offered to start the evening off on the right foot. Followed by a 4 course delicious dinner and live music for dancing.

The price of the tickets is $850 pesos (or $80 USD) per person. Proceeds from the event will help Becas Vallarta A.C. to continue its work in helping to ensure that hundreds more of the city’s bright but needy children will get the education they deserve - as they have been doing for forty-five years.

To mark this milestone, the committee is also appealing for extra support from those who can afford it and who agree that supporting children’s education in the poorer areas of the city is one of the best ways a person can contribute to the future welfare of our community.

A personal donation is also a way of honoring all the volunteers who have kept Becas Vallarta A.C. going strong over the past forty-five years. A box for receiving contributions will be available at the ball. (As a guide-line, the cost of supporting a student through the scholastic year ranges from $160 dollars to $600 dollars depending on the education level.)

Ball location: The Westin Resort and Spa Hotel
Date and time: Thursday March 6th. Cocktail hour from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.
Ticket cost: $850 pesos ($80 USD)

Reserved tables are available if six or more tickets are purchased. Tickets can be obtained from: Buri Gray, 221-5285 (Conchas Chinas and south); Mary Ellis, 222-1478 (Centro and Los Muertos); Margarita Mora, 221-3760 and Mariel Fregoso 221-0789 (Marina); The Book Store, Venustiano Carranza #334, 223-9437 (Centro) and Plaza Caracol inside Gigante 224-1872.