View up the Cuale

The weather this year is unusual. Two weeks ago we had a day or so of heavy rain and this morning at 3am it did it again. Yes, the cat litter box was out on the patio! Hate it when that happens.

Tremendous number of whales in the bay and the sight of a gigantic Humpback broaching 50 feet from the boat is truly staggering.

There are more extreme type excursions becoming available, such as windsurfing the well known surf breaks around Punta Mita. A friend is also starting a Mule Trek. If you have never ridden a mule, it's an experience not easily forgotten. These animals can go through small narrow trails where no horse could ever go.

So, we were meant to go on the inaugural long distance trek (one day) from a small village in the mountains to a remote village on the bay. The day before, as I felt a cold coming on, I heard it was postponed. Seems my friend was getting the mules all pretty for our trip and decided that he could ride one bareback with no reins...he was wrong! So the outcome was we where both on our backs for three days, me with the 'flu and him with a bruised back. We had planned to do it on a Saturday so that we would be at the village, Yelapa, in time for the Saturday night "Disco" at the "Yacht Club".

Yelapa has always been a hippie hangout. Back in the 60's Bob Dylan, David Crosby and Dennis Hopper, among others, would visit and there are many resident gringos still there from that era. Without roads, electricity (some generators) and only three phones it's pretty laid back. The "Yacht Club" is just a bar/restaurant overlooking the water in the village and the "Disco" is just a party there every Saturday night, but it can get wild. Those who can't make it home will be found there on the floor the next morning.

The Three Pot Heads

Every Valentine's day the Hotel Luganita de Yelapa, which has nice Palapa cabins on the beach, throws a costume party - with prizes. I happened to be there one year at a friend's house and we decided, in a drunken moment, to enter the competition.

Having no costumes was not a problem, my friend produced three cooking pots from the kitchen and he, his wife and I went as the Three Pot Heads.

We won first prize!

A year and a half ago I included in my 'Facts & Fables' page a rumor that the local electricity company was going to bury underground all those ugly wires that festoon this fair city. I treated it rather lightly knowing how things work here - talk is cheap, getting it done is a completely different thing.

Well, here we are in the year 2001 and those ugly cables are still there. The company is now pulling cables through the underground tubes they put in and we live in hope.

News
We have a new English language publication in town. The Vallarta Voice is directed not towards the tourist but the English speaking residents, so there's more interesting articles for the traveler who is not interested in exploring the area by going on a 'booze' cruise.

Check your E-mail?
It's always entertained me to see new ideas and technology take root in town. The scenario is like this, someone comes up with a new idea, different style of restaurant or new excursion. Within six weeks there will be four or five copycats, after a year or so there may be two or three left sharing the business the innovative people had to begin with.

This happened when the Internet came to town. About five ISP's opened up with varying degrees of service. We have two left and also an old rumor that the cable company will offer Internet access, like they have in Guadalajara.

Then someone opened an Internet Cafe.

At last count there were more than 50 places in town where you can now check your e-mail, some are even in bars so you can enjoy your favorite brew as well as a coffee. Typical cost is from 5 Pesos (5 min.) to 45 Pesos (1 hr.) and some will let you check for free if you take less than 5 minutes.

Thanks to NAFTA, we are no longer denied those little luxuries that were once impossible to find. There is now a Sam's Club (part of Wal-Mart) here and such things as tender, high cholesterol, American steaks and French wines can be purchased. I remember the old days when people were smuggling in suitcases full of Snickers Bars and frozen lamb. Funnily, although it's a US chain, it still has it's Mexican ways of marketing.

Take for instance the wonderful cherry pies they started selling. Due to an article in another local English language paper - PV Tribune - about these pies, they became very popular. Suddenly, one week later, the shelves were empty and when asked "what happened to the cherry pies?", they replied "Oh! We kept running out of them so we stopped making them"
Huh?

Turtles
The effect of the Turtle Protection Program has been incredible. This year the number of turtles returning to lay their eggs in the bay has doubled!

Many hotels and organizations have provided wired enclosures to protect the nests. After the turtle has laid her eggs and returned to the sea, volunteers carefully remove the eggs and re-bury them in the protected enclosure. 45 to 50 days later, when they hatch, the baby turtles are carefully taken to the sea. These protected nests have a 75% success rate as opposed to 20% in nature.

The season starts in June and the last nests hatch in January. There is an excursion (night time, when they hatch) where you can participate in helping the baby turtles get to the water. Great for the kids!

Puerto Vallarta Resident

One last note about a unique feature of Vallarta, it's people. They are, by far, the most friendly group of people you will meet in Mexico. In fact, of all the places in the world that I've lived and visited, they are the best. I'm maybe excluding some of the upper crust, but they're the same all over the world. The 'common' people are exceptional in their friendliness and generosity. I think I can count on one hand the number of arguments I've heard or seen in 8 to 10 years of being here. Usually it's laughter and music.

Hasta Luego.

Questions?
If you want more information about this area you can email the author or check out our North America Insiders page.