August 5, 2007
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there’s never a dull moment in this little not-quite-perfect paradise of ours.
At last week’s Thursday bingo night, I did something I haven’t done in some twenty years: I bid on a work of art. Artist Steve Fisher has brought many of his pieces to be auctioned to raise funds for the R.I.S.E. children’s shelter over the last couple of months, but none had “called out to me” like this one particular canvas. And that is what it was, a 3’ x 4’ canvas on a backboard, unframed. I’m giving you this information for a reason. Stay with me. I won the bidding and I was delighted.
Afterwards, I walked over to Mama Dolores’ for some of her yummy tortilla soup, and some fun conversation …until
Friday morning, I went downstairs only to find that the car had been broken into, the few papers I had in the keyless glove compartment were strewn all over the front seats, and the painting was gone.
My neighbors and I share a wonderful video security system with many cameras, one of which is aimed at the street leading up to our houses. They’re out of town and for the first time since they bought the place, their houseman was out of town too. His wife got in touch with him, and he walked me through the video system operating procedure …long distance. I set it for the previous night, after
I called the cops. They came within a few minutes. We all went into my neighbor’s place so they could see the security video. As they were watching the “perp” coming up the hill, they both exclaimed: “Oh, him, we know who he is. He’s from
The cops told me I had to go to the local Attorney General’s office, the Procuraduria, out by the bus station, past the airport, within the next 24 hours. And they left. I figured I would drive out there the next day. A few hours later, not one but two brand new police pick-up trucks pulled up to the house, with the “perp” lying face down in the back of one of them, his wrists handcuffed behind his back. They asked if I could identify him, I said no. I never saw his face clearly. They drove away, but not before subjecting the man to some rather tough “interrogation”.
On Saturday, I drove out to the Procuraduria. There, the young lawyer told me I had to go to the Ministerio Publico in Las Juntas, just before the border with the state of Nayarit. That’s where the “perp” was being held. No problem, he added, they were waiting for me, he had notified them by phone. OK. I arrived at the Ministerio Publico (the façade of the building identifies it as the Traffic Bureau). I introduced myself to the licenciado, who apologized profusely as he informed me that it would take an hour or so before he could attend to my case as there was another gringo waiting for him to take his deposition, ahead of me. Did I want to go home and come back another time, like in the afternoon? No, thank you, I’ll go have lunch somewhere. There’s a “Tacon de Marlin” a few doors away. I had a fabulous, humungous tacon de pulpo with a jicama salad on the side, as I read the day’s Tribuna de la Bahia.
Feeling calm and sated, I returned to the Ministerio, gave my deposition, signed every copy front and back, and returned home, knowing that -unfortunately- I would never see Steve’s beautiful painting again, but also feeling better for having fulfilled my “civic duty” as a Mexican citizen. At least the money went to the kids at the children’s shelter, and that’s a good thing.
The evening was spent at ViteA with a friend, great fare as always, then on to Cinemark to see Anthony Hopkins in “Fracture”.
We lived through another one of those "never a dull moment in paradise" moments this week. Enya, my girl, called me over in a whisper. "We have a visitor," she said. I figured it was one of the neighborhood cats, but no, not this time. It was one of those black lizards called garrobos here, just like the one that caused my beloved Kahlua's demise a year and a half ago. This one was just sitting there, in the middle of the house, surrounded by my cats and my dogs who were looking at it as it was hissing at them. I really despise those creatures and their venomous ways. We called the Department of Proteccion Civil, who told us to call the Fire Department, who in turn referred us to the Ecological Police, who promised to call us back with the proper number to call. Thank goodness for our plumber who arrived just in time to get the garrobo out from in between the doors where it had taken refuge. He somehow got a hold of it and brought it out to the vacant lot in front of the house. Whew! No, the Ecological Police Department still hasn't called us with any special telephone number…
Getting back to the topic of movies, there was a very funny comment in one of the articles published in the Meridiano daily paper on July 30th: "They’re remodeling the Aquiles Serdán amphitheater (a.k.a. Los Arcos) so that our town will look very good in the movie Disney is shooting here … It would be good if at least three movies were shot here in Puerto Vallarta each year, this would pressure the authorities into taking care of the town, not just to look good for the Hollywood magnates. They’ll have to film Rambo 8, so as to bring some extra explosives to blow up the buildings that affect the mountains. Oh well, it’s just movies, right?"
A good number of my friends and acquaintances are involved in the shooting of Disney’s South of the Border here this week. Having had the pleasure of being involved in that industry for a while, many years ago, I know how much fun -and sometimes boredom- it can represent. I remember how excited everyone was when they were shooting Puerto Vallarta Squeeze here a few years ago. Everyone thought they’d be able to see themselves once the movie was released. Unfortunately, most ended up being «deleted» during the editing process… In my humble opinion, in that particular case, I think it was all for the better considering that the final version of the movie turned out to be a dud. I’m sure that this one will be a delightful film, as most Disney productions are.
Anyway, the point I wanted to make is illustrated in the foto I’m inserting in this column, where you can all see the mess the shoot caused in the downtown area. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. And the authorities claim that we don’t have too many buses there!
For all you plant lovers out there, our friend Rick is now giving regular plant classes! He's also added a once-a-month "First Sunday" plant sale and open house at the nursery (obviously on the first Sunday of each month) from
The next class is scheduled for August 12th at
If you'd like more information on the sale and the classes, just log on to Rick's XPlanta website at www.xplanta.com
And still on things beautiful, I hope you haven’t missed any of the spectacular sunsets we’ve been having lately, the ones that look like some computer-generated sky of a far away planet in a science fiction movie. We don’t get them often during the winter months, so enjoy them while you can.
On a totally different note, there’s a quote I’d like to share with you. It is one of comedian Robert Kelly’s many funny lines during the 25th Just for Laughs Festival in
posted by Anna Reisman @ 5:08 PM
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