She Said...

September 9, 2007

The World Wide Internet is a wondrous thing indeed. From the little bit I pretend to understand about it, I see that it is expanding geometrically, a little akin to the Big Bang. I have no idea how it can continue to do so without reaching some sort of limit, or imploding, but I don’t really think that it will do me any good to worry about it, considering that such abstract thoughts are way beyond my own limitations.

One of the things the internet offers us is the ability to see our little planet from the satellites’ viewpoints (www.wunderground.com) After Hurricane Dean made landfall in Veracruz and headed west our way, we could see the immensity of it clearly. It covered most of this country, from the east coast to our west coast. No one said a word. CNN was no longer interested as Dean had spared the US so it disappeared as a newsworthy item, and the local (i.e. Puerto Vallarta) media pretended it didn’t exist. Unfortunately, we who live here -or were visiting- all know the damage it caused on Wednesday night, August 22nd.

Last Saturday, September 1st, the friend with whom I was to dine at Hacienda San Angel (see separate article) called to tell me she had just been handed a notice by the management of the condo complex she lives in, south of town. The notice advised all owners to avoid going out, take everything off their terraces, bolt their doors shut, etc. etc. Why? Because Tropical Storm Henriette was going to hit our coast, like now! I told her to relax while I checked the satellite web site. As we know now, in hindsight, Henriette was already making her way to Baja California which she was forecast to hit as a Category 1 Hurricane. Yes, the skies over Vallarta were overcast, but that’s about as far as it went. Same thing on Sunday, and on Monday the sun came out over our beautiful Bay of Banderas.

Meanwhile, the Tribuna de la Bahía’s front page on Saturday warned «Tropical Storm Henriette Approaches!» - in huge letters. On Sunday, the front page read: «Henriette Moves Away, but Torrential Rains Expected». I must confess, we did get five drops or so, no wind. And still the satellite shots clearly showed her chugging along towards Baja, far away from the Bay of Banderas. The front page of Monday’s issue (the day the sun came out) quotes the National Meteorological Service as saying, «Henriette Leaves Rains in PV» (?) The article continues on page 3, warning –again- of tropical storm-strength winds, torrential rains and even hail… Viva Mexico!

The following is a journal of my excursion into the cyberworld…

I was first introduced to the concept of blogs a while back, when a friend of ours who was -and still is- a frequent poster on the www.vallartascene.com forum returned to her home town of Toronto and started her own blog.

A few weeks ago, I was told of a site that offered web sites, domains, administration, etc. at truly reasonable rates, so I logged on and bought a few. That’s when I informed you that soon, soon, I would have a site where you could find all my previous columns and not have to worry that the system used at the Tribune would delete them, again. I tried my best to follow my administrator’s «easy» instructions as to how to set up a site …to no avail. I even had Rick (the fellow who runs the vallartascene forum, and whom I consider a guru in such matters) come over and try to figure it all out for me. He didn’t have much better luck.

Then, last weekend, I came across a Google banner that advertised free blog sites. As I had nothing to lose, I tried it, and guess what? It actually did what it claimed to do: walk you through the process, real nice and easy for dummies like me. Great! I went back to the Tribune issue that came out on my birthday, at the beginning of January, figuring that was a good place to start. Because the hard disk in one of my computers died a few months ago, I had to resort to some back-up CDs to find most of the texts. I started posting the columns in chronological order, oldest first. Everything was fine …until I decided to take a break for lunch.

When I returned to the computer, I couldn’t find any of the work I’d done in the morning. It took a whole lot of correspondence with the «help» people at Google to find out what the problem was. So now, when you log in to www.shesaid-7.blogspot.com, you’ll find all the columns from July 1st onwards. If you want to check out the articles prior to July 1st, please log on to www.shesaid-07.com I’m sorry about that, I have no idea how that happened, but it’s the best I could do considering that Internet Explorer wouldn’t allow me the privilege of taking any time off for lunch before quitting on me.

I have been a subscriber to the local Telecable service ever since we first moved down here, always paying a year in advance, always wondering whether I would receive a guide each month ...or not. I’ve watched it eliminate more and more of the English channels over the years. The first that affected me was CNN International – an excellent channel out of London, England. Then others were switched to their Spanish-language equivalents. That’s not a bad thing, I speak Spanish fluently, I just don’t enjoy watching my favorite actors speak in totally inappropriate voices. And then they eliminated the SciFi channel. That was the last straw! It was the only reason I had renewed my contract with them, which expired at the end of June. Last week, they came knocking on my door to advise me that they would cut off my service if I didn’t pay, so I told the fellow: «Adelante!» Up the ladder he went, and there he cut the cable. What makes me smile is that Enya’s sister has called Telecable on various occasions to inform them that she was getting their service even though she’d never signed up or paid for it. They keep thanking her, with the assurance that they’d «look into it». She’s been enjoying her free service for years… Viva Vallarta!

This Saturday is the time to shout «Viva Mexico!» for real. It’s Mexico’s Independence Day and the whole town is going to celebrate – big time! So get ready to have a whole lot of fun, dear reader, fiestas on the streets and the main square, music, special foods, fireworks... And do plan on going to one of the restaurants which will be serving the traditional dish of the season, the famous, delicious, Chile en nogada. Try El Arrayan, or Kaiser Maximilian, or whichever you choose, but don’t miss out on this very special treat. Live the true Mexico experience. You’re sure to enjoy it!

Until then, you'll be able to enjoy the eerie calm around town. Our friend Ramona, who used to be our sales director, just returned from her annual 2-week holidays. She called us and during our conversation, she said something rather strange. She had gone down to Olas Altas and swore that she "hear the silence"! Meanwhile, the head of the City's Tourism Department was quoted as saying that they\re launching a "September is Tourism Month" (??) advertising blitz. In the second week of the month? Did they think that September wouldn't happen this year, or what? I remember when they launched a "September for Seniors" advertising campaign a few years ago - also at the last minute. Then, when it didn't bring the wished-for results, they canned the idea...

Until next week, I will leave you with a quotation our friend Richard sent us, which made me smile: "Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." Hasta luego. pvmom04@yahoo.com

Blog: www.shesaid-7.blogspot.com Vallarta Tribune web site: www.vallartatribune.com

posted by Anna Reisman @ 4:21 PM