She Said...

The «season» in Puerto Vallarta appears to have started a month earlier than usual. I don’t know about hotel occupancy rates, but if we were to base ourselves on the number of tourists on the south side of town, or on the Malecon, geez! It looks like February!

I would venture to guess that an increasing amount of baby boomers are deciding to come down earlier, before American Thanksgiving, no longer willing to put up with the weather in them thar cold places. Or perhaps they’re my fellow Canadians looking to blow their «Canuck Superbucks» (as our friend Josh Freed calls ‘em). In any case, I don’t recall ever seeing so many foreigners in town at this time of year. I think it’s wonderful.

Before I forget: the photo that accompanied this column in last week’s issue of the Tribune, the one of the city workers removing the parking meters they had just installed a few days prior, was sent to me by Mike Hutmacher, the famous professional photographer whose work was exhibited at the Santa Barbara Theater last week. Please forgive me for forgetting to give you proper credit, Mike. Just blame it on my Oldtimerz’ Disease, nothing else.

Also on the same topic, the anecdote I recounted of the little boy hitting the parking meter was witnessed by Gil Gevins, and not T.J. as I erroneously indicated, although it was T.J. who forwarded it to me.

Now that I’ve apologized for my mistakes, I’d like to share some of the highlights of a most entertaining week with you. In fact, it all began with a lunch I had prepared for Enya and myself, consisting of some chicken with a side of Italian gnocchi. That evening, an out-of-town friend who was visiting expressed his wish to check out the new Trattoria de Angelo (formerly known simply as Angelo’s). The décor of the restaurant indoors has been «cleaned up», resulting in a minimalist, yet friendly setting, and it is under new administration, by a young man named Michel. I’m not going to review the place right now, but let me tell you: the food is fabulous! Real trattoria-style, i.e. everything is prepared from scratch, only once you’ve made your order, including the pastas. You get it all fresh out of the kitchen. Do check it out, it’s at the corner of Rodolfo Gomez and Olas Altas in the Romantic Zone on the south side of town.

And the series of Italian meals continued... Don’t ask me why, it just happened like that. Enya and I had pizza the day after, and the following day, Gary Beck (of Puerto Vallarta Restaurant Guide fame) asked me if I wanted to join him and a few of his out-of-town friends for dinner. They introduced me to a place that’s been around for over 20 years, but which I never noticed. It’s called Pietro’s, caddy corner from the front of the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Another delightful Italian restaurant …with good food and very low prices. By that time, I was all «Italianed»-out.

I attended Brenda’s wedding to her long-time partner, Carlos, on the beach. What a lovely event that was! You may recall that Brenda runs the www.allvallarta.com board, one of the most active, most informative boards around. She is also a sometime contributor to the Tribune. All the best to the both of you! Mazel Tov!

The following day, I did something I’ve never done before: I went to the Sea Life Park out in Nuevo Vallarta. What a fabulous place it is, for kids and adults alike. On the way there, I noticed all the new constructions, one after another, with heaven knows how many high-end furniture stores too. We also saw the Home Depot hot air balloon getting ready for lift-off. I’m really looking forward to visit that one… As my friends and family know all too well, let me loose in a Home Depot and you may not see me again for days on end… I haven’t made it to Liverpool’s new Galería Vallarta, but from what I hear, it’s super.

I got a call from the Gato Gordo, the cigar shop that sells AUTHENTIC Cuban cigars on I. L. Vallarta (the place with the stand where you can get a copy of the Tribune most any day of the week). They wanted me to come take a photo of the work they’d done on the sidewalk in front of their shop …considering that the City hasn’t attended to it in years. The thing is that the tree that grows there is a very special species, very rare, no question of cutting it down. But, its roots have lifted the sidewalk, making it dangerous for pedestrians. So here’s the photo of the Gato Gordo’s bilingual «artwork» for you to enjoy…

I apologize to our local readers for the repetition of Lupita Guerrero’s article on the afternoon dance in the town’s main square, which appeared in last week’s issue of the Tribune. The special frame originally designed for that page was replaced – unbeknownst to our Editor.

Unfortunately, it appears that such occurrences have become commonplace in our organization lately. I only hope they end soon.

Happy Birthday to El Arrayan, everyone’s favorite, voted «Best Mexican Restaurant» 3 years in a row, and now turning four! We wish them continued success.

By the way, speaking of special days, don’t forget your postman, mailman, mail carrier, whatever you choose to call your cartero here in paradise. Monday, November 12th is HIS day, El Día del Cartero in Mexico. So if you recall that there are only a dozen or so of them to service a town of some 300,000 people, and if you have received some mail delivered to your house this year, please do show your appreciation to those really hard-working fellows. They’ll be most grateful to you for it.I’ve run out of space, so here’s to a wonderful week, dear readers, and I hope to see many of you at The Santa Barbara Theater on Tuesday for our weekly Charity Bingo game! Hasta luego. pvmom04@yahoo.com