She Said...

One of the rather more surreal ones he told me about involved the Blockbuster store on Basilio Badillo. As all TV aficionados know, we are all affected by the lack of new episodes in our favorite TV shows, due to the ongoing writers’ strike. And if we want to spend a quiet evening at home watching something different -and at the same time, interesting- on the boob toob, we head for Blockbuster. Which is what he did. (At this point, I should mention that he had never gone into any video store in PV.)

He asked the attendant where the «English section» was. To his surprise, the answer was, given rather rudely, «There is none. Everything is in Spanish.» So he left, somewhat dejected, came home and told me of his experience. Which makes me wonder… does the branch manager know that this is what his employee is telling visitors and tourists who don’t know any better, who don’t know that all the movies on DVDs usually give you a choice of languages, and sometimes more than just English and Spanish, depending on where the movie was made? Does the manager know how many potential customers he’s lost due to his employee’s ignorance? Just asking…

We have friends who live up in Amapas, accessible through the Callejon de la Igualdad. I went up there last week, with my houseguest, because he wanted to see those friends’ condo. The views of the bay from up there are breathtaking! But… I got to see -and feel- the condition of that road (see the Letter from Readers) - if we can call it a road. My little 7-year old Tracker, with its 4-wheel drive feature can handle anything, but I admit that I had doubts for a few moments there… and my doubts also relate to the upper part of Pulpito and Hortencia: What will happen to the folks who will be buying all those truly expensive, ultra luxurious condos up there when they all arrive with their cars? I hope they all know not to come with low-to-the-ground vehicles without 4-wheel drive. I’m not a civil engineer, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out how they will ever fix those roads.

For those of you who are not familiar with that part of town, these roads are only one lane wide, with ravines on one side and buildings on the other. So how will they do it without cutting off those people’s means of access for weeks on end? And if and when such repairs are accomplished, what will happen when a vehicle going uphill comes up against another coming downhill, and there are no «passing places» like they have in Scotland? I have no answers, and neither does anyone else I’ve asked.

Marcia, our friend and fellow contributor, wrote to me to tell me that she had met a young man from Spain this past week who said he papers the walls of his room with the covers of the Vallarta Tribune. She went on to write that it was «Quite a tribute to your photos!» That’s very sweet, but not all the photos that grace the covers of this publication were taken by yours truly. Far from it. And this week’s issue is a perfect example of that. It was sent to our editor by a reader - just like you. So, if you have some of those photos that you consider «special», send them in. You never know. The kudos may go to you, and your work may very well embellish this young man’s walls too.

Can you believe it? This is the first time ever that the Tribune holds FIFTY-SIX pages for your enjoyment! And no one can find the paper in the Romantic Zone on the south side of town… I wish I had an explanation, but I don’t. I haven’t been able to figure out their distribution system for the last few months.

And with all those pages, I’ve still managed to run out of space. I can't even tell you how fabulous a time we all had at the recent Dog Show. There were a zillion folks out there, and as many breeds of dogs, from teeny tiny Chihuahuas and Yorkies to great big mastiffs. (Just take a look at the photos in this issue.)So… until next time, take care of yourselves and of each other, and don’t forget to check out the calendar of events for this week! It’s packed with great stuff. Hasta luego.