 |
|
|
 Travel & Outdoors | December 2007 
City of Contrasts Keeps Faithful Coming
 Lisa Monforton - Calgary Herald
go to original
| | History plays a predominant role in Puerto Vallarta's enduring popularity as a vacation spot. |
A mustachioed man in a traditional Mexican serape rides a donkey along a cobblestone street in Old Town. Elderly women stop at midday to kneel in prayer at the city's landmark Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe as laundry flaps in the breeze from a nearby stucco balcony. At dusk, Puerto Vallartans gather in the town square to waltz under the palm trees.
In PV, as it's known to its loyal visitors, it's obvious this city that wraps around Banderas Bay on Mexico's Pacific Ocean, still has one foot firmly planted in the past.
History plays a predominant role in Puerto Vallarta's enduring popularity as a vacation spot. On any given tour, you'll be reminded again and again about how in the early '60s the city was transformed from a sleepy town into a tourist mecca after director John Huston filmed the Oscar-winning movie The Night of the Iguana, starring Richard Burton and Ava Gardner.
But what was going on behind the scenes of that lusty, emotionally charged movie was what really splashed the city on to the world tourist scene.
"Our claim to fame is infidelity," a tour guide dryly quipped.
He's referring to the fact that Burton bought Elizabeth Taylor (both still married to other people at the time) a sprawling 22,000-square-foot love nest in 1964 where they notoriously had loud lover's quarrels and canoodled in sin.
(The city's Catholic nuns were not pleased; they regularly protested outside the home, until Burton made a generous donation to a local Catholic school.)
Taylor sold the villa in 1990 after Burton died, and it's now a bed and breakfast called Casa Kimberley, where tours of the mansion are offered. (casakimberley.com)
Titillated by the tempestuous love story and the saucy stories of Hollywood stars cavorting in this seaside town, the North American masses came and PV's bustling tourist trade was born. They're still coming 45 years later.
Though there are no specific figures on Canadians visiting Puerto Vallarta, from January to July 2007, there were 716 flights from Alberta to Mexico, according to the Mexico Tourism Board.
Just as the nuns went away with their hush money, this is indeed a city of dualities. To this day, the charming former fishing town bumps and grinds with the modern world.
On the northern edge of Old Town, a Burger King sits across the street from a modest home where cows roam in the yard. At dawn, men with their large nets pull in a catch of fresh fish as tourists jog along the beach listening to their iPods. And along the palm tree-lined Malecon (boardwalk), young families and tourists stroll through the festival-like atmosphere, where acrobats, Huichol Indian bead crafters, and spray paint artists practise their craft after the sun sets.
Long a popular destination for gay travellers (gayguidevallarta.com), the "rainbow" bars are full every evening. Straight tourists and locals head to other pulsating nightclubs to party until 4 a.m.
Though PV is not a new tourist destination, it has the distinction of loyal fans. Those smitten often return year after year, even decade after decade. From 2000 to 2006, more than 129,000 Canadian tourists spent more than 30 days in Mexico.
As many as 700,000 U.S. and Canadian citizens call Mexico home year-round and Puerto Vallarta is in the top five cities where people reside.
It's not as pristine and shiny as Cancun or Miami, so what is it about this cobblestoned and whitewashed city that keeps people coming? It could be as simple as what my tour guide told me: "Puerto Vallarta is what it is. It is for you."
Here are five things that may just be what keeps the loyalists coming back.
• Beaches: PV's beaches are hubs of activity for everything from parasailing to getting a henna tattoo under your palapa. There are no private hotel beaches because, under Mexico's constitution, all Mexicans are guaranteed the right to free beach access.
Three favourites near and in PV include Los Muertos, just a few blocks from Old Town, Mismaloya, south of PV, Los Caletas and Yelapa, the last two only accessible by boat.
• Mountains: The Sierra Madre mountains that hug Puerto Vallarta are easily accessible by rental car, jeep or van. What lies along the bumpy roads are quaint mountain villages where life slowly carries on far from the pulse of its urban neighbour. Tours of all types are available, including jungle tours with stops along the way at a typical mountain home to watch the matriarch of the family make tortillas and ending the day with a swim in the ocean and a lunch at Los Caletas.
• Tequila: You could sample tequila at any number of shops in Old Town, but for a more authentic treat take a city bus to the town of Mismaloya, a 30-minute ride from the city. As you enter the dusty road into town, you'll notice a brick building with a mural of a woman on it side. Mama Lucia's is a small family-run tequila mill, where the pale amber liquor is made by hand. Free tours are conducted on a regular basis (except on Sundays) and you'll learn how tequila is made from the spiky agave plant right through to the distillation process. Mama Lucia's makes and sells traditional tequila as well as orange, almond, chocolate and coffee flavoured tequila-based liqueurs in the accompanying gift shop. That brand is not available anywhere else.
• Art: Art permeates Puerto Vallarta, from its contemporary sculptures by local artists along the Malecon to dozens of galleries around town, offering traditional to ultra-contemporary works. In its 12th year, the Old Town Art Walk is held Wednesday nights from October to May. With more galleries than any other Mexican coastal city, this tour runs from 6 to 10 p.m. Peruse the sculptures, paintings and bead work while enjoying cocktails and meeting some of the artists.
• Culture: Unlike some tourist destinations in Mexico, Puerto Vallarta is not a planned resort town, says Veronica Rivas of the Mexico Tourism Board. Mexicans live, work, play, and go about their daily lives, right along side the tourists. "It's different," says Rivas, "because you really have a sense of Old Mexico. You don't feel you're in a huge city. It's more than just staying at a resort, you meet the real people."
For a taste of Mexican culture and history, set out on a unique cocktail sunset cruise. This one has the distinction of an adventurous tropical destination. After a two-hour boat ride, disembark in the dark in an isolated cove called Los Caletas, a dreamy beach destination by day. Torches light the way along the trail where you'll be seated for a dinner of Mexican cuisine by candlelight.
After dinner, you'll be led to a lushly treed, open-air theatre and the show begins. Fire, drumming and modern dance tell the story of Mexican Aztec warriors and ancient cultures and customs. The tropical setting draws you into the story of ancient Mexican civilization.
On the boat ride home, a rollicking party atmosphere breaks out and everybody's dancing and, yes, drinking more. (Vallarta-Adventures.com)
If You Go
• Getting there: Package deals with direct charter flights are offered by a number of tour groups, including Air Transat, WestJet Vacations and Air Canada Vacations.
• Tours: Two reliable and safe tour companies are Trafic Tours (trafictours.com) and Vallarta Adventures (Vallarta-Adventures.com) |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us