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SHE SAID…
July 13, 2003
I know I’ve said it before
but I really get a kick at this time of year with all
the national celebrations... first the Canadians, then
the Americans, and then the French. Every year, I wonder
the same thing: how is it that so many countries celebrate
their great day in the spring or summertime? Are there
no countries that celebrate their independence in the
dead of winter? There must be, I just don't know which
ones they are, and no one has been kind enough to tell
me.
For the very first time in all the
years of living in Puerto Vallarta, I forgot to pay
my telephone bill on time. The due date was July 4,
2003. With all the preparations and celebrations for
Canada Day and the Fourth of July and the poetry reading
event at La Petite France, I simply forgot. No excuses.
On the morning of Tuesday, July 8th, I realized that
I couldn’t connect with my internet server. The
little screen on my monitor read, “No Dialtone.”
I checked the telephone line connections …all
well plugged in. I picked up the receiver and that’s
when I heard (in that beautiful, velvety, sensual voice
speaking Spanish of course), “Esteemed customer,
because your bill has not been paid, your service has
been suspended. We would be grateful to you if you would
go to any of Telmex’ service centers to make your
payment. Thank you.” So now I know. It doesn’t
matter how good a client you’ve been nor for how
many years nor whether yours is a residential or commercial
line. Four days past the due date, your service is simply
suspended, cut off. Well, not really. People can still
call you, but you can’t call out. No wonder there
are so many folks using card-activated cell phones.
A friend of mine told me that this
practice of allowing incoming calls while blocking outgoing
ones began a little while back in one of the Scandinavian
countries. Unemployed folks who couldn’t pay their
phone bills and were looking for jobs couldn’t
be reached by potential employers, prompting the understanding
telephone company to continue allowing incoming calls.
But what does one do in cases of emergency?… Never
mind, I’m getting into some very philosophical
territory here... What is more important? Getting a
job so you can pay your bills or being able to call
a doctor or the fire department to save your life so
you can get that job?
I went over to my friend’s
to use his computer and see if I could pay my phone
bill online - through that (in)famous Bancomer service
for which I pay some $200. pesos per month. That’s
when I read the following: “Esteemed customer,
this is to advise you that as of August 5th, 2003, you
will no longer be able to make your payments online
with the Basic Service. Please go to your Bancomer branch
and contact the manager to acquire the Advanced Service.
Thank you.” What do you want to bet that the “new”,
“Advanced” service will cost more? I think
I’ll just cancel my “Basic” service
that is so basic that after 11 months, I still don’t
even have access to the account where I have pesos,
only to the one that’s nearly empty. I’ll
go back to paying my bills at Santander Serfin, the
bank right next to my favorite ice cream / coffee shop
(Once Upon A Time…) I will pay 5 or 6 or 12 pesos
for the right to do so, save some $200 pesos per month,
not to mention all this aggravation. Life is good, so
why spoil it with all this c….
The payment of my telephone bill
was not the only thing I miscalculated. I was also late
for the Fourth of July party at Collage. By the time
we got there, the fun had ended and everyone had gone
home. So we walked around for a while, then we went
to Barcelona’s for dinner. It amazes (and pleases)
me to see how that place is always full, regardless
of the day of the week, or the month of the year, or
whether it’s raining or not. Good for them, I
say. It’s the same at Café de Olla for
that matter. That night, the clouds gathered above the
bay and the ocean turned black. Great big towering cumulonimbus
giants they were. Everyone moved their tables to the
shelter of the restaurant’s awning. We didn’t.
And soon the air became so clear that we could see the
twinkling lights all the way out to Punta Mita. It turned
out to be one of the most beautiful evenings I’ve
seen in a long time. Not a drop of rain. I’m glad
we didn’t move our table.
We went to see “The Pianist”
on the Saturday evening prior to the elections. That’s
the movie Roman Polanski directed, whose star Adrian
Brody won the Oscar for Best Actor at last year’s
Academy Awards. Now I know why. As we had a little time
before the last showing, we decided to have something
to eat at the restaurant at the corner, near the Luz
Maria theater. If my memory serves me right, it’s
called Salsa Mexicana. I had never eaten there before
but the time and the location were right, so why not?
The food was fine, but what entertained us much more
than the food was watching the passers-by. The “Ley
Seca” was in effect. No one could sell any hard
liquor for 48 hours, from midnight the night before
to midnight the next night - because of the elections
- and all those youngsters were seeking solace in what
appeared to be a quasi-desperate fashion.
Actually, the director of the local
restaurant owners’ association had asked for leniency
“at least along the Malecon” because this
was the Fourth of July long weekend for American visitors
and enforcing the law would be a negative measure. He
asked if the “dry” period could be shortened
to 24 hours. His pleas fell on deaf ears.
Some establishments threw caution
to the wind, like Kalhua on the Malecon, and some all-inclusive
hotels did the same. It reminded me of the time I was
working on a shoot in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo and the Mayor
decided to institute the “Ley Seca” because
some politician was going to give an important speech
or something of the kind. The all-inclusive hotels found
out that the fine for breaking the law was minimal so
they continued to serve the guests who had purchased
their vacation packages months ahead of time, way before
anyone decided to make a speech or call an election.
On Sunday evening of election day,
a small group of us went in search of a restaurant where
we could enjoy a nice “girls’ night out”.
No luck. Everything was closed. I really couldn’t
understand that. I don’t know, maybe it has something
to do with the fact that I don’t drink…
Looking around at the deserted streets, you would think
that it was impossible to enjoy a good meal without
alcohol. We finally ended up at Daiquiri Dick’s
(the only smart folks who stayed open along Olas Altas
that night) and had a great time - like always - along
with all the other people there. One of my companions
that evening had recently come down from the U.S.A.
and brought me the May 2003 “Special Collector’s
Edition” of Bon Appétit magazine. It is
called “The Soul of Mexico” on the cover
and it contains a section on Puerto Vallarta! Great
advertising for this town and its cuisine.
On the topic of promotion and marketing
and such, I guess I was way off track when I expressed
my views on the capture of the heir to the Max Factor
fortune. Now I read that the Regional Director of Tourism
for the North Coast, a distinguished-looking gentleman
by the name of José Ludwig Estrada, lamented
the fact that Puerto Vallarta was being shown nationally
and internationally as a “nest of criminals”,
this a few days after Luster’s arrest. He went
on to state that this event “affects us as a tourist
destination” and thus felt that “there should
be more communication between the authorities in the
U.S. and Mexico to avoid as much as possible that those
who break the law use Puerto Vallarta as a paradise
where they can find shelter without any problem whatsoever.”
He added that “if the municipal police of Puerto
Vallarta had not participated in his (Luster’s)
capture, he would have continued to quietly enjoy his
vacation without anyone being the wiser.” Can
you believe it? And he’s the Director of Tourism?
I received an e-mail from a very
dear friend who is now living and teaching in the Big
Apple. Among the many fascinating items in his message
is one sentence I would like to share with you: “Money
seems to be a dreadful curse in the hands of immaturity.”
Wow.
Remember, dear readers, if you cannot
find a copy of the Tribune one week, or you want to
check out old restaurant reviews or the latest in local
news, you can always log on to www.pvmirror.com It is
an independent web site with all your favorite Tribune
articles in it, along with many other items of interest.
I wish you a delightful, enlightened
week, filled with positive karma. After all, how can
you miss with the Tibetan Monks good vibrations permeating
the entire bay area? Take care of each other.
Hasta luego
pvmomto3@hotmail.com
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