|
February 23, 2003.
Sometimes, we
wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. But sometimes, I believe
that there is one, we may not know what it is but eventually it makes itself known
to us, if we are open to it. A week ago, I woke up just a little before 5 a.m.,
for no apparent reason. My room was bright with light, moonlight. Though it was
not a full moon, I found out the next day that it was just a few days -or nights-
away from that date. All around our planet's satellite were the most beautiful
clouds you could imagine. The sky looked like something painted by some great
Italian master of centuries ago. And there was a silvery reflection on the ocean
that helped make the entire scene even more beautiful. I just sat there in awed
admiration, for about a half and hour. Then it rained. I have no idea where the
rain came from but it was wonderful, it rained just long enough to make everything
smell great (and to make all the cars look awful.) I didn't question why I woke
up. I knew. So it was easy for me to go back to sleep. They
recently finished shooting the movie "Puerto Vallarta Squeeze" in this
beautiful town. You may recall that the book used as basis for the film was written
by none other than Robert Walker, author of "The Bridges of Madison County".
I certainly hope that "PV Squeeze" will have as much success as "The
Bridges" despite the fact that it does not star Clint Eastwood or Meryl Streep… The
other day, "PV Squeeze" came to mind, not because of the promotion it
will represent for this town, but rather in light of another significance it suddenly
took on for me, dealing with the all-time favorite pet peeve of the majority of
this town's residents: the city buses. I had taken my car to go five blocks away
to pick up one of those 33-lb. bags of dog food from the vet's office. I guess
Mr. Rainer would call me lazy. He would say that I should have walked over to
the vet's office and then either carried the bag up the hills, back to my house,
or taken two city buses to get home (there are no direct routes between the vet's
office and my place). Well, I'm sorry, dear sir, I have enough trouble climbing
up my hill without crampons even without that unwieldy bag. I really don't see
why I should try to attempt it with an additional 26% of my body weight on my
back. Anyway, to get back to my story, I found myself
wedged between six buses, blues and greens, not a single license plate among them,
all honking at each other and at the driver in front of me who had the gall to
stop in order to let some pedestrians cross the street. Was I afraid? Darn right!
We can never predict what effect road rage can have on those bus drivers. Especially
considering that there could not have been more than four passengers total on
the six buses combined (all due respect to our reader who doesn't "know where
people find all of these so-called empty buses"…). And that's when "Puerto
Vallarta Squeeze" came to mind. After all, I had to calm down, use some smart
biofeedback to slow my thumping heart, and the thought of my tiny little two-door
car being "squeezed" between those roaring behemoths all around me made
me smile - and calm down. It worked. Still in this movie-making
vein, the newlyweds whose wedding pictures graced our "New Beginnings"
section in last week's issue wanted to take a mini-honeymoon. (They run the ice
cream shop here, "Once Upon A Time…", so they can't think of taking
a real honeymoon at this time.) They thought of going to El Careyes for a few
days. For those of you who are not familiar with the name or the place, it is
one of those "Boutique Hotels", a jewel of a place about 3 hours south
of here. The groom's sister had gone there on her honeymoon three years ago, so
everyone in the family already knew how beautiful it was. Anyways, it turns out
that the hotel was fully booked. They were told to forget about making reservations
for a while because the film industry moguls involved in the production of "Kill
Bill", the new movie directed by none other than Quentin Tarentino himself
were all there. The movie stars big names like Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Lucy
Liu, Daryl Hannah and Michael Madsen among others. So the moguls were occupying
all 36 suites, deciding whether or not they would come to Vallarta for some of
the movie's scenes. Oh, well. Them's the breaks. Regular
readers and visitors to Vallarta may remember that every year, the authorities
organize a "Gala Weekend" to which they invite travel wholesalers from
all over the world to come and visit and sign agreements with the local hotels.
It is such a crazy time for these folks who run around from one end of the city
to the other, everyone wanting to wine them and dine them, that by the time they
get back to their home town, they are in dire need of a vacation… This event
usually takes place prior to Mexico's biggest Travel Trade Fair, the Tianguis,
held each year in Acapulco. So last week, I read in one of the local papers that
the organizers of this year's event are thinking of offering these folks a dinner
on the Malecon. Yes. On the Malecon. Personally (and this
is an "opinion" column so please note that I am only expressing my own,
very personal opinion here) I cannot visualize it. How pleasant can it be for
those 30 or 40 Canadians, Americans, Europeans and maybe even South Americans
to "dine" in the ambiance of bus fumes, with -in lieu of background
music- the noise of their engines revving at top speed as they race along the
main drag on one side and the roar of the waves crashing on the stones on the
other? I don't know. (In a survey conducted recently by one of the governmental
departments among 1,252 departing visitors at the airport, it turned out that
many were unsatisfied with the level of noise pollution caused by buses in the
downtown area…) Anyway, one of the spokesmen for the event stated that the
hiring of the catering company is being delayed because "the company that
will serve the dinner must have the appropriate equipment, so that hot dishes
are served hot, and cold dishes cold." Yeah, right. When you add in all the
local V.I.P.'s they intend to invite, they expect some 300 guests in all. I'll
keep my fingers crossed for them. In the meantime, two
things: first, if you are one of the few who have not seen the movie "Like
Water for Chocolate" based on Laura Esquivel's famous book of the same name,
don't miss it this time around. You won't be sorry and you'll never forget it,
that's for sure. It is being shown at L'Opera movie theater this Friday. Secondly,
remember that the entire month of February is considered the month of Love and
Friendship in Mexico. So keep those good vibes going and if you want added incentive,
I recommend that you read Nacho's column this week. As we used to say in the Sixties,
"Make Love, Not War". Peace to all. Hasta
luego. pvmomto3@hotmail.com Archives
by date |
Current
Weather Report
