It's The Jaime Cuevas Show

The area we live in is part of the municipality of Bahia de Banderas. It stretches from Jarretaderas to the south to Lo de Marco in the north, from the ocean way up into the mountains.
Dr Jaime Cuevas is the Presidente of the municipality. It is an elected office for a three year term, they cannot be re-elected. He has just completed his first year in office. In honor of this, an event called an Informe is held. I compared it to the State of the Union speech a US President gives.
I thought I’d go check it out. Harold didn’t want to go, so I went by myself to San Jose. I wasn’t sure exactly where it was taking place but as I got to San Jose it was clear I would have no trouble finding it. As I got close, many of the streets were closed so I followed the traffic. Luckily my press credentials got me a good parking spot in what is the local soccer park.
After getting parked, I looked around. The main event was taking place in a huge tent. I mean huge enough for Ringling Brothers huge! There were hundreds of plastic chairs in the tent. As you entered, each person was given a book about the accomplishments of the administration, a CD with the same info, a small paper fan like funeral homes give out, and a bottle of water. The fan featured a picture of Dr Cuevas, so now I must be a member of the Jaime Cuevas fan club.
I went into the tent and saw that it was a very nice set-up. Besides the usual stage with all the dignitaries, there was an enormous fruit sculpture in front of the stage. On either side of the stage were big monitors so everyone could see.
There was a center entry in the back of the tent. I went over there to watch the dignitaries enter. Someone told me I could come to the front where the Presidente and the Governor would be entering. So I was right there when the entourage entered. I had to choose between taking photos of the Presidente and the Governor or shaking hands. I chose shaking hands.
After everyone important was in and settled, the talking began. There was a color guard, the Mexican national anthem and some more pomp. Some introductory remarks followed, and then Dr Cuevas began his speech. I can’t understand Spanish well enough for a big speech, so I went outside to look around. Every vehicle belonging to the municipality was there – pickup trucks, cars, police cars, garbage trucks and fire trucks. There must have been 100 police officers there and almost all of the fire department.
I stayed around for a while because lunch was to be served after the speech. I visited with some of the firemen, then decided that Dr.Cuevas had more to say than I had time to hang around.
After leaving the Informe I went to Karina’s house (Alex was at work) and visited with her, Mirtha and the neighbors for a while. As I was leaving San Jose, I could tell the event was over since traffic was really tied up.
As part of the celebration, the municipality sprung for a big concert the following night. The whole concert was free. As you entered, men went to one line, women to another and some people were patted down, bags were looked at, etc. No drinks could be brought in. Beer was sold at the event and there was some food for sale. It appeared there was a good attempt being made to keep it from getting too rowdy.

The municipal orchestra played and we really enjoyed them. If we had known how good they would be, we would have arrived earlier. Next up was a singer named Ninel, who was very good and had a lot of energy. She put on a good show.
While we were at the concert we hung around with some of the firefighters. They were all there along with many police officers.
Next on the program was a comic an impersonator. We knew we would not understand that show, so we left before the big act, a norteno band called Los Tucanes.
It was a lot of fun and there were thousands of people there.
By the way, I think Dr. Cuevas is doing a good job as Presidente.

It's the Holiday Season

In Puerto Vallarta, the winter holiday season begins with the Virgin of Guadalupe festivities. December 1st is the official start. Traffic is tied up in town because every day there are peregrinations to the church in the center of Puerto Vallarta. Until December 12th, Dia de la Virgen, there are many groups walking to the church. Every group has a person dressed as the Virgin or a poster, or other image. Many people carry candles as they march, others bring offerings of food. A good number of the groups have bands or recorded music and marchers sing as they walk. It is a very interesting thing to watch. Every weeknight and all day on the weekends different groups participate. Towards the end, marchers arrive continuously throughout the night.
This year we went three times to the festivities. The first time was with Kelly and Deanna. That was the first day of the peregrinations and not all the vendors were set up. We still found plenty of tacos, crepes, potatoes and cake to go around. The second time was on a Saturday night. That night was groups representing stores in Vallarta – Woolworth’s, Lans, and Comercial Mexicana were some that we saw. The crowd that night was pretty big and more vendors were out. Santa hats, balloons, kid’s toys, and any kind of street food possible were all available.
December 12th is the big day. Last year, we were downtown on the 12th but because of where we were located we missed seeing the fireworks. So this year we wanted to go see the fireworks as well as the marchers. The last night is the hotels and they have large groups and some cool floats.
About 8 o’clock we were getting ready to leave. First I told Harold I needed to call Karina and Alex about Friday night plans. When talking to Alex, I told him we were heading to Vallarta. They also wanted to go, so we agreed to go pick them up. At first we were leery because we thought there might be too much traffic out since it was a holiday and also that 6-year-old Mirtha would be up too late and maybe would be cranky.
The evening turned out really well. There was much less than the usual amount of traffic heading out to their house, they were all ready to go when we arrived. We got downtown about 9:30 and found a spot to watch the parade. We all had some tacos, Harold had a crepe and we watched the parade and the other parade-watchers. We asked a cop what time the fireworks would be and he told us there weren’t going to be any. We were disappointed but know how budgets change. Well, imagine our surprise when about 30 minutes later we hear fireworks. We were at a good spot so we could look and see them. Harold motioned to the cop to watch, the cop said “they never tell us anything!” We had no doubt that was true.
After the fireworks and the last of the parade we walked down the street which was still closed to traffic. We walked back to the south side where we were parked by way of the Malecon. Mirtha was full of energy, looking at all the sculptures and running around. After getting into the car, Mirtha and Karina fell asleep on the way back to San Jose. They all seemed to have a great time, and so did we.
Harold and I talked about it on the way home and we agreed we were really glad we had taken the time to go get our friends since they would not have gone otherwise. The Dia de la Virgen is an important day to Mexicans, especially Catholics, and we were happy to have helped them be able to celebrate.

Edited to give credit for the beautiful Virgn of Guadalupe painting - Hop David, website http://clowder.net/hop/vog.html

Traffic lesson

Yesterday, I was on my way to the "Informe" being held by Presidente Jaime Cuevas of the Bahia de Banderas, also attended by the Governor of Nayarit, Ney Gonzalez.There is a point just outside of San Vicente where 2 lanes of traffic merge into one. There is often the usual jostling and jockeying for position there.Yesterday there was more than the usual amount of traffic. I saw one of the collectivo mini-buses trying to squeeze out a Nissan pickup. The driver of the pickup didn't yield, but came to a stop in front of the van, causing [b]all[/b] traffic to stop.The passenger of the truck jumped out of the truck and was yelling at the van driver (who had a full van of passengers). I was watching since I was directly behind them. The truck passenger kept yelling and went and opened the drivers door of the van. I grabbed my camera as I thought someone was about to get his butt kicked.I about fell out of my seat when I looked closely at the truck passenger. Despite being dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, he was [i]carrying a gun! And handcuffs[/i]! I bet that poor van driver about had a heart attack!I snapped a photo quickly while waiting for the butt-kicking or shooting to start. Of course, everyone behind me was honking their horns. I was thinking "cut that out, we're all gonna die here!"The gun-toting guy finished yelling and got back into the truck. I figured I'd be following them all the way to the Informe, but he stopped in El Porvenir at the Osiris Nightclub.I told a friend about this and he said, oh yeah, there are plenty of plain clothes cops in unmarked vehicles. Well, the gun sure gave [b]that[/b] guy away.Lesson here: You never know who is in the other car you are about to cut off, so mind your manners.
The truck passenger and Close up of "hardware"

2 Birthdays and a Busy Week

Some weeks are just busier than others! Our friends Kelly and Deanna from the Dallas area came for their annual vacation. Every year they come around Thanksgiving, and hopefully are here through early December. They had asked if we needed anything brought down from Texas so they had a bag of goodies for us. We offered to pick them up at the airport and take them to their hotel. The first couple days they stayed at the Tropicana on the south side so we dropped them off there. Then it was rushing off to another obligation, we didn’t even have time to join them for a beer. Looking back, that is terrible. Won’t happen next time, guys!

A whole week went by, I was busy helping get ready for the Christmas bazaar and helping Rita get ready for the library party. I kept thinking we needed to stop by the Villa del Palmar to say hi or to joint he group on the beach. Again, bad priorities, no beach time this week.

Finally we did catch up with Kelly and Deanna at the processions for the Virgin of Guadalupe. We wandered around trying food from several different vendors, watching the groups and just checking out the scene.

Saturday was the Christmas Bazaar and I needed to be there all day. Harold went to take pictures of the kids from the Bucerias Children’s Shelter being creative painting the new trash barrels. After that, he went to the Villa del Palmar to get Kelly and Deanna. They had stayed a week at their timeshare and weren’t flying home until the next day, so they were staying one night at our house. The three of them toured around some and went to lunch. Just about when Harold had to leave for an Amigos de Bucerias meeting, I got home from the bazaar. It was a very successful event, raising about $4,200 US for our sorority to use on things for the School for Exceptional Children. It is a special-ed school in Bucerias.

We had what at first glance was a scheduling conflict for the evening. One of our friends in San Jose was having a birthday party for their 2-year-old. His name is Alex, but he is called mini-Alex so as not to be confused with fireman Alex who lives next door. His party was to start at 5 p.m., but we know Mexican parties never start on time!

The other party was at Playa del Sol on Los Muertos beach. This birthday party was for Ira, a friend of ours who moved here from Dallas. His party was set for 7 p.m., and we know gringo parties usually start on time. The travel time between the two places is about 45 minutes.

So, we decided the thing to do was to get to mini-Alex’s party 5:30’ish and stay for an hour. The plan almost worked, we got there about 5:45 and the party was getting rolling. We watched the kids do the piñata. The littlest kids went first, barely touching the piñata with the bat. As each kid had their turn, the other kids sang the piñata song. All of them knew that when the song was over, so was their turn. Nobody was whining or crying that they wanted more time. As the bigger kids got their turn, the guy holding the piñata rope made it jump more and more. After all the kids had a turn and the piñata still wasn’t demolished, the candy was dumped out on the street. The kids each got some candy. Next was some thing involving balloons. A big bag of balloons was turned over and some of the kids were stomping n the balloons, some were picking them up. We didn’t really know what the deal was, but it was fun to watch. Of course, while all this was going on, some of the adults were drinking beer, kids were drinking Jamaica, and most of us were sitting in plastic chairs in the street. Two cars were used to block off the street.

After the piñata, several of the ladies served us all some little sub sandwiches. Then we all had cake. The party was not breaking up, but we decided we better get over to Ira’s.

We arrived at Ira’s party fashionably late. Ira and Linda live in a condo with a beautiful ocean view and with a lovely balcony overlooking Los Muertos Beach.

We were late-ish, so many of the guests had already come and gone. We arrived at the party just as a few folks were leaving. But since there weren’t many so people, it gave us a chance to visit with Linda and Ira.

Linda, being the smart lady she is, had gotten the food catered by Sol at Café Bohemio. His food is always delicious! Linda had also purchased plates and napkins with “racy” pictures on them. Harold took one look and said “Mamacita!” Sort of bachelor party type of napkins. Ira, you dog, you!

After the Ira party, we came back to the house and called it a night!

Kelly and Deanna had a Sunday afternoon flight back to Dallas. In the morning, Harold and I went to look at our neighbor Jose’s condo while Deanna repacked the suitcases. We got to the airport around noon so they could check in early and dump off their luggage. Then we went to Isla Maria for lunch. The menu says their ribs are “better than Texas.” We all disagreed with that, but still enjoyed our food. Lucky we allowed plenty of time to eat as the pace was quite leisurely. We dropped them off at the airport, did a little grocery shopping then came home for a siesta!