Issue 948, June 4-10, 2015

Catch us online @ vallartatribune.com

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Life in Vallarta a few days on the beach

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June 4 - 10, 2015 Free Issue 948

Summer Time surviving the heath

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Coffee an aromatic experience

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Photo Courtesy Bud Elison

welcome

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Welcome to Puerto Vallarta

and Riviera Nayarit Here is some advice to make your trip a little easier and more enjoyable.

TIME ZONE: The entire state of Jalisco is on Central Time, as is the southern part of the State of Nayarit starting from Guayabitos in the north.

BUSES: A system of urban buses with different routes can bring you from one end of the bay to the other and all the spots in between.

Current fare is $7.50 pesos per ticket and passengers must purchase a new ticket every time they board another bus. There are no “transfers”.

TAXIS: There are set rates within defined zones of town. Do not enter a taxi without agreeing on the price with the driver first. Price is per trip not person.

MONEY EXCHANGE: Although you may have to wait in line for a few minutes, banks will give you a higher rate of exchange than the exchange booths (caja de cambio). You will need your passport. Better yet, use your bank card to withdraw funds from any ATM machine. Note that ATM’s in the banks are the safest to use and generally charge lower fees.

DRINKING WATER: For the year 18 in a row, Puerto Vallarta’s water has been awarded a certification of purity for human consumption.

The quality of the water tested at the purification plant varies greatly from what comes out of the tap at the other end. So do be careful. If you want to be doubly sure, you can pick up bottled water just about anywhere.

EXPORTING PETS: Falling love with the street dog outside your hotel or a puppy on the Malecon doesn’t mean they can’t come home with you.

The process is fairly inexpensive and only takes a day or two. You need a certificate of health from a local vet among other things. The time of year that pets can travel in the cargo section of the plane may be your biggest challenge. For the most up-to-date information contact the Puerto Vallarta SPCA at spcapv@gmail.com.

COMMON SENSE: Just as you wouldn’t walk around your hometown drunk and beligerent, it is not acceptable to do that here. While Mexicans are a forgiving bunch, basic politeness is appreciated.

For the guys, peeing in public is a major faux pas and if you are caught, can get you tossed in jail or an expensive fine. Pay attention to your surroundings. Pay your bills. Be courteous. And have fun!

DRINKING AND DRIVING: First off – just don’t. The consequences are not worth it. Taxis are cheap and plentiful. Fines are as much as 10,000 pesos. You can be taken to jail and your vehicle impounded. There are many checkstops on the weekends and you will be asked to blow if they suspect you have been drinking.

LEGAL SYSTEM: Not knowing the law is not an valid excuse in Mexico or anywhere. If you find yourself caught in a legal situation be aware that guilt is presumed until your innocence can be proven.

This is a very difficult lesson to learn if you are visiting from the United States or Canada in particular. Immediately contact your consulate for assistance.

Director Noemi Zamora noemizamorareynoso@gmail.com Editor Lic. Madeline Milne mmilne@Vallartatribune.com Sales Team Rebeca Castellón Rebeca.castellonn@gmail.com Information office ventastribuna7@yahoo.com Designer Cynthia E. Andrade G. cysandra@gmail.com cysandra@gmail.com cisandra@vallartatribune.com

Jun 4 - 10, 2015 www.vallartatribune.com

Calling in Mexico Calling phones in Mexico can be tricky as it is different than in the US or Canada. There are different codes you need to use depending if you are calling landlines or cellular phones and if they are local or long distance.

Long-distance calls from within Mexico For national long-distance calls (within Mexico) the code is 01 plus the area code and phone number. For international long-distance calls, first dial 00, then the country code (for the U.S. and Canada the country code is 1, so you would dial 00 + 1 + area code + 7 digit number).

Calling Cell Phones (from a land line) If you are calling from a landline within the area code of the Mexican cell phone number dial 044, then the 10 digit number including area code. Outside of the area code (but still within Mexico) dial 045 and then the 10 digit phone number. Cell phone to cell phone only requires the 10 digit number.

Phone Cards Phone cards (“tarjetas telefonicas”) for use in pay phones can be bought at newstands and in pharmacies in denominations of 30, 50 and 100 pesos. Pay phones do not accept coins. When buying a phone card for pay phone use, specify that you would like a “tarjeta LADA,” because pre-paid cell phone cards are also sold in the same establishments.

Calling Toll-Free Numbers Some toll free numbers work from Mexico to the US and Canada, but many do not.

You need to dial a different prefix. To call the following toll free prefixes, dial as follows: 800 numbers Dial 001-880-then the number 866 numbers Dial 001-883-then the number 877 numbers Dial 001-882-then the number 888 numbers Dial 001-881-then the number

PEACEAnimals

By Gretchen DeWitt

Gretchen DeWitt he mission of PEACEAnimals is to prevent the suffering of animals. We reduce, but do not eliminate, the suffering of animals by sterilizing approximately 4,000 cats and dogs annually. Many thousands of kittens and puppies are born here every year, and an enormous number are born to starve, become diseased, injured or killed by vehicles and often become victims of abandonment and abuse. Please contact any or all of the animal rescue organizations if you need help for an animal or would like to adopt one. That list is on our website on the “resource” tab.

ADOPCIÓNES VALLARTA Adopt Me PV Adopta un Amigo ADOPTA UN AMIGO NAYARIT Adopta Puerto Vallarta Amigos de los otros animales Animalistas ANIMALISTAS DE PUERTO VALLARTA ANGELICAT AyudaMutt Puro Gato Centro de Acopio Animal PURR PROJECT Cuidando sus Huelitos PV Animal Friends of Puerto Vallarta Animals PV Dog News Helping Pets in Puerto Vallarta Rescate Animalista Huellitas Catninas LADRA Match Dog Com NOTE: A recent law was passed in Jalisco that MexPup requires all pets be sterilized after the age of eight NO BORDERS ANIMAL weeks. To not comply with the law means a fine of RESCUE ORGANIZATION (NOBARS) 5,400 pesos.

Paraiso Felino This information is being given out by our educaPEACEANIMALS PERROS PERDIDOS PUERTO VALLARTA tion director at schools and at our clinics.

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Vallarta Tribune is an activity and entertainment guide and merely publishes information as it is provided by the advertiser or event host. We do not assume responsibility in errors or omissions other than to correct them as soon as they are made known to us regarding event schedules, locations and/or prices. In addition, we do not assume any responsibility for erroneous inclusion or exclusion of information except to take reasonable care to ensure accuracy, that permission has been obtained to use it, and to remove it as soon as is practical upon receiving your notification of error. We recommend you always confirm prior to attending or visiting an event or establishment. Weekly publication edited, printed and distributed by Ediciones y Publicaciones Siete Junio, SA de CV Grupo Editorial Tribuna Calle 21 de Marzo # 1174 Col. Lomas del Coapinole Del. El Pitillal, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco México CP 48290 Tel. 226-0800 editor@vallartatribune.com * www.vallartatribune.com * www.facebook.com/vallarta.tribune

editorial

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Jun 4 - 10, 2015 www.vallartatribune.com

Editor’s

Note

editor@vallartatribune.com

The first rain of the season is always a special one. The children come out on to the street to dance in the rain. Smiles shine on faces wet with the downpour. It’s a refreshing break from the oppressive humidity and one we haven’t wearied from – yet.

2014 was a bad year for tropical storms in the Pacific with the record-setting Hurricane Odile doing severe damage across the Baja and north into the US. This year purports to be bumpy as well with El Niño in full force and the Pacific Ocean with warmer than usual temperatures. There are 19 major storms predicted for this season (ends November 30th, 2015) but there is no sure thing.

No one can accurately predict how one storm will behave, though compiled data over the years shows that while frequency is diminishing, severity is increasing. Our neighbours to the southwest in the Philippines have suffered the worst hurricane on record already this year. This is not meant to frighten you. Crazy, disastrous weather

strikes around the world and most of it occurs with little warning. Here in the Bay we are lucky to have natural protection with the mountains at our back and usually we don’t experience much more than strong tropical storms.

Side Note: These storms push garbage from the streets into the rivers and then into the oceans.

Please consider cleaning your small piece of paradise regularly, even if it’s not yours. Setting an example for your neighbours might just be what they need to keep their part clean as well.

Stay dry.

Madeline PREPARING FOR HURRICANE SEASON The most important thing you can do as hurricane season approaches is to get yourself, your family and your home prepared.

By starting early, you’ll avoid the rush at home supply stores, grocery stores and other venues typically crowded and often chaotic when hurricane watches and

warnings are issued.

You should stock six basics for your home: water, food, first aid supplies, clothing and bedding, tools and emergency supplies, and special items. Keep the items you would most likely need during an evacuation in an easy-to carry container.

Possible containers include a large, covered trash container, a camping backpack, or a duffle bag.

Each of the six categories has a complete list of items to include in your emergency preparedness kit. It seems like a lot of stuff but, gathering food, water, weather protection and battery operated radio/flashlight should be a priority.

Make your preparations easier by downloading the checklists included with each category and use them as you shop and store your supplies. Visit http://hurricanesafety.org/ for the checklists – written for those living in the US so, take it with a grain of salt and a smile.

1. Food and Water Water Store water in plastic containers such as soft drink bottles.

Avoid using containers that will decompose or break, such as milk

cartons or glass bottles. Keep at least a three-day supply of water per person (two quarts for drinking, two quarts for each person in your household for food preparation/ sanitation).* Food Store at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food. Select foods that require no refrigeration, preparation or cooking, and little or no water. Select food items that are compact and lightweight.

2. First Aid and Non-Prescription Drugs First Aid Kit Assemble a first aid kit for your home and one for each car.

Non-Prescription Drugs 3. Tools and Supplies From a sundry of items dishes, batteries, cash, matches to the survivalist-ready with tents, a compass and flares – there are plenty of items that you can assemble. Download the list for more ideas.

4. Sanitation, Clothing and Bedding Sanitation, Clothing and Bedding – taking into consideration the temperatures and wetness to be experienced in case of emergency.

*Include at least one complete change of clothing and footwear per person.

5. Special Items Remember family members with special requirements, such as infants, pets and elderly or disabled persons.

For Pets The Humane Society of the United States offers these tips: Do not leave your pets behind.

(1000’s of animals remain homeless in the Baja because of last years storm.)

Securely fasten a current identification tag to your pet’s collar and carry a photograph of your pet.

Most emergency shelters do not admit pets. Do not wait until the last minute to evacuate. Rescue officials may not allow you to take your pets if you need to be rescued.

6.

Possessions and Documents Keep your financial, immigration and other records in a waterproof, portable container.

Today, when phone numbers are barely remembered, consider writing a list of important contact numbers and addresses incase your smart phone or computer are inaccessible.

Store your kit in a convenient place known to all family members.

Keep a smaller version of the supplies kit in the trunk of your car.

Keep items in airtight plastic bags. Change your stored water supply every six months so it stays fresh. Replace your stored food every six months. Re-think your kit and family needs at least once a year. Replace batteries, update clothes, etc.

Source/Reference: American Red Cross This information is straight from HurricaneSafety.org

Vallarta’s First Father’s Day 5km Race

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unning Riviera Nayarit invites is producing the 1st Annual Father's Day Race, which will be held in Puerto Vallarta on Sunday, June 14, 2015. Prizes, medals, T-Shirts and a water balloon fight will make this an excellent family event.

All parents can participate with their children. There will be no time keeping, the objective is for everyone to get out and have some family fun while running for the finish line.

Prizes will be awarded for best costumes including: • Best 'Dad' costume • Best Child costume • Best Family costume with parent and child wearing the same costume Costumed or not, everyone who crosses the finish line will be entered in a raffle for some great prizes! And, to make finishing the race even more fun, participants can join in a fun and friendly 'water balloon war' - a great way to cool

down and celebrate your victory!

RACE DETAILS: • Venue: Agustin Flores Contreras Sports Complex (Municipal Stadium) • Date: June 14, 2015 • Start Time: 6:40 a.m.

• Start and finish lines: Sports Stadium • 5k Route: Av. Fco Medina Ascencio, turn around in front of Hotel Holiday Inn RACE REGISTRATION: • In person: at Plaza Genovesa Local 15-A, Zona Hotelera Norte, Puerto Vallarta • Online: at RunningRivieraNayarit.com • NOTE: There will be no registration the day of the event REGISTRATION FEES INCLUDE: • Hydration during the race • Runner number

• Medal (everyone gets one) • Puerto Vallarta T-shirts and more!

RACE KIT DELIVERY: • June 12, 2015: 9:00 am to 2:00 pm and from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm • June 13, 2015: 10:00 am to 8:00 pm • Place: Plaza Genovesa, Local 15-A, Zona Hotelera Norte, Puerto Vallarta IMPORTANT: The deadline for submissions is June 12, 2015 at 11:00 pm.

Sign up to participate today and join this community of runners!

It's not just a run... it's fun!

For more information (in Spanish) visit RunningRivieraNayarit.com.

news

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Jun 4 - 10, 2015 www.vallartatribune.com

Mexico, Brazil Look to Bolster More stations coming; Trade, Cooperation Car-Go will be one Pemex will be joined by Car-Go and Oxxo Gas when the market opens up

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s many as 1,000 new gas stations could open every year in Mexico over the next five years, and the name Car-Go will be among them.

Gas station operators in several states operate as a group called the Consejo Empresarial Gasolinero (CEG), which has been planning its entry into the open gasoline market for the last two years.

Car-Go is the name of the new brand, which will go up against Pemex and Oxxo Gas once the market is fully open in 2018.

And more players yet could arrive to take advantage of energy reforms, which have eliminated the monopoly of the state oil company. So will the new competition bring down gas prices? It’s a million-peso question whose answer won’t be known for another couple of years, but the president of the CEG says possibly when asked if the price per liter could drop below 14 pesos.

Fernando González Piña says come 2018 the price could come down but it will depend on supply and demand.

Supply could be strong if the association of service station providers, Ampes, is correct in its forecast of 10% annual growth in the number of stations.

That would be three times more than the growth seen in the last five years. That many new stations would represent an annual investment of US $1 billion given that each one costs about $1 million to open, according to Ampes.

Source: Milenio (sp) Original: mexiconewsdaily.com

19 cyclones predicted

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urricane Andres strengthened to category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale and is currently moving away from the Mexican coasts of the Pacific with sustained winds of 205 kph (127.3 mph) with wind gusts reaching a speed of 250 kph (155.3 mph), Mexico’s National Meteorological Service, SMN, reported on Sunday.

Experts predict the occurrence of 19 named cyclones in this year’s Pacific hurricane season -that began on May 15; 40 percent more than the historical average.

These would include four hurricanes of category 3, 4 and 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale and seven of category 1 and 2.

The Atlantic will experience seven cyclones.

The Atlantic hurricane season kicked off almost a month before its official start date of June 1 with Storm Ana on May 8.

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exican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff hailed the signing of a series of accords in areas including trade, tourism and the environment, saying they will strengthen cooperation between the two Latin American powerhouses.

“Relations with Brazil date back many years. However, we found ourselves needing to update and modernize our cooperation framework,” Peña Nieto told reporters on Tuesday.

With these agreements, Brazil and Mexico, Latin America’s biggest and second-biggest economies, “have taken a qualitative leap” in their relations, the Mexican president said.

“We’ve opened a new chapter in our history. Relations between Mexico and Brazil have a great degree of potential and we have the obligation and duty to study this,” said Rousseff, who is making the

Grupo Modelo to Invest $325 Million in Southeast Mexico

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rupo Modelo, a unit of Belgium-based beverage and brewing giant Anheuser Busch InBev, will remain strongly committed to the Mexican market, CEO Ricardo Tadeu said in announcing plans to invest 5 billion pesos ($324.9 million) in the southeastern state of Yucatan.

“Mexico offers great, long-term growth potential for our industry.

We at Grupo Modelo, you can count on this, will remain strongly committed to this country,” the Brazilian executive said.

He pointed to “political, social and labor stability in the state, and the availability of highly trained human capital” as determining factors in the decision to build a 2.8-billion-peso aluminum-can plant and a 2.2-billion-peso brewery in that state.

The aluminum-can plant will produce 1 billion units per year for Grupo Modelo’s different brands,

while the brewery will have an annual capacity of 500 million liters.

The announcement was made Friday at the Los Pinos presidential palace, where President Enrique Peña Nieto said Grupo Modelo, the maker of the Corona brand, and AB InBev, the world’s largest brewer, were reaffirming “their confidence in Mexico and see the potential the country offers.”

The construction of both plants will begin in the second half of 2015 and are expected to start operating in early 2017.

The investment will strengthen Grupo Modelo’s market position both in southern and southeastern Mexico and globally, since the company plans to export Mexican beer to different parts of the world from Yucatan state’s Progreso port, Tadeu said. www.laht.com

first visit to Mexico of her presidency.

Above all, the presidents stressed their willingness to give a big boost to bilateral trade, which was valued at $9.2 billion in 2014.

“We want to go from the $9.2 billion that we have now in trade and eventually, in less than 10 years, be able to double this level,” Peña Nieto said.

This will be possible after an agreement was reached Tuesday to deepen the Economic Complementation Agreement, known as ACE

53, linking Mexico and Brazil.

Negotiations to modify this accord, which was signed in 2002 and currently covers some 800 products, but could be expanded to encompass up to 6,000 products, will kick off in July, Rousseff said.

The agreement will be expanded to cover new segments such as services, e-commerce and intellectual property, Peña Nieto added.

In March of this year, the two countries also agreed to modify their existing agreement, known as ACE 55, governing the exchange of goods in the automotive sector, eliminating tariffs on a significant number of additional products.

Both companies see freer bilateral trade as a way to promote economic expansion and maintain their positions as regional powers despite adverse conditions in Latin America, which the International Monetary Fund expects will grow less than 1 percent this year.

Lath.com

Mexico moves up on competitiveness index

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n improvement in business efficiency propelled the change Competitiveness is on the rise in Mexico according to an international ranking, which recorded an improvement of two positions since last year.

Mexico was the only country in Latin America to advance on the Global Competitiveness Index, moving into 39th place on the list of 61 countries. Last year, Mexico slid nine places into No. 41.

Prepared by the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development, the index is based on factors that fall within four categories: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure. Leading the index

was the United States as a result of its high level of business efficiency, innovation and infrastructure. The next four places were occupied by Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland and Canada.

Elsewhere in Latin America, Chile dropped four places to 35, Peru to 54 from 50, Colombia held fast at 51 and Venezuela languished in the basement at 61, or dead last. Mexico advanced in just one of the four categories, business efficiency, moving up three positions. Government efficiency remained unchanged at 41, infrastructure dropped and economic performance, while scoring well at No. 19 on the list of 61 countries, was down slightly.

Source: El Financiero (sp) Original: mexiconewsdaily.com

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Jun 4 - 10, 2015 www.vallartatribune.com

Frida Kahlo’s primal eden, replanted in the Bronx

By William Grimes The New York Times

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he first Frida moment occurs right off the bat in “Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life” at the New York Botanical Garden.

Close by the entrance, a cluster of sunflowers stand guard, radiating a force field of hot yellow.

Native to northern Mexico, they make appropriate greeters in an exhibition devoted to the artist’s intense relationship with Mexico’s indigenous culture, both natural and human. But they also refer to a specific work on display in the botanical garden’s art gallery along with nine other paintings and four works on paper by the artist.

“Self-Portrait Inside a Sunflower,” painted in 1954, shows Kahlo, her thick eyebrows exaggerated to Groucho Marx proportions, standing in front of a lava-stone wall and wearing a traditional Zapotec dress. Her face is surrounded by a lionlike mane of sunflower petals, as though she were merging with the plant life around her. Kahlo and her plants — indivisible, in life and in art. This is the grand theme of the exhibition, which opened recently and runs through Nov. 1.

The centerpiece, in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, is a reinterpretation of the courtyard garden of the house in Mexico City known as Casa Azul, or Blue House, now the Frida Kahlo Museum. It was there that Kahlo was born in 1907 and lived with Diego Rivera, after marrying him in 1929. Together the two created a garden that celebrated the plant life of Mexico and the artistic expression of its native peoples.

For Kahlo fans, the narrow plant-lined path at the conservatory is like a concordance to the life and work, with allusions scattered right and left. Those giant heart-shaped philodendron leaves? They feature prominently in the 1931 painting “Portrait of Luther Burbank,” also on view. The blood-red zinnias? Visitors to Casa Azul often saw them decorating the diningroom table. The dahlias are easy to place; Kahlo often wore them in her hair.

Scott Pask, who designed the sets for “The Book of Mormon” and the botanical garden’s Monet exhibition in 2012, has incorporated elements from Casa Azul into the array of flowers, fruits and vegetables. There are sections of cobalt-blue wall, one with the

Photo: The New York Times Photo/ Nicole Bengiveno hand-painted inscription “Frida y Diego vivieron en esta casa, 19291954” (“Frida and Diego lived in this house, 1929-1954”), and a downsized version of Casa Azul’s tile fountain, its frog motif inspired

by Kahlo’s nickname for Rivera, “sapo-rana,” or toad-frog.

The path leads past Swisscheese plants, so called for the distinctive holes in the lobes of their enormous leaves; showy bougainvillea; calla lilies; and the bright yellow flowers of the Jerusalem thorn tree. Then, the big payoff: a facsimile of the tiered pyramid that Kahlo and Rivera installed at Casa Azul to display Rivera’s collection of pre-Hispanic artifacts and the work of the folk artist Mardonio Magaña.

Francisca Coelho, the principal horticulturalist for the botanical garden’s exhibitions, has stocked the pyramid’s shelflike tiers with dozens of varieties of cactuses and succulent plants in terra-cotta pots.

There are winsome little fellows no bigger than a Ping-Pong ball, and statuesque columnar cactuses and pumpkin-size cactuses bristling with naillike spines.

Adriana Zavala, an associate professor of modern and contemporary Latin American art history and the director of Latino studies at Tufts University, served as the guest curator for the botanical garden’s exhibition. The invitation

required a fair bit of explaining, she recalled.

“It was a little unusual,” Zavala said. “I thought, ‘Do they know how sought after Kahlo’s work is for exhibitions?’ But I trained in a very interdisciplinary way, so the idea intrigued me.”

The unusual focus of the show turned out to be the strongest selling point for Zavala. She is impatient with the standard approaches to Kahlo, which tend to see the art, especially the self-portraits, as emblems in a now almost mythic life story. “I am not interested in the biographical march through the paintings,” she said. “My effort has always been to contextualize her.”

The flowers, fruits and vegetables prominent in Kahlo’s self-portraits, and even more so in her still lifes, gave Zavala the opportunity to examine key concepts in her art like duality, hybridity and cross-pollination, both natural and cultural.

Kahlo took a mystical view of the relationship between humans and the cosmos, and she absorbed powerful oppositions — sun and moon, life and death, male and female — into the complex swirl of symbolic forms in her art.

The natural world supplied Kahlo with visual metaphors for Mexico’s complicated blend of peoples and cultures, echoed in her own hybrid identity as the

daughter of a German immigrant father and a Mexican mother and in her ambiguous sexuality.

Zavala unwraps their meanings in her catalog essay. The botanical garden wrote the footnotes, so to speak, in living form.

“With all due respect to the Museum of Modern Art or the Metropolitan Museum, they couldn’t do this show,” Zavala said.

The garden in the exhibition is a composite, what Zavala calls “an evocation, not a re-creation.” When she and a team from the botanical garden paid their first visit to Casa Azul, a couple of awkward facts came to light.

The garden as it now exists, they discovered, bears only a faint resemblance to the one that Kahlo and Rivera knew. Mexico City gets much more rainfall then it did in the 1930s and ’40s. Also, as the trees in the garden matured, they shaded out sun, requiring different plant species to be introduced.

Because there was no master list of plants in the garden — another obstacle — the Frida Kahlo Museum’s archival photographs had to be scrutinized.

The team also had to abandon the pleasing mental picture of Kahlo laboring with Rivera in the garden as it expanded to three times its original size and acquired native species like prickly pear, yucca, columnar cactus, canna lily

and agave.

“We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to find Frida’s gardening gloves, or her trowel,’” Zavala said.

“But they do not exist. That’s not what people of her social class did.

They had servants.”

In the end, Zavala and Coelho drew up a plant list based on the artworks, archival photos, biographies and the written testimony of visitors. From the unpublished memoir of Emmy Lou Packard, a young U.S. artist who lived at Casa Azul for a time, they knew that Kahlo’s diningroom table was decorated with bouquets of marigolds, blue and white irises, red zinnias, dahlias, calla lilies, blood-red coxcomb, blue bachelor buttons and violets.

The show is the latest installment in a series of exhibitions at the botanical garden in recent years that use plants to explore the creative lives of notable figures. The approach has been applied to Charles Darwin, Emily Dickinson and Claude Monet. Now it’s Kahlo’s turn.

“We’re going much more deeply into plants and their significance in people’s lives,” Coelho said. “It’s one thing to walk by a cactus in our display and say, ’Nice plant, native to Mexico.’ It’s very different to see the same cactus and say: ‘Wow! Frida Kahlo had that in her house?’”

local

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Jun 4 - 10, 2015 www.vallartatribune.com

My Life

Wellness

in Vallarta

Latina

By Marcella Castellanos info@wellnesslatina.com My mission as a bilingual Certified Holistic Health Coach is to empower you to spice up your vitality with health and wellness workshops and programs by incorporating whole, sustainable, plant-based foods and natural healthcare with essential oils. For my blog or a list of my upcoming programs and workshops, and for your free natural healthcare e-book visit www.wellnesslatina.com.

Playa Detox

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his hip, little joint is easy to miss in a tucked away small plaza if it weren't for the boxed herbs and the clearly written PLAYA DETOX sign out in front.

I first heard about this place when my group of detoxers from the last program I ran clued me in on a new restaurant that incorporated all the healthy eating habits they had acquired.

Mexican siblings from Monterrey, Francisco and Monica Reyes, with the guidance of their mother and physician father, opened Playa Detox in late March, after they came to Puerto Vallarta on vacation on New Year's and decided to take the leap and move to PV. They saw the available space and Playa Detox was born. Inside, the place resembles a high end juice bar at a prestigious gym, however, the difference is there are menu items written in Spanish on the wall that are almost all raw, hand-made and boast an alkaline foods selection.

Delicious items such as an avocado sandwich with sprouted bread, homemade tomato paste and almond mayonnaise; buckwheat pancakes; falafel, and coconut ceviche to name a few.

I've tried the falafel and avocado sandwich and loved them both!

What is an alkaline food selection you ask?

It is based on the theory that if your blood PH remains in a certain range of alkalinity you are keeping an internal environment free from disease.

The more acidic, the more you are inviting not so friendly microbes. I sat down with Francisco to talk about their new little popular establishment.

M. You have a lot of whole, natural menu choices without animal products. Does this mean you are promoting vegan food or what is your goal with the menu?

F. Yes, by definition since we don't use animal products, but we're trying to demonstrate healthy eating- that you can eat healthy food that is delicious at the same time, because that's what many people think, that's their paradigmthat eating healthy means you're on a diet and it's not at all about dieting. It's eating delicious and healthy.

A lot people don't think healthy and delicious can go together and that's principally what we're trying to show. We like to categorize the food like natural and healthy.

When we say "natural" we are referring to the most minimal amount of processed foods possible. We

don't use anything processed.

M. What's the difference between alkaline foods and vegan foods?

F. We don't want to encapsulate ourselves with the word vegan because just taking animal foods out doesn't guarantee you will be healthy.

Coca cola is vegan, sugar is vegan, there are many chemicals that are in the vegan category that aren't necessarily good for you.

The concept is more encompassing. We promote what is an alkaline way of eating vs. acidic independent of whether something is from an animal or not.

There are some refined vegetable products that are toxic for the body. So more than anything our classification is about alkaline, non-acidic foods.

M. Where did you learn this concept?

F. We have been learning this for many years. Fundamentally, this is a theory based off of the pioneer Dr. Robert Young, (who wrote books such as The pH Miracle) and from what we've seen, Spain and the U.S. are two countries that are very strong with raw food, alkaline living.

Everyday we're learning new ideas because it's ever-evolving and refining itself.

M.If you could give everyone one tip for being healthier what would it be?

F.The first thing is to pay attention to what you're eating. Because when we choose what we want to eat, we only look at if it's good or not good. If it costs a lot or not, and if it's fattening or not.

But outside of that, we don't pay attention to whether or not it's good for our body.

So that's the first thing, to give your body the reverence that it requires.

The most natural food items without processing the better. I think that is the most important thing to keep in mind.

Playa Detox is located in Plaza Genovesa in front of Arbol de Yoga.

Hours of yumminess are M-F 9 to 6 p.m. and Saturday 9 to 4 p.m.

By Lois Ellison loell87@yahoo.com

A few days at the beach

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n one of my earlier columns, I mentioned that we seldom go to the beach. Yes, we have daily walks alongside the beach, and an occasional meal beachside (never in the sand), but a day actually spent ON the beach, is a rarity. So when we recently decided to have a short getaway and do something different, going to the beach seemed like a great idea.

Rincon de Guayabitos is not too far away and we had never been there so that was the obvious choice. Not wanting to spend the first few hours in town wandering around looking for lodging options at one of the many hotels, bungalows or condos, we used the internet to book something right on the beach.

Packing was a snap. Guayabitos is casual and laid-back. First into my small duffel bag was one of my five bathing suits.

It’s been close to two years since they saw any action. In fact, a couple of them could probably qualify as antiques. Much to my amazement, the latex had not deteriorated and they were all intact.

Some shorts, tops, suntan lotion and a toothbrush and we were on our way.

The stretch of highway from La Cruz to Sayulita changes subtly with the seasons. Typically at this time of year, just before the rains come, every leaf of every tree is coated with a brownish gray dust that appears to choke the life out of them. This time, thanks to that thorough dousing we had in late March, the dust was gone, replaced by the vibrant pale green of new growth. Graceful trees formed a canopy that seemed to lure us forward through this magical stretch of highway.

After stopping for lunch in sleepy San Pancho, we arrive in Guayabitos and check in to our hotel. Much to our surprise, our quarters are equipped with small kitchen, living room and dining area. All the comforts of home. You see, much of Guayabitos is geared to long term visitors and/ or large families who prefer to eat in.

Our home in Puerto Vallarta is near the beach, not on the beach.

But here in Guayabitos, our balcony overlooks the ocean and captures an amazing sea breeze that wafts providing a cool refreshing ambiance and great sleeping.

Guayabitos is the largest town on Jaltemba Bay. Graced by wide sandy beaches and gentle waves, you can walk for miles. In late May, the snow-birds are long gone and the Nationals have not yet arrived in numbers, still waiting for the school year to end. It is muy tranquilo.

After settling in, we walk the beach, leaping over the hot sand until we reach the water’s edge. Our mission is to find a spot for dinner later that evening but the first ones we see are closed. Maybe because it is Monday, we think.

Finally we spot one that is open but our entry is barred by a waiter who informs us their restaurant is for hotel guests only. No problem. We wind up at the small poolside café in our resort and enjoy some great seafood at unbelievably low prices.

We spend the next day and a half exploring Guayabitos on foot and the nearby towns of Los Ayala and Las Peñitas by car. Los Ayala is

local

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Jun 4 - 10, 2015 www.vallartatribune.com

Paradise

and Parenting Leza Warkentin mommyinmexico.wordpress.com

For Aaron

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almost completely deserted but Las Penitas is lively with colorful flags all across the main street and shops teeming with locals. On a cooler day we’d enjoy wandering these narrow streets for hours, but it’s really hot so we head back to our resort.

As it turns out, none of the beach restaurants are open on Tuesday night. This must be the time of year for owners to rest up before the summer brings the families from

inland. We loll away the time reading and watching the frigates flying high against the clear blue sky. They are plentiful and daring as they swoop close to our balcony. It’s really hard to capture them in a photo, but we give it our best shot.

Sadly it is time to return home.

As I put my unused bathing suit back in the duffel bag, I smile and think maybe next time, if the latex holds up.

ifteen years ago I walked into my very first club in Puerto Vallarta. I went because everyone at my new job told me that I had to see the live music. What I found was the most impressive cover band that I had ever seen.

Not only were the individual musicians talented, but the connection between them all was undeniable.

The energy in that club was contagious and it became a regular spot for me and my group of colleagues. I, of course, was almost exclusively there for the quality of music. And, as it turned out, the lead guitar player.

If you went to The Roxy Club long enough during those years, you would gradually become familiar with their set list, and you would begin to look forward to certain magical moments. One of these was a drum solo in the famous Santana classic “Black Magic Woman”.

Mostly you would just stand in awe that a human person could play an instrument like that, but if you were really in the mood, you might actually try dancing to the end of that solo. You would need to be in pretty decent shape and do some light stretching beforehand, but it was a gauntlet you had to take up at least once.

And truthfully, it was a wonder to watch someone play with the passion and joy that Aaron, the drummer, poured into his performances. It was almost impossible not to dance to his infectious, exuberant playing. His band mates would stand back and smile proudly, knowing that the rest of us were as wrapped up in the moment as he was. It’s not every day you received a gift of someone’s pure talent. If you were wise, you lived in that moment with gratitude.

The band spent several years together, and it showed. They were like brothers in the way they needled, argued, hugged, scolded and advised each other constantly.

There was a genuine camaraderie and concern among them, along with an unspoken way of communicating that served them so well onstage.

After awhile, the band began to go their separate ways. The keyboard player with the reggae voice moved to Alaska. A bass player went to Mexico City, got on with a popular band and began touring. Still others stayed in the bay area and worked on other projects, drifting back together from time to time, drawn like magnets to the magic of playing great music.

Last week one of these musicians, Aaron, with the “Black Magic Woman” solo, passed away suddenly. My husband, being one of the ones who stayed in Vallarta, had the terrible job of informing the rest of his band mates of the news.

There were midnight phone calls from Alaska and Mexico City, there were chats over social media, there was shock, there was deep sadness, and there were memories.

After the calls, my husband

closed himself off from the world for awhile and came out several hours later with a new song he wrote for his musical brother. He got up on the stage and simply said “For Aaron” before playing it for Aaron’s grieving friends and family. It was instrumental and yet it spoke of love and loss. It spoke of honoring someone who filled our lives with music so brilliant we couldn’t believe our ears. It spoke of years of connection, now broken by death, and a deep wish that it wasn’t so. It spoke of prayers for the journey.

Dear Aaron, your loss is felt in shockwaves that ripple out over the entire Bay of Banderas and far beyond. We thank you for sharing your light and music with us all.

Thank you for the lessons you left us. I hope you know that today I hugged my children closer. I reached out to a friend who I knew was sad. I told someone I loved them just because I really do. I touched your brother’s hand and smiled. And I am going to do that again tomorrow.

Vallarta Shopping Directory and events www.puertovallartadining-shopping.com

Successful Splash Event

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PLASH held at the Marsol Hotel lobby on the afternoon of May 27th attracted lots of visitors who enjoyed the festive atmosphere, the delicious food such as BBQ ribs served by Ernesto`s Good Grub, lasagna by Sapori di Sicilia, seafood treats

by Melissa´s Restaurant, pizza and homemade bread by Magna Magna, Sprout sandwiches by Shining Sprouts, Italian pastas and salsas By La Dolceria, and gourmet honey.

There was an exposition of original paintings by local artists and galleries as well as unique jewelry by several jewelry artists, masks, sculpture, art to wear, leather products and Purr Project items for benefit of homeless cats.

A highlight of the afternoon was the entertainment by Mikki Prost with her lovely voice and her announcement of great raffle prizes by local businesses who are members of the Vallarta Shopping Directory; River Café, No Way José, Archie´s Wok, Barcelona Tapas, Salud Super Food, Coco´s Kitchen, Cassandra Shaw, Shazel, Myskova

Flower of the week

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Beachwear, Poinciana, Boutique, Rodo Padilla Gallery, Galeria Vallarta, and World of Glass.

A Clown Convention was being held at the Marsol Hotel and everyone had fun watching the closing ceremony with drums and dancing clowns with their crazy costumes.

Splash was sponsored by the Vallarta Shopping Directory-- www. puer tovallar tadining-shopping. com and the Marsol Friday Market, where you will find many of these vendors and businesses every Friday from 9:30 to 1:30 all year.

hinese Hibiscus.

This bushy, evergreen ornamental shrub can grow to 16 feet. Flowers are typically 4 inches in diameter and come in many colors. It has a long history including a number of medical uses in Chinese herbology. Research indicates some potential in cosmetic skin care.

Flowers are edible and used in salads while flower extract may act as an anti-solar agent by absorbing UV radiation.

This plant is one of over 200 found in Sandra’s color-coded guidebook, Tropical Plants and Walks of Puerto Vallarta.

Page in the Sun Bookstore, and from Sandra at the Marsol Farmer’s Market on Fridays. Information on her many area walks can be found at: www.escaperoutevallarta.com.

Sandra Cesca

Chinese Rose Obelisco Chino (Spanish) Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

MEN AND WOMEN’S JEWELRY AND ACCESORIES. CASSANDRA SHAW JEWELRY 223 9734 BASILIO BADILLO 276 OLD TOWN OPEN DAILY

WWW. VALLARTATRIBUNE. COM

summer time

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Jun 4 - 10, 2015 www.vallartatribune.com

10 Tips for Surviving

Summer in Puerto Vallarta

By Fabien Madesclaire and Ariel O’Donnell fabien@g3mex.com

If you have real estate questions, or want to know more about local properties, contact Fabien anytime at G3MEX Real Estate Group email: Fabien@g3mex.com. Or visit us in our new office in Old Town on Calle Amapas, right near the Hotel Emperador. G3MEX is currently looking for talented agents to become part of our team. If you love sales, and want to work in a welcoming and fun environment, contact Fabien Madesclaire at Fabien@g3mex.com.

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he summer is coming quickly!

As all of us year-rounders know, June-September (and sometimes October) can be pretty steamy in Puerto Vallarta. I’ve lived here for over 15 years, and I still find aspects of it challenging, though you can survive and thrive without air conditioning. Personally, I’m opposed to using A/C. It’s VERY expensive, and I think that you’re better served learning to acclimate naturally. Here are some of my tips for surviving summer in Puerto Vallarta.

Rest and Sleep in a Hammock Set a hammock up in a cool shady spot. You’ll be amazed what a difference having all of the surface airflow around your body will make.

1. Fans Fans are your finest friend. Not only do they move the air around effectively, they are much cheaper than running air conditioning, and you can strategically place portable ones all around the area where you live, work and sleep.

2. Cool Down Quickly A wet cloth on the back of your neck is a fabulous and easy way to cool down fast. Too, putting ice on your wrists can work magic within seconds. Even dipping your ankles and feet in the water will refresh you substantially.

3. DIY Air Conditioning Make a DIY air conditioner by positioning a shallow pan or bowl (a roasting pan works nicely) full of ice in front of a fan. The breeze will pick up cold water from the ice’s surface as it melts, creating a cooling mist.

4. Take a Walk.

Sure, it sounds crazy, but walking in the heat can make you acclimate faster. Sweating is great for your health and is a natural way of cooling your body down. Just be sure to carry some water.

5. The Trusty Hand Towel Shed your pride and carry a hand towel with you. You’ll see many of the locals toting them

Unforgettable Sunsets A treasure that can only be found in our bay

By Jaime Alberto Torres Guerrero Biologist, specializing in the management and conservation of natural resources. State environmental expert and currently Director of the El Salado Estuary from Puerto Vallarta.

W around. They’re great for wiping sweat from your brow. Dip it into cool water, and drape the towel around your neck for some temporary heat relief.

6. Rest and Sleep in a Hammock Set a hammock up in a cool shady spot. You’ll be amazed what a difference having all of the surface airflow around your body will make.

7. Rehydrate!!!

Drink lots of water, and intermingle your water consumption with something to restore the electrolytes. During the summer locals drink gallons of sueros (Pedialyte or comparable products). Also, fresh coconut water will work wonders. Not only restoring electrolytes, but also helping your tummy fight-off any unwelcome visitors (parasites or amoebas.) Many local stores

now carry bottled coconut water, though, I believe that fresh is best.

8. Eat Salty Foods You are losing a lot of salt in your sweat, so, if you don’t have issues with water retention, or other health concerns, be sure to make salty foods party of your daily diet.

9. Cold Showers I must take at least 4, sometimes 5 a day during the hot weather. It makes a world of difference.

10. Take it Easy Most importantly, realize that during hot summer month you need to SLOW DOWN. Take frequent breaks. Sit by a window or door. Find some shade. Go to an air-conditioned café and treat yourself to a cold beverage. Have an ice cream and sit by the ocean. Make a siesta part of your daily routine.

You are in Mexico, after all!

aking up in Puerto Vallarta and enjoying a delicious cup of coffee from the area, accompanied by a spectacular sunrise, is only the beginning of the magic that sunrays offer in this beautiful city immersed in the exuberant jungle of the Mexican Pacific. You may have also asked yourself many times, what makes it possible for us to witness such unique sunsets in the Bay of Banderas?

We have previously talked about the birds that inhabit Puerto Vallarta; where they can be found and what their typical behaviors are. This time we will make reference to marine birds, specifically the frigates, whose scientific name is “Fregata magnificens”.

They are some of the largest ocean birds around. Both males and females have black plumage, but the males have throats which are deep red, and the females’ heads are white.

With their stealthy flight, they behave like pirates in the air, attacking other birds mid-flight, making them regurgitate their prey so it can be snatched from them.

Sometimes, comments are made, that sunsets on the Pacific are the same, but I disagree. Even within the same bay, there are

special places to experience various beautiful sunsets.

Of course we know it is the same sun and it sets in the same direction, but there is more humidity in the atmosphere in the Bay, which allows us to see the refraction of light differently than in other places, that is to say, we have colors in the sky with unique tones.

So why did I mention the frigates? Just as there are static elements which are part of the sunsets’ backdrop, like the cliffs of Los Arcos, the Marieta Islands, a tree or a palm tree, or even Los Arcos on the Malecon, there are also elements in motion, like the birds or people, which are part of each unforgettable sunset, and each photograph taken is a unique shot!

If you want to take an unforgettable memory of Puerto Vallarta and the Bay of Banderas with you on your next visit, I recommend that you visit the following locations where you can experience the sunset: Boca de Tomatlan, Mismaloya Beach, Los Arcos Beach, Camarones Beach, Nuevo Vallarta, Bucerias Beach, Destiladeras Beach, El Anclote or Punta de Mita Beach and finally the best of all, if it is possible for you to experience the sunset on a boat in the middle of the Bay with the Islas Marietas National Park as a backdrop, you will be able to observe the Bay of Banderas in all its splendor.

Original: Visitpuertovallarta.com

riviera nayarit

11

Jun 4 - 10, 2015 www.vallartatribune.com

JULY 2015

Fun on the Riviera Nayarit

By Cat Morgan

www.rivieranayaritfun.com

For any questions, comments or information about tours, rentals, restaurant and entertainment please contact me at Cat@RivieraNayaritFun.com or Cat@NewEnergyConsciousness.com

9 - 12 Punta Mita Beach Festival Music and Gourmet Festival at the beach.

Location: Punta Mita 8th Edition of Banderas Bay Fishing Tournament Fishing tournament organized by the local fishing club that aspires to showcase Riviera Nayarit as an international destination for sport fishing.

Location: Nuevo Vallarta

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ola a todos! Hurricane season is finally upon us once again with our first storm Andres dropping just about 15 minutes of sprinkles around 3:30 am on Sunday - barely dusting things off. The cool air felt wonderful! As I write this (Monday evening) our second storm “Blanca” is gathering strength outside of Acapulco. Are you ready for the rainy season?

Around the Nayarit Amigos de Bucerias Monthly Meeting June 6th If you're fortunate enough to be here in beautiful Bucerias, let's get together for another Amigos de Bucerias breakfast meeting on Saturday, June, 6, 2015!

This month it will be at Karen’s Place on the beach, signing in at 9 am. This is not self serve buffet but it is a menu choice specially for us at the all inclusive price of 100 pesos. If you are not a member, you are welcome to attend and listen to the latest civic updates in your community. Breakfast is not compulsory.

Let us know by emailing to: amigosdebuceriasac@gmail.com how many people will attend and what are their names...We will acknowledge your reservation.....

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

Turtle Time with San Pancho Turtles; Grupo Ecológico de la Costa Verde, A.C. Frank Smith writes a lovely monthly newsletter on what’s going on with the turtle project in San Pancho. “During May, eight additional nests were found, bringing the total number of nests to 1,256 for the 2014 nesting season (June 1st, 2014 to May 31st 2015).

The number of hatchlings released to the sea is approaching 90,200.

By the end of May eight nests will remain in the beach nursery, the

Sayulita and Bucerías: World-Class Hosts for Sporting Events

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last is scheduled to hatch around July 11th.

We are now 39,200 shy of releasing our 1,000,000th hatchling, and counting!” To see more about the turtles and a bit of San Pancho news email grupo-eco@ project-tortuga.org .

La Cruz Summer Kids Camp Hey Everyone! Let’s help the Kids in La Cruz this summer! This project is supported by the Amigos de La Cruz. Dedicated teachers from the local La Cruz community are setting up a summer camp for the kids the town of La Cruz and need support for materials and staff. La Cruz, Nayarit is a charming fishing village to tourists.

However, sixty percent of its residents live in dire conditions.

The commissioner and local teachers plan to offer the kids of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle a 3-week summer camp costing $3.33 US per child that includes visual, music and physical education emphasizing ecology and environmental love.

Activities will include: Recycled materials art projects, choral and flute ensembles, soccer and swimming sports, and Hawaiian

dancing making natural fiber costumes.

The activities will take place in the La Cruz plaza with the children showing the town population what they have learned.

Their goal is to provide flutes, notebooks, paint, brushes, soccer balls, t-shirts and other necessities so that the children learn and have fun. “With 187 donations of 11 dollars we will reach our goal of $2057.00 dollars.” Please share this with your friends and families and educators.

Let’s help the kids in La Cruz! You may contact the http:// amigosdelacruz.org/ and can also contribute through their webpage at https://www.indiegogo.com/ projects/proyecto-verano-2015-lacruz-de-huanacaxtle#/story .

A fun FREE Tango Dance Class in PV is going on called “Tango Taxi Dancer” at the Hotel Rosita on Sunday afternoons at 4:30. Come and learn and practice the Tango every Sunday…MEN are greatly needed! So guys… want to meet some new dancing women? No reservations are necessary. Thanks for tuning in and batten down the hatches!

ayulita and Bucerías welcomed hundreds of athletes during the month of May when they hosted the ISA SUP & PaddleBoard World Championship and the Kitesurf Wind Festival, impressing the participants from both of these international competitions while proudly representing the Riviera Nayarit and all of Mexico.

“Nothing was lacking in Sayulita; it truly is a privileged spot to host this kind of event,” said Luis Skeen de Alba, president of the Mexican Surfing Federation. “I was told that never in the 50-year history of ISA had they held their event in a place where the conditions were so ideal for the Championship.”

“This is my first visit to Mexico and Sayulita really blew me away.

It’s a beautiful town and I was very happy to have experienced it,” said Jordan Mercer, gold medal winner for Australia in the women’s division Long Distance, Technical and Prone races.

“I loved being here—Sayulita is fantastic! It’s a beautiful town

for paddling. The climate and the people are great and everything’s so full of passion!” expressed Jack Bark, gold medal winner in the Prone Race and member of the winning US team.

The Mexican Kitesurf Association brought its most important event to the Riviera Nayarit thanks to its reputation as one of the best spots in the country for practicing this exciting sport.

“I feel this event is a definite 10 on a global level. I think its success lies in the Riviera Nayarit having the perfect wind conditions for all the different kitesurfing categories,” commented Italo-Colombian Riccardo Leccese, number one world-ranked racer.

“This is my second season here,” said Italian Letizia Buraski, kitesurf instructor. “Bucerías is an incredible place to live and enjoy the sport because you have everything here: the water is beautiful, the beach is calm, the people are nice, the food is delicious and, of course, the climate and the wind are perfect!”

sports / culture

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Random Thoughts from the Tribune sports Desks

By Joel Hansen

D

id you catch Messi’s goal in the Copa del Rey final last weekend? do yourself a favour if you have not, I wore out the battery on my phone watching the youtube video. The guy is a once in a lifetime freak of nature or in football parlance, he is simply sublime.

On the subject of football, It was pretty rough week for FIFA. The FBI raids a posh hotel in Switzerland and arrests 14 high level officials for alleged use of bribery, fraud and money laundering to corrupt the issuing of media and marketing rights for FIFA games in the Americas, estimated at $150 million, including at least $110 million in bribes related to the Copa América Centenario to be hosted in 2016 in the United States. In addition, the indictment alleges that bribery was used in an attempt to influence clothing sponsorship contracts, the selection process for the 2010 FIFA World Cup host, and the 2011 FIFA presidential election.

Specifically, an unnamed sports equipment company – identified in multiple sources as Nike, is alleged to have paid at least $40 million in bribes to become the sole provider of uniforms, footwear, accessories, and equipment to the Brazil national team.

They are also looking at the awarding of the games to both Russia and Qatar and if there was an wrong-doing in the bidding process for these countries (shocking) These raids and arrests came just two days before FIFA was

Chuck Blazer

scheduled to elect their new president and you would think that they would move quickly to distance themselves from the man who has been running things for the past 17 years right? Well you would be wrong, they overwhelmingly reelected good old Sepp Blatter, who after being confirmed for another 5 years offered the lamest excuse in the history of excuses when he said “hey, I can’t be responsible for everyone” Thanks Sepp, well put.

The fact that it took the U.S.A (the country that arguably cares the least about soccer) to finally step up and come after FIFA (an organization that everyone knows is ridiculously corrupt) may seem like a surprise to some, but the reason they did is because they started with a homegrown problem, Chuck Blazer.

So who is Chuck Blazer? well back in 1989 he was an unemployed soccer dad but convinced Jack Warner (also one of the indicted parties) to run for CONCACAF president. Blazer managed Warner’s campaign, won, and became General Secretary.

He cut a sweet deal with CONCACAF, where he collected 10 percent on every dollar the company brought in.

This meant that if you bought a hot dog, 10 cents on your dollar went into Blazer’s pocket (or, more likely, into an offshore bank account of a company controlled by him).

He didn’t pay income taxes for over a decade. Between 1991

and 2011 made almost $22 million (that we know of).

CONCACAF paid for his homes in New York, Miami Beach, and the Bahamas.The Miami Beach location was two adjoining apartments in that cost $810,000.

The New York location is special. You’re going to like this.

So CONCACAF’s offices took up the entire 17th floor of the Trump Tower.

Blazer lived on the 49th floor with a view of Central Park and The Plaza hotel. CONCACAF covered most of his $18,000-per-month rent. Okay, cool. But the best part: he had an adjoining $6,000 apartment just for his cats!

In the last FIFA presidential election, Sepp Blatter was challenged by Mohammed bin Hammam. CONCACAF generally votes as a block.

To secure their votes, bin Hammam slid manila envelopes with $40,000 cash to voters.

Blazer was the one credited for blowing the whistle on this.

Warner quit soccer to avoid further prosecution from FIFA. Bin Hammam was banned from the sport for life. And Blazer was hailed as the guy cleaning FIFA up.

When the FBI swooped in on Blazer, they got him to rat out FIFA executives and built their case largely on information from Blazer who rolled over and worked as an informant wearing a wire.

Often times the U.S is accused of meddling where they don’t belong, but this time they got it right and helping to clean up a corrupt organization like FIFA is a noble endeavour.

In the pursuit of the almighty dollar they often step on everyone to make World Cups happen and you can look no further than the over 1000 (reported) deaths already in Qatar by what amounts to slave labour in the building of facilities and I for one applaud them.

Jun 4 - 10, 2015 www.vallartatribune.com

Haciendas and coffee plantations: w

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f you are a fan of this stimulating beverage, you will love the fact that in Mexico, especially in Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, the experience with this beverage transcends the usual cup of coffee, as the plantations where it is produced are open for you to stay in them, enjoy their tropical climate and really get to know the process by means of which the seed is transformed into a delicious cup of coffee.

Since its arrival in Mexico in 1796, coffee became immediately integrated into the countryside, the tables and the tastes of the Mexican people.

Currently, coffee produced in Veracruz, Chiapas and Oaxaca has denomination of origin, and its high quality has received awards worldwide.

Locally here in Jalisco and Nayarit there are several small highland coffee plantations, particularly around San Sebastian de Oeste where you will find a couple great brews.

Hacienda Jalisco is the original offices of the mining company back when San Sebastian was a thriving mining town. Now it is a guest house and has a small shade grown organic coffee plantation.

Trip Advisor Review: February 2015 - If you want to borrow a night from the past, this is such a cool place to stay.

On top of the history of the place (you are spending the night above a Museum), the grounds are beautiful, and the rooms ignite the imagination.

Highlight for us was catching Joe, the owner, on a coffee roasting day. He spent an hour with us explaining the art form, showing us the beans in process and letting us assist with bagging. For a couple of DIY food nerds from the Pacific NW, it was really special.

Check out VallartaTribune. com for more information on San Sebastian.

An informal facebook survey of savvy Puerto Vallartens supplied this list of great coffee shops.

Page in the Sun – offering beans and fresh brewed coffee, along with lighter fare and thousands of books, magazines and newspapers.

Salud – A popular healthy lunch spot, Salud coffee comes highly recommended.

Coffee Cup Vallarta – A great meeting spot in Marina Vallarta, this shop is a bastion in a sea of otherwise pricey restaurants.

Café Catederal – An institution in Vallarta, when they roast their beans the whole neighbourhood smells divine.

Café Oro Verde – This is the coffee we drink in my office.

Rich, aromatic and Wen, the guy behind the counter is a wealth of interesting knowledge.

“Wen, at Cafe de Oro is more than a coffee man. He is a sensei, a medicine man, and every visit brings new enlightenment to my life.” Facebook Other popular spots include: Café Vayan, Café Cafesto, El Sofa, Dee’s, Café del Mar, Café Bohemio and K’Rico.

(Information on Blazer via Zac Lee Rigg)

Adorable Dog In The Spotlight... Ringo

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hen you take a little of this, add a bit of that with a pinch of such-and-such, you might just get a doggie that looks like our Ringo. We happen to think he is a looker!

Ringo is about seven years old and weighs 50 pounds. If we had to guess, we think he is a Lab-Shepherd mix.

Although we don’t know his breed for sure, what we do know

is he has the sweetest temperament. He is the perfect companion for you couch potatoes as Ringo doesn’t need a lot of exercise and he is quite happy to just cuddle.

And don’t worry about introducing him to your other pets as Ringo gets along just fine with both dogs and cats.

If you are ready to take Ringo home for a little snuggling contact us at spcapv@gmail.com.

culture

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Jun 4 - 10, 2015 www.vallartatribune.com

M

exico is one of the largest coffee-producing countries in the world, and the largest producer of organic coffee, accounting for 60% of world production in 2000. The vast majority of Mexican coffee, and particularly organic coffee, is grown by small farmers in the southern-most states of Chiapas and Oaxaca.

These two states also happen to be the poorest in the country, and not coincidentally, have the largest indigenous populations. Coffee is one of Mexico's most lucrative exports and close to half a million small farmers and their families rely on the crop for their economic survival.

Coffee did not arrive in Mexico until the late 18th century, when the Spanish brought plants from Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

Its commercial cultivation began decades later when German and Italian immigrants relocated from Guatemala and other Central American nations. In the 1790s, when the first coffee plantations began to appear in the southeast state of Vera Cruz, Spanish colonialism was already deeply entrenched in the region; the Aztec empire had long been conquered and decimated by disease - nearly two and a half centuries earlier.

Mexico's vast mineral deposits meant that, for many years, coffee and agriculture took a back seat to mineral exports like gold and silver (and later to oil, currently the largest contributor to the Mexican economy). Unlike the islands of the Caribbean or what would later become "Banana Republics" in Central America, Spanish magistrates were slow to survey and distribute land. This discouraged investment in coffee cultivation and allowed indigenous farming communities to retain small plots of land or communal land-holdings in the remote mountains and isolated countryside of southern Mexico long after colonialism ended.

While independence from Spain brought some improvements to the rural populations in Mexico, factionalism, civil wars and international conflicts with Texas, France and the United States stripped the country of the stability required to develop or instigate social reform for the next 70 years. It was, however, during this time that coffee cultivation in southern Mexico began to flourish on plantations. Border disputes with Guatemala led to the first widespread land registration in the 1860s. This allowed a small number of wealthy Europeans to purchase extensive tracts of previously "unregistered" land and

History of Coffee In Mexico to feel secure investing in nurseries and long-term cultivation. Granted a large degree of autonomy, local landowners and politicians slowly began forcing small farmers further into the mountains in order to secure their land, and then enticed indigenous men back as indentured servants to work on the land they had once occupied.

Only after the Mexican Revolution did small farmers begin to invest in coffee cultivation in a serious way. Agrarian Reforms in the post-revolutionary period granted thousands of small plots of land to indigenous groups and laborers. Labor laws, like Ley De Obreros of 1914, freed many of the county's "serfs" and indentured servants - many employed on coffee plantations - who in turn brought the skills and seedlings to cultivate coffee with them back to their communities. The rise of the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) in the early 20th century also saw the development of INMECAFE in 1973 - the National Coffee Institute of Mexico. The slightly more populist and development-minded government saw coffee cultivation as a valuable contribution to the national economy, not only funding social development in the rural

sector, but also generating muchneeded foreign capital for investment in cities and industry.

INMECAFE was developed to support coffee cultivation among small farmers. The organization provided farmers with technical assistance and credit, guaranteed purchases, provided transportation to market, and collaborated with the ICA in order to sell the coffee on the international market. (The ICA was a collaboration of coffee producing and consuming countries based in London, organized to stabilize volatile coffee markets.

Through agreements, quotas and subsidies, they succeeded for almost two decades.)

During this period, from 19731990, with the support of INMECAFE, coffee production exploded in the rural countryside, multiplying by almost 900% in some areas. Government support did not, however, extend to services beyond coffee production. Farmers in Chiapas and Oaxaca remained among the most marginalized in the country lacking municipal support or the most basic of government services. It was in these areas that some of Mexico's strongest social organizations flourished. Agrarian movements

organized to demand further land distribution, labor organizations played a major role in advocating for workers rights and ending debt peonage, and indigenous groups began to reassert their claim to the land and resources they had inhabited for centuries.

In the 1980s, the Mexican government - due in large part to heavy foreign borrowing and a steep decline in the price of oil - defaulted on its loans and was forced into the beginning stages of neoliberal reform. Over the next decade, the Mexican government slowly ended its support of coffee farmers and farming, with INMECAFE collapsing entirely in 1989. This occurred almost simultaneously to the collapse of the ICA (precipitated by a flood of cheap Brazilian coffee dumped on the international market and a rapid decline in the market price).

The effect on coffee farmers was devastating.

Coffee, which had previously accounted for $882 million of agricultural exports in dollars in 1985, quickly dropped to less than $370 million in 1991. The price for coffee at the farm gate plummeted, credit dried up, and farmers had no way of selling their crops. Predatory

coffee brokers, or coyotes, quickly filled the vacuum left by INMECAFE, exploiting farmers' isolation, lack of access to information, credit or transportation. The years that followed saw a spike in migration to the city and immigration to the United States. The fate of small Mexican coffee producers had never been bleaker. Even before the official demise of INMECAFE (waning government support met the corruption and bureaucracy that had plagued the organization for years prior) the need for civic organizations to replace government support was clear. The role of social organizations in weathering the storm of Mexican political and economic instability is immeasurable. For centuries, communal land tied families together and provided support and innovation; after land privatization, social organizations based on common values, economic stakes or ancestry would replace them. Out of the intersection of various labor organizations and agrarian movements, and often with the support of the Catholic Church, arose the first coffee cooperatives in Mexico.

Groups like CEPCO and UCIRI in Oaxaca were crucial to the survival of thousands of coffee farmers in the early 1990s. Cooperatives were formed to replace the transportation, processing and marketing arms of INMECAFE, saving farmers from the exploitation of coyotes. They began to share information on organic certification (the price for organic coffee being much more stable than conventional coffee), and decreasing dependence on capital-intensive inputs like fertilizer. Co-ops contacted European "alternative trade organizations" like Equal Exchange began successfully exporting fairly traded coffee, securing a stable price and pre-harvest financing for their members.

These co-ops have survived not only to replace INMECAFE and become powerful players in the organic coffee industry, but also to extend their purview to economic diversification, environmental initiatives, and to provide and lobby for social services like school and hospitals. They have come to represent islands of self-determination within a political spectrum that barely recognizes their existence. The model and success of Mexican co-operatives and civic organization has laid the groundwork for some of the most compelling social movements in the world.

Original: equalexchange.coop/ history-of-coffee-in-mexico

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Jun 4 - 10, 2015 www.vallartatribune.com

charities

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Jun 4 - 10, 2015 www.vallartatribune.com

Non - Profit and Charitable Organizations For visitors to Puerto Vallarta who wish to support the less privileged in our paradise, this is a list of some of the many organizations that could benefit from such kind gestures. If you would like your organization recognized here, please email details to editor@vallartatribune.com.

Acción En La Cruz aid residents of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle by providing provisions in exchange for community services performed.landon5120.wix.com/accionenlacruz Alcoholics Anonymous: In English Puerto Vallarta Alanon Club - Basilio Badillo 329 recoverpv.com Amazing Grace Missions Assisting families in Magisterio & Progreso with necessities and job training and English. slw2014nv@gmail.com American Legion Post 14: raises resources and manpower to improve facilities needing building maintenance americanlegion14.org Amigos del Magisterio - Food delivered directly to workers at the PV dump, their families and schools in Magisterio and Volcanes. Also, food to New Beginnings, Pasitos de Luz, and Caritas. 100% of donations to the people, no overhead.amigosdelmagisterio.com lysephilrioux@hotmail.com Asilo San Juan Diego Home for the Elderly - Contact: Lupita Sanchez Covarrubias 222-1257 or malupita88@ hotmail.com or mexonline.com\asilosanjuandiego.htm Asociación Down - Assistance to persons with Down’s Syndrome – Contact: Ana Eisenring at 224-9577.

Banderas Bay Women’s Shelter - Safe shelter for women & children victims of domestic violence. compassionforthefamily.org Becas Vallarta, A.C. – Provides scholarships to high school and university students.

Tax-deductible in Mexico and USA. Polly Vicars at (322)

223-1371 or Buri Gray at (322) 221-5285.

CANICA - Centre for Children with Cancer. Provides aid for treatment and services including transportation to GDL. Contact Director, Evelia Basañes 322-123-5688.

Casa Hogar - A shelter for orphaned, abandoned, disadvantaged or vulnerable children.

Luz Aurora Arredondo at 221-1908, Rita Millan (322) 141-6974. casamaximocornejo@gmail.com Centro Comunitario SETAC-GLBT – Services the GLBT community, including treatment and referrals, education, English classes, HIV testing and counseling.

Paco Arjona 224-1974 Clinica de Rehabilitación Santa Barbara - Rehabilitation of the handicapped.

Contact: Laura Lopez Portillo Rodriguez at 224-2754.

COLINA Spay and Neuter Clinic - Free and by-donation sterilization clinic in Old Town. Only open Sundays, Contact: cez@rogers.com or 322-104-6609 CompassionNet Impact – Transforming the lives of people living in chronic poverty. Job creation, education, emergency & more. Tax-deductible. Cell: (322) 133-7263 or ric@4compassion.org Corazon de Nina A safe, loving, home-environment for 20+ girls rescued from high-risk situations. Donations & volunteers always welcome! Totally self-funded. www.corazondenina.mx Cruz Roja (Red Cross) - Handles hospital and emergency service in Vallarta. It is the only facility that is authorized to offer assistance to injured people on the street.

Contact: 222-1533, 222-4973 Desayunos para los Niños de Vallarta A.C. Feeding programs, education programs, day care centers for single mothers. 2234311 or 22225 72 Discapacitados de Vallarta, A.C. (DIVAC) association

PICK UP YOUR COPY OF THE TRIBUNE AT PUERTO VALLARTA TOURISM OFFICES OLD TOWN FARMERS MARKET A PAGE IN THE SUN - ZONA ROMANTICA FREDY TUCAN´S - ZONA ROMANTICA NUEVO VALLARTA RESORTS CONSULATE OFFICES

DECAMERON RESORT - BUCERIAS BREAKER´S BEACH BAR - BUCERIAS YO-YO MO´S - BUCERIAS MARINA RIVIERA NAYARIT - LA CRUZ LA CRUZ FARMERS MARKET OSO RESTAURANT - LA CRUZ

of handicapped individuals dedicated to helping one another. Ivan Applegate at 221-5153.

Families At The Dump: Supporting families living in the landfill or garbage dump thru education and sustainable opportunities. familiesatthedump.org Fundacion Punta de Mita LDG. Ana Lilia Medina Varas de Valdés. ana@fundacionpuntademita.org Tel. (329) 291 5053 Friends of PV Animals Volunteers working to enhance the lives of shelter animals. For info and donations visit friendsofpvanimals.com Grupo Ecológico de Puerto Vallarta: Arq. Luz del Carmen Pérez A cayro_13@hotmail.com grupoecologico.com Horizonte de Paz: Shelter for men of all ages who are troubled with alcohol & drug addiction. Donato Schimizzi: 322 199 9523 or Roberto: 281 0644 dschimizzi@yahoo.com La Brigada de la Basura: A weekly meeting of neighborhood children to clean Vallarta Streets. Contact Que?Pasa 223-4006 Mexico Ministries & Mission, Inc. raises funds to the poor in Vallarta. Contact Fr. Jack+ 044 322 229-1129 christchurchbythesea.org Navy League - assists in the transportation of donated medical supplies from the U.S., organizes work groups to paint and repair facilities New Life Mexico - Challenging Child Poverty with health and education programs. Philippa Vernon pvp@newlifemexico.com Paraíso Felino AC Refuge and Adoption Centre for cats and kittens in the Bay of Banderas. Luis Donaldo Cel. (322) 120-4092 Pasitos de Luz - substitute home for low income children with any type of handicap, offers rehabilitation services and more. 299-4146. pasitosdeluz.org PEACEAnimals - Free mobile spay/neuter clinic operating 48 weeks a year, primarily in Puerto Vallarta. Tax-deductible. peaceanimals.org Pro Biblioteca de Vallarta - Raises funds for Los Mangos Public Library. Tax-deductible Ricardo Murrieta at 224-9966 Proyecto Pitillal, Busca un Amigo, A. C. - Association created by underprivileged mothers of paralyzed children. Contact: 299-0976.

Puerto Vallarta Garden Club: Beautify and protecting the environment. vallartagardenclub.com PuRR Project - A no-kill cat shelter, a natural un-caged environment. www.purrproject.com