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Marina Vallarta Las Palmas I Local 3

Living Like A Local: Owning Property in Mexico

You make the emotional decision, then you fork out possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars. But we’re not in the United States amigos! The Billboards with the computer-generated images of the property, with the beautiful people walking on the beach in Puerto Vallarta are the things “dreams are made of”. You see the words “Pre-Sale” in English, not Spanish. Only wealthy Mexicans can afford these properties, so they’re presented to North Americans who think they’re amazingly affordable. After all, a condo like that in California would never be within reach of ‘everyday people’.  A beachfront condo with an unobstructed view of the ocean and downtown Puerto Vallarta, you can imagine how the view of the city at night would fit into that dream. 

Bomberos and the Canadian Angels for Mexico!

For the better part of the last twenty years, The Canadian group known as Angels for Mexico have been bringing much needed supplies of all kinds from park “jungle Gyms”, Medical Equipment, and of course firefighting necessities to support the Fire Departments of Puerto Vallarta.  The lady heading up this important and impressive organization is Christena Callaghan. She’s a blond headed, attractive, thin, tall, Stiletto wearing lady who loves Mexico. She started with bringing clothing and items for the less fortunate into the “barrios” or local neighborhoods of Nayarit and Jalisco. Focusing much of her attention on the Puerto Vallarta Bomberos / Firefighters. Naturally this is just a brief biography of past events. And as always Angels for Mexico is looking to the future!

El Banco and Corbetena, the Forgotten Fishing Grounds of Puerto Vallarta  

Take El Banco or the Bank. I always say “they’re bigger at The Bank”. Located 50 miles north of PV it’s essentially a few sharp peaks, similar to a Stalagmites coming up from an underwater mountain range. The peaks of these Stalagmites are about 60 ft under the surface of the ocean. You need electronics to find this location so you know where you are. Once there hovering over or trolling the area will produce at times world record competing Yellowfin Tuna, Black and Blue Marlin among several other gamefish. We’ve seen some huge Dorado boated from this location as well. El Banco is primarily a summer fishing ground. Seldom do you hear much about El Banco outside of the warm water days unless it’s an El Nino year. Those coming to Puerto Vallarta in the winter months looking to target Marlin, YF tuna etc. will be disappointed to hear that they’re all “vacationing” in Costa Rica!

World Class Fishing the Tres Maria Islands for Monster Yellowfin Tuna, Some important Facts You Won’t Hear Anywhere Else!             

Before I move on, you legally can’t fish within twelve miles of Madre Island. Now in the winter time this doesn’t work for the Southern California boats because they’re trying to make their year, avoid the slow season of winter in California. But here’s the deal nobody is telling these California anglers, it’s not easy catching Yellowfin Tuna when the navy is busy chasing the boat you rented out. You see, these boats are fishing well within six miles of the island and frankly if you want to catch Yellowfin Tuna in February, you have to be on the reefs, the most sensitive part of the ecosystem. What the Navy does, they come and board your boat, have a nice, sometimes heated conversation with the Mexican navy protecting this area. The results these days are the Navy grabs the boat, the crew and everyone onboard and force them to go to the Island. There they’ll be held for the day if you’re lucky. The navy knows the Anglers on the boat are innocent and know nothing about them patrolling the area. But the captain, the crew and the owners are not telling you about this. You aren’t hitting these islands at the optimal time of the year!

Fishing, Bananas and Bad Luck

I was sitting in front of my shop the other day enjoying my view of Marina Vallarta and some locals came by. We started talking about his fishing day and he mentioned how when the Captain of the boat saw him with bananas, and the captain “flipped” out.  He continued how the captain wouldn’t allow them on the boat because they were “Bad Luck”. For as long as I’ve been around the rumors of Bananas on boats would result in bad luck fishing days. I think I was about twelve years old when I first heard of this “fishing tale” from friends and family. As the story goes, bring Bananas and bad luck follows, something is going to happen. Seems pretty silly right? Bananas, the easy “peel and go” fast, healthy food. Perfect for fishing trips and besides that, I like bananas! But there are people who go to extremes on this like no banana bread, banana cookies, banana chips and the list is endless. Now you may think this is silly and I did agree, more on this later in the article. But the superstitions foundation is a mystery. After some research, what I learned is in the following paragraphs…  

Marina Vallarta Rediscovered

Living in Puerto Vallarta now for 22 yrs., I’m what you’d call a “Gringo Pata Salada” or American with salty feet, aka a long time local. And I can relate to this nick name, although through the years I’ve been referred to by many different names by many different types. I’ve watched Puerto Vallarta grow into a cross between a small town and the big city. Puerto Vallarta and area have in the neighborhood of eight million people a year come to this beautiful and safe location to vacation where the dollar goes a long way and the people are famous for their kindness and generosity. Yet at the last consensus, there are less than three hundred thousand people living in the entire coastline of The Bay of Banderas. Which of course encompasses both states of Jalisco and Nayarit.

Living Like A Local: Mexican Acclamation Process

Summer now is a completely different animal. Temperatures will be in the 32 to 36 Celsius range or about 90 degrees or above daily. I frankly never look to see how hot it is. To me hot is hot and that’s good enough for me. When you know it’s this or that temperature, then you feel even hotter. I think it’s psychological. The humidity is insane. I’ve seen 100% humidity and you’d think it would be raining, but you’d be wrong amigo. So at this point you’re probably shaking your head and asking yourself why anybody would hang around for this sort of torture?

Living Like a Local: Driving & Police

Pulled over by a Police Officer: Ok, so you rent this car, you’re driving down the street cautiously but things are different here. Sometimes you make left hand turns from the right hand side or the streets are not marked at all and you have to figure this out as you go along. So this serious looking police officer in his best English informs you that you did something you can’t understand wrong. This is when not understanding Spanish is your friend or enemy, depending on how you use your “ignorance” …. Now you can be stupid which is believable. Or you can act like you know something. Me, I can talk with these guys and remedy the situation. You couldn’t, so you do this…

Living Like A Local: Immigration Visitor Ignorance

Puerto Vallarta has over six million people yearly come into our airport destined for local hotels and destinations. Mexico for the most part is an open country, but Mexico has immigration laws which for years they (Mexicans) haven’t enforced. Now you may argue with that point, I know many people who have been deported, my brother included. Normally the deportation laws are used for the worst type of offenders, like forgetting an ice cream in your hand and forgetting to pay for in a mini-super. But now it’s worse. What you think you know about immigration law is most likely from what you’re already doing and getting away with. You were told by friends, family and even Mexican Real Estate agents you had no problems of any kind. Just keep coming down, spending your money in the local markets as a blood line to the local and state economy. There are no legal issues with older retired people and travelers other than the normal tourism issues daily which are quiet common. Now for the Law abiding, “mind their own business” types. It may be interesting for you to learn, you could be a criminal in the eyes of Mexican Immigration law.

Living Like A Local: PV Fire Dept. Angels

I naturally make “chit chat” with customers and I discovered this thin blonde lady was working with the “Bomberos” or Fire Dept. here in Puerto Vallarta. Naturally I thought that was pretty cool, so I asked her a few brief questions. Hoping for a short answer this thin blonde told me how bad the situation was in the Bomberos and frankly I was shocked. I finally asked what this nice ladies name was and she told me Christena Callahan. She was from Canada, Calgary to be exact. And out of the goodness of her heart and a desire to try and make the world a better place, started working with local groups. She would discuss what was needed, then like a “Stiletto Bulldog” went out and started making things happen in Canada!