The Free Walking Tour of the Malecon Sculptures is Led by Gary Thompson of Galeria Pacifico in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico.

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That music you were just listing to is performed by Alberto Perez, the owner of the La Palapa group of restaurants,  La Palapa and The El Dorado Restaurant on the Southside of town, right down on the beach in Puerto Vallarta and if you play your cards right you can catch Alberto Perez singing and playing the Somba de Puerto Vallarta just like I did the other night, while enjoying dinner under the stars, toes in the sand at the waters edge. It was so romantic, so Puerto Vallarta. You have to go! Trust me on this one guys.

Now today I have a very special episode for you, I’m going to take you on a walk down the Malecon in Puerto Vallarta with Gary Thompson of the Galeria Pacifico, but first just a couple of updates and tips for all of you Puerto Vallarta Lovers out there. Once again if you haven’t already seen it, check out my video about what to expect when you arrive at the PV airport. You will find it at www. Puetovallartatravelshow.com episode 3 on my blog and podcast page and you will also find it in the show notes from my latest podcast where I interview our friend JR and also those nice Canadians Karen and John at The Salty Caesar Restaurant in the Emillio Zapata Neighborhood of Puerto Vallarta. Check it out, don’t get caught in the Sharktank boys and girls, just saying. Also the ATM machines in the Lobby of the Puerto Vallarta Airport are just about to go online but not quite done yet. Make sure you bring some pesos with you or you still can exchange money at the airport to cover your taxi to your hotel. Then get yourself to a bank affiliated bank attached and inside of the bank…do I have to be any more clear on that? ATM machine. For more on exchanging money go to episode 2 of The Puerto Vallarta Travel Show and listen or read the show notes at www.puertovallartatravelshow.com.

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Okay now let’s get on with the show. Today we are going to join Gary Thompson, the director of Galeria Pacifico in Downtown Puerto Vallarta.

 

Gary gives a walking tour of the sculptures that you will find along the Malecon, which is the boardwalk that runs along downtown and the Southside of Puerto Vallarta. Gary, during the high tourist season from mid November till the middle of April. He starts at the north end of the Malecon at the “Los Milenios” (The Millennia) by Mathis Lidice at the Hotel Rosita, and then works his way down south, stopping at each of these pieces and collections of pieces of art along the walk. The tour takes 2-3 hours and ends up at the Galeria Pacifico where we were treated to something cool to drink, and we got a chance to meet and hear from a local artist Jim DeMetro who told us about the bronze casting process, and about his works that you will not only find on the Malecon, but all around Puerto Vallarta. If you go to my show notes of this episode you will see pictures that I took as well as information about all of the artists.

 I walked from my apartment in El Cerro, down to the Malecon and headed north. I stopped for breakfast at Rico Mac Taco, and had a plate of

chicken chilliquelles and then off to the Rosita Hotel where there were seats set up for the very large group assembled, there for the tour.

Now Along with Gary was a fella named Kevin Simpson who is the owner of   Peyote People Gallery and Galeria Colectika What Kevin did, was he told us about the symbols between the sculptures on the Malecon, the symbols in the concrete sidewalk made with stones and pebbles like you see all over the town, well Kevin told us the story and the meanings behind these symbols.

Leading off the walk we were introduced to Fernando Banos known as Mathia Lidice who you will hear Gary talk about at the beginning of the walk. . Now this man told us about the Sculpture where we started, called the “The Millennia” by Mathis Lidice (2001).

So let’s join Gary Thompson and Kevin Simpson on the Malecon in Puerto Vallarta Mexico!

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 Now this Mr. Lidice was very articulate as you can hear and he took lots of time explaining the concept, of his creation and discussed the  of engineering that went into such a sculpture and you have to see it in person to understand that not only is it a work of art, but an engineering fete as well. And Mr. Lidice described that beautifully but the combination of the waves in the background and Mr. Lidice’s accent made much of the conversation difficult for you listeners to make out so as a result, I edited out much of the information he gave us taking the tour on the sculpture. The fact of the matter is  You will need to take the tour yourself, which I highly encourage you to do, or just go to my show notes and get the scoop there. Also as I was editing this podcast I noticed a snarling dog in the background in the audio while Mr. Lidice was talking and I couldn’t take it out without, well messing up what he was saying so I left it in. Makes

for great live audio. I mean, we are outdoors and anything goes right? I left many sculptures off the podcast mostly because there wasn’t enough time, let’s face it, this was almost a three hour tour so that makes it difficult to keep the length of this show reasonable. There were also times when the audio was affected by the background noise of wind and high surf and I had to leave the audio on the cutting room floor so to speak. It’s unusual to have had such high waves in Puerto Vallarta, but on this Tuesday morning, That’s what we had. Now back to the Malecon…

Gary also mixed in some great stories as well. This one about Elizabeth Taylor and John Huston, and the making of the Night of The Iguana…but when he finishes that, he continues to tell the story of the sculpture of the couple sitting on a bench, “Nostalgia” by Mexican artist, Ramiz Barquet. It is a touching story that you should hear and when you do, you will understand the meaning of the title of the bronze. Nostalgia.

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Then Gary told us a story about Hurricane Kenna and what it did to the many sculptures. In particular he told us about the sculpture “Searching for Reason” the one with the ladder and the two kids climbing it and the mom at the bottom of the ladder. Check out this story…

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We were treated to cold beverages at the Galeria Pacifico and listened to Jim Demetro tell us about the bronze casting process, about how he raised funds for his art projects and about the many sculptures he has around Puerto Vallarta. After that, we were all encouraged to donate to the library fund which we will hear about in my interview with Gary who found some time to chat with me afterwards so let’s learn a little more about Gary Thompson of the Galaria Pacifico in Puerto Vallarta.

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Gary Thompson is a really nice and funny guy. Now I recorded this interview at the end of January so if you are interested in that yearly auction to benefit the library, it already happened, but if you want to learn more about it for next year, I will have a link to it in my show notes at  Right Here  www.Puertovallartatravelshow.com. And when you come to this free tour make sure you bring some pesos to donate to a fine cause. Don’t forget that for sure. Gary really puts his heart and soul into these tours so help out his favorite charity. The library in Puerto Vallarta. And while you are in Puerto Vallarta make sure, if you can’t make the sculpture tour, at least that you stop in to the Galeria Pacifico and say hi to Gary Thompson, and tell him you heard him on the Puerto Vallarta Travel Show. By the way, the artists he shows in his gallery are fantastic.

 

 

 

 

Information on Biblioteca Los Mangos Annual Auction to Benefit the Puerto Vallarta Library

 

 Well we are through for today. I hope you enjoyed the tour of the Malecon Sculptures. Next week stay tuned for more on the ground reports from Puerto Vallarta and my next show. Until then, remember, this is an interactive show where I depend on your questions and suggestions about all things Puerto Vallarta. If you think of something I should be talking about, please reach out to me by clicking on the Contact us tab and sending us your message.

And remember, if you are considering booking any type of tour while you are in Puerto Vallarta, you must go to Vallartainfo.com, JR’s website and reserve your tour through him, right from his website. Remember the value for value proposition. His experience and on the ground knowledge of everything Puerto Vallarta in exchange for your making a purchase of a tour that you would do anyway, you’re just doing it through him as a way of saying thank you. It costs no more than if you were to use someone else so do it. Really. And when you do take one of these tours, email me about your experiences. Maybe you can come onboard and share with others what you liked or didn’t like about the tour. Again contact me by clicking on the Contact us tab and sending off a message.

And once again, if you like this podcast, please take the time and subscribe and give me a good review on iTunes if you would. That way we can

get the word out to more and more people about the magic of this place.

So, thanks to Gary Thompson of The Galeria Pacifico, check out the photos in my shownotes at www.puertovallartatravelshow.com.  And thanks to all of you for listening all the way through this episode of the Puerto Vallarta Travel Show. This is Barry Kessler signing off with a wish for you all to slow down, be kind and live the Vallarta lifestyle. Nos Vemos amigos!