This week, I have a couple of interviews, one with Christopher Mattocks at Lighthouse Specialty Foods on Lazaro Cardenas, on the South Side of Puerto Vallarta, and my featured guest Mavi Graf of Arte Culinario and we will be talking about her and her cooking classes and all about herself, but first, what’s happening this week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico March 21st, 2018.
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Semana Santa in Puerto Vallarta
Semana Santa is coming early this year. Yes, Easter falls on April first and Semana Santa Starts Sunday the 25th of March, and ends on Saturday the 31st. Then Easter on Sunday…April Fools, and another week of Spring Break.
Remember that Puerto Vallarta will be at full occupancy during this time. You have the locals on spring break from school, you have many families coming in from Guadalajara and the surrounding areas. So, if you are thinking about a nice quiet time, look out. The beaches are crowded, the hotels are full and college age visitors from all over, descend on Vallarta.
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I talked about Semana Santa in the episode with the owner of El Arrayan, Carmen Porras last year, but I suppose it doesn’t hurt to do a quick
review of the holiday and how it’s celebrated here in Mexico.
As you may have noticed, here in Mexico, they like to celebrate. They love holidays, and this is no exception. And they go big. We are coming up on a two-week holiday consisting of Semana Santa (The Holy Week, beginning on Palm Sunday and ending Easter Saturday) and Pascua (Starting with Easter Sunday and ending the following Saturday).
Semana Santa is without a doubt, the most important holiday in Mexican culture.
All over Mexico, Mexicans celebrate the last days of Christ during Holy Week with elaborate processions, ceremonies, and rituals. Most of the larger Semana Santa celebrations include a dramatic reenactment of the capture, the trial, and the crucifixion of Jesus.
Mexicans have been known to practice acts of physical torture, public displays of political/social ridicule, and displays of resolutions and commitment.
And as I mentioned last year, some of the more devout regions of Mexico like Taxco, the reenactments include penitents – men and women who show their penitence and prove their faith by inflicting physical pain. Many of us have seen these reenactments.
But in Puerto Vallarta, they don’t go all out Taxco. They do have lots of parades and processions. It’s very cool. Just be ready for the crowds.
Mexico Celebrates The Birthday of Benito Juarez
Today is the birthday of Benito Juarez who was the 26th president of Mexico. Juarez was born March 21st 1806. And although they celebrated the holiday on Monday, due to Article 74 of the Mexican labor law (Ley Federal del Trabajo) which provides that the third Monday of March (regardless the date) will be an official holiday in Mexico. As with Constitution Day, the holiday was originally celebrated every year on the same date (March 21), but the federal labor law was modified in 2005 so the holiday is always celebrated on a Monday however, this is the day of Juarez’s birth. What a mouthful!
A quick Wiki search
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Ju%C3%A1rez#/media/File:Benito_Pablo_Ju%C3%A1rez_Garc%C3%ADa.png
He was of poor, rural, indigenous origins, but he became a well-educated, urban professional and politician, who married a socially prominent woman of Oaxaca City.[3] He identified primarily as a Liberal and he wrote only briefly about his indigenous heritage.[4] He was a key figure in the group of professional men in Mexico’s indigenous south, and his rise to national power had its roots in that power base.[5] He was not an intellectual star of Mexican liberalism or a strict ideologue, but he was a brilliant, pragmatic, and ruthless politician.
He held power during the tumultuous decade of the Liberal Reform and French invasion. In 1858 as head of the Supreme Court, he became president of Mexico by the succession mandated by the Constitution of 1857 when moderate liberal President Ignacio Comonfort was forced to resign by Mexican conservatives. Juárez remained in the presidential office until his death by natural causes in 1872. He weathered the War of the Reform (1858–60), a civil war between Liberals and Conservatives, and then the French invasion (1862–67), which was supported by Mexican Conservatives. Never relinquishing office although forced into exile in areas of Mexico not controlled by the French, Juárez tied Liberalism to Mexican nationalism and maintained that he was the legitimate head of the Mexican state, rather than Emperor Maximilian. When the French-backed Second Mexican Empire fell in 1867, the Mexican Republic with Juárez as president was restored to full power.[6][7][8] In his success in ousting the European incursion, Latin Americans considered his a “second struggle for independence, a second defeat for the European powers, and a second reversal of the Conquest.”[9]
He is now “a preeminent symbol of Mexican nationalism and resistance to foreign intervention.”[10] Juárez was a practical and skilled politician, controversial in his lifetime and beyond. He had an understanding of the importance of a working relationship with the United States, and secured its recognition for his liberal government during the War of the Reform. Although many of his positions shifted during his political life, he held fast to particular principles including the supremacy of civil power over the Catholic Church and the military; respect for law; and the depersonalization of political life.[11] In his lifetime he sought to strengthen the national government and asserted the supremacy of central power over states, a position that both radical and provincial liberals opposed.[12] He was the subject of polemical attacks both in his lifetime and beyond. However, the place of Juárez in Mexican historical memory has enshrined him as a major Mexican hero, beginning in his own lifetime.[13]
So Happy Birthday Benito Juarez Today you’d be 212 years old. Shucks, you don’t look a day over 66. Get it, he lived to be 66 years old. Okay, let’s get to the interviews shall we?
Lighthouse Specialty Foods in Puerto Vallarta
Sometimes, when you aren’t looking for it, you find it. I mean, an interview of course. I had just been stood up by an interviewee, I had made an appointment a week earlier for an interview, and I’m pretty sure my victim was too hungover to sit with me. I won’t tell you who he was, and I won’t tell you where it was, because I don’t want to embarrass him. Who knows, he might be sobered up in May or June when I come back to Vallarta, but, I was walking down Lazaro Cardenas across from the market when I came across a couple of guys, enjoying a cold cerveza, Oh
Oh…Booze again, but they weren’t too far gone. In fact they were more than happy to talk with me. They asked if I wanted to sample some of what they were selling, and it was really good. So I decided to make lemonade out of lemons and ask Christopher Mattocks if he would talk with me about his place, a real hole in the wall, Lighthouse Specialty Foods. So let’s go right now to Puerto Vallarta Mexico, and have a conversation with Chris Mattocks, at Lighthouse Specialty Foods!
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Chris is a good guy and did a great job answering my questions right? I have his contact information in the show notes and pictures of his place. And if you are in the mood for some home cooked items that are hard to find in Puerto Vallarta, go on down there and see what they have for you to bring home to your condo or Airbnb.
- Lighthouse Specialty Foods Facebook Page
- Address: Lázaro Cárdenas 557, Emiliano Zapata, 48380 Puerto Vallarta, Jal., México
- Phone: +52 322 112 9558
- Hours: 7 Days a Week 9-5
Christopher’s Suggestions
Favorite Places to Eat
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
- Café des Artistes, Puerto Vallarta
- La Leche, Puerto Vallarta
- Sonora Grill Prime in The Marina Vallarta
- El Coleguita Marina Vallarta Seafood Economical
Favorite Day Trip
Advice to a First Time Traveler
“Stay Out of the All Inclusives Get out and meet the people and enjoy the Restaurants, there are 100s of them”.
Special Offer to Fishermen/Women
If you go out fishing, and catch a tuna, marlin, anything like that, they will smoke it for you, cryovac them for you for free, but they get to keep half.
Mavi Graf and Arte Culinario
Okay, in the first episode of the show I promised you I would bring you chefs, cooking classes and caterers for your special celebrations in Puerto Vallarta. Planning a wedding or an anniversary dinner with friends? Maybe you want to learn to cook fantastic Mexican food. Well, my
next guest, the featured guest for today is Mavi Graf. Mavi is a star in Puerto Vallarta. When Mavi caters the event, you know you are in for a wonderful culinary experience. She has a business called Arte Culinario, Culinary Art and her creations are truly works of art. And she’ll teach you too. So with Mavi, you get two for the price of one. A cooking class, and a caterer.
Mavi holds her cooking classes in her home, a lovely condominium in Marina Vallarta. You have the sailboats and motor boats in their slips just below the balcony where the cooking class students, get to enjoy the delicious food that they have just created, with the help and guidance of Mavi Graf. So let’s let Mavi tell her story, and let’s go to the condo, overlooking the boats in their slips, in Marina Vallarta, and let’s chat with Mavi Graf, of Arte Culinario.
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Mavi was wonderful to come on the podcast. You remember when I told you about how, sometimes the real interview happens after I put away the microphones, well, Mavi was telling me that when she made a decision to have the classes in her home, her husband was against it. You know, the safety factor and all, but she said, at some point, you need to trust people. To invite them in to your home and let them see a little bit into your life. It’s how we build trust between cultures, between boundaries. And she said it was the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to them. The people they meet, the relationships they have built has been amazing and that has been the biggest surprise to them is just these friendships have grown into more than just a cooking class.
That’s classy. I hope Mavi, it was okay for me to step in, and add that part of the interview that came, after the microphoned were put away, and thank you for inviting me into your home, and making me feel like a part of your family too. You are one of a kind Mavi. Thank you so much!
Contact Information For Arte Culinario
- Tel.: 322-221-0914
Cel: 322-135-8570
USA: 419-949-4515
info@arteculinario-mavigraf.com - Mavi’s Website Arte Culinario
- Trip Advisor Page
- Arte Culinario Facebook Page
- Arte Culinario Instagram Page
- Arte Culinario Twitter Page
- A Review From a Client
Places Mavi Likes to Eat
Breakfast
- Mexican Breakfast Tacos Lamb Tacos El Taquito Hidalguense
Lunch
- Ocho Tostadas Marina Vallarta for Shrimp Cocktail
Dinner
Hole in The Wall
- In Puerto Vallarta, Across From The Airport, in an Empty Lot.. Mariscos La Tia II
Advice For a First Time Visitor
- Don’t Stay in an All Inclusive
- Enjoy the Town
- Enjoy The Restaurants
Favorite Day Trip Around Puerto Vallarta
- Las Animas, Cabo Corrientes
What Would You Suggest One Do To Spoil Yourself Cost no Object
- Rent a Sailboat and sail on the bay
That should do it for this episode of the Puerto Vallarta Travel Show.
Next week, stay tuned for more on the ground reports from Puerto Vallarta Mexico, with travel tips, great restaurant and excursion ideas and more. 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 on-board 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. Don’t forget his maps, his DIY tours and his revitalized Happy Hour Board. I have links to all of those in the show notes.
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. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Remember I made it easy for you to do just that with each episode I create. But if you haven’t been to my website, you really need to have a look there. I have the links to the places we talk about, interesting pictures and the more all right there in my blog-posts and show-notes for each episode of the show so check them out for sure if you haven’t already all-right? All right.
So, thanks to Christopher Mattocks of Lighthouse Specialty Foods, and to you, Mavi Graf, make sure you contact her the next time you are in town and take one of her classes, or hire her to cater your special event. And hey, 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!