The Friday Morning Marsol Market is in The Lobby of The Old Marsol Hotel, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Located on Playa Los Muertos, Overlooking The Los Muertos Pier
We visit Some Artists and Vendors of Crafts, Food and Vallarta Charities
The Gecko Band Has a Wonderful Charity Fundraiser
Fuel Theft is a Big Problem in Mexico
Hello fellow travelers, welcome this episode of the Puerto Vallarta Travel show. I am your host Barry Kessler and I am just so happy to be introducing you to my favorite vacation destination, and maybe even yours, Puerto Vallarta Mexico.
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That music you were just listening to is performed by Alberto Perez, the owner of the La Palapa Group of Restaurants. Those are La Palapa, Puerto Vallarta’s Oldest Restaurant on the famous Los Muertos Beach, and The El Dorado Restaurant and Beach Club right next door so you can enjoy that fantastic
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view of the Los Muertos Pier all lit up at night in beautiful colors, or during the day in its grand splendor for breakfast, lunch or dinner, seated with our toes in the sand right at the water’s edge. It’s so romantic, it’s so, Puerto Vallarta my friends.
This week we are going to the market, the Friday Market in the Lobby of the Hotel Marsol right on Playa Los Muertos but before we get to that, let’s see what’s happening this week in Puerto Vallarta the 20th of February 2019.
The Gecko Band and Rock and Roll Changing Lives
Eddie, Che Victor from the Gecko Band is doing a cool thing with his fellow Geckos and others that I think you need to hear about. It’s called Rock and Roll Changing Lives and
They have an event coming up this coming Monday February 24th and I will read from their Facebook Post…..which shows a picture of a young, happy looking mother with a cute little boy in her arms, and it reads….
PLEASE SHARE AND SPREAD THE VOICE!
This is “JUANITO”, a local kid who lives in Bucerias. Juanito has been sick basically since he was born. His immune system is very weak. He constantly gets high fever, and coughs all the time. He really needs to get medical assistance including lab tests that his mother cannot afford.
JUANITO will be the first kid of many, that we will help.
Along with …
- Grupo Diagnosti-k who will donate some much needed lab tests.
- Hand to Hand Brigade (Brigada de Mano en Mano PV/Bucerias), will help with medical assistance and other complimentary expenses.
- And the American English Tree PV will donate English Scholarships so kids, young people and adults that can’t afford private lessons could learn English.
All this can be possible with your help!
If you are in town, don’t miss this event it’s
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25TH.
El Rio BBQ Bar
2:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Donation: 200 pesos
Raffles, Auctions, Live Music by The Gecko Band, Great food, drinks and FUN!!
YOU CAN’T MISS IT!
For tickets contact Eddie, Che Victor.
I will have the contact info in the show notes and go and give to help the Gecko Band, Rock and Roll, Changing Lives. What a great Idea. And if this is as successful as everyone is hoping, there will be more to come and more kids like Juanito who you can help when you come to paradise to eat, and drink and dance. Go to the concert at El Rio BBQ and drop 200 pesos for the kids for goodness sake!
Contact El Rio BBQ & Bar
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Cancellation of Spring Breakers in Puerto Vallarta Leaves Huge Financial Losses
Spring break is fast approaching but according to this article in Vallarta Daily News, some are skipping a vacation in paradise, it reads….
The wave of violence in Jalisco and comments by Donald Trump against Mexico are some of the reasons why Spring Breakers canceled the reservations in Puerto Vallarta which implies losses close to four hundred million pesos in economic output the vice president of the national Chamber of Commerce and tourism services in Puerto Vallarta Martin Rodriguez Felix says that it is a range of between 10000 and 13000 cancellations by American students planned in the holiday. Before Easter. Puerto Vallarta is within the list of 10 cities with less perception of insecurity in the country, according to data from the National Institute of statistics and geography travel alerts issued by the US Treasury Department and the recent irregularities such as the problems of public transport with operations against Uber robbery of tourists, and abuses of tour operators, affected cancellations. The so-called spring break is the vacation. That students in the United States and Canada have during the Spring, and a large part of them travel to Mexican beaches to have fun, and their average spending is around 30,000 pesos per person.
Okay so I have a link to that article in the show notes of this episode of the Puerto Vallarta travel show. Interesting, I wasn’t aware of the Spring Breakers being afraid to come to Puerto Vallarta. Now we have been hearing about Uber and those issues, but hadn’t heard about robbery of terrorists and I hadn’t heard about abusive tour operators. That’s pretty interesting. I’ve looked around and tried to find some articles but to no avail. That doesn’t mean they don’t happen because a lot of times issues like that get pushed to the side because it’s not good for the tourist industry. However, got to say it’s very safe here in Puerto Vallarta and I’m sorry to hear that there have been cancellations for spring break but hey more room for us folks to get on down there and take advantage. Maybe it’ll be even quieter who knows?
Cancellations of ‘spring breakers’ in Puerto Vallarta leaves huge financial losses
Work on Dam Across the Rio Horcones Canyon, Stopped by Concerned Residents
I have an article written by our friend Neil Gourloski from the Vallarta Botanical Garden and this news was quite alarming to me, Posted on 4 February, 2019 by Vallarta Tribune
Destruction of the Río Los Horcones Canyon Narrowly Averted—For Now
We in Jalisco are at a critical moment. The fragile ecologic equilibrium of the Rio Los Horcones Canyon hangs
in the balance, threatening not only native wildlife but also our regional economy and culture that are inextricably intertwined with this natural treasure. Collective action is needed to ensure the survival of this ecosystem.
For the past several months, staff of the Vallarta Botanical Garden and our neighbors in the ejidos of Las Juntas y Los Veranos, Emiliano Zapata, and Boca de Tomatlán have observed an unprecedented deforestation of the wild and scenic Río Los Horcones Canyon accompanied by large-scale bulldozing. What we saw was beyond any of the routine highway maintenance that happens each year and we wondered what was coming down the pike. No one seemed to know and our communities were angered to not be consulted. On Thursday, January 17th the destruction of the canyon was scaled up with the arrival of a fleet of demolition vehicles and blasting equipment. Workers immediately began carving into the river canyon with alarming speed and efficiency. They informed us that they were making an ecologically friendly dam. They also assured us very politely that they had all of their permits to do so and that everyone would benefit from their actions. In light of the destruction we saw, we found their words to be unconvincing.
Upon sharing this news with our neighbors and friends throughout Jalisco and beyond, a barrage of “denuncias”(official complaints) were filed with PROFEPA, Mexico’s Ministry/Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources. On Tuesday, January 22nd, the Garden hosted a meeting with community members from Las Juntas y Los Veranos along with Mario Topete Cortés, Ejido President of Boca de Tomatlán y Mismaloya, and José Ayala, a representative of Grupo Hidrogenerador de Occidente, the company that was carrying out the demolition. José Ayala stated the alleged specifications of the project which included a total dam of the Río Los Horcones approximately 300 meters downstream of Chico’s Paradise, diversion of the river by way of kilometers of above ground steel pipeline, and a power plant in the community of El Polvorín in Boca de Tomatlán. From our estimations, this would leave the river completely dry for the majority of the year except during the rainy season,diverting every last drop of water into the tubing.
When asked for architectural plans of the project detailing the exact placements and dimensions, Ayala stated that as a private company Grupo Hidrogenerador de Occidente is not required to demonstrate such plans. He then went on to describe the project as a harness of a renewable resource that would provide much needed power. Ayala never identified the private company that would own and run the concession. When asked to show their permits and evidence of their environmental impact studies, Ayala said that he is not required to do so. He only produced a list of alleged permits that supposedly were filed with local and federal agencies. This list notably failed to include environmental and social impact studies. Ayala also wouldn’t indicate if the water itself would become privately owned by the dam owner and later made available for sale and/or pave the way for further change of land use. Ayala told community members that they should be grateful to have a company in their area that really cares for the environment and is working on their behalf.
Reporters who attended this meeting quickly began spreading news throughout the Puerto Vallarta Region and beyond. Photos and videos of the damage started circulating on social media and officials of municipal, state, and federal agencies were appealed upon to stop the project. On Thursday, January 24th, federal agents of PROFEPA assigned to the State of Jalisco inspected the destruction and rapidly ordered the operations to cease and desist, at least until further investigations are completed. Local community members and environmentalists all over are applauding this win, but we are deeply concerned about the irreversible destruction of the past several months that intensified rapidly in the week preceding January 24th. We are even more concerned about the future of this river canyon.
Destruction of the Río Los Horcones Canyon Narrowly Averted—For Now
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Recreational Pot Legal in Mexico February 22nd.
From the Mazatlan Post…lokkie here!
The First Chamber of the Supreme Court reported that there is jurisprudence for all judges to grant amparos to those who require it, for the recreational use of marijuana. The resolution will be published February 22nd. The recreational and recreational use of marijuana in Mexico is one step away from being achieved. The First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation approved the eight jurisprudence that support the use of the herb for these purposes.
Once the ruling is published in the Judicial Weekly, all the federal judges of the country will be obliged to grant amparos to the persons who request them to consume marijuana in a legal manner.
It is expected that on February 22 the judicial texts will be published in the Judicial Weekly of the Federation so that it is communicated to the judges of the country that must grant, without delay, the respective protections to any citizen that requires the permission to freely plant, harvest , transport and smoke, without commercial purposes and without affecting third parties.
This opens the door for anyone to start their own process before COFEPRIS, and then seek protection before a judge. Recall that case law does not bind any other authority than those of the judiciary, so neither the police, nor COFEPRIS, nor the Ministry of Health are obliged to recognize this right until the amparo is delivered.
In a few words, until you are protected, you still run the risk of being arrested for possession of cannabis. We invite readers to express caution with their consumption and not risk their safety.
Source: Heraldo de Mexico
The Fuel Shortages in Mexico are a Problem
So last week I mentioned the shortage of propane gas in Puerto Vallarta and how it’s continuing on till this day. Not as bad as it was about 2 months ago but still there are shortages and at that time I thought I would talk a little bit about the gasoline shortages in Mexico. When I went to go take a look, what a suprise! Mexico’s public oil company is known as Pemex, and it has been losing last year alone 600 million gallons of fuel do the theft. Over 9,000 incidences occurred along the 9000 kilometers of pipe lines. These pipelines leave from refineries and they go all over the place. It seems that fuel theft is nothing new in fact it’s been going on for quite some time and is common place in some communities. Folks known as huachicoleros or picadores de ductos (pipeline picadors), are like the Cowboys of the pipeline. They locate a pipe which is pretty easy to find because they’re marked by PEMEX no digging signs, and they’re only about a meter or so underground. The huachicoleros solder a nipple onto the outside of the pipeline and they put a carbon steel valve clip on it. Then they pierce the pipeline and the fuel shoots up into the air then they immediately attach a hose and start feeding tanker trucks with each pipeline tap yielding two 30,000 liter tanker trucks full of fuel. The thieves or huachicoleros, collect 5000 pesos or approximately $260 US dollars for his services. The tanker drivers earn between 500 and 1000 pesos for every load that they transport. The Cartels that hire the Huachicoleros turn around and they sell the fuel for as little as 10 pesos a liter, three of those pesos go to the land owner where the pipeline was perforated 3 pesos go to the security expenses the watch out the lookouts for the picador and the remaining for 4 pesos go to profit as profit to the thieves or the cartels. Cartels have gotten in the action because as I have earlier stated, the marijuana business is going up in smoke so to speak and so cartels need to get their money other ways. The New Generation Jalisco Cartel is among the numerous ones who are involved in this fuel stealing and selling on the black market. They sell the fuel at a discount to gas station owners and force them to sell their gas instead of the other, legally purchased obtained PEMEX supplied gas. So, they are making others part of their corrupt scheme. It’s amazing to see and very entrenched. But there is more corruption unfortunately. It seems that the corruption goes all the way to PEMEX itself. In fact, the guy who is in charge of security or at least the former guy in charge of security for PEMEX is under investigation for his role in the scheme.
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So,the new Mexican President Obrador has been trying to curb this theft and his plan was to stop pumping fuel through the pipelines and instead deliver the fuel using tanker trucks. This unfortunately has caused widespread shortages of fuel throughout Mexico. Also, I don’t know if you’ve heard but there was an awful incident in Tlahuelilpan a town, one of the 84 municipalities of the state of Hidalgo, where
one of these fuel lines was ruptured buy one of these picadors and a spout of gasoline a geyser shooting up some 70 feet into the air with fuel. Everyone around town came running over with their containers so they could capture some of this gasoline. There’re pictures of it in fact there’s a video of it that I was watching and I have it’s in the show notes if you want to see that. There’s also a picture of when this entire thing erupted in the Flames some four or five hours afterwards killing 79 people. These people were standing waiting for gasoline standing there with their containers to fill them when somehow the gas ignited and all of these people who were covered in gasoline,well, you can guess what happened to them. Pretty darn awful. So anyway, you can see that the gasoline shortage is caused by a number of things. One thing is for certain, the fact that this is a public company PEMEX publicly held made matters worse. If it was Private, my guess is that corruption would have been uncovered a whole lot sooner. So, unfortunately, the corruption is widespread. Narcos, regular people, It goes all the way to the top, not only does it go all the way to the top but it seems to be part of everyday life in many parts of Mexico. Fuel theft. Who knew? Now this is not good for Mexico because it weakens them economically. Pemex is losing billions of dollars, and of course, Mexico is going further into debt because of it. The oil company is only operating at 40% of its true capacity, and oil theft is abounding. Not a great combination I’m afraid. We’ll keep our eyes open and report back as soon as things progress.
And you, they have Huachicoleros tapping into propane and LP Gas pipelines too causing, you guessed it, propane shortages. Oh Brother.
https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/english/fuel-theft-mexico-who-is-to-blame
Let’s get into a better mood, let’s go shopping.
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The Marsol Friday Market in Puerto Vallarta
When you walk onto the Los Muertos Pier and look back at the shoreline and the buildings you will see a big building rising up behind Cuates y Cuetes. That is the Hotel Marsol. It’s a very Mexican Style Hotel in
a prime location and you will hear more about the place from the proprietor at the front desk, and in the lobby of this old hotel you will find a marketplace
going on every Friday morning from 9:30 in the morning till 1:30 in the afternoon. It’s not huge with tons of exhibitors like the traveling market. It has much of the same elements, just a smaller scale. A more intimate gathering of people. Mostly expat types but certainly locals and nationals as well.
Entry is free of course, and you are greeted by lovely music Guitar.
I took a sampling of some of the vendors at the market for you to listen to and hear their stories, and I’m going to play them in succession without stopping, then I’ll fill in at the end, so without any further a due, let’s go to the lobby of the Marsol Hotel right at the Los Muertos Pier, right on the beach and let’s visit some cool people at the Marsol Friday Market, in Puerto Vallarta….
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Francisco’s Pine Needle Baskets From San Sebastian
Okay that was wonderful, I have pictures of all these kind folks who spoke with me as well as their wares. Contact information and all that jazz and when you come to Puerto Vallarta, check out the Marsol Friday Market.
Bill and Suzie Langford
Beach Booty Jewely
Okay, that should do it for this week’s episode of The Puerto Vallarta Travel Show stay tuned for more on the ground reports from Puerto Vallarta Mexico, with travel tips, great restaurant and excursion ideas and more. Until then, 
Contact Beach Booty Jewelry
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Beach-Booty-Jewelry-2197013517195563/
- Instagram Beach Booty Jewelry: https://www.instagram.com/beachbootyjewelry/?hl=en
Bills Favorite Places to Eat
Breakfast
Dinner
- Bravos, Puerto Vallarta
- La Palapa, Puerto Vallarta
- Siam Thai, Puerto Vallarta
- Blue Shrimp, Puerto Vallarta
Suggestion to a First Time Visitor
- “Get out and see the town”
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.
Mary a Volunteer at The Puerto Vallarta Municipal Pound
Mary’s Favorite Restaurants in Puerto Vallarta
The Puerto Vallarta Municipal Pound CAM
Friends of Puerto Vallarta Animals Facebook Page
Marcia Blondin
And remember, if you are considering booking any type of tour while you are in Puerto Vallarta, you must
Marcia’s Favorite Restaurant
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
Jorge Pena at The Hotel Marsol in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Contact Information For the Hotel Marsol, Purto Vallarta
- Website Hotel Marsol: http://hotelmarsol.net/
- Hotel Marsol Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/HotelMarsolPuertoVallarta/
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, thank you to Francisco the basket maker from San Sebastian, Thanks to you Bill Langford and Suzie from Beach Booty Jewelry, buy a beautiful piece of beach glass jewelry while in paradise! And thank you Mary from the Puerto Vallarta Pound. Wow you guys, she dedicates so much of
her time during her tie in paradise she is so special. Thanks Marcia Blondin, what a great idea making jewelry out of silk remembrances like dad’s tie, so cool, and thank you to the man at the counter, Jorge
Pena, if you want a great view of the Los Muertos Pier, and don’t want to spend a fortune, come see Jorge
for sure, 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!
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