An interview with Froylan Hernandez, Long-Time Puerto Vallarta Ceramic Artist at His Downtown Gallery
Polly Vicars, Long Time Resident, Author and Humanitarian Passes Away
The River Café Presents Artists for Orphans, a benefit for Corazon de Nina
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 view of the
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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 I am going to introduce you to a guy who works with clay, he has his gallery in downtown Vallarta, his name is Froylan Hernandez, but before we get to Froylan, let’s see what’s happening this week in Puerto Vallarta, the 28th of February, 2019.
The River Café Presents Artists for Orphans, a benefit for Corazon de Nina
More than sixty pieces of art… great deals for everyone. Delicious food and great music! Come join us?
The River Café Presents Artists for Orphans, a benefit for Corazon de Nina, The Puerto Vallarta Travel Show’s Favorite orphanage, There will be a silent art auction with music by Piel Canela, there will be delicious tapas and More. more than 60 paintings, watercolors, ceramics, sculpture, mixed media, and more – will be available for sale, with all of the proceeds supporting the home’s nearly 80 children, from toddlers to high-schoolers. The children and young adults will create their own interpretations of the artists’ creations.
The Corazón de Niña children’s shelter opened in 2012 to offer a stable, nurturing environment for children from broken homes, dysfunctional families, and other unfortunate circumstances.
It will be Saturday March 9th from 1 till 4, so if you are in town, stop in and meet some great people, mingle eat some tapas and buy some art have fun at the silent auction and of course it’s all for a good cause. There is a suggested donation of 500 pesos, and you can get tickets in advance from at Casandra Shaw Jewelry on Basillio Badillo, or at Lucy’s Cucu Cabana, also on Basillio Badillo, there are other places and ways to get your tickets in advance for the event, go to my show notes for this episode of the show, and you will find the links and contact information there. Go to the silent auction the 9th, it will be a great time at the River Café. It’s a beautiful place to have the event.
Rock and Roll Changing Lives in Puerto Vallarta, a Success!
Last week I told you about an event Che Victor and the Gecko Band was doing called Rock and Roll
Changing Lives, the event was a fundraiser to help a young boy who was sickly like for his whole life, to help raise money to help Juanito and his mom, and the event was a wildly successful event, and I have pictures in the show notes so check them out. Che will be getting back to me with totals from the event, and with updates as to how Juanito is coming along. They plan to make this an annual event, so Rock and Roll Changing Lives will be back next year to help another young kid from Vallarta. Way to go, all of you
including all of your sponsors Grupo Diagnosti-K, Hand to Hand Brigade PV and the American English Tree PV, You all rock. Can’t wait to hear how little Juanito is doing. Keep us posted.
Vallarta Looses Two in One Week
Longtime Resident and Author and Humanitarian Polly Vicars Passes Away
Jorge Pena, Owner of the Hotel Marsol Passes Away
A couple of sad notes to report. A couple of Puerto Vallarta Icons passed away last week. One of them
was on the show last week, that was Jorge Pena, the owner of the Hotel Marsol, passed away last Friday morning in his sleep. Totally unexpected. So very sad, such a nice man, and then on Sunday Long time resident and author and humanitarian Polly Vicars passed away……
“For Polly and husband Hubert, life is an adventure not to be missed, certainly not by those in their “senior
years.” Life is filled with joy-filled learning events that retirees of any age should seek to become full participants in the world’s bounties.”
http://www.banderasnews.com/profiles/polly-vicars.htm
From the Banderas News, a Profile on Polly….
A Floridian by birth (1932-1950), a transplanted Kentuckian by marriage (1951-1988), and a Vallartense by choice (1988 to present), Polly and her husband Hubert, who have been married since 1951, have totally immersed themselves in the culture of Puerto Vallarta.
After graduating from University of Kentucky in Lexington, she taught sixth grade and later entered Kentucky politics, in time becoming Vice Chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party, a member of Democratic National Committee and a Senior Administrative Assistant to Kentucky’s only female governor, Martha Layne Collins.
Since their retirement to Vallarta both Polly and Hubert (a.k.a. “Husband”) have volunteered with the International Friendship Club, The Holt English School, and their first love, The America-Mexico Foundation, Inc. (Becas Vallarta, A.C.)
At the age of 63, Polly wrote “Tales of Retirement in Paradise,” Life in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and donated all of the proceeds from the sell-out book to the America-Mexico Foundation.
Many readers of the book began visiting Puerto Vallarta considering retirement here and many did! All funds generated by the book were contributed to scholarships for bright, ambitious Puerto Vallarta girls and boys otherwise without the economic means to finish their educations.
Polly’s second book, “More Tales of Retirement in Puerto Vallarta and Around the World,” tells of the great life they found in Mexico and narrates their four-month globe-circling voyage, including her newly acquired geographical, historical and societal tidbits, introducing the interesting and entertaining people she encounters along the way.
Proceeds from the sale of “More Tales…” also go to the scholarship fund and can be bought from Amazon.com, from any member of Becas Vallarta or at The Bookstore in Puerto Vallarta.
And so I wanted to check out Becas Vallarta to see what it’s all about and from their website….
Becas Vallarta, AC is a non-profit organization and authorized grantee, responsible for raising funds to administer a scholarship program for the benefit of low-income students with academic excellence in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico.
Our scholarships offer financial support that contributes significantly to the completion of their careers. We start the process from the basic level and give continuity and follow up until they finish their degree.
We want to touch lives and be part of those who make the difference, we are convinced of the importance of education in the development of our region, and the impact it has on the quality of life of people.
Very nice, well, since I never got a chance to interview Polly, I will get over to the Biblioteca Los Mangos and Becas Vallarta, and bring you an interview from there this summer.
So, I have links to Polly’s books in the shownotes, and if you buy one or both, you are donating to Velas Vallarta, How about that.
https://www.amazon.com/Tales-retirement-paradise-Puerto-Vallarta/dp/B0006FA3YW
60% of Whale Tours in Vallarta are Illegal: According to a Specialist
From Vallarta Opina, an article about whale watching …and they interview a friend of the show Astrid Frisch, I interviewed Astrid last year if you want to listen to that episode, but here she is from Vallarta Opina, and by the way, I’m paraphrasing in some spots because the article is translated from Spanish to English and that can get a little sketchy so bear with me here.
José Reyes Burgos
Puerto Vallarta
Translated from the Spanish….
The average statistics of each season, up to 2018 (because there are still no figures for this 2019), is that up to 60% of the boats that enter the waters of the bay to observe whales do so irregularly, it is say, without having the government permission to approach the cetaceans for their appreciation. “They are private vessels, or what we call pirate vessels that do not have the authorization but do tour, that is, only 40% of the fleet makes the authorized observation until last year,” said Astrid Firsch, biologist of Ecology. and Conservation of Whales AC and tourist services provider at Ecotours Vallarta.
Veteran of the care of the whales that migrate in large quantities to the Bay of Banderas, because since 2004 participates in the photo-identification and monitoring of whaling units in the company of the SEMARNAT and the Naval Zone, Astrid Firsch also revealed that the problem has been that the boats not only operate irregularly, but that they do not look for whales, instead, they are on the lookout for groups of boats that are observing them and approach them, to join, causing a saturated agglomeration that is dangerous for the cetaceans .
“The first fault is the one that happens much more often, it is when the boats do not look for whales, they look for boats (…) the private ones or the tour operators that do not want to spend fuel but they want to play it safe, then they go and where they see that there are many boats, there they approach and probably bring whales and that is when the agglomeration of boats begins, but the number and distance are not being respected, especially the number of boats, “he said.
And is that, according to the Official Mexican Norm for the care of whales NOM – 131, as for small vessels with authorization must have maximum 4 to 60 meters away observing the specimens; while medium-sized vessels such as catamarans are allowed to remain at 80 meters; but in the case of a private boat of any size that does not have the authorization to conduct a whaling tour, it must remain 240 meters away. In all cases, the observation time should not exceed 20 minutes.
But in the bay only 40% of the tours that approach the whales have a permit while the rest see whales on the route and approach dangerously. This is harmful and dangerous for the whales, since the authorities carry out inspection tours where, when detecting these bad practices, they can call attention and force the departure of the boats, up to imposing very expensive fines.
So, keep that in mind, and keep your distances from the whales if you are on a private boat without a license to whale watch, and remember that pangas are not supposed to take you for a whale watching tour, unless they keep their distance.
I have a link to the article in the shownotes if you want to check it out.
Son ilegales el 60% de tours balleneros en Vallarta: especialista
Parque de Los Azulejos is Coming Along Nicely
A couple of quick reminders and shout-outs, first a shout out to the gang at Tile Park, Parque de los Azulejos is rocking it. The benches and the planters are so cool. I have pictures in the show-notes, or go to their Facebook page and look at how far they have come. Stunning what they are doing there I’m telling you!
2 Year Anniversary for Babel Bar PV
And Saturday the 2nd, tomorrow is the 2nd anniversary of Babel Bar. Congratulations to Arancha and the crew at Babel Bar. They will be open all day and are planning a special event with live music in the evening between 5 and 10 so if you are in town so stop in and say hello and congratulate them. Love that place!
All right, let’s get on with the interview, shall we?
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Froylan Hernandez, Ceramics in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
I love Vallarta for many reasons, and one is the energy, the creative energy of the town. The food, so delicious, and it’s like art, the great muralists, some of them we have spoken with like Misael Lopez and
Adrian Takano, who by the way just finished a humongous mural on the side of the Hotel Hacienda de Vallarta Centro on Insurgents just north of Basilio Badillo. Just gorgeous, go to my Facebook page at The
Puerto Vallarta Travel Show, and check it out it’s fabulous… Like the page if you haven’t already and you will get notifications when I post Vallarta stuff. So, this last trip I was staying at a little Airbnb up Calle
Abasolo, in the downtown section of town, and every day I would walk past another mural of Adrian’s a mural depicting two children one on either side of a doorway of the building, and the mural depicts these
beautiful children playing with bugs. Giant bugs. Kinda a theme that runs through Adrian’s art, along with his trademark, beautiful faces. This mural is fascinating and it frames the entryway to a ceramic art studio
and gallery, where I found Froylan Hernandez working busily getting ready for the Art Walk coming up later that evening. I asked if I could have a look around and he said of course. He took a little time to talk
with a couple of ladies who wanted to know the prices of some of the items he had in the gallery. Very reasonable I would say. His pieces were whimsical, some even practical like paella serving dishes, platters and vases. Colorful glazes and well, no two pieces were alike.
I asked if I could come back and interview him and Froylan says, sure, so after a couple of attempts to nail him down, I finally got a chance to sit down and interview this interesting artist. Let’s go right now to
downtown Puerto Vallarta, and find out a little more about the guy who makes his dough out of clay, there on Calle Abasolo, the studio with the Adrian Takano Mural on the outside wall, let’s meet Froylan Hernandez, the ceramicist of Puerto Vallarta…
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Contact Information for Ceramica Vallarta, Froylan Hernandez Studio
- 238 Calle Abasolo, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
- Phone: +52 322 121 0476
Facebook Page: Click For Facebook Ceramica Vallarta
Suggestions From Froylan Hernandez
Fonda on 3rd floor of Municipal Market
Suggestions For First Time Visitor
- Buy Local Items Made in Mexico
I liked Froylan and really liked his work. You must stop in to his studio, and check out what’s new there. I have pictures of the studio in the show notes so you need to see his work, and I have a map to take you right to his front door. Like I said, it will be easy to find because of that Adrian Takano Mural. So cool.
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. And thank you to to Froylan Hernandez, thanks for coming on the show, make sure you stop in to see him and buy one of his cool ceramic pieces, his one-of-a-kind pieces of art.
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!