An Interview with Jimmy Plouff, Owner of Tunnel Road BBQ in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Jimmy is an American Expat from Texas
The Dangers of Hydro Electric Dams in Mexico
The Rio Horcones Canyon in in Danger of Being Dammed
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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.
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 be talking about the Proposed Hydroelectric dam on the Rio Horcones, down in Cabo Corrientes, in Boca de Tomatlan, south of Puerto Vallarta, and we are going to visit a little Texas BBQ place called Tunnel Road BBQ, and meet it’s owner Jimmy Plouff, but before we get to Jimmy and all that BBQ goodness, lets see what’s happening this week in Puerto Vallarta, the 14th of June, 2019.
Grill Kings Festival in Puerto Vallarta June 15th and 16th
The Grill Kings are coming to Cuale Island this weekend the 15th and 16th of June. This Saturday and Sunday. There will be all kinds of BBQ and grilling, craft beer, raicilla, a mechanical bull, fun for the kids 
too. Live music. The entry to the event is free. It’s all the way to the back of the Cuale Island, in the Cultural Center area, just past Babel bar. The food and drink you will have to pay for, but there will be special prices on great food. The event runs from 2 till 10, so get on down to Cuale Island Saturday and Sunday for the first edition of The Grill Kings Festival. I have all the info in the show notes at www.puertovallartatravelshow.com.
Parque de Los Azulejos Wrap Up
The end of the tourist season has come to Puerto Vallarta, and that will bring a close to the season two at Parque de Los Azulejos. So much progress has been made. The benches are looking exquisite. I have pictures of the progress in the show notes, and listen, there is still time to buy a tile and make your mark
in the park. By the looks of it. There is still two or three more seasons left to complete this fantastic park. I’ll be talking with Natasha Moraga about the plans for the coming season are in October. I have a link to the Parque de Los Azulejos donation page where you can still purchase a tile. In the show-notes or google tileparkpv.
Barrio Vallarta Closes
I noticed the last time I was in town Barrio Vallarta was closed down, and I was wondering what happened there, and they lost their lease. It’s a shame just because of all those expensive food trucks Raul had in there. We’ll have to keep an eye out in the meantime to see what happens to the trucks and to the space.
Look For Gabino The Pull Tab Purse Maker Back on The Malecon
Gabino the Pull Tab Purse Maker is back on the Malecon at night selling his aluminum pull tab purses.
The farmers markets are out of operation during the slow season, so he needs to sell his purses and accessories somewhere and so he’s back on the Malecon.
He also has just opened a hamburger place next to the stadium called Tengo Hombre, which means I’m Hungry, Tengo Hombre Hamburguesas al Carbon, and it’s near just north east of the stadium at Av. Las Américas, Estadio Mpal. Col. 5 de Diciembre. On the corner of Las Americas and Costa Rica. Talk about
diversification? I have a link to his new place. They are open from 4 till 11 pm every day at least for now. I didn’t get a chance to test one of the burgers by the way, so I’ll leave that up to you. I have a map in the show notes and a link to the Facebook page as well. Best of luck to you Gabino, and don’t forget you can find him back on the Malecon.
I have quite a few emails from some of you listeners that I want to read and share, but I’ll get to those next week. Right now I want to talk about The Rio Horcones.
Facebook Page for Tengo Hombre: Click Here
Dam of the Rio Horcones
Last week I promised I would report on the goings on south of Puerto Vallarta, about 30 minutes south of Puerto Vallarta and a mere 17 KM away, in Boca de Tomatlan, and talk about the planned hydroelectric dam proposed upstream on the Rio Horcones, about 300 meters downstream from Chico’s Paradise.
Sign the Petition to Save The Rio Horcones Canyon
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1101458266715653&id=128949017299921
As a guest I had on the show a couple of weeks ago said, this all was a total surprise. The dam was going to be built without consulting the residents down stream in Boca de Tomatlan. She reported that a senior member of the ejido basically sold out the ejido by agreeing to a deal with the hydroelectric dam company.
Location of Proposed Dam
Then the project came to a halt because they were discovered. Then protests in Boca, blocking roads. Then the dam company began dynamiting the area of the dam again and more protests.
So, what’s the problem here you might ask? I’ve had some say hey, this sort of thing is done all the time around here. Someone builds their own mini dam on the river and diverts some water to their land through a pipe. It happens all the time.
Well, this is different.
The plan is to dam up water, then have a small percentage of the river flow through this pipe, where the electricity will be generated. The water will be traveling through a 1 meter in diameter pipe along the highway, and then, be dumped out at the mouth of the river.
That’s the plan. So, what’s so bad about that? First, during the Summer rainy season that dam, which is planned to come up to highway height has a potential of overflowing over the highway 200, causing the road to be washed away, or long waits till the waters recede.
Secondly, in the dry season, the river more than likely will be dried up much of the time. That’s because the amount of water needed to generate electricity will require a majority of the available water to bypass the natural riverbed. Bypassing the animals that depend on that water, the other insects, and organisms that depend on the natural flow of water. The fish, the people who depend on those fish in the river. What happens to them? Animals that migrate to the river during the year to reproduce, take shelter, to feed will all have to adjust, or die off. Every action in nature, especially when you mess with living things like streams and rivers, have reactions. Negative ones. I have a video in the show notes that shows the devastation that occurs downstream from some of these hydroelectric plants.
A study involving hydro electric dams and their effects on rivers in Mexico, was recently released. Done in part by researchers at my old alma matter San Diego State University, and let me read from the article…
Hydropower damages coastal ecosystems, concludes a study by Mexico and the EU
The results show high loss of coastal lands in clogged river mouths and damage to mangroves. The investigation was led by Exequiel Ezcurra, former director of the National Institute of Ecology.
Each construction of a hydroelectric plant in a river causes a negative impact on the economy and ecosystems of the coasts by slowing the arrival of nutrients and sediments. This causes the loss of up to 21 hectares of coastal land per year. The research was published in the journal Science Advances .
The data collected measures the damages that a hydroelectric project can cause in the coast and the lower part of tropical basins, in terms of loss of mangrove services and estuarine productivity. These data indicate that each hydroelectric dam can significantly increase the environmental cost of a dam and are rarely calculated.
The text indicates that hydroelectric dams, commonly promoted as sustainable sources of renewable energy, can have highly destructive effects on ecosystems downstream.
This study involved researchers from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, which is part of the University of California at San Diego, and the University of California at Riverside. It highlights very specific issues for Mexico, especially in light of recent news about the conclusion of new contracts between the Mexican government and the company Hydro-Québec, the largest producer of hydroelectric power in the world, and the probable cancellation of the Las Cruces dam project in Nayarit.
Ah Ha! A Canadian firm pushing Hydro Electric in Mexico. So you listeners in Canadia, how’s your hydroelectric working for you in the great frozen tundra? You getting lots of that cheap hydro energy? No? Not so cheap? Getting back to the article,….
Taking into account that the health of the Mexican coasts is a topic of high importance in economic and ecological terms, the research appears at a crucial moment to review and update the idea that exists in Mexico about the benefits and impacts of the dams.
The researchers compared four rivers on the Pacific coast of Mexico: two dammed and two free. The results of the study show a high loss of coastal lands in the mouths of clogged rivers, including in areas of high ecosystem value such as mangrove forests, which provide storm protection, habitats for commercial fishing species and carbon storage.
The rivers studied by the researchers run roughly parallel to each other through similar landscapes, to large coastal lagoons. The large dams of the Santiago and Fuerte rivers provide hydroelectric power for the region, but trap 95% of the flow of these rivers. In contrast, the San Pedro and Acaponeta rivers flow relatively freely, with 75% of their flow unobstructed.
More than a million tons of sediments are trapped each year in the dams along the Fuerte and Santiago rivers, which causes an extraordinary coastal retreat in the mouths of the rivers. This sediment would normally reach the mouths of the river, where it would be deposited along the coast allowing ecosystems such as mangroves to flourish.
Since its damming, the Santiago and Fuerte rivers showed an annual loss of coastal lands of up to 21 hectares. In contrast, during the same periods of time, the coasts near the estuaries of the two free rivers remained stable or advanced towards the sea.
“Similar processes, by damming rivers and preventing the flow of water, are destroying estuaries and coasts in many parts of the world,” said Exequiel Ezcurra. “Despite the serious implications for the conservation of ecosystems, the process of coastal degradation resulting from large dams has not been adequately studied or quantified with a comparative approach.”
The coastal retreat generates wide economic impacts in the region, including the loss of fishing habitats, less protection against extreme storms, reduction of biodiversity and loss of lifestyles of the estuarine inhabitants, as well as an increase in the emission of carbon previously sequestered in coastal sediments. The economic consequences of these losses, according to the researchers, are valued at more than 10 million US dollars per year, of which 1.3 million come only from the losses of natural capital that the region has in fisheries services.
I have a link to that article in the shownotes…
So, we have to ask ourselves, why are they doing this? Who is the electricity for? Why is it so valuable as to take chances with the bloodstream of the forest, the jungle, the river Horcones and to take chances with the livelihoods of the many residents of Boca de Tomatlan?
The builder is from Guadalajara, and they really don’t care about what happens to the people of Boca de Tomatlen. I’ve read transcripts of interviews where these officials refer to the villagers in Boca de Tomatlan as ignorant illiterate peasants who don’t understand that hey, we’re here to save the day. We are bringing you the gift of electricity.
Well, the electricity being generated is said to be for a place called El Pulverine, not Boca. How is this helping anyone in Boca? It doesn’t!
Over the last week or two an online petition has been circulated, through change.org, and it’s a petition to President Obrador, asking him to step in and stop the construction of the dam. As of right now, there are 33,000 signatures, and I have a link to it in the shownotes and on my Facebook page, so sign and contribute if you like too.
Now there have been some interesting developments over the last few days. First, there was a headline in the Spanish Language newspaper the Tribuna De La Bahia that read Ejidatarios piden revocar comodato a hidroelectrica, the Ejido seeks to revoke the agreement with the hydroelectric company.
The second occurred the other day. In an interview with Vallarta officials it was disclosed that the company building the dam, was using underhanded methods, to get residents in Boca to sign off their support for the building of the dam.
It seems that for some time, the residents in Boca de Tomatlan had been lobbying for a change in the road that goes into and out of town. If you are familiar with the road that leads to Boca, you get off the Bus at the highway, then you walk down a very steep road that winds down to the water where the new Malecon is and all the pangas, waiting to whisk you to a beach south. And you take that same road back up on your way out and they wanted to build another road out, for safety and overcrowding purposes. This proposed project was going through the process and according to this interview, it was disclosed that the dam building company has already started building this road. No permits, and they are accused of going house to house along the proposed route, and telling these homeowners they would build this road for them, and in exchange for their signatures approving the building of the hydroelectric dam. Talk about Chutzpa! These guys are desperate.
The fact of the matter is that all this stuff, is a result of lots of people looking to develop the area even further. And when you develop, you need more water, more electricity, and you encroach on natural ecosystems.
The spokespeople for the hydroelectric company are the same spokespeople for the big developers in the area. Builders and developers like Garza Blanca and Vidanta.
Who are the big names in development?
First, Fernando Gonzalez Corona, Owner, Founder and President of Tafer Hotels & Resorts and co-founder and majority owner of The Villa Group Resorts, Fernando González Corona studied Business Administration and Political Economics at the University of Sinaloa in Mazatlán, Mexico. In 1984 he formed the Villa Group Resorts and later founded Tafer Hotels & Resorts. To date, Fernando González Corona has developed twelve resorts: four in Puerto Vallarta, two in Riviera Nayarit, three in Cabo San Lucas, one in Cancun, a boutique hotel in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere and a lakeside resort in the Sierra Madre Mountains, in addition to three more resorts under construction in Los Cabos, Cancun and the Riviera Maya. Corona is an Ex-Mayor of Puerto Vallarta, and some of his properties include the HOTELS & RESORTS, Garza Blanca Puerto Vallarta, Garza Blanca Los Cabos Hotel Mousai Villa del Palmar Sierra Lago Sian Ka’an Village. So Corona is a very formidable player in this rapid growth.
And then there’s the behemoth Grupo Vidanta. Grupo Vidanta is a conglomerate of 25 tourist hotels located in Nuevo Vallarta, Riviera Maya, Los Cabos, Acapulco, Puerto Peñasco and Mazatlan. In addition,
it operates the Mar de Cortés International Airport in Puerto Penasco. Vidanta is headquartered in Nuevo Vallarta and some of the resort hotel brands associated with Vida Vacations’ private club
membership include Grand Luxxe, The Grand Bliss, The Grand Mayan, The Bliss, Mayan Palace, and Sea Garden with their Cirque De Soleil theme park going up just just at the State line the Rio Ameca between Jalisco and Nayarit. If you look to the right as you fly out of the Puerto Vallarta Airport, you can see the
construction site. It’s huge. Cirque De Soleil has backed out of the design group and is going to be just a part of the property. That’s a late development, and the project, which was scheduled for a 2018 grand opening, is now saying 2020. You have to feel bad for the poor schmucks who bought into the property
thinking it was going to be all Cirque all the time, but the renderings of the property have the place looking like fantasyland on steroids, and it’s billed to be a fairytale land, rivaling Disneyland. Talk about electricity use. And the water needs for such a large development.
And I have to mention, because unless you read the Spanish language newspapers here or watch the local Spanish language news, you wouldn’t know that there were demonstrations in Punta de Mita this winter because there were water shortages, and guess who got the water, the resorts and the hotels and the condos. Not the locals, and the farmers, and they were mad.
But you don’t hear about those things because most of the English language newspapers here in the bay are either run by Real Estate firms, or real estate companies and developers are a big revenue draw for these papers, and they don’t want to talk about water shortages or the natives getting restless. No! You won’t hear that from them. That’s why you listen to me. No sponsors here.
Back to Vidanta, on top of the hotel and resort timeshare business, Vidanta is getting into the cruise business and just made a deal to develop an island off the coast of Mazatlan, which was recently emptied of it’s inhabitants, prisoners, it was a federal penal colony, and they are building a hotel and tourist complex on that island, Islas Marías, where they will stop, and play as part of this Elegant Vidanta sea cruise line cruising their Puerto Vallarta-Mazatlán-Islas Marías route.
Vidanta, the words are plastered all over the walls of the Puerto Vallarta airport. They run the Shark Tank in the airport. They run that airport and Nuevo Vallarta. Do you see why we have to put up with their spiel at the airports? They employ 17,000 people across their businesses in Mexico. They are huge.
This is what I’m talking about. All this development and no plan for sustainability. And the plans for sustainability are detrimental to the natural flow of things. Like the Rio Horcones.
Well, like I said earlier, the government in Puerto Vallarta should take action. It’s right in their back yard. The Rio Horcones, the community in Boca de Tomatlan and up river are an integral part of the Puerto Vallarta experience. Although many resorts would rather keep you inside their gates, we travelers know, especially those of us who do wander out past our gates of the resorts in order to discover the things that make Vallarta great. That this is a big deal.
So, sign the petition, check out the links and videos I have in the show notes and on the Puerto Vallarta Travel Show Facebook Page, and do what you can, to raise the awareness, make a donation to the cause, and let’s do what we can to try to preserve this paradise we love so much.
Let’s get to the interview what do you say?
Tunnel Road BBQ in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Today we are going to go a little bit outside our comfort zone, away from the Romantic Zone, Downtown Vallarta and Cinco de Diciembre, and travel to another neighborhood, Colonia Lopez Mateos, Just on the other side of the Librimiento just past the first tunnel as you travel out of town going up Bassilio Badillo
, and visit with a very interesting guy who you are really going to like. His name is Jimmy Plouff, and Jimmy runs a brand new restaurant, along with his wife and in-laws, a place called Tunnel Road BBQ. I’ll let him tell you his story, but I first heard of Jimmy when he had a delivery service, and people would recommend him to visitors on the Local Facebook groups when a tourist or even a local would need someone to pick up and deliver food, medicine, stuff like that, and Jimmy was there, always dependable, and was always getting atta boys and kudos. Then I heard that he was opening a restaurant, then heard it was good, and BBQ, and so, this gave me a chance for the opportunity to meet this guy, who I knew would have a great story, and would be interesting to my listeners. On top of that, it’s a good
opportunity to introduce you to a neighborhood that you might never see or know about, but it’s a part of the city you love so much. Oh so, oh by the way, his bbq is the bomb too, so let’s go right now to Colonia Lopez Mateos, and let’s meet my new friend and now yours, Jimmy Plouff, From Tunnel Road BBQ.
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Contact Information for Tunnel Road BBQ, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Address: Río de La Plata 375, López Mateos, 48340 Puerto Vallarta, Jal., Mexico
- Phone: +52 322 157 2183
- Facegook Page: https://www.facebook.com/tunnelroadbbq/
Suggestions From Jimmy Plouff
What to do in Lopez Mateos:
Tangies or Flea Markets
- Lopez Mateos Saturday 6 AM to 4PM
- Agua Azul Thursday Early Morning to 1PM
Breakfast Suggestions:
- Carnitas Tacos in Versailles Francia and Milan 10 peso tacos
- Las Adalitas Fluvial
- Tacos de Birria Alex
Lunch Suggestions:
Advice For a First Time Traveler:
- Don’t be Afraid. ” Vallarta is like at home, only in Spanish.”
- Don’t do in Vallarta what you wouldn’t do at home.
- Get out in the neighborhoods
- Make friends with the locals.
- Eat at taco stands.
Day Trip:
- San Sebastian for coffee
- Mascota for Booze
- Three Day Trip
- Mayto and El Rinconcito
- Guadalajara
Okay, thank you Jimmy. I have pictures and links in the shownotes, a map and everything you need, to get you out of your condo, apartment or resort, and get you some BBQ in the hood.
Jimmy has so much local information. He told me he did a study, he actually lived on minimum Mexican wage, to see if he could do it. The food, the room and board, transportation. He says he did it, and I’m going to have him back to talk about that in the coming months. That’s fascinating to me. Plus, I have other ideas and he does too for other episodes, so I’m looking forward to having Jimmy on again soon.
In the meantime, make sure you check out the Tunnel Road BBQ, next time you are in Puerto Vallarta. Get you some of that Texas Style BBQ when you’ve had too many tacos and enchiladas, and are looking for a change.
Okay that should do it for this week.
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.
And make sure to get to the Grill Kings Festival if you are in town this weekend, don’t forget to sign the petition to the President of Mexico, and give to the fund to protect the Rio Horcones, and Thank you Jimmy Plouff, thanks for all that great information and we’ll see you in your little colonia Lopez Mateos to get some real Texas BBQ.
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!