Vallarta Factory Is a cool Restaurant Located Right in The Center of Town. They sell Coffee, Chocolate, Breakfast, Lunch and dinner and Cigars Too
We also visit Swell Beach Bar on Playa Los Muertos, and DeCantaro Restaurant on Basillio Badillo
And Let’s Shop for Leather Shoes and Boots at Toni’s Boot Store Puerto Vallarta
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
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Beach, and The El Dorado Restaurant and Beach Club right next door so you can enjoy that fantastic 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 your 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 we are going to be visiting with my friend Pancho Seaney, whose family runs a cool place, a restaurant, bar, coffee, chocolate shop, cigar purveyor, and sidewalk café called Vallarta Factory. Pancho will tell us about the other two restaurants in the grupo, we are going to visit one of my
favorite leather shops in town, Toni’s Boot Store but before we get to my guests Pancho and Jose Luis, let’s see what’s happening this week in Puerto Vallarta, the 30th of August, 2019.
Dengue Fever Is Still an Issue in Jalisco
The mosquitoes are out, and we have talks about the dengue issues in Jalisco in the past. Remember to always protect yourselves, even during the day when the mosquito that transmits the disease, do their blood sucking. This story is about a Kiwi athlete who contracted dengue in Yelapa. It reads….
Former Ski Champion, 36, Dies from Mosquito-Borne Illness While Traveling in Mexico
New Zealand ski champion Philippa “Pip” Greig has died after contracting dengue fever from a mosquito bite while traveling in Mexico. She was 36.
Greig’s father, Rob Greig, confirmed the news of his daughter’s death to the New Zealand Herald.
He said Pip was house sitting for a friend in a small village in Mexico when she contracted the mosquito-borne viral infection and fell ill. Rob suspected she was sick for four or five days until neighbors insisted, she go to the base hospital in Puerto Vallarta, a 40-minute boat ride away, to seek help.
There, Rob explained to the outlet, Pip succumbed to the disease on August 17. He said that CPR was applied for 40 minutes, but that his daughter couldn’t be revived.
“We’re devastated,” said Rob, who was traveling in Sweden with his wife Roz at the time of Pip’s death. “It’s very, very tough, and it’s not the way you want to bring your child home, that’s for sure. It’s going to take time to work through it all, but we’re so appreciative of all the support that we’re getting.”
“It’s a wee warning to anyone that travels that these things happen,” he added. “There are two forms of dengue fever and she got the worst one.”
Incidences of dengue fever have increased over the last 50 years, according to the World Health Organization, with up to 50 to 100 million infections now estimated to occur annually in over 100 endemic countries. That puts almost half of the world’s population at risk.
The disease is carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, though humans become the main carriers after being bit, spreading it to uninfected mosquitoes. The virus circulates in the blood of an infected person for 2-7 days, the WHO says.
Symptoms mirror a severe flu, the WHO warns. Those infected will experience high fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, nausea, vomiting, swollen glands, rash, and muscle and joint pains.
In extreme and potentially deadly cases, the WHO notes symptoms will transition into severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, rapid breathing, bleeding gums, and blood in vomit, as well as fatigue and restlessness. Those typically occur 3-7 days after the first symptoms appear.
For those cases, proper medical care is critical within the next 24-48 hours to avoid complications and risk of death, stresses the WHO.
Pip won the open women’s title at the 2004 New Zealand Free Ski Nationals in the Skier X discipline, while a member of the New Zealand ski team.
A Queenstown native, she managed Pinewood Lodge — which her family owns and operates — until last year when she left to travel.
“She was just enjoying life,” her friend, Steve Wilde, told the Otago Daily Times. “You could talk to her about anything. She was a very loyal person and trustworthy. Caring and just real and genuine and such a great person.”
“She also liked to have a great time,” Steve added. “It’s just so tragic.”
In addition to her parents, Pip is survived by her sister Mitchey and brother Andrew.
I have a link to the article in the show notes.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/former-ski-champion-36-dies-142906537.html
Going over the official figures according to an article in Contralinia.net online…
According to figures from the SSJ so far in 2019, 1,204 cases of dengue (924 classics and 280 hemorrhagic) have been confirmed in Jalisco, of which 230 were reported this week, in addition to the two deaths this Monday and that of the reported days ago in Puerto Vallarta.
In these three municipalities where most of the confirmed cases are concentrated until epidemiological week 33: Guadalajara with 351; Zapopan with Zapopan with 147 and Puerto Vallarta with 104.
And I have a link to that article as well in the show notes.
So, wear your mosquito repellent okay? Day and night. Don’t leave home without it.
Weather Report and Rainfall for Puerto Vallarta 2019
Rainfall totals to date are almost neck and neck according to our rainfall measurer Angela with her weather station above restaurant Que Pasa in the Emiliano Zapata Neighborhood.
Rainfall totals
Angela
- Rainfall 26 August 2019
- Month 14.02 inches
- Year 33.91 inches
- Rainfall 26 August 2018
- Month 13.33 inches
- Year 32.91 inches
So, a mere 1 inch separates last year’s totals to date, and this years. Stand by and thanks Angela.
Tourist and Local Guide Injured when a Zip-line breaks at Canopy El Eden
There was a zip-lining accident last Monday the and here’s the report from Reporte Diario online translated from Spanish to English…
Foreign tourist remains delicate after falling from the canopy El Eden.
– Official sources confirm that the zip line was blown where the guide was also injured.
After the fact recorded on Monday morning in which the 911 emergency number of an injured male was reported after falling from the zip line located in Eden, it transpired that in addition to the subject who works as a guide for the place named César López, also a tourist woman originally from California identified as a 33-year-old Harika fell from the line.
Official sources confirmed after an investigation of the facts that the accident of the two people occurred because the line of the zip line burst both falling almost 25 meters above the water, which caused them not to die of the impact.
However, both were left with delicate injuries, on the one hand the guide injured the lower extremities and pelvic fracture, while the tourist was also transferred to the San Javier hospital with serious injuries.
At the moment, corresponding authorities proceeded to close the canopy to avoid more accidents and an assessment of the state in which the other lines that are used for this extreme activity are found.
I have a link to that article, and pictures of the paramedics at work on these poor people, but while looking for any updates to the conditions of the guide and the tourist, there were none. The incident has been buried. Now I was blown away at the height of the fall, 25 meters is what, 75 feet? An they say the fall was broken by the water. Well, while I was looking for more on the story I was totally blown away by this story an incident from 3 years ago at El Nogalito zip-line….
From KPIX CBS Channel 5 in San Francisco, Juliette Goodrich reporting…
500 feet!!!
Zipline anyone?
Now I find it interesting they mention the cruise line affiliated ziplines were somehow safer than the others. I wonder if the incident happened on a cruise ship accredited and sanctioned zipline company, would the cruise line step in and take responsibility? I doubt it.
Airbnb’s in Puerto Vallarta Threaten Local Hotels and Resorts
From the Mazatlan post, translated from the original Vallarta Independiente article…something you listeners of the podcast already know….
Airbnbs Deal Puerto Vallarta Hoteliers a Severe Blow to Business
The online space rental platform accounted for much of the tourism and occupancy rates were reduced compared to past years.
The hotel industry suffered a severe blow this summer season, as its occupancy rates did not come close to that recorded in past holiday periods, due to the popularity of Airbnb, which offers alternative spaces and at a lower cost.
Regularly the trend in summer vacations in the percentage of occupation was going up, however, Puerto Vallarta and Banderas Bay have taken an important popularity in the application, even reaching the top-5 of most sought after destinations worldwide.
This ‘boom’ caused a large sector of visitors to choose better to stay in private homes, apartments or studios, to save the stay and live a different experience than the one lived in a hotel.
In this region, there are more than 15 thousand spaces for rent published in AirBnB and the offer continues to increase, so it is necessary to regulate and prevent losses from continuing in the hotel sector, which is the main source of jobs in Puerto Vallarta.
Source: vallarta independiente
And hey, they’re right. I made my Airbnb reservations for my upcoming trip in October. Yup, I’s started counting down the nights till I’m back in paradise. I’m staying in two different places, so I’ll be sleeping around. Hey, I do it for you. More places to review. I’m spending about $30 US per night at these Airbnb’s, now airfare is a different story. Southwest cut down their weekly flights, and are ending nonstop service from LAX the beginning of the year, and the prices went up, so I had to switch this time to Alaska, nonstop, cheapest seats no frills, I ride on the wing if they run out of seats, for $300 US round trip from Los Angeles International Airport. So, 12 nights lodging, round trip airfare comes to $660 US. Not bad.
Still, I’m going to be spending about $70 for travelers insurance, I may need to add another bag for $35 to Alaska Airlines. I’m going to be needing food, drink transportation so that’s not included.
I made arrangements with Pamela Thompson Web from Healthcare Resources PV, to have a colonoscopy with Dr Joya while I’m in town. Currently I’m on a healthcare plan that just covers catastrophic injury, illness and so forth. So, all of my doctor visits are out of pocket. To helps that we both are healthy. So, at home, a colonoscopy would cost me $3,300 cash, That’s out of pocket.
In Puerto Vallarta, it’s 6,500 pesos or about $330 US, plus, 700 pesos per biopsy at the lab which translates to approximately $35 each. So, I’m really going to get my money’s worth this trip. I’ll let you know how it went of course. Maybe I’ll interview Dr. Joya. Not while he’s doing the procedure okay.
Okay, enough of this, let’s get to our interviews.
Toni’s Boot Store in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
I’m not a big shopper when I come to Vallarta. I always buy a piece of art to hang on a wall. I’m always buying beaded earrings to give away as gifts all year long, I always buy a purse for my wife, and I love to
shop for boots and sandals. My favorite leather shop is right behind the Devil’s bar on The Malecon, in the Malecon II building. This guy has the biggest selection, and some of the best prices in town. I highly
recommend them so let’s go right now, to the Avenida Agustin Rodriguez as it dead ends into the Malecon, behind The Devil’s Bar, and let’s meet the manager Jose Luis, from Toni’s Boot Store.
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I was following Jose around the store the whole time, and of course, I took lots of pictures of his inventory, and you’ll agree, he has a great selection of quality leather items, all at great prices. And my
boots, they look great after many years of use. I have a map to take you to the front door of Tony’s Boot Store.
Information for Toni’s Boot Store at The Flea Market in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Address: Centro Comercial Malecón II, Agustín Rodríguez 11, Local 17, Centro, Puerto Vallarta
- Phone Number: +52 322 222 6090
Map
Vallarta Factory Restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
The next guest was introduced to me by my buddy and friend of the show, Jamie Burton Chamberlin from Black Dahlia Clothing and Production, and The Red Room at Qulture. We were doing an afternoon
of recording interviews with the artists at Qulture, and I’m going to have that episode on really soon, Including Jamie and Casandra Shaw and others, so stay tuned for that. But he asked me if I’d interviewed
Pancho at Vallarta Factory, and I said no, not yet, but if he could do some introducing, I would love to talk with him. It’s one of my favorite people watching places in town.
Vallarta factory is hidden in plain sight. It’s on the busiest corner in Vallarta, right on the north side of the old bridge heading out of the romantic zone. It’s right where the bus turns down Libertad. There’s almost always a couple of people sitting out at the tables in front to the place, drinking, maybe smoking a cigar, having an adult beverage or even coffee.
So Jamie, he did his magic, and he set up the interview over the phone with a couple of texts back and forth, and the next afternoon, I got a chance to sit down inside the air-conditioned restaurant, with a cup
of delicious coffee in front of me, and was joined by my new friend, now yours, a very interesting guy,
Pancho, Pancho Seaney, who will tell you all about his great places in paradise, Vallarta Factory in Central Vallarta, De Cantaro Restaurant in the romantic zone on Basillio Badillo, and Swell Beach Bar, located on Playa Los Muertos, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico….
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Okay, thank you Pancho.
Contact Information for Vallarta Factory
- Address: Calle Libertad 100, Centro Puerto Vallarta
- Phone: +52 322 222 0300
- Website: http://www.vallartafactory.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VallartaFactory/
Map
Pancho has great recommendations, and the tip about exchanging at home for pesos, It’s a good tip.
Speaking of good tips, I’m having Pancho back on in a couple of months and we will be talking real estate, and Pancho and his friends have lots of great information for you so stay tuned for that next show with Pancho.
And I have pictures like I said, of the three places, Vallarta Factory, De Cantaro and Swell Beach Bar, in the show notes. And I don’t know if you remember from the best brunch episode, I included De Cantaro
for the Sunday Brunch. They do a very nice job for the price and the atmosphere. DeCantaro is a beautiful restaurant. You need to see it. And the food, It’s really good. Just like at Vallarta Factory and
Swell. Check them out, you will be hooked.
Contact Information for De Cantaro Puerto Vallarta
- Address: Basilio Badillo #219 Emiliano Zapata,48380 Puerto Vallarta
- Phone: +52 322 688 2159
- Website: https://www.decantarovallarta.com/?fbclid=IwAR1Q-Hn6790Fc9FRNTc0c2NJsGv8UV_5I_VHbpZVL5-mN5PK3kATb_3brHA
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeCantaroPuertoVallarta/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/396006544148144/decantaro-puerto-vallarta?hl=en
Map
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.
Thanks to Jose Luis from Tony’s Boot Store, check out his selection of boots, sandals, purses, belts, shoes. Bull whips…Stop in, you won’t be disappointed. And thanks to you Pancho Seaney, Check out his three
Contact Information for Swell Beach Bar Puerto Vallarta
- Address: 182 Amapas Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco
- Phone: +52 322 223 0497
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Swell-Beach-Bar-PV-135784103157734/
Map
wonderful places, Vallarta Factory, DeCantaro Restaurant and Bar, and Swell Beach Bar on Playa Los Muertos. I love these places, and If you haven’t been yet, you need to go next time you are in town.
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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