Rodolfo Gutierrez Carbajal is a Blind Opera Singer Who Sings For Tips As He Walks Along Malecon Boardwalk in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Learn How to Become a Friend of Rodolfo The Blind Tenor in 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.
Contact Information For Rodolfo The Blind Singer on The Malecon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Website For Rodolfo The Blind Singer: www.pvsinger.com
- Facebook Page For Rodolfo: https://www.facebook.com/singeronthemalecon/
- Become a Friend of Rodolfo: http://cantantepv.com/rates–request-form.html
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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
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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 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 I’m going to introduce you to a very special person in Puerto Vallarta, his name is Rodolfo Gutierrez Carbajal and he is the Blind Tenor who sings Opera on the Malecon. This man has a wonderful story, but before we get to Rodolfo, let’s see what’s happening this week in Puerto Vallarta, the 5th of February 2020.
Today the 5th of February is Constitution Day in Mexico
Today the 5th of February is Constitution Day in Mexico. That’s right, the Mexican constitution was accepted February 5th, 1917. Let’s read from the wikipages…
The Constitution of Mexico, formally the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States (Spanish: Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the current constitution of Mexico. It was drafted in Santiago de Querétaro, in the State of Querétaro, by a constituent convention, during the Mexican Revolution. It was approved by the Constituent Congress on 5 February 1917. It is the successor to the Constitution of 1857, and earlier Mexican constitutions.
The current Constitution of 1917 is the first such document in the world to set out social rights, serving as a model for the Weimar Constitution of 1919 and the Russian Constitution of 1918.[1][2][3][4] Some of the most important provisions are Articles 3, 27, and 123; adopted in response to the armed insurrection of popular classes during the Mexican Revolution, these articles display profound changes in Mexican political philosophy that helped frame the political and social backdrop for Mexico in the twentieth century.[5] Aimed at restricting the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico, Article 3 established the basis for a free, mandatory, and secular education;[6][7] Article 27 laid the foundation for land reforms;[7] and Article 123 was designed to empower the labor sector, which had emerged in the late nineteenth century and which supported the winning faction of the Mexican Revolution.[7]
Articles 3, 5, 24, 27, and 130 seriously restricted the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico,[8] and attempts to enforce the articles strictly by President Plutarco Calles (1924–1928) in 1926 led to the violent conflict known as the Cristero War.[8]
In 1992, under the administration of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, there were significant revisions of the constitution, modifying Article 27 to strengthen private property rights, allow privatization of ejidos and end redistribution of land—and the articles restricting the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico were largely repealed.[9][10][11][12][13]
Constitution Day (Día de la Constitución) is one of Mexico’s annual Fiestas Patrias (public holidays), commemorating the promulgation of the Constitution on 5 February 1917. Although the official anniversary is on 5 February, the holiday takes place on the first Monday of February regardless of the date.[14]
And I have a link to that article in the shownotes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Mexico
Don’t forget the RISE International Food Festival at Fidencio’s
RISE is on the RISE
RISE, Our favorite orphanage in Puerto Vallarta is having a International Food Festival Dinner and Show. It’s Sunday February 16th at 6:30 at Fidencio’s On the Beach. There’s
Only 220 tickets available, and they are going fast, for a 4 Station Food Festival – Italian, German-Polish, Everything Station, featuring Garlic Shrimp and Dessert. Live Entertainment too! Catered by Big Jack – well known caterer from the NE US. next door to the Tropicana Hotel on the beach. There will be a 50/50 drawing and entertainment Tickets available at Fidencio’s, Cassandra Shaw’s, RISE or contact Lisa@risePV.com
Monarch Butterfly Conservationist Found Dead
We talk a lot about conservation and conservationism in Mexico but we don’t always discuss the dangers of being an advocate for the environment in Mexico, or in almost any part of the world. As a matter of fact I have a friend who lives in Costa Rica and he does eco-tours down in the Osa Peninsula, and he’s told me about some bad stuff happening to folks who speak out about environmental concerns.. but here’s one from
Mexico…the article from Mexico News Daily…
Monarch Butterfly Conservationist Found Dead
Autopsy suggests butterfly conservationist’s death was no accident
There are increasing pressures on the forest from illegal loggers and avocado growers: ecology professor
Published on Friday, January 31, 2020
The butterfly conservationist Homero Gómez González suffered head trauma before he drowned, Michoacán authorities said on Thursday.
The state Attorney General’s Office (FGE) had said that Gómez’s body, which was found Wednesday in a holding pond in the municipality of Ocampo, showed no signs of violence and that the most likely cause of death was drowning.
However, in a new statement issued Thursday night, the FGE said that detailed autopsy results showed that the activist had suffered a head injury.
“It was determined that the cause of death is mechanical asphyxia due to submersion in a person with head trauma,” it said.
The FGE did not say how the injury might have been inflicted but indicated that an investigation continued, suggesting that the death was not accidental. It appeared to rule out robbery as a possible motive, stating that 9,090 pesos (US $480) was found on Gómez’s body.
The Associated Press reported that even before the Attorney General’s Office’s latest announcement, relatives of Gómez, who disappeared 16 days before his body was found, suspected that the death wasn’t accidental.
“Something strange is happening, because they’re finishing off all the activists, the people who are doing something for society,” the deceased’s brother, Amado Gómez, said at the funeral on Thursday.
Gómez González, who was head administrator of the El Rosario monarch butterfly sanctuary in Angangueo, Michoacán, had fought to keep loggers and avocado farmers out of the reserve for the past 10 years.
He led anti-logging protests, participated in patrols to prevent the illegal falling of trees and worked to persuade some 260 communal landowners to replant trees on land that had been cleared for the cultivation of corn. Gómez’s efforts resulted in the reforestation of about 150 hectares of land, according to locals.
His death, according to other activists, could be connected to disputes over illegal logging, water or the income generated from tourism at the El Rosario sanctuary. Greenpeace México called it a “murder.”
“We condemn the fact that defending the land, natural resources and biodiversity converts activists into targets for threats, persecution and the cowardly act of taking their lives,” the group said.
President López Obrador, who described Gómez’s death as “regrettable” and “painful,” said Thursday that criminal organizations were involved and that the government is working on the case.
Orley Taylor, an ecology professor at the University of Kansas and director of butterfly conservation group Monarch Watch, told the Associated Press that it wasn’t clear what impact the death would have on conservation efforts in the El Rosario sanctuary.
“There are increasing pressures on the forest from both the illegal loggers and the avocado growers and possibly the gangs that extort protection from various parties in the region,” he said.
“This dynamic is widely known, but how to deal with these threats to the forests, residents and monarchs will be a challenge for the [Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve], its residents and local and regional authorities.”
According to Amado Gómez, a lot of communal landowners fear that the death of his brother will spell the end for the forests of eastern Michoacán.
“I would like to ask the authorities to do their job and do more to protect activists like my brother, because lately in Mexico a lot of activists have died. With his death, not only my family lost a loved one but the whole world, and the monarch butterfly and the forests lost, too,” he said.
The organizations Amnesty International and Global Witness reported in October of last year that Mexico is growing increasingly dangerous for environmental activists.
Global Witness had documented 12 murders of environmentalists in 2019 by that time and reported that there were 14 in 2018 and 15 in 2017, up from three the year before.
And I have a link to the Mexico News Daily article taken from the AP,
Autopsy suggests butterfly conservationist’s death was no accident
Source: The Associated Press (en)
And I also have a link to another article in the Independent on line about another worker connected to the Monarch butterfly preserve it reads…. The body of a tour guide who worked at a famous butterfly reserve in Mexico has been discovered two days after a prominent monarch butterfly activist was found dead.
Mexican authorities said they are investigating the possible murder of Raul Hernandez, whose body was found beaten and with a head injury possibly caused by a sharp object.
Local media reported Hernandez was found in the early hours of Saturday, in the Ocampo municipality, about 8km from the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.
Hernandez was reported missing by his family on 27 January after he left his home in the town of San Pedro Libertad, said the state prosecutor in a statement.
I have a link to that article in the show notes too.
So this is sad news, but looks like it gets complicated so we’ll just have to wait and see if there is a complete investigation, and if they actually find the killer or killers. I’ll keep a look out for further developments but it’s that time of year when the tours to the sanctuary are actually going on right now. January and February are peak season for observing the butterflies.
Rodolfo The Blind Tenor on The Malecon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Let’s get to the interview shall we?
Contact Information For Rodolfo The Blind Singer on The Malecon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Website For Rodolfo The Blind Singer: www.pvsinger.com
- Facebook Page For Rodolfo: https://www.facebook.com/singeronthemalecon/
- Become a Friend of Rodolfo: http://cantantepv.com/rates–request-form.html
One of the things I do, every day when I’m I Puerto Vallarta, is walk the Malecon. In fact, on a given day I may walk the entire length multiple times. The mornings are cooler, the early risers are out jogging, power walking, bike riding, dog walking. You want to see good looking fit people, get out on the Malecon in the early morning. It’s cooler, less crowded. Nice.
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But if you want to see interesting people on the Malecon, you need to be there late afternoons and early evenings, and that’s when you get an entire smorgasbord of local personalities doing their nightly routine. The actors and clowns at the Los Arcos Amphitheater, dancers, vendors, musicians, acrobats, break-dancing teenagers, pirates, the predator beast, yes…that ugly looking monster, sandmen playing chess, fire breathing baton twirlers…you name it. It’s almost stimulation overload.
But all that noise and distraction seems to melt away, when our next guest passes by.
His name is Rodolfo Gutierrez Carbajal, and Rodolfo is blind, and he sings opera as he walks along the Malecon. He has a Karaoke machine that he wears, strapped to himself
in a reverse daypack type harness positioned in front of his chest. On top of this karaoke speaker is a donation cup, and then in one hand he holds a microphone, and in the other, his walking cane. When I first heard Rodolfo singing as he walked down the Malecon I
needed to do a double take to see if he really was singing. So, I walked alongside him and checked out his sound system. Yup, this dude was singing. And is was beautiful. I looked around to see if he had an assistant and didn’t see one. He just maneuvered seamlessly through the crowd on the Malecon. I was of course, incredibly impressed and frantically searched my pockets for something to put in his cup. I think many others around me were also impressed, doing the same thing I was doing.
When I started coming down to do the podcast, I immediately thought of Rodolfo and hoped one day to be able to have an opportunity to get his story, but I knew this one would take some time. Then, I don’t remember who it was who told me that Jim
Demetro, our favorite sculptor in Puerto Vallarta, the artist behind such works as the Folkloric Dancers, the Washing Lady in front of the Molino de Agua, the boys and the Burro in Lazaro Cardenas Park and others, Jim had a connection with Rodolfo. Rodolfo had a gig singing at the studio, and at the restaurant Coco Tropical.
So, I stuck my head in the studio, and asked Jim if he would do me a favor and get me in touch with Rodolfo, and he gave me his phone number, and also the contact information for a Friend of Rodolfo, Skip Everett. I soon found out, that Rodolfo had many friends who refer to themselves friends of Rodolfo.
Now this was interesting.
I was coming to town as you may all remember at the same time that the Friends of Rodolfo were having a fundraiser, it was a concert to benefit the beautiful crowned church, La Inglesia de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe in Puerto Vallarta.
So, Skip suggested I come to the concert, and generously set up an email chain where I could contact many of the folks that helped me put this all together. Davis Boz, Jean-Guy Comeau, both wonderful musicians, both were performing and organizing the benefit concert for the church, David on the Trumpet and guitar, and Jean Guy, at the beautiful organ in that lovely church. Also performing were Shanti Doelger on the organ and Kathy Overly singing soprano.
I soon found out that many of my friends were indeed friends of Rodolfo including Marsha Blondin at Arte Viviente. Marsha who we’ve had on the show, and soon will have back again to talk about Arte Viviente, a new artist co-op that’s absolutely
beautiful, Marsha works at the PV Mirror where she writes a column called From Here, and she reports from time to time about Rodolfo and does a fine job of it by the way. So, we all met at the church before the benefit, and as we waited for the service to end, we
all introduced ourselves to each other. We had all been email pals up till then, although I knew Marsha, and was relieved to have her there. Someone I knew you know. So, after
the service was over we got to work, I set up my video camera and recording equipment
right up front, and well, it was a full house as I reported earlier if you remember, and the concert was lovely. The musicians were excellent and the fundraiser was a great
success. After the concert I spoke briefly with Rodolfo, and we set up a time where we could meet and talk for the interview. Then I asked Jean Guy if he would help me with the translation, because Rodolfo doesn’t speak English, he’s a Spanish speaker, and Jean Guy said yes.
Videos Of Rodolfo the Blind Singer on The Malecon
We met at the Sea Monkey Restaurant one afternoon before Rodolfo started his evening’s work of walking the Malecon. Now this time I did this interview a little differently than I’ve done other Spanish Speaking interviews. I’m doing the English and Spanish at the same time instead of the voice overdub like I’ve done in the past, and I’m getting Jean Guy, to do the Spanish to English translation after Rodolfo speaks. So here’s an opportunity for you all to learn a little Spanish. Rodolfo speaks Spanish almost as beautifully as he sings.
So, let’s go right now, to the Sea Monkey Restaurant located in front of the Vista Del Sol Condos right on the Malecon, and let’s meet the man himself, Rodolfo Gutierrez Carbajal, the blind tenor on The Malecon, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
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Okay, now that you have heard from Rodolfo, let’s meet one of the friends of Rodolfo who will help us learn a little more about this talented singer. My new friend, because any friend of Rodolfo, is a friend of mine, the man Jim Demitro got me in touch with, Skip Everett.
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Okay, Skip, thanks for what you do. When Skip talks about how Rodolfo rises to the occasion when he performs in front of an audience, it’s true. In fact I had a lovely dinner at Coco Tropical with Marsha on one Sunday with Rodolfo singing in the background and what a treat! Not only the fine company of Marsha, what a lovely lady and a treasure trove of Vallarta information and trivia, but Rodolfo. So good.
Now when Rodolfo talks about charging 1,000 pesos for a performance for your guests, let me be more specific here. 1,000 pesos translates to about $55 US. Okay? Try hiring someone of Rodolfo’s caliber to sing Opera at your wedding or party for a couple hours during the meal or cocktail party for $50 bucks. I mean…really folks. So, listen, I’m sure we can keep Rodolfo busy with restaurant gigs, wedding gigs, fancy parties, or just a
little extra love as he walks down the Malecon, singing such lovely music. Now that you know him, please Don’t forget to tip him when you see him on the Malecon, or even when he’s performing at one of those restaurants, throw him some pesos to boost his bottom line. He deserves it. And if you find yourself peso-less, and you happen upon him on the Malecon doing his magic, tell him how much you enjoy his music, and tell him you heard him, on the Puerto Vallarta Travel Show Podcast. He’ll get a big kick out of that.
Contact Information For Rodolfo The Blind Singer on The Malecon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Website For Rodolfo The Blind Singer: www.pvsinger.com
- Facebook Page For Rodolfo: https://www.facebook.com/singeronthemalecon/
- Become a Friend of Rodolfo: http://cantantepv.com/rates–request-form.html
Now make sure you go like his Facebook page Rodolfo the Blind Tenor on The Malecon, I have a link as well as a link to his website PVsinger.com. Send in a request to become a friend of Rodolfo, and spread the word, Rodolfo is for hire, and he could really use some steady work during those slow summer months.
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.
Rodolfo, thanks for talking with us and allowing us to be part of your life. Now that we know you better, and know about you, let’s see what we can do to make your life better. You certainly make our lives so much more enjoyable when we hear you singing in the beautiful Puerto Vallarta Malecon. And thank you to Skip. And Jean Guy, thanks for helping Rodolfo, and helping us get closer, and bringing us all together. Thanks to the friends of Rodolfo for all you do. And don’t forget to become a friend of Rodolfo too. Go to pvsinger.com on the web, Follow him on Facebook. I have links in the blogpost or search Facebook for Rodolfo the Blind Tenor on the Malecon or Facebook @singeronthemalecon and like and follow the page. Be sure to share his details with your Vallarta loving friends. I have pictures and links in the shownotes . All right?
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!