At The American English Tree Puerto Vallarta, Mexican Children Learn English with Support From American/Canadian Students Learning Spanish
Founder of the American English Tree PV Eddie Rodriguez Tells Us About His Teaching Methods
Find Out How You Can Sponsor a Child Learning English in Puerto Vallarta
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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 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 Eddie Rodriguez from the American English Tree. Eddie has a great story about how he opened a school to teach English to the children in Puerto Vallarta. It’s called the American English Tree, and his program is fantastic, and you too can get involved, so stay tuned and find out about Eddie and his school but before we get to that, let’s see what’s happening in Puerto Vallarta this week, the 29th of June, 2021.
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Hurricane Enrique Causes a Scare
Tropical storms and hurricanes are named in alphabetical order and gender and last week we had Delores and this week we had Enrique. Enrique….
Enrique caused quite a scare over the last few days in Puerto Vallarta. Reached sustained wind speeds of 60 mph, but never made landfall but instead caused tidal surges in Vallarta and along the bay. Very little rain as well as very little wind.
Flooding and damage occurred south in Colima, and Violent waves caused by the hurricane have killed two people in separate events in Acapulco, Guerrero, and destroyed hundreds of houses in the state. The storm has also caused damage in Michoacán, but for the most part, it was high waves and tidal surge in Vallarta.
Whenever we have a tidal surge we always worry about places like our favorite oceanfront restaurants on Los Muertos Beach, The Ramadas up in Boca de Tomates and Nan up at Turtle Camp. I reached out to Nan to see how they were doing at Campamento Tortuguero Boca de Tomates Saving Sea Turtles in Puerto Vallarta , here’s their Facebok page update..
from camp as the hurricane 🌀 Enrique has passed our bay. The sea is churning and thankfully the sand sea wall is so far holding well!! Camp residents are experiencing some water intake and unfavorable but warrior conditions. Eyes always on the water should safe passage on foot become necessary.
There will be NO release opportunities until safe passage is ready for public once again and beaches open for tide surge. Camp crew will remain and hatchlings attended.
Please heed ALL safety warnings as there is nothing like the power of the sea.
We have over 95 nests available for adoption should you consider a contribution to the little camp by the bay!! And Nan has a link to their Paypal account and I do too…in the shownotes.
Don’t forget the turtle releases are happening this time of year and the sunsets from turtle camp in Boca de Tomates is absolutely stunning. Plus the experience of the turtle release itself is a memorable one. Check out their Facebook page to make sure they are releasing that evening just to be sure…
PayPal: antonio_banderas270@hotmail.com
And with that comes rain. According to Angela here are the totals to date compared to last year….
So far for the Month of June this year to date 11.00 inches of rain and a total of 12.46 inches for the year compared to last years 4.35 inches for June and a total year to date of 13.28 inches, so catching up with last year, but still some way to go to fill the rivers and aquafers and water tables. The mountains are green again. Thanks again Angela for your weather reports.
Interesting in Cruise News…looks like things are heating up in the US congress to change some rules and laws that are hampering the US cruise industry, and it involves Canada….
From CruiseRadio.net…
New Bill Would Allow U.S. Cruise Ships To Permanently Bypass Canada
New Bill Would Allow U.S. Cruise Ships To Permanently Bypass Canada
Canada’s cautious approach to cruising during the pandemic could have lasting negative effects on an industry worth an estimated $4.2 billion per year.
Early last year, our northern neighbor banned large cruise ships from its ports through February 28, 2022. The wording left some wiggle room, with the government stating: “Should the COVID-19 pandemic sufficiently improve to allow the resumption of these activities, the Minister of Transport has the ability to rescind the Interim Orders.”
But despite the fact that COVID-19 case counts and hospitalizations have significantly improved and Canada has now first-dose vaccinated nearly 75 percent of its adult population, there’s no sign of the order being lifted.
A shortened 2021 Alaska cruise season from Seattle is in the works, thanks to the temporary waiver of a U.S. law that forces foreign-flagged ships — almost all large cruise ships are in that category — to stop in a foreign port when traveling between U.S. ports.
Some say the 135-year-old legislation is the only reason British Columbia’s cruise industry exists in the first place, and what has allowed it to grow to the point where the Port of Vancouver welcomed more than 1 million cruise visitors in 2019 and Victoria close to 800,000.
Now, U.S. Senator Mike Lee — from the landlocked state of Utah — has introduced a bill that, among other things, would permanently repeal the Passenger Vessel Services Act (PVSA) and end the Canadian stopover requirement.
“The PVSA is not America First,” said Lee in a Senate speech last month. “This is the encapsulation of Special Interests First. Or even, you might say, Canada First. The only reason why Canada wields this tremendous authority over us is because of our own law.”
Will Ships Still Stop In Canada If They Don’t Have To?
For the estimated 29,000 Canadians dependent on the cruise industry — and for cruise lovers who enjoy the port calls in Vancouver and Victoria — the wild card is whether cruise ships will continue to stop there if they don’t have to.
British Columbia Premier John Horgan says he believes they will.
“I’m confident Canada has a good handle on this. The relationship between (U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau) is a solid one,” Horgan said.
“We have good relationships to the south in Washington, Oregon, and California, and now emerging relationships with Alaska,” Horgan added. “I know the cruise ship sector very much values Victoria, Vancouver and Prince Rupert, as destinations for travelers around the world.”
Horgan notes that cruise ships traveling from Seattle to Alaska have to pass by B.C. “Why in the world wouldn’t they want to stop?,” he said to reporters recently. “That is part of the attraction. That is what makes cruising an important part of tourism internationally.”
The politician makes a fair point. Vancouver is a dynamic, thriving city in a stunning natural setting. Passengers can step off a ship at Canada Place and be right in the center of the city’s diverse action. Victoria, on Vancouver Island, is also a popular cruise stop, with many of its British-influenced attractions located within a short shuttle or walk from the cruise dock.
Even without the PVSA, cruise ships will make stops in British Columbia, simply because of their desirability for guests. How many is the big question.
Canada’s Cruise Ban Is An Impediment To Industry Recovery
The Greater Victoria Harbor Authority, which has been hit hard by the cruise shutdown, recently called on the federal government to rescind its order against cruise ships in Canadian waters. “The threat of any temporary legislation becoming permanent exists and could decimate the $2.7 billion cruise industry in British Columbia,” the organization said in a statement.
With cruising now on a clear path to restart in the U.S., Europe, and beyond, Canada’s blanket ban on ships carrying more than 100 people — regardless of passenger vaccination status — is increasingly an impediment to the industry’s recovery.
It’s not just the west coast being impacted by the cruise ban, although B.C. earns nearly 70 percent of cruise revenue in Canada. In recent years, Canada/New England cruising has seen sharp growth, with ships bringing 1.3 million passengers annually to eastern Canadian ports including Halifax and Montreal.
Canada/New England cruises weren’t included in the legislation that gave Alaska an exemption from the PVSA, so unless the Canadian government rescinds its ban, a second consecutive year of cruise earnings will be washed away.
So sorry about that news my Canadian friends….remember…just two weeks to flatten the curve…come on….you can do it!
I have a link to that article in cruiserradio.net, in the shownotes.
https://cruiseradio.net/new-bill-would-allow-u-s-cruise-ships-permanently-bypass-canada-pvsa/
Walmart Sends Senior Baggers in Mexico, Packing
We’ve talked about the baggers of your groceries over the year. In Puerto Vallarta as in much of Mexico, senior citizens man the bagging stations at markets. And we always encourage listeners to tip their baggers because it’s the only way they get paid for their days labor. The markets don’t pay them a wage, but it’s understood that the people, the common shopper pays them for the service they provide and these tips sustain these senior citizens. It’s actually really beautiful. Que Padre..Very cool and touching…muy padre.
But Walmart is in the news and not in a good way….from Mexico News Daily…
Walmart decision not to rehire seniors to bag groceries triggers boycott
The announcement leaves 35,000 seniors out of work
Published on Friday, June 25, 2021
For 35,000 seniors, bagging groceries in Walmart for tips was a way to make a little money but at the start of the pandemic, those workers were dismissed.
Now, Walmart has announced that the seniors will not return to work, a move that has triggered a boycott among customers.
With the viral hashtag #YoNoComproEnWalmart (“I don’t buy from Walmart”), social media users are calling on others to join the boycott, which also calls on participants to stop shopping at Walmart-owned Bodega Aurrera, Sam’s Club and Superama.
The company announced last December that the baggers would not return, based on the fact that plastic bags are now banned around the country and the idea that shoppers do not want the seniors touching their products for sanitary reasons.
“We have observed that our clients want to avoid that third parties have contact with the merchandise,” the company said at the time. “We have stopped providing single-use plastic bags to support the care of the environment, so our clients now bring their own bags and have gotten used to packing the merchandise.”
Social media users argued that the job could still exist, since shoppers bring their own cloth bags and in some stores, paper bags are available.
To protest the decision, dozens of affected seniors marched on the National Palace on Wednesday, demanding that President López Obrador do something about the issue.
“It’s unjust that they make us feel like a nuisance. This is the only place where they give us work and we want them to see that we can still keep working,” said Susana, 64.
She had worked for three years as a grocery bagger, and said her life savings were not enough to live on in retirement.
“I decided to become a bagger to support myself, but I realized it made me feel productive,” she said.
López Obrador said Thursday that the federal government will call on Walmart to reconsider the decision.
“I will analyze it and call on them to help, to contribute. Walmart is one of the commercial enterprises with the highest sales, so why not help?” the president said in response. “It’s a matter of talking with them; often issues can be resolved with dialogue, with communication.”
The president instructed Leticia Ramírez, the director of citizen services in the president’s office, to reach out to Walmart executives to analyze the situation.
With reports from El Financiero and El Universal
Again you can find a link to this story from Mexico News Daily, lifted and translated to English from the news sources El Financiero and El Universal.
If some of those seniors had learned to speak English when they were younger, maybe they wouldn’t need to be gagging groceries in their old age….Our guest teaches people to speak English let’s get to him now…
American English Tree in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
I met Eddie Rodriguez the last time I was in Vallarta in May. JR told me Eddie had called him and invited him to a soft grand opening at Texas Original Wings y Mas, over where El Toriitos used to be. JR asked if I wanted to come along and I said free booze and food? Where do I sign up..
So, I arrived at the door and was escorted upstairs to where the crown was beginning to gather. When I got up there I saw lots of people I knew and one was Lisa from RISE, Refugio Infantil Santa Esperanza, and Lisa was telling me about a fundraiser they were
having with Eddie from the American English Tree, which has come and gone, and was a great success by the way….you will hear Lisa talk about that soon…but I said to Lisa, hold on. Can you introduce me to Eddie and tell him he needs to come on the show…and she said sure. So she walks me to his table and does the introduction, and he agreed to talk
with me…even though he had no intention of doing so. He was eating and drinking and visiting but I just needed to ruin his day….and make him work. I think he enjoyed it actually. You are going to love Eddie and his story…so let’s go right now, to the corner of I Vallarta and Venustiano Carranza, at Venustiano Carranza 243, at the new Texas
Original Wings y Mas, and meet a man with un gran Corazon…a big heart and a grand plan that even you can partake in as well. Let’s lend an ear to the man with the plan, Eddie Rodriguez of American English Tree, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico…
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Thank you, Eddie,…and Zoie Lewis, Lisa from Rise. You know…I love an interview where the guest just takes over and gives me a break. Man, Eddie…great information. I have links in the show notes and you are going to need them because you are going to sponsor a child to learn English…and if you are on the ground and need to learn Spanish, take a class and meet your sponsee. It’s a beautiful thing go to puertovallartatravelshow.com and go to the Facebook page or their website and I have links to the American English Tree website in the shownotes.
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.
Thank you so much to Eddie Rodriguez from American English Tree, he makes it easy to speak like a local and at the same time, you and he are giving a local Mexican an opportunity to better themselves by learning English. It’s a win, win and so cool. Find all of his information in the shownotes and get involved in the life of a Pata Salada. Eddie, you are incredible…
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!