Meet Expat Artist Alec Wilson Owner of Artsi Galeria in Bucerias, Nayarit, Mexico
Have Artsi Galeria Bring Art Directly to Your Vallarta Home
A Visit to The Oldest Restaurant in Bucerias, El Chivero Restaurant and Bar
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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 we are traveling up to Bucerias to visit a lovely art gallery run by an interesting man, from South Africa, come to settle in Bucerias his name is Alec Wilson and his art gallery is called ARTsi Galleria, and then we are going to get a bite to eat at Bucerias’s oldest beach front restaurant, El Chivaro where we will one of the offspring of the
original owners. The grandson, Alberto Quintero, who got the job talking to me because he could speak English. Thanks Alberto for not making me speak Spanish amigo… we will also be visiting with our friend Edgar Rivas will join us to tell us about the upcoming Aguachili Festival coming up at Puerto Magico this weekend, but before we get to all this excitement, let’s see what’s happening this week in Puerto Vallarta the the 26th of July, 2022.
Lopez Obrador Comes to Vallarta to Talk Security, Economics and Foreign Policy
The president of Mexico Andreas Manuel Lopez Obrador, affectionately referred to as AMLO was in town last weekend. He did one of his famous mañaneras where he discussed Security, Economics and Foreign Policy . The Mexican President made a few bold statements referring to pressure he’s getting from the US and Canada regarding the green new deal. I’ll talk about that at greater lengths next week, but in reference to the economy, AMLO announced just a couple months more of this pesky inflation…from Mexico News Daily,
AMLO predicts at least 3 more months of high inflation as rate hits 8%
AMLO predicts at least 3 more months of high inflation as rate hits 8%
Inflation will begin to ease in October or November, the president said
Published on Friday, July 22, 2022
Inflation – which rose to 8.16% in the first half of July – will start coming down in three or four months, President López Obrador predicted Friday.
National statistics agency INEGI reported Friday that inflation increased 0.43% in the first 15 days of July compared to the second half of June, leaving the annual rate at a level not seen in more than two decades.
Prices for potatoes, eggs and oranges all rose by more than 6% in the space of just two weeks, while onions were 5.9% more expensive in the first half of July. The cost of air travel also increased, going up by more than 6%, tourism packages were up 4.4% and electricity rose 1.4%.
In annual terms, inflation — currently the product of a range of factors including pandemic-related supply chain problems, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, coronavirus restrictions in China and drought — was more than 17% for fruit and vegetables, over 16% for meat, almost 12% for processed food, beverages and tobacco, almost 8% for non-food goods, nearly 5% for energy products and 3% for housing and school fees.
Items in the canasta básica — a collection of basic foodstuffs and household items — rose 8.86% over the past year, a figure 0.7% higher than the annual headline rate, which is well over double the central bank’s 3% target.
The high inflation rate will give the central bank added incentive to raise interest rates again when its board meets on August 11. The Bank of México raised its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points to 7.75% in late June. It was the first time since the introduction of a new monetary policy regime in 2008 that the bank had lifted its key rate by three-quarters of a percentage point.
Speaking in Puerto Vallarta at his regular news conference, López Obrador predicted that inflation will begin to ease in October or November. “That’s my forecast because international conditions are going to start to change,” he said.
The president highlighted that inflation in Mexico is lower than that in the United States, where it reached 9.1% in June, and the European Union, where it hit 9.6% last month. The federal government subsidizes gasoline, helping to keep energy prices down, but López Obrador acknowledged that authorities are struggling to keep a lid on food prices – despite the announcement in May of an agreement with the private sector to ensure fair prices for 24 products in the canasta básica.
“That’s why we’re now promoting all productive activity because the formula is to be self-sufficient in energy and self-sufficient in food,” he said. “That’s what we’ve proposed for many years, in contrast with the neoliberal model,” López Obrador said.
“… We’re now strongly promoting production for one’s own consumption, the production of corn, beans. And we’re strengthening our fertilizer production plants and the plan we have is to distribute free fertilizer to 2 million producers starting this year.”
López Obrador declared that the government is doing its bit so that high inflation is brought under control soon. “With optimism, without falling into triumphalism, I can tell you that we’re going to be fine, we’re going to control inflation soon,” he said.
“… We’ve endured two calamities that have brought us a lot of pain [and] suffering: the pandemic and this inflation, which is global, … exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, because the economy was already in bad shape, it was complicated by the pandemic and ended up worse with the war. They’re external factors that could improve, could change. … There may be opportunities for a fix, that’s what I believe,” López Obrador said.
And I have a link to that article from Mexico News Daily with reports from El Economista and Milenio in the show notes.
AMLO predicts at least 3 more months of high inflation as rate hits 8%
JR Takes a Fall and Dislocates Shoulder and Plans for a Donate Page
I got a message from JR who informed me he had taken a bad fall, walking in the rain last week and he dislocated his shoulder. That has caused him lots of pain and given him a lack of appetite.
He also was opining the fact that it’s slow season and his tour business is slow too as a result. So I’ve been toying around with adding a patrion or a donation page, for JR, for those of you listeners who have already taken every tour on the bay and in Vallarta you ever wanted to take, but still would like to give back to JR, for what he does, so next show, I’ll announce it and point you to it, as soon as I figure out the best way to set up the donate page. So please stay tuned for that.
My Plans to Return To Puerto Vallarta in August
I have been so busy since returning back home to Los Angeles from my last trip to Vallarta in April. As you may know I sell houses for a living, and the market has changed
with interest rates almost doubling over the last 2 months. So the market re-adjustment has us listing agents having heart to heart talks with home sellers who need to adjust their asking prices accordingly. And it’s a painful process. At the same time I have buyers who are now priced out of a loan. Their monthly potential payment just went up $500. So it’s a double edged sword. So, I’ve been busy with that, and I’ve been taking an international real estate course to become a Certified International Property Specialist in preparation for what I hope will be a Real Estate Career in paradise…at least that’s my plan, and this trip down I plan to talk with a couple of brokers and friends about that possibility.
But it’s going to be hot and humid and rainy, and I have a ton of interviews already lined up from Sayulta to Tehuamixtle and everything in between.
I’ll be staying with my buddies Ray and Debbie in Colonia Pitillal. And thank you Ray and Debbie. You are so generous for letting me stay with you again. I love the feeling of Pitillal, and they have the best taco stand with the prettiest ladies right on the corner,
within crawling distance of their front door. Tons of taxis all around and Pitillal is strategically situated to go anywhere in town. So, I’m just so excited to be coming back to paradise.
I’ll be checking up on JR and making sure he’s comfy and eating and doing okay of course. I will be having a meet and greet open microphone, the time and place of that I will announce next week. It needs to be a cool spot. We’ll have it where we can watch the sunset. We will, avoid taking a dip in the ocean after sunset…..because….
Surprise…surprise…go for a night swim win stupid prizes…or get a big surprise….a nibble from a prehistoric creature…..From Yahoo News…
Crocodile Attacks Two Night American Swimmers in Puerto Vallarta
Two American tourists injured in crocodile attack at Mexico resort
Bevan Hurley
Fri, July 22, 2022 at 7:48 AM
Two tourists from Colorado were bitten by a crocodile at Puerto Vallarta in Mexico after one went for a late-night swim and the other tried to save him, authorities say.
The civil defense office in the western state of Jalisco said a man suffered bites to his legs, arm, abdomen and chest after entering the water on 18 July.
The second, who went in the water to help, suffered a wound to his hand.
Both men were given first aid at the scene before being transferred to a local hospital, the state civil defence office said.
Mexican authorities released photos showing the men receiving treatment on the beach.
Vice reported that the attack occurred at the Bocanegra Beach at Velas Vallarta Resort on 18 July, close to where a 10 foot long crocodile was captured and released by wildlife authorities last week.
Several crocodiles attacks have occurred near the shores of the Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta in recent years.
In July last year, Californian teenager Kiana Hummel was attacked and dragged underwater by a large saltwater crocodile while vacationing at the resort, ending up in hospital after fighting it off.
Associated Press contributed to this report
I have a link to the Yahoo News Report, lifted from Associated Press in the show notes….
https://www.yahoo.com/video/two-american-tourists-injured-crocodile-144843022.html
Vallarta Food Bank Needs Our Help…Inflation is putting a strain on efforts to feed the hungry and needy…..
A message from Jimmy at Vallarta Food Bank
Hey gang,
The weather has been heating up and as we get into the thick of low season our line is getting longer every day. We’re tightening our collective belts as food prices continue to skyrocket.
Over the past three months we’ve seen some products and staple items increasing in price by 50% to 100% in some cases! It’s crazy.
While many of us head to the store and pick up essentials we don’t see it as much. However here at Vallarta Food Bank we use on average 40-50kg of meat and double to triple that in vegetables per DAY to keep Vallarta’s hungry fed a wholesome and filling meal.
One of our measures has been to suspend new applications for the despensa (Food bag) program as cost of dry goods has made them very expensive and with monthly donations taking a downturn we will rapidly blow through our budget. Unfortunately the cost has increased dramatically in the past 3 months and it’s still climbing.
While times are hard across the board we are also heading into storm season as well and we are trying to prepare for potential flooding and relief efforts as well.
If you have the means to help we could really use it. The best thing to help us currently would be to increase our monthly budget. Even $20 pesos a month is something.
Please head over to our website to see the different options for monthly donations. Thanks again for all your support! We can’t do it without you guys!
https://vallartafoodbank.org/monthly-membership
I have a link in the shownotes if you are interested in getting on that monthly membership program you can find it at www.puertovallartatravelshow.com
Listener Emails
I get the greatest emails from you. Suggestions to make the show better, suggestions for guests, thank you notes, questions about paradise, I love getting emails. Well, most of them. Even the ones who are pissed off about something I say. Look, if I don’t make you laugh, or cry, or think, or even angry sometimes, wouldn’t this be a boring show? I think it would.
But I do get emails sometimes that are a bit cryptic. I had one guy ask me if I could meet him and his wedding party and join, he and his partner in holy matrimony. Seriously. And it got me thinking I should becoming an ordained minister with the universal life church so I could hitch vacationers. But after looking into it, I found out I can’t legally do that in Mexico as a citizen of the United States. So that idea, not so good. Oh well.
A few weeks back I got an email from listener Craig with a subject line.. Two Months of Confusion in PV…a bit intriguing right? That got my attention.
The body of the email was a bit cryptic…..it read…
I would love to live in pv, however I went wild with danger in 2 months.
So that got totally got my attention, and I sent him back an email asking for a little bit of clarification, and one thing led to another, and we ended up on the phone together.
Craig’s story…is let’s just say, a bit Hunter S. Thompson-esque. Hunter Thompson was the founder of the Gonzo Journalism in the 1970’s. Thompson wrote about the Hell’s Angels after embedding himself in the gang. His most famous work is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
According to the Wiki pages….”Thompson, who was among the forefathers of the New Journalism movement, said in the February 15, 1973, issue of Rolling Stone, “If I’d written the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people—including me—would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.
And Craig’s story may be a bit much for you. It involves drugs and the underground drug culture. It involves sex, and it involves crime and even rock and roll. But is that proper material for this podcast? What do you think? It could be interesting but it is so far out and way different material than I put out on this podcast. So, what do you think?
And Craig, do you want to write the story down and have me read it, or do you want me to send you a microphone?
Let me know what you think.
Okay let’s get to our first guest.
Ceviche and Aguachili Festival, At Puerto Magico, Puerto Vallarta July 31st 2022
This weekend at the Puerto Magico if you are in town, you need to get to the Ceviche and Aguachili Festival for great food and entertainment.
Many of you know what Ceviche is but maybe not Aguachili.
According to the Wiki pages…
Aguachile is a Mexican dish made of shrimp, submerged in liquid seasoned with chili peppers, lime juice, salt, cilantro, slices of cucumber and slices of onion. Raw vegetables such as cucumber are usually added. This raw seafood dish comes from the west region of Mexico and is normally prepared in a molcajete.
And the festival is happening this Sunday July 31st at Puerto Magico. And I have one of my favorite people in Vallarta to talk about it. Let’s go by telephone from Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta, and talk with Edgar Rivas about this weekend’s upcoming event this Sunday…..take it away Edgar….
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Okay, Thank you Edgar. We will be lining up for the delicious food from 40 different restaurants. Amazing. I have all the information in the show notes.
Next up we are going to Bucerias.
Bucerias is located in Nayarit, 24 minutes north of the Puerto Vallarta Airport, approximately 18 kilometers in distance.
From Vallarta I usually take the bus from in front of Walmart in Highway 200, across from the Port. The Compostella bus will take you there for pennies. Okay, like a buck and a half US. I usually look for a couple of landmarks for the bus driver to drop me off. The first you see is the Chedraui Market, and the other is the CMQ Hospital. Both on the
opposite side of the highway. The driver will drop you off where you tell him, and then you will cross a 6 lane highway. I love that part….not…
Then you walk down towards the beach and into town.
On this particular trip to Bucerias, I was visiting an art Gallery, located on the main drag in Bucerias. The street is lined with restaurants and shops and art galleries and condominiums. The streets are not crowded with cars and people. It’s a quiet town.
I came to interview the owner of a place called ARTsi Gallery. The owner, is Alec Wilson. Alec is an expat, who will tell you his story in just a moment. I met Alec through my dear friends Lisa and Billy, from RISE, Refegio Infantil Santa Esperanza, one of our favorite orphanages or Casa Hogar in Spanish.
Alec was one of the generous sponsors who helped support the So You Think You Can Rise Talent Show which was the major fundraiser for RISE, and Lisa and Billy had asked
me if I would introduce these very special businesses and individuals to my audience as a way of saying thank you to them for their support. And I thought that would be a great idea and so far it has. And Alec was no exception. You are going to love him. So let’s go right now, to 500 Lazaro Cardenas, in Bucerias, and let’s have a seat at a table in front of this lovely gallery on a sunny warm morning, and let’s meet my new friend and hopefully now yours, Alec Wilson, an expat in paradise, an artist, an entrepreneur and an adventurer, at ARTsi Gallery, in Bucerias, Mexico.
Contact Information for ARTsi Galeria in Bucerias, Mexico
- Address: Lázaro Cárdenas 500, 63732 Bucerías, Nayarit, Mexico
- Phone: +52 477 674 9677
- Website: https://artsiplace.com/
- Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ARTsi-Galeria-107917257689983
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Thank you Alec. I have all the information you need for Artsi Gallery, website, Facebook, some pics of the beautiful work at the gallery and a google map to take you to the front door.
Next, we go to a restaurant in Bucerias.
I returned to Bucerias on a later date with Johnny D to watch the Gecko band play on a Saturday afternoon at El Chivero, a restaurant right on the beach. This trip I didn’t take the bus but instead went via Uber/in driver with my new driver Erik, and Johnny D.
El Chivero Restaurant and Bar in Bucerias, Nayarit, Mexico
El Chivero is a big restaurant with a big view of the bay, right on the sand. They set up a stage on the sand right up against the restaurant and the tables and chairs are in the sand where you sit with your backs to the ocean, facing the stage and musicians. When you
walk in the restaurant, you know it’s a fun place because whey have a stack of boogie boards waiting for you to use. I wanted to talk with the owner, but his English wasn’t the
greatest, so I got the grandson of the guy who built the place to talk with me. His name is Alberto Quintero. Alberto was kind enough to take some time, and tell me about the history of an oldie but goodie. Bucerias’s oldest and longest surviving family owned seafood restaurant on the beach, Alberto Quintero from Restaurant El Chivero, Bucerias, Mexico.
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Information for El Chivero Restaurant and Bar in Bucerias, Mexico
- Address: Avenida Pacifico 9, Centro Bucerias, Nayarit, Mexico 63732
- Phone: +52 329 298 0612
- Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/restauranteelchiverobucerias
Okay, thank you Alberto. Thank you for sharing the history of your families’ lovely restaurant. I have pictures of the restaurant and food porn of course as well as website,
Facebook page and Google Map to take you to the front door of Restaurant El Chivero, the Shepherd, in the show notes. I even have a picture of Alberto and me in the notes as well. Victor and the Geckos are currently touring Canada and return to Vallarta
beginning of the high season. In the meantime check out El Chivero for seafood old school, right on the beach in Bucerias.
Okay, that should do it for today…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 follow share with a lover of Puerto Vallarta or give me a good review wherever or however you happen to be listening. 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.
Thenk you to Edgar Rivas from the Ceviche and Aguachili Festival, don’t miss the event at Puerto Magico this Sunday the 31st, and thank you to Alec Wilson from Artsi Gallery. Have him bring the art to you. What a great idea. Thank you to Alberto Quintero from El
Chivero. Get over there and enjoy the view, the music and the great seafood. Take a boogie board out and get some sand in your underwear. I have links and pictures and maps of course you can find all that information in the blog shownotes at www.puertovallartatravelshow.com.
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.