Off The Grid Mexico Tours and Excursions Takes you to the Marietas Islands and The Hidden Beach, or Trail Hikes to Waterfalls and Beaches of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Also Join in an Open Microphone Meet and Greet Podcast at Restaurant San Lucas with Listeners Scott and  TV Marianne

Scott and Marianne Moved From the US to Retire in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

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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 going two places. First to a Meet and Greet at Restaurant San Lucas where you will meet a lovely couple Marianne and Scott from Sacramento California, Marianne is a former TV Morning News personality and has a great voice for TV and radio and her husband Scott is a Valley boy…he’s my kinda guy.

Then we go to Bucerias for an interview with my buddy Javier Oz. Javier specializes in tours to the hidden beach and the Islas Marietta’s, and hiking tours both easy and challenging. You will definitely enjoy both of these interviews but before we get to Javier and the hidden beach, and to Marianne and Scott at the meet and greet, let’s see what’s happening this week in Puerto Vallarta the 30^th of September, 2022.Happy International Podcast Day.

Contact information for Off The Grid Mexico-Tours & Excursions

• Email: offthegridinmex@gmail.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OffTheGridInMex
• Whatsapp: +52 322 302 3623

Earthquake Rocks Mexico September 19^th, again!

On the 19^th of September Puerto Vallarta and Western Mexico was rocked by a strong earthquake…It happened on the same day as two previous earthquakes happened in Mexico strangely enough.

The quake measured 7.7 on the seismic scale and it’s epicenter was about 250 miles south of Vallarta about 50 miles off the coast of Colima.

In Vallarta, almost everybody, except for JR felt it. Buildings swayed, rooftop swimming pools sloshed, many building facades took a beating around town. Potted plants toppled, peoples nerves got frazzled. Most of the big damage was experienced in the Marina area where some condos took a beating. There is liquefaction going on there. The estuary is close and it’s sandy, not rocky like in town. But for the most part, things were stirred, shaken and steadied by beer and tequila. The Vallarta way.

But what about the earthquake happening on the same date as two previous historic earthquakes in Mexico? That’s kinda creepy….

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-09-19/strong-earthquake-shakes-mexico-pacific-coast

The Los Angeles Times Asked…in an article by  PATRICK J. MCDONNELL, CECILIA SÁNCHEZ

Is Sept. 19 cursed in Mexico? There have now been three major earthquakes on that day

SEPT. 19, 2022 UPDATED 5:02 PM PT

MEXICO CITY —  A powerful earthquake shook western and central Mexico on Monday — the anniversary of shakes that killed thousands in 1985 and hundreds in 2017.

Tens of thousands of fearful people poured into the streets in the capital and elsewhere as the ground began to shake at 1:05 p.m.

For a quake that the U.S. Geological Survey said was a magnitude 7.6 — Mexico’s National Seismological Service put it at 7.7 — the damage was surprisingly limited, with only one reported death.

That was likely because the epicenter is a sparsely populated region, 250 miles southwest of Mexico City in western Michoacán state, at a depth of 9.4 miles. The temblor was felt across 12 Mexican states, officials said.

It struck 46 minutes after a practice earthquake alarm sounded across Mexico City — an exercise that city officials now perform each Sept. 19.

It is a date that has achieved portentous status in Mexico.

The 1985 quake that day measured 8.1 and killed more than 10,000 people as hundreds of buildings collapsed. The death toll from the 7.1 quake in 2017 topped 360.

“I can’t believe that this happened again on Sept. 19!” said María Refugio Valdés, 55, a stay-at-home mother in Mexico City. “This time, at first I was scared, and then I began to cry. In 1985, I lost various family members.

“Thank God we lost none in 2017, and none this time. But it doesn’t seem possible! The same date.”

Many others wondered whether the date is cursed.

“It’s surreal how we live in this country with these earthquakes,” said Lourdes Trejo, 46, a nurse in Mexico City. “Maybe it’s a message: We shouldn’t do anything on Sept. 19!”

The timing was a major topic of conversation as people left their homes and gathered on the streets for protection.

“I don’t understand — why Sept. 19 again?” asked Mario Solís Flores, 39, a street vendor in the capital. “What is going on? Sept. 19? It’s something one can hardly believe.”

On Monday morning, before the quake struck, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador oversaw a ceremony in downtown Mexico City lowering a flag to half-staff for victims of the earthquakes of 1985 and 2017.

Several commemorations were still being held as the quake started — including a memorial Mass at the former site of the Rébsamen School, where 19 children and seven adults died in 2017. The school became a signature site of the tragedy and a symbol of corruption in building practices and inspections in the capital.

The school director was sent to prison after being convicted on manslaughter charges in connection with faulty construction at the school.

Mexico’s National Autonomous University declared that the occurrence of three earthquakes of greater than 7.0 magnitude was strictly a quirk, with no broader significance. “There is no scientific reason that explains” the coincidental timing, the university’s seismological division said on Twitter.

By midafternoon Monday, more than 200 aftershocks had been registered.

The sole death reported was a person hit by debris in a shopping center in the Pacific coast city of Manzanillo, according to a tweet by López Obrador. Footage from Manzanillo and elsewhere in the state of Colima showed damage to roofs, bridges and other structures.

In the neighboring state of Michoacán, authorities reported that more than 20 hospitals and clinics were among many buildings damaged.

Mexican authorities said they issued no tsunami warning but said tidal variations were expected.

The story from the Los Angeles Times continues and I have it linked in the shownotes.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-09-19/strong-earthquake-shakes-mexico-pacific-coast

To date there have been almost 2,000 aftershocks by the way. Earthquakes are scary. I’ve lived in earthquake country my whole life.

But what a strange coincidence right?

I guess if you live in Mexico, you need to go to bed prepared on the 19^th of September…mark your calendar, set your clock or something…speaking of setting your clock, Mexicans will be doing away with the spring forward part of the time change, as I’ve talked about before, Mexico was toying with the idea of dropping daylight savings time and it’s now official, with a vote from the Federal House of Deputies   and the stroke of a pen, with the exception of a few border towns, Mexico will no longer be participating in Daylight savings time. On the 30^th, when the clocks fall back, it will be forever.

Email from Tracie at Choco Banana

Last week we had Tracie Willis from Choco Banana in Sayulita. And if you had the opportunity to catch that conversation, you may have noted Tracie got a bit hot under the collar about the state of the environment in and around Sayulita, and even thought I sent her a edited copy to listen to, and approve before I aired the podcast. And even though she approved it, after I posted it she reached out to me and asked if she could do a do-over, and I’m like what are you talking about? That was a killer interview. And she said she didn’t like the tone of her voice, and she Barry, I’ve had a sort of epiphany about my attitude. And I’m like but Tracie, I loved it. At any rate, I promised her I would go back and see her when I come back next month with Debbie, and get a quick segment, a happy cheery segment from Tracie…who I just love by the way…her coffee isn’t bad either. Neither are her frozen bananas.

Salvador’s Wife Comes To Visit me in Los Angeles

Last week I told you about my buddy Salvador Estrada, the Candyman on the Malecon.

I told the story about how he was born in Vallarta, was living the American Dream in Miami Florida with a wife and 6 month old baby when one day, he was robbed and shot, leaving him wheelchair bound. After many months in the hospital he went with his wife and child back to Vallarta where she left him with his family, kind of deposited him here and then flew back to Miami with his baby, not to be heard from again.

That is until I was asked by Salvador if I would bring some items back home with me from Vallarta, that he had for his son, and for his ex-wife, Marisol, who were in the Santa Ana Area, about an hour and a half drive from where I live. And I agreed, and she called me and made arrangements to pick up the items.

Well, she came over the other day. She drove to Simi Valley with her high school aged daughter, who stayed in the car and did homework, while she came inside and chatted.

Her English was very good. She told me she moved to Santa Ana about 22 years ago from Miami, Florida with her/their little boy, Brian, got remarried and had another child, the daughter, and they now live in Tustin. The next town over. She is a house cleaner, a maid, and she is also a home care giver, which is why she learned English. Her and Salvador’s son was just married. He is a youth minister and is a musician. His wife is in nursing school studying to be a nurse of course, and I forgot to ask if she is still married.

She asked me how long I’d known Salvador, and I explained how I met him. I told her I do interviews around Vallarta and had a hobby podcast, and one evening I was on my phone with my wife when I noticed Salvador, in his wheelchair selling candy and cigarettes and told her hey, I’m going to talk to this guy. I told her he told me his story, in Spanish, of course, and we’ve been close friends ever since. And I told her I help him out whenever he needs help. She thanked me for that.

She said Salvador was a good person, but, they had their problems. He didn’t like her leaving the house without him. He didn’t want her to learn English. He was very controlling. He didn’t hurt her, and he was a good worker and provider, but he wasn’t prefect.

She explained her son Brian was named after an American friend, who encouraged her to learn English, because he learned Spanish so he could communicate with her. I thought that was a sweet story. So, I asked her, was he your boyfriend? And she said no…

I gave her the items Salvador gave me, gave her a big hug, and had Debbie take a picture of us to send to Salvador, who was very happy. I told her we would keep in touch, since we live close, and she was happy about that.

So that was my encounter with Salvador’s ex-wife, Marisol. It was quite a relief to get that over with I’ll tell you. I liked her. What can I say. My wife looked at me and said, really…..

Who wants to fly with us to Puerto Vallarta?

I have a bit of a conundrum, I have a pair of airline tickets, Viva Aeriobus round trip Tijuana to Puerto Vallarta that I don’t know what to do with. The couple we were traveling with can’t go and it seems I can change the names on the tickets but can’t change the dates. It’s like $99 each round trip and it looks like either they go to waste, or I find some couple who wants to fly October 26^th and return November 3^rd, TJ to PV and back. What should I do?

Not sure. Maybe I’ll just put my guitar in the empty seat. That’s an idea.

Retrospective Closed Places in Puerto Vallarta

Last week I mentioned Gil Gevins and Lucy’s Cucu Cabana, and how they had been closed now for some time, and I mentioned it may be a good time to do a quick rundown of places that we have visited throughout the years that have disappeared, are no longer in business because hey, we are coming on year 7 of the podcast, and over the years, stuff happens. So I thought I’d begin at the beginning, not with a business that is gone per se, but the FMM for example, the tourist card we talked about in one of the first episodes. The FMM has been phased out flying into Puerto Vallarta. I still need to see if they still have it next month when I fly from Tijuana to Vallarta, but for Canadians and forks from the US, it’s essentially gone.

• Bus fares have gone up from 7 and a half pesos to 10, since the show began. And the busses are now new and  air conditioned with compressed natural gas.
• Ubers are now allowed, and In-driver is out.
• Going way back, The Salty Caesar changed hands, but is still going strong. It’s a great place to hang out and eat and drink.
• El Arrayan closed, and now and  have Occulto, where they teach cooking classes and cater parties.
• Lucy’s Cucu Cabana closed.
• Kelly’s Pour Favor Saloon and Cookhouse has a new owner. Kelly sold it.
• El Rio BBQ was supposed to close this season but is going to be around for one last hurrah.
• Warique closed, and Chris and Fabian opened the Butterfly sanctuary Maraposario Magico. And now they are back in the restaurant business with Warique, in the romantic zone just almost in the original place on Aquilles Serdan.
• Barrio Vallarta, remember the guy with the food trucks? It was a great place that didn’t last long at all unfortunately.
• Tunnel Road BBQ was Jimmy Plouff’s place in Colonia Lopez Mateos. Boy Jimmy could cook up a mean BBQ anything. And of course Jimmy and Francie and Francine from Bonito Kitchen are running the Vallarta Food Bank….
• The Ramadas of Vallarta are still with us, but they are on the endangered species list.
• Devil’s Bar is looking for a buyer…After 16 years of slinging firewater on the Malecon Alan and Melinda are looking to sell the bar and retire. So if you have any desire to run a Bar in Mexico…this could be your chance…I’ll hook you up if you like.
• Que Pasa was sold by Scott, and is now called Awaysis Bar and Restaurant. That just happened.
• Bar Frida had to move again, that just happened. The moves up the street to the corner of Venustiano Carranza and Naranjo street, that’s the same area as restaurants El Brujo and Bonito Kitchen are located.
• Maya Curtis, the young lady who wrote for the Vallarta Today publication had to give up the paper, and she started her own called The Vallarta Bay Times where she and her dad Clark drop in on little hole in the wall restaurants around Vallarta, and she does reviews. Maya is really shy, but I’ll get her on the show again. Miguel, my buddy who worked at Alferria Tlaquepaque moved to Guadalajara but the store is still going strong, and Johnny Ventura, the beach vendor who Robina was trying to help has kinda drifted on. Robina’s swimsuit place La Serina Reina is no more.
• And Babel Bar on Isla Cuale is gone, soon to be an Indian restaurant in a month or two. Although when I saw it last, it didn’t look like they had done much renovating.

Let’s see…any others…..nope…that’s all. Not bad for over 230 interviews, not bad.

Upcoming Events in Vallarta

Isla de Los Muertos Event

November the 2^nd the Isla Cuale Restoration and activities crew is having a Dia de Los Muertos event called Isla de Los Muertos, the event will be taking place  on the Island from 4-10 at night. They will have traditional Mexican food, Music, face painting where you can get your Katrina calavera on. A Mexican lotteria or their version of bingo. There will be a cool storytelling tour on the island to add to the mood. They are inviting businesses and organizations to build their own alters, an ofuera on the island to honor the dead. They also are looking for volunteers to help out like face painters and guides for those story tellers. It’s going to be fun, I’ll be checking it out for sure. I have information in the show notes if you want to help or participate. I’ll have my friend Greg on the show in the next week or so to tell us more. But if you are in town, add the Isla to your list.

La Isla De Los Muertos Facebook Page

Isla Cuale Day of The Dead Volunteers Page

Let’s get to our first guests shall we?

Scott and Marianne Goebls and Meet and Greet Podcast at Restaurant San Lucas

The first interview is from my meet and greet open microphone podcast I had in August at one of my favorite restaurants in Vallarta, Restaurant San Lucas on the corner of Insurgentes and Lazaro Cardenas, upstairs. JR came as did my friend Polly. A really nice couple with their very well-behaved children. They were from Denver I believe. They

came and were too shy to talk. He was a realtor and we talked a little shop and I’m kicking myself for not using my powers of persuasion to get them to talk. I did however have another couple who did come to talk and I’m glad they did and that’s Scott and

Marianne. This couple did what many of us have dreamed about, and some of us have already done. Chucked it all and moved to Mexico.. I’ll let them tell you where they are

from and how they got to Puerto Vallarta. Marianne is a media professional spending many years in front of a TV camera as you will find out, so this interview went about as smooth as any I’ve done. I guarantee you will like these two so let’s go right now to the

second-floor restaurant that nobody knows is there, right in the middle of town. Yes, it’s Restaurant San Lucas above the hustle and bustle of the taquerias that line Calle Lazaro

Cardenas hugging the farmacia Guadalajara, right in the romantic zone and to an open microphone meet and greet with Scott and Marianne Goebls, We’ll call her by her

Instagram handle TVMarianne, Meet Scott and TVMarianne,  in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

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Thank you Scott and Marianne. Love those two. I hope to see you around town now that we are buddies. I have some pics of the lovely couple in the show notes. The pictures tell a story of their journey to paradise so check them out for sure at www.puertovallartatravelshow.com.

Favorite Places To Eat For Scott and Marianne

Breakfast

• Casa Nicole, Puerto Vallarta
• Blue Shrimp, Puerto Vallarta
• El Andariego Restaurant and Bar, Puerto Vallarta

Lunch

• Abulon, in Versalles, Puerto Vallarta
• Puerco de Oro, Tacos in Versalles, Puerto Vallarta
• Proyecto Hamburguesa Versalles, Puerto Vallarta
• Balam Balam, Puerto Vallarta
• Tuna Azul, Puerto Vallarta

Dinner

• The Iguana Restaurant and Tequila Bar at Casa Kimberly, Puerto Vallarta
• Azafran, Puerto Vallarta
• La Fina Restaurant and Bar, Puerto Vallarta
• Serrano’s Grill, Puerto Vallarta

 

And thank you again to that Denver family for coming out just to say hi. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Okay, next we are going up to Nayarit to the Islas Marietas, and visit with my buddy Javier and the Hidden Beach with Off The Grid Tours, Mexico.

I reached out to Javier through his Facebook page, because I saw he did hiking tours, and specialized in tours to the Hidden beach and the Marietas Islands.

Now according to the wiki pages….

The Marieta Islands (Spanish: Islas Marietas) are a group of small uninhabited islands a few miles off the coast of the state of Nayarit, Mexico, located in federal waters approximately 7.9 kilometres (4.9 mi) southwest of the peninsula known as Punta de Mita, in the municipality of Bahía de Banderas.

The islands are a popular tourist destination because of the abundant marine life populations due to the islands being protected from fishing and hunting by the Mexican government. The ocean water depth around the islands is between 70 and 110 feet.

The Marietas Islands were originally formed many thousands of years ago by volcanic activity, and are completely uninhabited. The islands are about an hour-long boat ride west-northwest from the coast of Puerto Vallarta or a 15-minute boat ride from the resort area of Punta Mita and are visited daily by hundreds of tourists. However, visitors cannot legally set foot on the islands.

Javier will tell you more about the islands and about his hikes coming up next. We met at El Brujo in Bucerias. Which was an Excellent choice and the food and atmosphere was the best. You will hear the waves in the background because we had a ocean view table to boot. So let’s go right now to Bucerias, in Nuevo Nayarit, and talk with an interesting dude, who can be your guide along a trail in the mountains, or on a panga headed out to the Hidden Beach off the coast of Punta de Mita, let’s meet Javier Oz, Off the Grid Tours, Mexico,  in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Listen to The Podcast

Thank you Javier. I have all Javier’s information in the show notes as well as some great pics of the Islands and of his hikes. You will find them in the show notes.

Contact information for Off The Grid Mexico-Tours & Excursions

• Email: offthegridinmex@gmail.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OffTheGridInMex
• Whatsapp: +52 322 302 3623

Now to stay in the theme of things and places closed, the place Javier talked about for tequila and dinner has closed, the Tequileria in La Cruz de Huanacaxle, but Javier tells me he’s still slinging tequila and has a business called The Tequila Experience…It’s Private Tequila tastings, where you learn about Tequila in a fun and educational way, using your senses….I have a link to his tequila tasting tours and the Facebook page in the show notes as well.

The Tequila Experience

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.

Thank you to Scott and Maryanne Gobles for coming to my meet and greet and sharing your move to paradise with us. Thanks for listening to the show. And thanks to Javier Oz and Off The Grid Tours Mexico and hidden beach adventures. Javier is a really great guy. He’ll take good care of you I promise. You can find all his contact information in the show notes and you can find that 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.

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