Rivera Nayarit & Punta Mita:
San Pancho Surf Shop will be holding the 2009 Winter Surf Contest on November 21st & 22nd. Over the years the San Pancho Surfing Events have grown in size and popularity. The San Pancho 2009 Summer Surf Event for the first time was video taped, edited, and broadcast to the world via YouTube.com and SurfMexico.Net. The Video has received over 2000 views since it first aired five months ago. <http://www.youtube.com/surfmexiconet#p/u/4/9D7lfrVAShI>
This year SurfMexico.Net will be filming with multiplecameras and feature an announcer commentary along with contestantinterviews. The show will be edited and broadcasted to SurfMexico.NetsYouTube channel located at:http://youtube.com/surfmexiconet
Monday, November 16, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
First "Cow" Tuna for 2010 season
Elme Aguayo Lopez and the Yknot super panga out of Punta Mita caught the first cow tuna of the season. 240 pounds off Corbetena. Sailfish and Dorado too. Good Job!
elme@gofishpuntamita.com
elme@gofishpuntamita.com
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Riviera Nayarit Golf - Canadian Pro Tour - Oct 1-4
Punta Mita Club de Golf is proud to host the Riviera Nayarit Classic Golf Tournament, part of the Canadian Professional Tour, from October 1-4, 2009You are invited you to join the action and play the ProAm Tournament, Wednesday, September 30th. Golf and stay at Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita
Includes:
Registration for one player in the ProAm Tournament*
One additional round of golf, for each night of stay, on the new “Bahia” course by Jack Nicklaus
Ocean View Casita room for two
Breakfast for two daily One night $495 USD Two nights $715 USD
Three nights $935 USD Four Nights $1,155 USD
* Rates are subject to 18% tax and 10% service fee
Participation in ProAm tournament only
Includes:
Registration for one player in the ProAm Tournament*
One additional round of golf, for each night of stay, on the new “Bahia” course by Jack Nicklaus
$300 USD + 15% tax
*Space in the ProAm Tournament is subject to availability at the time of reservation.
PUNTA MI TA , B A H Í A D E BANDERA S , N A Y A R I T 6 3 7 3 4 , MÉXI C O
T E L : + 5 2 ( 3 2 9 ) 2 9 1 - 6 0 0 0 FAX: + 5 2 ( 3 2 9 ) 2 9 1 - 6 0 2 1
WORLD WI D E WE B : WWW. FOURS EA S ONS .COM/VA C A T I O N S / P U N T A M I T A
Sunday, August 16, 2009
San Sebastian... and The Curse of the Sunken Mine
Nestled within the lush, mountain region of the Sierra Madres exists one of Mexico's most tranquil, magical hideaways. A mere 70-minute drive from Puerto Vallarta, but it takes the traveller four centuries back in time, deep into Mexico's colourful colonial past. Nestled in the folds of mist-wreathed mountains, the former gold and silver mining town is a living museum of the 16th-century invasion of Mexico by the Spanish conquistadors who uprooted an ancient Indian civilization. It's a simple enough matter to hire a guide and a mule in this town and go riding off in search of buried treasure in the caves of the Sierra Madre mountains - but you had better beware of The Curse of the Sunken Mine. http://vallarta-info.com/sansebasti.html
Riviera Nayarit locals saving Olive Ridley sea turtle
You may not know it, but buried beneath a many Nayarit beaches are many turtles' nests that will hatch into thousands of tortugitas headed for the sea. Marine turtle specialists say there has been a 50% reduction in their population world-wide, due to egg poaching and the killing of nesting adults. The nests are robbed by "heuveros", people who steal turtle eggs and sell them for a couple of pesos each. They are marketed as hangover cures and aphrodisiacs. Many locals don't even realize Olive Ridley sea turtles are indigenous to the area. Now groups of local residents are trying to stop and reverse the local turtle population decline to almost elimination. Last year in Sayulita, the 130 nests were saved, with 12,000 turtles released. The incubation period is about 55 days, and the hatching occurs in September/October. In nature, only 1% of those live to adulthood. But when the eggs are protected, that rate can jump to more than 90%. Locals comb the beach for nests at this time of year, carefully dig them up and re-locate them to safety. At hatching time, volunteers help the turtles at the bottom of the nests (there can be 100-plus eggs per nest) to get out. The release, which takes place at sunset is always popular and draws both locals and visitors.http://grupoecologicolitibu.blogspot.com/
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Riviera Nayarit & Puerto Vallarta retirement notes
Overview
Mexico will continue to provide North Americans with cost-effective retirement opportunities as the economy evolves and rising costs in the USA eat away at people’s nest egg. With the weather always permitting and lending to the perfect lifestyle of “mañana,” Mexico is the common sense place to disembark from a lifetime of hard work and make those savings go a long way.
Costs
Costs
The peso has dropped 41% vs. the dollar since August of last year, making Mexican vacations, rents, home costs and retirement more attractive compared with those in Europe, the U.S., or the Caribbean. The cost of living is half of what it is in the USA. Forget Europe, they do not know what the word inexpensive means. No winter clothes, no snow tires and no heating costs. Mountains, coastal plains, high valleys, Mexico has every climate.
Logistics
Logistics
American travelers and retirement home buyers can reach Mexico’s tourist/retirement playgrounds/spots in two to five hours and most of those flights are non-stop, a big factor as airlines, hotels prices costs and homes prices level off for the first time in 15 years.
Safety
Safety
Mexico is just as safe as it is in the USA, probably safer. Crimes happen along the border and in the border towns. Puerto Vallarta and other retirement hotspots have been immune to the violence. The Puerto Vallarta area has 15,000 to 20,000 full time expatriates. Including Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart (with two new Wal-Marts under construction) several McDonalds, Carl’s Jr. Pizza Hut, Dominos, Blockbuster Video, Lions Club, Rotary Club.
Mindset
Americans are different. Unlike Europeans we like our way of life, big cars, big trucks, cheap gas. The fact that you don’t get searched everytime you enter a building here in Mexico makes a statement to the non terrifying racist attitude that the world should adopt. Ame
ricans are different and try to be politically correct. You can’t call them Hillbillies no more, they are Appalachian Americans. What? Here in Mexico if we don’t know your name and you are white, we call you Whitey, if you’re fat, we call you Fatty, if you’re short we call you Shorty. Taxes
ricans are different and try to be politically correct. You can’t call them Hillbillies no more, they are Appalachian Americans. What? Here in Mexico if we don’t know your name and you are white, we call you Whitey, if you’re fat, we call you Fatty, if you’re short we call you Shorty. TaxesProperty - .01 % Income Tax - 10% flat tax
Capital Gains Tax – No Capital Gains Tax after five (5) years
Capital Gains Tax – No Capital Gains Tax after five (5) years
For more info:
Alfred Melchiorre
Alfred Melchiorre
La Punta Realty
Toll Free from North America 1-866-706-1199
Punta de Mita, Nayarit, Mexico 011-52-1-322-111-7522 cell alinmita@gmail.com
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Not-So-Great Mexican Swine Flu Pandemic of 2009
By Robin Noelle
In the last week, my life in Puerto Vallarta became even more surreal than usual when I started seeing people wearing surgical masks at Costco, while lounging at rooftop pools and strolling along the beach. I marveled as the government began shutting down schools-not just in Mexico City, but locally too; and then bars, clubs and restaurants followed. I was beyond baffled when airlines from Canada cancelled all incoming flights and all cruise lines were diverted from Mexico. How is it possible that none of these people own a map? Witnessing firsthand the effects of hysterical, uninformed media coverage, my sympathies went out immediately to my neighbors and other Vallartenses (citizens of Puerto Vallarta) who would needlessly suffer because of irresponsible journalism and hyperbolic statements from US government officials. Canceling flights and cruise ship dockings in Cancun and Puerto Vallarta because of the flu in Mexico City is akin to closing JFK or LAX because someone in Chicago has a cold. Swine Flu is a flu virus, after all, despite the irresponsible declaration by Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organization that "all of humanity is threatened." Even common flu strains kill approximately 36,000 people per year in the United States.
To this date, there isn't a single confirmed case of swine flu in Puerto Vallarta. Yet panicked people cancelled weddings, honeymoons, anniversaries and vacations because there was an outbreak of an easily treatable virus 550 miles away. The biggest losers are the poor people of Mexico; the people who make their livings as servers, taxi drivers, maids and in other tourism-driven careers. High season was slower than usual this year, thanks in part to overblown coverage of the drug wars. Now cut short, this ensures that there will be even less money during summer, a time when many Mexican families are near starvation already. Next year's high season isn't looking too good right now either. It took years for China to recover from SARS, the last hysteria-fueled super virus that was going to destroy life as we know it...and didn't. It's sad that so many people allowed themselves to be taken in and manipulated by fear, and sadder still that there will be real human suffering as a result.
When you live in Mexico, or visit frequently, you know to take the dire travel warnings issued by the State Department with a handful of salt. As a full-time resident of Mexico, it isn't possible to discuss the recent swine flu outbreak without also addressing the ongoing drug wars. Listening to the media, you'd think severed heads were rolling through towns like tumbleweeds, instead of what is really happening: The police and military are battling it out with drug lords in border towns, far from popular tourism centers.
To put things in perspective, in 2005, 11,346 people were killed by gun violence in the United States and no travel warnings for America were issued vs. the roughly 2,100 people killed by Mexico's drug war in the last two years, the majority of those being police, military and drug dealers, not bystanders or tourists. Despite what the media wants you to think, the crime rates for cities like Puerto Vallarta and Cancun are far less than an American city of the same size. I feel safer in my Mexican neighborhood than I ever did living in the US and that includes feeling safe from disease.
Likewise with the swine flu; the only real repercussion I've experienced has been diminished lines at the bank and a better parking spot. Although parts of Mexico can be rustic, it is not a third-world country. There's modern medical care. There are hospitals and health services. It doesn't seem to matter to the media that the Mexican government was the first to identify the flu strain and worked quickly and effectively to contain the virus.
Now it turns out that swine flu isn't the end of the world, yet the effects of the media coverage of a virus which has killed fewer than 30 people in Mexico will be felt for a long time. Hopefully the next time something like this happens, there will be fewer Chicken Littles to yell that the sky is falling and a greater emphasis on facts instead of science fiction.
Robin Noelle is co-author of the upcoming Moon Puerto Vallarta, 8th edition
http://www.robin-noelle.com/
In the last week, my life in Puerto Vallarta became even more surreal than usual when I started seeing people wearing surgical masks at Costco, while lounging at rooftop pools and strolling along the beach. I marveled as the government began shutting down schools-not just in Mexico City, but locally too; and then bars, clubs and restaurants followed. I was beyond baffled when airlines from Canada cancelled all incoming flights and all cruise lines were diverted from Mexico. How is it possible that none of these people own a map? Witnessing firsthand the effects of hysterical, uninformed media coverage, my sympathies went out immediately to my neighbors and other Vallartenses (citizens of Puerto Vallarta) who would needlessly suffer because of irresponsible journalism and hyperbolic statements from US government officials. Canceling flights and cruise ship dockings in Cancun and Puerto Vallarta because of the flu in Mexico City is akin to closing JFK or LAX because someone in Chicago has a cold. Swine Flu is a flu virus, after all, despite the irresponsible declaration by Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organization that "all of humanity is threatened." Even common flu strains kill approximately 36,000 people per year in the United States.
To this date, there isn't a single confirmed case of swine flu in Puerto Vallarta. Yet panicked people cancelled weddings, honeymoons, anniversaries and vacations because there was an outbreak of an easily treatable virus 550 miles away. The biggest losers are the poor people of Mexico; the people who make their livings as servers, taxi drivers, maids and in other tourism-driven careers. High season was slower than usual this year, thanks in part to overblown coverage of the drug wars. Now cut short, this ensures that there will be even less money during summer, a time when many Mexican families are near starvation already. Next year's high season isn't looking too good right now either. It took years for China to recover from SARS, the last hysteria-fueled super virus that was going to destroy life as we know it...and didn't. It's sad that so many people allowed themselves to be taken in and manipulated by fear, and sadder still that there will be real human suffering as a result.
When you live in Mexico, or visit frequently, you know to take the dire travel warnings issued by the State Department with a handful of salt. As a full-time resident of Mexico, it isn't possible to discuss the recent swine flu outbreak without also addressing the ongoing drug wars. Listening to the media, you'd think severed heads were rolling through towns like tumbleweeds, instead of what is really happening: The police and military are battling it out with drug lords in border towns, far from popular tourism centers.
To put things in perspective, in 2005, 11,346 people were killed by gun violence in the United States and no travel warnings for America were issued vs. the roughly 2,100 people killed by Mexico's drug war in the last two years, the majority of those being police, military and drug dealers, not bystanders or tourists. Despite what the media wants you to think, the crime rates for cities like Puerto Vallarta and Cancun are far less than an American city of the same size. I feel safer in my Mexican neighborhood than I ever did living in the US and that includes feeling safe from disease.
Likewise with the swine flu; the only real repercussion I've experienced has been diminished lines at the bank and a better parking spot. Although parts of Mexico can be rustic, it is not a third-world country. There's modern medical care. There are hospitals and health services. It doesn't seem to matter to the media that the Mexican government was the first to identify the flu strain and worked quickly and effectively to contain the virus.
Now it turns out that swine flu isn't the end of the world, yet the effects of the media coverage of a virus which has killed fewer than 30 people in Mexico will be felt for a long time. Hopefully the next time something like this happens, there will be fewer Chicken Littles to yell that the sky is falling and a greater emphasis on facts instead of science fiction.
Robin Noelle is co-author of the upcoming Moon Puerto Vallarta, 8th edition
http://www.robin-noelle.com/
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