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•  Brilliant performances during the Festival of the Arts Cuban songwriter Niurka Curbelo cut the official ribbon of the Festival this past Friday, Nov. 3rd. She then performed for the large crowd, while the scent of marigolds was still in the air from the Altar de Muertos, emiting from the corridors of neighboring City Hall. The previous night the People's Choir delighted the audience during Camino Real's November cultural Thursday. Then came the Art Auction and the Greek Festival held at the Premiere Buenaventura Hotel this past Sat.& Sun. 4th and 5th, ending with a delicious Greek Buffet. Westin Regina hotel held a select and well-attended classical music concert for guitar (Sergio Medina) and orchestra on Monday, Nov. 6th. More music to everyone's delight was played by Volta’ (Renaissance music) on Wednesday, the 8th and a vivacious performance of percussion by Mangazza’ on Thursday 9th. The working week ends this Friday 10th with Latin Rock music played by Ritmo Peligroso’ at Los Arcos open-air amphitheater on the boardwalk. For more information link the Events Calendar

•  The VI Annual Gourmet Festival Official Opening This past Thursday, November 9th, the VI Gourmet Festival was officially inaugurated with a cocktail party held at the central patio of the City Hall. Organizers, local authorities, friends and clientele of the twenty participating restaurants attended the event. The occasion served also as an introduction to the guest chefs who will prepare their special menus for the festival: Jérome Geulin & Franck Monier (Café des Artistes), Kurt Gutenbrunner & Anthoni Acinapura (Trio), Hnoi Lattitham (Daiquiri Dick’s), Enrique Gutiérrez (Coco Tropical), Gerardo Dattwyler & María Luisa Sottovia (Abadía Bassó), Gianni Borghini (Porto Bello), Frederic Lejeune (The River Café), Peter Hafeli (Chef Roger), Giuseppe Zullo (La Nube), Erick de Maeyer (La Perla), Giovanni Denigris (Andrea), Briggie Alegre (Garibaldi’s), Eak Prukpitikul (Mikado), Eduardo Gonzalo & Ramiro Viera (El Candil), Raymond Beck Jean Marie (The Sets of The Night of the Iguana), Wolfgang (Four Seasons), Rudy García (La Palapa), Lucien N. Vendome (Avanzaré) and last but not least, Francisco Reyes (Bogart's). Patrons were invited to join in all the activities programmed such as the wine seminar, lunch and wine tasting at private villas, an art exhibition organized by Galerie des Artistes and, to end with a flourish, the Chefs Stars and Moonlight Gala Dinner on the night of November 16th. For more information follow this link.

•  Award for U.S. Consulate in Puerto Vallarta U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Jeffrey Davidow, gave the Meritorious Honor Award for excellence in service to Puerto Vallarta's U.S. Consulate Kelly Trainor. We cannot do otherwise but congratulate her for having achieved such recognition for her work.

•  Claudia Nery and Daniel Rueffert: first artists of the season Guadalajara artist Claudia Nery surprised attendants with her art opening at Garibaldi's restaurant at the Westin Regina hotel, instead of her usual season show at Galería Vallarta. Nevertheless, still under G. Vallarta's patronage, her works remain in her mystic pre-Columbian style and can be admired (and purchased) at the restaurant itself. As for Galería Uno, it awakes to the season with freshly varnished tile floors and the precious works signed by Daniel Rueffert. This time his Mexican landscapes are more intimate, using water (ponds, lakes) as a twisted reflection of reality.

•  City Mayor Elections Next Sunday, Nov. 12th is election day in Jalisco, when the charro State will choose a Governor for the following six years. The two main contenders are Francisco "Paco" Ramírez of the National Action Party (PAN) and Jorge Arana Arana of the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI). Puerto Vallarta will also be electing a new Mayor for the next three years. There are only two sides in this battle for votes, the conservative right-winged PAN and the PRI. As for candidates of both parties, Pedro Ruiz Higuera stands for the first one and for the latter, newspaper mogul (Vallarta Opina, Vallarta Today) Luis Reyes Brambila. After the surprise death of the original candidate of PAN, Rodolfo Domínguez Valle, who seemed to have the majority of ballots in his pocket, rumour has it that Reyes Brambila may very likely win this Sunday's election.

•  Two important international Billfish tournaments Puerto Vallarta is once again chosen as the ultimate Sport Fishing destination with two main events. The first one is the 45th annual Jubilee Fishing Tournament 2000’ organized by the Puerto Vallarta Fishing Club that will take place on November 16, 17 and 18. The second event is the World Billfish Grand Championship starting on Thursday, November 30th through Sunday, December 3rd. The latter will be aired on TV via Captain Norm Isaac's ESPN Big Game Fishing, as well as a live transmission over the Internet.

•   Hotel & Motel Association new president Fernando García Rossete, general manager of Holiday Inn, was elected president by members of the H&M association with 57 votes against 17 against his only opponent Dennis Whitelaw, director of Marriott Casa Magna, During his first statements as president, García Rossette talked about the lack of international flights, a situation that he considered ‰dramatic´ since 1997. Working hard on this issue will be one of his main purposes as well as keeping the unity and expansion of the H&MA since there are 100 hotels and only 52 are presently members. His working team includes René Macín (Camino Real) as treasurer, Erick Vanderkei (Presidente Intercontinental) as vice-president and Ernesto Guzmán (Fiesta Americana). García Rossette and his new team will take on duties December 1st, a traditional date for changes.

•   America West is already flying high America West Airlines is already increasing their pace as the high season begins. Besides their weekly regular flights, two more have been added on Saturday. Betty Fuentes, manager of the airline in the region, informed that operations started two weeks before initial planning due to anticipated bookings from clients. She said this is a clear sign that this will be a very good season, with all arrivals and departures to their full capacity. In January there will be two daily flights and three on Saturdays. After April 30, when the season slows down, America West will maintain two regular daily planes.

•   Welcome Whales! The shores of beautiful Bahía de Banderas host some of the world´s most spectacular creatures: the humpback whales. Each year at this time, these cetaceans abandon the cold waters of the north and descend to the warmth of the Pacific Ocean to mate and give birth. From November through April our shores are converted into their courtship playground to our amazement, regaling us with their acrobatics and aquatic ballet. The first to leave the bay will be the recently impregnated females, followed by the young and later by the mature adults. Last to leave will be the mothers with their newborn calves, conceived the year before.

•   La Jolla de Mismaloya opens its Convention Center La Jolla de Mismaloya hotel started activities in its recently built Convention Center. A seminar held by the Oregon Lawyers Bureau, with the participation of 350 professionals, was the opening event. Santiago Gutiérrez, general manager of the hotel, said that the official inauguration would take place by the end of November or beginning of December, with special guests from Mexico City, basically journalists and organizers of conventions. This represents a good option facing the delayed construction project of a municipal Convention Center.

•  Three new piers under construction Three new piers are under construction in Yelapa, Quimixto and the Cajón de Peñas dam in the municipality of Tomatlán. Resources to finance this project come from the Board of Tourism and City Hall who have contributed with 500,000 pesos each, plus the participation of several tour operators working within these areas. Works in Yelapa must be finished before the new municipal administration takes office. Later on, they will continue in Quimixto and the Cajón de Peñas dam. The main reason for the construction of these piers is to make easier the loading and unloading of passengers that arrive by boat to these locations.

•   Talking about the third dimension Oops! We did it again! (and we are not talking about Miss Britney Spears last album). Our apologies to Joe and Claire Guarniere from Galleria Dante, the one and only art gallery in town devoted to three-dimensional art. In our last edition we failed to mention that they are back on the track in their newly remodeled space. You are invited to visit their beautiful sculpture garden and view works by Jonás Gutiérrez and his famous ‰fools on the hill´, Luis Espiridión and his looney charming characters, the stylished figures of Francisco Quintero, the winding cetaceans signed by Octavio González (now magnified at the entrance of Marina Vallarta), Guillermo Gómez, Gabriel Colunga,Víctor Salmones, Lizette Aguilar, Agustín Alfaro, Víctor Manuel Villarreal and Adrián Reynoso among others. Also, a new twist has been added since they are now including paintings. Not to be missed are exhibitions held selected Saturday evenings from November through April. Galleria Dante is located on 269 Basilio Badillo.

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