For the past year or so we have enjoyed being able to stroll a walkway along the ocean for about double the distance the popular Malecon itself afforded us — all the way from the Hotel Rosita to La Palapa on Los Muertos Beach, thanks to our new pedestrian bridge and Malecon extension. However, one 400-meter section of this link, from the south end of the bridge to Lazaro Cardenas Park, remains unfinished. And the director of public works, Remberto Quintero, announced this week that work will begin on what he calls the " Malecon Romantico" no later than the second week of June, with completion scheduled for next December. The park itself is slated for conversion to a parking lot and plaza about the same time, although ecologists have not given up their fight to save it.