|
This may sound funny with Christmas fast approaching, but for me the dust is now settling, Puerto Vallarta’s November film and gourmet festivals over until next year. What a blur of activity it’s been, fabulous films, food and libations just the half of it, all kinds of cultural events, especially musical, on their itineraries.
Increasingly, Vallarta’s coming of age when it comes to theater, too. It seems to me a big part of the credit for that goes to Kathleen Hennan, director of Spotlight Productions, our first and most consistent English-language theater company. With incredible commitment and passion, she and her talented troupe provide the kind of quality entertainment that can even encourage people to move here! A friend of mine told me that before she and her husband decided where they would retire, one of the criteria they used was, “Is there an active theater community?” And because there’s certainly one here, they are now a real asset to this town, both doing lots of volunteer work and she having a blast as an amateur actress!
What really thrills me is that Spotlight has just given Vallarta its first chamber orchestra! Unveiled at its fundraising event this month kicking off the theater season, 13 well-known local faces including Hennan herself and Vallarta musical mainstay d’Rachel played absolutely beautiful classical music together. When do they find the time to practice, never mind learn the instruments, almost all hard-working actors, singers and-or dancers in the theater company! By the time their first historic concert takes place in March, Hennan says the orchestra should be up to 20 multitalented members.
Remember I told you in October about 700 cats being conscripted to eradicate half a million rats in a Mexican village? Well happily, animal rights activists put the kibosh on that, but plagued townspeople continue desperately searching for solutions one elderly gent doing his best to help by paying his own expenses to get there from the States and then luring the nuisances with molasses-filled drums. Now if it should work, that’s one sticky mess I doubt anyone will mind!
I couldn’t be happier to report that 94 of the furry guys here in Vallarta have better lives today and thousands won’t be born to lives of misery thanks to local animal protection group the Friends of the Animals, dozens of volunteers and Canadian vets Drs. Joe Waldman and Karen Hill, who “fixed” 29 dogs and 61 cats at a spay-neuter clinic this month and gave four of man’s best friends consultations.
I hope we all start paying a little more attention to protecting the whales in our bay, too. Arriving a month or so ago to breed in our “nursery,” as they do every year from November through March, they’re going to start getting a lot more attention as of today, the beginning of the official whale-watching season. By law, all boats are to stay a minimum of 30 meters away, which isn’t even a hundred feet. But time and time again, tour operators and boaters risk these marvelous creatures by closing in almost on top of them, and then mindlessly oohing and aahing about how wonderful they are! Sometimes I wonder if they don’t subconsciously equate larger-than-life size with some kind of superior ability to survive. Would it were so! These marine mammals are every bit as finite as we are, their calves especially vulnerable to the jarring vibrations of engines and loud music not to mention propellers.
If you have any comments, questions or suggestions about what you’re reading, you’re encouraged to let me know at heather@mexmags.com.
|
