At this moment, an official delegation from Vallarta, which includes our mayor, is in Europe convincing people to come and spend money here. On the one hand it’s to be applauded, since we depend on tourist dollars for the lion’s share of our income. On the other hand, because we’re supported financially by people expecting Vallarta to be the best option in a world of attractive ones, shouldn’t we first devote our attention to making sure it is?

Far too many roadblocks – both literal and figurative – have been permitted, even condoned, by City Hall. Now, adding insult to injury, it, too, is getting in on the short-sighted high-stakes game of cat and mouse with tourists. In cahoots with the state government, it is blocking the vehicles of authorized tourist transporters to check the validity of their documents – costing our guests precious vacation time and frightening and inconveniencing them in the process. How much fun is that? Can’t the authorities come up with a less obtrusive way to achieve their objectives? And what about word of mouth being the most effective form of advertising? Perhaps they’re oblivious to the most vital part of that truism: What is being said is what matters.

Everyone who thrives here for any length of time has truly come to love this place, warts and all. Yet we worry that not everyone who comes here will be willing to look beneath the surface to Vallarta’s radiant core.

Whenever I ask people what they find most helpful and interesting in our local English-language press, almost without exception they say the letters to the editor. It makes sense. This forum for opinions, comments and questions is one of the few ways we “gringo” expats have of sharing our common cultural perceptions and inherent values and beliefs – which, as time goes by, I realize more and more can vary wildly from those of our host country. That’s neither good nor bad, just the way it is. So it’s comforting to have a vehicle for voicing our confusion about our chosen environment. Heck, most of us don’t even completely understand ourselves, let alone a world we weren’t born into.

So, my hope is that this column matures into a respectful dialogue about the day-to-day stuff here, which is really about universal issues. If you have no ax to grind, only awareness to sharpen, this is a forum for sharing what matters to you.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions about what you’re reading, you’re encouraged to let me know at heather@mexmags.com.