Best of Vallarta 2004
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BEST Benefactor:
PETER GRAY
We're fortunate ­ and it's a compliment to Puerto Vallarta ­ that this self-effacing Brit, who held an impressive job as Latin America's marketing director for Proctor & Gamble overseeing operations in 15 countries, chose to retire here. Calling his career "a 40-year distraction" from what he really wanted to do, he digested his professional experiences in his first book, "Advertising and the Ignorant Savage," written in 1977. Now his time and considerable talents are focused on ensuring that Vallarta's youth, its hope for tomorrow, lead productive, culture-filled lives. A Renaissance man, he paints and writes beautifully, all the proceeds from his works going to benefit our community. The Becas scholarship fund and the Coastal University Center (CUC) have both sold his labors of love to raise funds, his 2002 book, "All Is Safely Gathered In," being "a recollection in tranquility of the English country life I lived in my more formative years." Preferring to work behind the scenes, he volunteers with international golf tournaments and the Toys for Tots program, raises scholarship money for bright needy youth, helps with Navy League charitable projects, represents his Conchas Chinas neighbors at City Hall, writes local newspaper and magazine articles and even managed to create a permanent art gallery at CUC, which was named after him. It wasn't his idea, but as soon as getting wind of it he came up with a specific plan to make it happen. And if you know Vallarta, you know how refreshing that is. Demonstrating commitment, he donated 17 paintings from his personal collection as the basis for an ongoing collection, now numbering around 30 valuable pieces thanks to the contributions of others. He calls on every artist working or exhibiting in Puerto Vallarta to contribute and asks private collectors to give some thought to letting thousands of students enjoy a work rather than keep it to themselves. His fervent belief is that each person can make a difference, and he credits his Mexican wife, Buri, with teaching him that "love and generosity should be shared without restraint."


BEST Home Tour:
INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP CLUB
The number of people taking the twice-weekly, 2-1/2 hour IFC Private Home Tour of Vallarta’s most beautiful homes is up nearly 50% over last year.
Manned by more than four-dozen volunteers, all of the proceeds from the $30 USD tour go to charitable programs, like cleft palate surgeries and distributing school supplies.
From mid-November through April, an average 100 people per tour take advantage of this fun and easy way to peek behind the scenes and discover Vallarta’s different areas and architectural styles.

BEST Return to the Malecon:
LA ROTONDA DEL MAR
The Malecon simply didn’t have its usual oomph and pizzazz without Alejandro Colunga’s fantastical chairs, now back at the foot of Aldama after being uprooted by Hurricane Kenna and requiring extensive repairs.
This intriguingly zany sculpture garden, so distinctive it became a landmark across from Las Palomas in just five years, always gives a chuckle. It’s great fun watching people relate tactilely to its sleek creatures-as-seats – tweaking their noses, pulling their ears, and then sitting on them to have their pictures taken. Positioned slightly differently now than they were before, some of the installation’s sculptures face inland and others out to sea.









COOLEST Timeshare Booth:
EL FARO
This oft-photographed Marina Vallarta landmark is certainly not your run-of-the-mill timeshare booth, but it sure makes a good one! A pretty lighthouse right in the middle of the marina, people have always paused to check it out. And now when they do, they see signs referring to it as the “Art, Sights and Sounds of the Vallarta Experience” and lots of knick-knacks, tourists drawn like moths to its strong Mexican flavor. Up top remains a popular bar for sunset watching, one of the best vantage points in Marina Vallarta for scoping out the territory.