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Vallarta’s Virtual Side by Gabriel Rodriguez-Nava winter-spring/2000 This high season opened with the sprawling of new cybercafés all over town, while the pioneers in the business took advantage of the low season to remodel, expand and specialize in their services. Two years ago cybercafés in Vallarta could be counted with one hand; today, it seems not even adding our toes would do. This has resulted in a wide variety of services catering to different people. While some offer free coffee with your net-surf, others go all the way to food and drinks; some of them are perfect for a quick e-mail check up and others provide some tutoring as well as office services during flexible hours. What is it that attracts people to these places? It would seem that the last thing a vacationer would want to stare at is a computer monitor; and yet the way tourists flow into cybercafés for their daily cyber fix contradicts this belief. Some go as far as to say that the need to surf the Net can develop into an addiction (actually, there are already clinics that treat people who suffer from withdrawal symptoms when away from their web browsers. Check, for example, the Center for On-Line Addiction at www3.pitt.edu/ksy). At any rate, addictive or not, the fact is that even while on vacations, we’re always looking for ways to stay in touch with those we care for. In a sense, email has resurrected the art of letter writing, while it has become a powerful excuse to stop and reflect for a few minutes about the things currently going on in our lives, just before hitting that “send” button. People are also developing virtual communities on their desktops, and may feel compelled to keep them alive even while (virtually) away with the digital versions of a postcard. Liam, 33, is a “frequent surfer” at one of Vallarta’s first cybercafés. “I come here at least four or five times a week; I have a beer, I brag about life in paradise with my friends back in Holland and then I stick around and meet people, all in the same place.” This is another strong factor that attracts people to cybercafés: they combine “virtual” and “real” meeting places. Lila, a local after 15 years living in Vallarta, illustrates the point clearly: “I have Internet access at work, but I’d rather come to one of these places to check my personal mail. I enjoy it more and I bump into people here all the time”. The attention received at these places is also essential to those still new to the technology. Clancy, an American senior citizen who spends winter in Vallarta, says she goes to her favorite café because “they treat me like a queen. Plus, the people there are patient when it comes to teaching me how to use the Net. Now I can keep in touch with my daughters in the US and even with my friends in Vallarta, as I don’t have a telephone home!” Finally, the coming up of Vallarta-specific websites is also a major reason for people to sacrifice a couple of minutes at the beach to invest them in finding out about the hottest events and places to be at. Vallarta Lifestyles has been for 10 years dedicated to helping our visitors enjoy Puerto Vallarta to its fullest, and now we’re also doing it on-line, with two sites oriented at aiding both visitors and residents. If you live here, or just want to check out the local scene, then you may want to point your browser to www.portalvallarta.com. There you’ll find from world news to chat rooms, hot deals in real estate, classifieds, free mail, a phone directory and much more. In any case, let us know what else you need, what would you like to see and what you wouldn’t. Send us an email telling us how we can serve you better at revistas@mexmags.com

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