PARTNERS IN ADVENTURE AND ENTERPRISE
By Pamela McDermid

Entrepreneurs who are partners in life as well as in business operate many of the new enterprises in the rapidly expanding area north of Puerto Vallarta. Some are local residents, some are migrants from other parts of Mexico and abroad, and some have reached Bahia de Banderas by interesting paths. New ideas and energy have been skillfully combined with existing resources and opportunities to expand the diversity of the business community.

Their endeavors range from high-tech businesses to craft and artisan shops and everything imaginable in between. The common denominator is the choice of their life partners as business partners. They are in their adventures together with other family members often included as well.

After years of training and a decade of experience as a chef, caterer and owner of paté production and exporting companies in France, Gilles LeFort set sail on the 50-foot ketch 'Flamenco' in search of new vistas. He arrived in Ensenda in 1983, and during his 18 years there was a chef, restaurant consultant, teacher, and founder of the Wine Society of Baja California. During that time, he also met Margarita Beltran from Mexico City, who was visiting family in Ensenada.

Margarita, an industrial engineer with a Master's degree in finance, was on sabbatical from her position in Mexico City and considering options for herself and her daughters, Anette and Daniele. Gilles and Margarita married, and in 1999 began to explore other areas of Mexico to establish a new business: a school of fine cuisine. They chose Bucerias, and moved there in January of 2000 with their expanded family (Michelle was born in 1998). Ecole Lefort opened in July of 2000. Its cellar boasts nearly 4,000 bottles of Mexican and French wine, racked and in reserve. There is on-site luxury accommodation; gourmet evenings or weekends include time in the kitchen-class room and dinner with Margarita and Gilles.

Aruna Piroshki and Wayland Combe-Wright also reached the bay by boat; one that they had built! After stops in Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, they arrived in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle in 1990 with their young daughter Kaerolika. The village has become home for them and for the spinning wheel project. Wayland created a spinning wheel, which can be dismantled and set up, and he and Aruna have established a program of training in its use with Huichol spinners in the mountains. The wheel increases the production of yarn for use in the unique 'double cloth,' woven by the Huichols.

In order to fund this project, Aruna and Wayland began to screen print and sell T-shirts displaying traditional Huichol designs. Hikuri Impresiones has now expanded to include a café, the Octopus' Garden, a shop selling the work of indigenous artisans, a fine carpentry shop and an outlet for Oaxacan hand-made rugs. Kaerolika, raised and educated in La Cruz, is a graduate of CETMAR and a gold medal winner in mathematics. She now is in charge of the craft and artisan shop.

What do a football-playing travel agent from Manchester and a young Bucerian woman have in common? In the case of Jeff Rafferty and Rubi Magaña there are two things: Café Magaña and their daughter Lesley Zafira. Jeff first came to Bucerias on a holiday to visit friends and returned in late 1994 to start up a soccer school. By the following summer, that venture had become a small, take-out restaurant in the center of town. Rubi and Jeff met when she came to work for him.

The restaurant expanded and changed locations; it is now a restaurant and sports bar featuring extensive football coverage and a combination of English and Mexican dishes. A mini-golf course – Bucerias' first – is in the works. The couple's relationship also grew and they were married in 1998. The restaurant is a full-time occupation for both of them, with Jeff being the hands-on owner/operator and Rubi being involved on the administrative side and with raising Lesley.

On the other side of town, Gabriela Mendoza and Daniel Muller are completing the first year of operation of World Chat Internet Café. Originally from Mexico City and Solthurn, Switzerland, respectively, they met when they joined the international student group "Up With People" in 1994. They traveled as part of this community service and musical group for a year, visiting Canada, the U.S.A. and northern Europe. They each returned to their home countries and after many hours of expensive, long distance phone chat, the couple became engaged and were married in Switzerland in 1996. Maybe those phone calls gave them the idea for the net café.

With Daniel's degree in electronic engineering and Gabriela's in computer and business management, they had skills that were in high demand in Europe and they worked in Switzerland for four years. They were interested, however, in new experiences and an exploration of business opportunities brought them to Bucerias to establish World Chat. The café is truly international, operating in five languages and attracting clients from around the world. Services include web pages, technical services for computers, e-mail and internet connections and a full-service café.

Right across the street from World Chat, visitors will find Barbara and Rex Morrison at home in Orcas on the Beach restaurant. Retiring to Mexico for them has meant a life that is at least as busy as their pre-retirement existence in Canada. After Rex retired from the military, they had operated an ice cream business together and have continued to be business partners.

They had vacationed in Mazatlan, Manzanillo, Acapulco, Cancun and Puerto Vallarta and came to love Vallarta. Before moving south permanently, they spent a few winters here and those visits confirmed their decision. The Morrison's envisioned a small business that would keep them occupied while giving them time to relax and explore the country.

Olde English Fish and Chips in downtown PV was their first venture, which rapidly became very full-time. After nearly five years, they moved north to Bucerias for a real retirement; that lasted less than three years and included time out to set up an ice cream franchise in Guadalajara. Then in 1997, they took the step of opening Orcas.

This retirement venture is a seven-day-a-week one, but they are on the bay and can see their beloved dolphins, whales and orcas from the terrace of the restaurant, which is compensation for the restrictions on their time. And, like all of the others, they are working together with their life partners.