My 4 year Project "Dad's Escape from Poland" is Published

I have felt for some time that my Dad's life is certainly a story worth being told.  Although it may only serve as a history of our family, I felt it should be told for our family and future generations.  After working for 4 years on this book, I realized that my Dad and I really led parallel lives. While together at times, we also were apart at the same time.  When my search was concluded for collecting data, facts, and historical references, I would also travel back to Poland to explore my Dad's past history.   This story is non-fiction and all facts are true and based on historical documentation as well as on recollections from many individuals involved in this book.
It is now available for download for Kindle on www.amazon.com and in a paperback version at www.amazon.com.  Thanks!

Sunday Morning Walk, Run, Bike Update #3

Another Sunday and another change to the Sunday morning walk, bike, run, and skate Recreactiva event!  Today we were back on Medina Ascencio which is the main road leading from Centro and this time we have a even longer area to bike. It has been extended all the way to the Krystal Hotel about 1/2 km further than before.  This makes the one way route about 3 km, so 6 km round trip.  This is much nicer as now you can veer off and pick up the path along the Pittial River and go up river all the way along the dirt then nicely  pathways inside Fluvial and join up at Francisco Villa.
I am excited about this new route and hope that it stays that way for the duration.  Remember the street closure begins at 8am and lasts until 1pm only on Sunday mornings.   Get out and use it, so that we can show our support and it will become a permanent addition to Puerto Vallarta!

Les Violons du Roy Concert

Last night was another wonderful night at Teatro Vallarta with the presentation of the Canadian group Les Violons du Roy.   With a small group of strings consisting of 9 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos, 1 bass and a harpsichord thrown in for good measure, the almost completely sold out event was not to be missed!   As part of the May Cultural Festival held here in Puerto Vallarta this must have been the highlight of the month long celebration that has sponsored all types of cultural events all around Puerto Vallarta.
The first half of the concert was dedicated to the classics like Vivaldi's Four Seasons Symphony with each movement presented by a separate violinist solo.  The second half of the concert was a more modern piece by Piazzolia also entitled the 'Four Seasons'.   Excellent performance by all and it was amazing to watch such a small group pull off what normally one hears from an entire symphony.  The natural non-amplified sound carried throughout the theater just perfectly. The conductor Eric Paetkau did an excellent job of leading the group and keeping everyone on tempo.
The group has been touring Mexico and were headed to Mexico City the next day.   Great Job Puerto Vallarta Cultural Festival organizers!!

Puerto Vallarta Men's Chorus Fundraiser

This past Monday No Way Jose Restaurant was the host to the first benefit to raise funds for the newly formed Puerto Vallarta Men's Chorus.  It was a great evening and plenty of donations came in so that the Teatro Vallarta was now able to be reserved performing their first ever show in December 2012. Based upon what we saw that evening, it will be a fantastic show!
The entire restaurant was sold out and the special limited menu donated 25 pesos per entree and 10 pesos per drink to the organization.  Then a raffle was held for about 25 more donated prizes and since it was Jose the owners birthday, a 50 pesos donated cupcake could be purchased.   The evening opened with about 12 of the chorus members singing a tune which was followed by 3 soloists that really demonstrated the abilities of the members.  Wow!  By the end of the evening well over 25,000 pesos was raised.  This just happened to be the amount that the theater required as a deposit for the event in December.
If this was any indication of the beginning by Joyce Ericson and Robert Bruneau just a short 2 months ago, this will not only be the first Gay Men's Chorus in Latin America, it will be one of the best around the world.  Tune in their website www.pvmenschorus.org to keep informed about the upcoming events and probably more fundraisers.   This will not be a group to be missed!  With already 40 members auditioned and ready to go, the chorus is certainly still looking for members.  Do you have a singing voice that you wish to share?  Then join the Puerto Vallarta Men's Chorus and I look forward to seeing you at their first performance in December!

Sunday Morning Bike/Walk/Run Update #2

Seems that the Sunday morning closing of Medina Ascencio for the Recreactiva Events has been changed!  Not sure why.....maybe too much police required to make it work, not enough interest to make it worthwhile, political, etc.?  Who knows but do not despair, it is not gone!  They have simply shortened it substantially and is now located on Francisco Villa from Libremiento to the Stadium those short 5 blocks.  Hope is that it will continue to extend all the way to Pitillal, but who knows if that would happen.   It would be great if it did, because you can connect to the newly renovated path along the Pitillal River and then connect into Fluvial.....now that would be an awesome path.
So now meanwhile we have to deal with the new shortened route, but the good news is that the sidewalk renovations are 95% complete on the ocean side of the main road leading into downtown Puerto Vallarta.  This means that you can join up from the Reactiva area all the way to the Malecon and beyond.  I began riding that route and the new sidewalks on the ocean side (west) are very wide.  I believe the intention of the renovation was to create a bike path along the street edge as that 4 feet of the sidewalk is smooth concrete with ramps at each block.  The rest of the sidewalk is more cobblestone and has planters interspersed.  As long as the walkers can understand the purpose of that portion of the sidewalk you can ride quite nicely.  The ride along the Malecon allows you to go all the way to Daiquiri Dicks before things tighten up and it is not worth the fight with pedestrian traffic beyond there.   But they are finishing the renovations all the way up to Rodolfo Gomez, so maybe the wider sidewalk will work?  I will update you as I try it out!  Ride safe!

La Lancha Surfing Beach

After traveling most weekends all the way over to my favorite beach at Careyeros, I decided to check out the beach at La Lancha.  I had noticed in passing there were always about a dozen cars parked along the Punta Mita Highway at this location.  Wondering where these surfers were going and why had always intrigued me.  So yesterday I made the stop and explored the area myself.  There is severely restricted access to this beach as you have to sign in with a private security guard and you cannot gain access without a surf or boogie board.  I am thinking why is this so restricted, except that this must be private property along the highway.  But all beaches in Mexico are accessible to the public, so the property owners must just be trying to make things as difficult as possible?  We were we also informed that umbrellas, coolers, and chairs are not allowed!  What??
Since we already had our arms loaded with the beach equipment, he was kind enough to allow us to gain access with of it.  Then the walk is about 500 meters to beach along a dirt road, not difficult but a bit long.  We arrive at the beach and quickly see there a numerous surfers here and looking out into the water you could see what this beach is a favorite!   The waves roll out pretty far and allow you to ride the waves almost to shore.  But these seemed to surfer waves and I could never really catch a good boogie board wave, so unless you paddle way out I would not recommend it.
The beach is accessible  to the left quite a distance down until you end up into the area of another private home development and they seemed to have made things difficult for you to walk any further.   Great place to surf and watch surfers, but probably not a great beach to hang out and drink beers all day!

Sunday Morning Bike/Walk/Run on the Main Road in Puerto Vallarta

A little while ago, on February 12th, the City of Puerto Vallarta began to close the main road Medina Ascencio Blvd from the turn off to Centro (near the Main Sports Stadium) all the way to the entrance to Fluvial so that citizens and visitors can enjoy walking, running, jogging, or bike riding.  Today was my first day to ride the new open road area.  The traffic is re-routed along the laterals and the center is open to ride, walk, skip, jump, jog, run, sit, skate, and anything else you wish to do!  The road is closed to traffic every Sunday from 8am-1pm, and the route is 2.5km each way so a round trip is about 5km, perfect for that warm-up to run a 5km race if you are so inclined to do some day.
Modeled after the same program in Guadalajara and since last year in the Marina area, it is great to see the same thing happen in Puerto Vallarta.  Maybe one day it will be expanded and the route will be lengthened? I hope that one day bicycle lanes can be added to the roads around Puerto Vallarta as is so common in the USA, but these things always take time and the support of the community.  As the sidewalks are being replaced around the area, I see that small ramps are being installed not only for bicyclists, but for the handicapped as well.
I am sure part of that will be dependent on the number of people using the route, so get out there and enjoy it!!!