In an effective work-life balance system, the period spanning Thursday through Sunday is considered especially auspicious. In the city of Puerto Vallarta, dedicated individuals who investigate these good times on a weekly basis are members of an elite squad known as Local Lifestyle Scouts. These are their stories.
Thursday, Oct 17, 2019
This weekend shifted into gear at the weekly #WeLovePV staff meeting, as usual over frosty bottles and tall shots over at our semi-official field office over at Bar La Playa (Lázaro Cárdenas 179, Zona Romántica).
Darren had some good news, our resident tech man announcing our “People of Vallarta” interview series would get a substantial upgrade through our brand new sound system–now I only have to talk too loud when the subject matter calls for it–and as for Charlotte, I finally responded to her throwing down the gauntlet on budget savvy partiers like myself with her 300 peso (~15 USD) challenge…look out for my angle on PV’s cheap thrills in the coming days.
Friday, Oct 18, 2019
The next afternoon, I had the pride and the privilege of presiding over a momentous occasion: the first anniversary of the weekly Not-Working Lunch featuring the crew from Vallarta CoWork (Morelos 101, Centro)!
It may not sound like much, but our Friday afternoon meetups are consistently some of my favorite hours of the week. CoWork regularly hosts visitors and freelancers from around the world, so we’ve never landed with the same group twice in the 50something weeks I’ve been heading up this whole to-do. People from all walks of life in the city’s best lunch spots, how can you lose?
As you can see in this week’s cover photo, we had a hell of a turnout at La Tostaderia (Iturbide 236, Proyecto escola, Centro) for our anniversary …we even got a few folks from the #WeLovePV community in on the act, which is great…please feel free to drop in on us any week, follow the Vallarta CoWork Events page for our venue of the week.
Saturday, Oct 19, 2019
The standard Western weekend began with assistant Nicky dragging me out of bed early in the morning to visit the outdoor market along the Libramiento, just outside the doors of DIF.Puerto Vallarta.
There was a lot to see, the typical offerings of everything that have defined flea markets since Jesus shopped them for sandals, but the most interesting experience I had during my browsing session is when some shopkeep tried to totally rip me the price of a vintage “Pistol” Pete Maravich jersey I improbably found floating around in some collection of clothes.
I walked away on hearing the initial offer, but it’s part of the long game…believe you me, that jersey will be there when I want it, and I will pay only what I want to pay. Mama Freeman spent my entire childhood preparing me for bazaar circumstances such as these.
After swinging by the debut of the reborn PONO (née MaiKai Poke Bowls) to wish owner Miranda the best of luck in her future endeavors, I headed over to the outlaw edge of Los Muertos Beach where–hmm, how can I put this delicately–it makes perfect sense for local vendors to have recently constructed seafood grills to compliment the most common recreational needs.
Stretched out under the coastal Sun, pescado embarazada in hand, I delightedly perused through “The Penguin History of Europe”–I checked it out at Biblioteca Los Mangos (Av. Francisco Villa 1001, Las Gaviotas) and would strongly recommend it–while working my way through a 4-pack I picked up at a Kwik-E-Mart on the way. Not a bad way to kill a few hours.
Once the night air rolled in over the Sierra Madre, it was time to hit the Hostal Spot (Allende 120, Malecon) for the evening’s main event. This place in particular had gained a well-earned reputation as a primetime place to party; a reputation to which I can personally attest.
A birthday party was the pretext for festivities this time around, and since I knew we were going to be on the scene for a few hours, I claimed the best spot on the comfortable couch off the edge of the dance floor, parking a beer in the spot on the table nearest my perch as an absolutely impenetrable security measure.
As the name might suggest, in addition to a lineup of live DJs and lifestyle scout expense account-friendly prices on drinks the Hostal Spot also offers accommodations for backpackers and partiers passing through town in the upstairs area, and it was here that we all gathered ‘round the peace pipe to form covenants between old friends and new.
Once the enhanced discourse wound down and I had recorded clever euphemisms in my notebook to describe all of the evening’s activities, it was time to catch last call at the onsite grill, which thankfully turns out tacos to the munchie-susceptible until 1am. I followed procedure by ordering up the house special, a huge steak quesadilla that arrived at the spot I had so smartly saved for myself hours ago decked out with garlic mushrooms and other kingly accoutrement.
Fueled up in most satisfying fashion, I had all the energy I needed to keep pace with the party and the beats shook the streets for a few hours more.Before leaving for the evening, we communed in expanded consciousness with fellow partygoers once more, leaving the building that night feeling quite ecstatic indeed.
It is perhaps for this reason that I failed to record the name of the street stand across from Ley at which we collected a couple of massive cheeseburgers to help keep us rolling into the sunrise. Then again, a lot of places don’t really have names around these parts so it might not be my fault at all. In fact, this is what I choose to believe (pending further investigation).
Sunday, Oct 20, 2019
I got to bed around 8 Sunday morning, so it shouldn’t really surprise anyone that I didn’t do much more productive on this last day of my weekend than drift in and out of naps, summon Uber Eats, and try to piece together events for this colorful chronicle. What do you want from me, I have to start meeting deadlines first thing Monday morning…it’s the other side of what I do, but hey, if you care you can check a little of that out on my personal page.
