Armando Archila and his paradise tips: 8+ best things to do in Vallarta.

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A picture is worth a thousand words. Have a few seconds of what you would expect to experience in this magical place.

It all started with John Houston directing the movie: The night of the Iguana starring Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr and Sue Lyon. It was the forgotten paradise located in the Mexican side of the Pacific Ocean. The ideal place to find faith, alcoholism, lust and sex. All the miseries and the best of the human existence are shown in this film.

The priest (Richard Burton) leading a group of followers to paradise falls tempted to the beauties of the world.

Ever since many celebrities have come to discover this Eden, some of them are: Elizabeth Taylor... with l casa Kimberly; Eva Longoria, Lady Gaga, Mario Lope<, Gwyneth Paltrow.

Other younger Hollywood stars like Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Lea Michele, Zendaya, Anna Kendrick, Demi Lovato, Jennifer Lawrence, Joe Jonas and others, have chosen the Puerto Vallarta-Riviera Nayarit area as well.

You must be asking yourself: ¿what is it that makes this place so alluring to visit? Well, there is no one thing, it is an accumulation of beautiful beaches, gorgeous sunsets you will never forget, exquisite cuisine, affectionate and peaceful community that also comes along with all kind of water activities, islands, colonial cities nearby, unforgettable night-life, and more. You will want to comeback again and again.

Armando as everybody knows him is a conesseur of the entire Country which saw him be borned. He now resides in Vallarta and lives of showing people the best the region has to offer.

We interviewed him on the best places to visit in Vallarta and areas around. He said, since Vallarta is located on the sea, if he were you, he will never miss the whales sight seeing tours, the dolphins, the catch of the indomitable marlin fish and of course the warmth of the Mexican people. He also pointed to the 10 best things to do and visit while visiting heaven on earth....so you will comeback begging for more. "Vallarta is obsessively unforgetable," Armando said.

Here are the 8 best things to do an visit while staying in Vallarta:

1.-Rooster and Marlin fishing.

You can catch Marlin nearly all year around except for the month of March and April which is scarce; Rooster fishing is good all trhough out the year. You won´t miss on that. Just as some examples, but you will find the best types of fish to catch in this part of the pacific ocean.

2.-Vallarta´s magical pier surrounded by art, handcrafts, mexican cuisine and unforgettable sunsets.

While staying in the city You don´t want to miss a delicious seafood dinner served with avocado dressings and hot stuff. Then for diggestion sake walk around the pier enyoing the sunset and the marvelous sculpture art galery from 20 or so different authors. You won´t regret it creating a never ending postcard in your mind and heart.

You can end up the "soire" with some rounds of the best tequila or mexican beers to sleep like a king.

3.-Whale watching with the majestic humpback whales

Armando will make sure you have the best experience of your life, one never to be forgotten taking you see the whales

4.-Islas Marietas.

Protected site by the mexican government. The only way to get there is by boat. There are no inhabitants in the island. Since the boats are forbiden to dock there. They will take to a certain point where you would have to swimm nearly 20 meters to get the hidden beach. Officially it is not open to the public. The tour are for snorkeling near them. What you have to know: It is a 4 hor trip with only roughly 30 minutes stay near them. So you decide to give it a shot or not.

An experience you trully will never, ever forget. This remote site is almost taken out of a holliwood movie. It´s magical, idilic, surreal. Worth visiting.

5.-Typical mexican home towns by the beach.

You can even find some gogeous virgin beaches on the south side of Vallarta like Yelapa and Colomitos. On the other side small typical mexican home towns by the beach like Bucerías, Sayulita, Punta Mita. Relaxing unpretensious places full of happiness, peace, freedom and joy. What else could you wish for?

6.-Vallarta cafe des artistes.

7.-Visit the town of Tequila in Jalisco

Have son cantaritos (tequila way), drive around the town and learn about the god´s drink process of fermentation and destilation. How it´s made.

Most of the best mexican tequila brands come from this town worth knowing. You can see how the piñas are cut, cooked for 48 hours and watch the ancient maceration of the plant with a huge circular stone. Sugars and aromas stay during the fermentation process on a wooden barrel and destilation on a copper tank.

The differencce between tequila and Mezcal (since both come from the agave plant) has to do with only one specie of plant for the tequila drink (the tequilana Weber or Weber blue agave) the mezcal drink, has to do with nearly 50 other species of the agave plant. Nevertheless the process is practically the same.

8.-Nuevo Vallarta and Riviera Nayrit´s kite surfing, snorkel, wind surfing and diving among other things.

What can be more fun than walking down the beach watching beatifull girls showing off riding their own kites and playing all sort of water sports. Be it single, with a family reunion or just married it´s an enjoyment to your soul and heart.

What a sight!, you have to be here to believe it. Do not wait any longer, book now.

And last but not least, here are some live videos from Vallarta you can check any time you want.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 🇲🇽 (4K UltraHD)

Nuevo Vallarta.

If you are really in to art, check out the every other friday night on high season you can visit the art galleries exposition on the Basilio Badillo road. Music, wine, art to enjoy. Charming mexican feel vibration

My Story as a Writer and my Social Concern for Education in México

My name is Fernando Cortes, I live in the greenest state in Mexico : Veracruz. In the small city of Papantla known internationally by its flying men and the archeological zone “El Tajín” which means: “Thunder city". 

This assignment intends to explain how valuable and connected are the concepts of writing and the social concern for education in society in order to gain welfare and development for the individual and his family.

Meditating on my writer´s autobiography, I finally came to the conclusion that I had nothing to say for a long time. Therefore, I never thought of myself as being a writer or someone who has the eagerness to be a writer. Hence, all of the things I wrote before, were just that: assignments, something I had to do either in the school or in life, but not anymore, not for the past few years.

My father having lived in poverty most of his childhood  and young adulthood did not want me to attend private schools, So that I wouldn´t  aquire a false idea of the reality for millions of children  in Mexico living in poverty. He wanted me to make friends with the real Mexican people, Thus I did not lose foot from the ground and misinterpret life.

Education he said: represents the most important factor in life, "it is the key to success and contributes to your family´s development and economic growth"

Therefore, writing has being like a butterfly metamorphosis, or a germinating seed inside of me. Though it took a while, now I have  a reason to write.

Books have given me identity, radically different from all  cultural and historically accepted  mexican concept. One of my favorites in this regard comes from Octavio Paz (Mexican Nobel Price winner in Literature) "Las Trampas de la Fé", which tells the story of our greatest poetry author from the XVII century: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Her love for knowledge was so dear that she sacrificed herself to become a member of the convent, and educate herself, since there were no other options for children at the time to obtain a formal instruction. Ironically, as a result of this, an uneducated but powerful head of the church, silenced her and condemned her to never read a book again, Therefore exhorting her to resist the evil temptation for knowledge. Indeed condemning science and education as a form of evil origin.

The book "Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe" written by the French-Mexican Scholar: Jacques La Faye, who digs into the origins of the Mexican religious identity and "La Puta de Babilonia" written by the Colombian-Mexican Fernando Vallejo along with Paz´s above mentioned work, have influenced my point of view on Religion.

These works did what they were supposed to do: Inform,Change opinion and influence an action in me.

This is the goal of education per se. This is why the world has been grading the countries wealth by their degree of education (OECD organization) for several years now. Unfortunatelly the recent results of the Mexican evaluation, rises the question ¿Why Mexico´s Educational system has failed  to help its people raise their levels of wealth?

My father had to put up with very awkward situations to earn money and keep going with his studies, My mother once told me, he even played the role of a guinea pig in the university hospital to earn some pesos and go on with his education life. Being one child from a peasant family of 7 in the poor state of Tlaxcala, he was used to not having any money in his pockets or  food in his belly, except for some beans and tortillas every day. He became the only child going to the University, and finally earned the Mechanical Engineer degree that led him to work for the nationalized oil company at that time: PEMEX, In fact, due to his eagerness, honesty and hard work he climbed the ladder of positions to be the head of one of the divisions in his home town.

He saw what education can do for a person, so he expected the best from me.

I finally earned a B.A. degree in International Relations and became  a part of the statistics.

All this time I saw a large number of young people pass by with the same problems: failing career spectations, not working on anything related to what they studied, unemployed or working in the informality system of the economy, and also saw many young people take the wrong step to earn a living  shortening their life span and others by entering the drug business, and  even in a brink of depression have committed suicide to end their misery. (Mexico´s number one reason for suicide deaths is unemployment)

Finally, due to a family tragedy, I had to come back to my home town and thanks to people I know I am working in the oil business again where I live a decent life. Unfortunately most of the people do not have that chance.

It was because of this, that I took the time and effort to learn about the education system, and found out,  how only 25 out of  100 people go to the University level, and  from those who graduate, 6 out of 10 finally do not work or use what they studied. 

61% of the economic active population works in the informality industry (this means: no social service, no health plan, no housing or retirement benefits etc...)

If the American people ever wondered why mexicans risk their life and their children’s life to pursue their dream going to  United States, it´s due to the lack of opportunities here. Minimum wage  is 5 US dollars per day, not per hour. This leaves us with 52-80 million living in poverty (depending on how you measure poverty line).

México´s relation between education and unemployment is positive. This means that the more education someone has, the more chances he or she has of falling into unemployment. The average education level is 9.2 years

I still believe the solution comes with education, but we have much  to do. In fact, there are not enough technical or community colleges where the majority of the people can learn something useful and prosper with in life.

The higher education system has failed to deliver the skills necessary to ear a living. A recent study or research done by CIDAC (a research house) and sponsored by the USAID, came to the conclusion that there is a broad gap between what the market needs of the college graduate and what the universities teach.

Just to give you an example: my home town was once (1920´s and 1930´s) the number one oil producer in Latin America, but the universities here did not teach the oil engineer career until  10 years ago.

The problem is complex and challenging. The future of México is at stake.

Much of the country´s insecurity is due to the lack of opportunities and the despair people feel when their situation has not improved.

Now with a family on my own I began to read, write and talk about the Education problem to whoever wants to listen, Consequently  I am trying to inform, change opinion and persuade to take action, thus becoming a writer with a cause

References:

Is poverty in México on the rise

The lowest performing OECD country: México

OECD.Education at a Glance: México

Sin Ejercer 60% de profesionistas

CIDAC: Encuestas sobre competencias profesionales 2014

Nivel de escolaridad promedio del Mexicano

Salarios Mínimos en México

Desempleo primera causa de suicidio en México

Mas datos sobre suicidio en México
History in Short: The British Mexican Petroleum Co. ltd
The Rise and Decline of the Mexican Oil Industry
Petroleum Engineering in Poza Rica

Oil
Poza Rica 

Las trampas de la Fé"

Quetzalcóatl and Guadalupe

La Puta de Babilonia

Mexico´s Contribution to Humanity: Flavor and Well Being

The Mexican Ethnic food influence on the entire world is vast. It has survived over time, since it´s versatile, tasteful, delicious and healthy. Because the timeless use of the dishes (some may say a couple  thousands years ago). The United Nations for Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) has granted the Mexican cuisine the title of "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity" since 2010, and recognised thus the importance of the Mexican Ethnic food for the world.

Below are some examples and reasons of its importance to our country and the Planet.

The almighty lord and emperor Moctezuma invited the Spanish Hernan Cortes who later became the great conqueror of México to enjoy breakfast with him in his luxurious palace (since the Aztec wanted to avoid war). As the Spaniards were taking their seats at the table, servants were bringing the dishes: black huitlacoche with tomato, hot hand made tortillas, zacahuil, red chilli pepper, avocados, beans, and a mysterious so-called "chocolat" drink with vanilla. Cortes and his soldiers were stunned at the smell, the dishes presentation and later awed at the explosion  of flavor in their palate. As a matter of fact they have never tasted anything like it nor will they ever forget about. The Spanish started to have mix feelings for the barbarians not  knowing how these heretic people could have such an amazing cooking. Cortes the Spaniard could not believe his eyes nor his mouth....the sensation, the feeling of wellbeing invaded him. A new discovery for his senses!.

 Moreover, centuries later Scientists have found that Chocolat heals the heart, helps the blood stream and gives you stamina just to talk about one of the ingredients.

In fact, flavor and healthiness are the main reasons to appreciate the legacy and importance of the Mexican food for the world.

Many years later Bernardino de Sagahun, the Bishop, custodian of the faith in the new land, invited the  Viceroy of the New Spain in the territory of México for supper at the cathedral. Since the occasion was so important, he delegated the job to a monk: Fray Juan, who was a very reputable cook...In fact the monk was very strained and nervous by the visit of the politician and even though he was diligent while he was about to finish  cooking the turkey, by mistake he dropped different varieties  of ingredients  (which were meant for another dish) to the same turkey pot: some almonds, fried bananas, chocolat, red chilli peppers, peanuts and sugar. Fray Juan felt like dying since he did not have any more time left. Unless a miracle would happen, he was fried. As a result, he started to pray, hoping the Viceroy and monsignor would like it. While he was serving the dish, at the same time he  was giving them some cups of Mezcal (later known as tequila) to ease their temper. God had pity of him and granted his wish. This  dish  became known as Mole from that day on (instead of Molli by the Indians)

Certainly this anecdote signals the second reason for the Mexican food to be reputable.: A variety of ingredients and easy ingenious techniques wich have surprisingly last until the present times.

Although a lot of time have passed, we, now in our daily life have for dinner at the table: tamales along  with a delicious sweet drink of atole with a touch of vanilla. A plate offered to our death in the Mexican festivities since ancients times.

From North to South and from east to west of the Mexican Republic its cuisine is rich and full of flavor. There are an incredible number of delicious dishes all for you to discover and enjoy. In fact all of those dishes are really inexpensive, and this is what people really like.

The Maize, the most important legacy of the prehispanic people and one of the 4 most used food products of the world has been chosen to be sheltered in a vault in the Arctic just in case a food crisis hits the earth

Furthermore, there have been some countries  that are producing a lot of the above mentioned prehispanic products since the demand grows more and more every day. Belgium produces chocolat, American and European companies produce tequila now, Tomato is produced by Spain and the United States, and Vanilla is produced by Madagascar, just to mention some to confirm the growing importance of the Mexican pre-Hispanic culinary products of the world.

¿Is Life complicated or do we strive to make it so.?

 I am in the eve of my day off, in my green dining room.  It’s almost five o´clock in the afternoon, birds are returning eagerly to their nest, I know it by the beautiful background singing they always make.  It is a ritual, they announce the beginning of a new day, and later in the afternoon, like now, when is time to get back from work and deserve gladly a good meal and rest.

Sporadic noise of the wood shop (where I stayed all morning and part of the afternoon) interrupts my concentration. It is a Hobby and a small business at home, besides from my real job in the oil industry.

Occasionally I also hear my 6 month old Labrador dog barking earnestly calling me to go out and play with her. We usually do not have the pets inside the houses here. We keep them on the Yard.

-It is time to do your homework now- I said to my 5 year old  son, while at the same time I am trying to follow the instructions  that "crafting an effective writer: tools of the trade" course require from me. Time is pressing strongly on my schedule.

Joel. That´s my boy´s name. Like his father´s name, like his grandfather´s name and so on through generations. He is a bright, impulsive boy like any other kid his age.

–¿Ugh?.... Not now- he said.

My writing assignment it’s hard to do, due to the lack of concentration I need.

My son keeps asking me to help him in his math homework. He always complains and keeps telling me:

- "Math stinks, it is an awful, demanding, complicated, and a hard thing to do"- he said to me.

At the same time, my wife beeps me  (on my radio) to let me know my daughter is waiting for me at the University (where she studies Robotics) to take her to the hospital for her checkup. She has not been feeling well lately. Her heart beeps faster from time to time.

-Leave everything and go pick her up  now- My wife said

- I promise to be there and take her to her doctor-I tell her

In spite of all the inconveniences life has to offer, I consider myself a very happy man. I have a beautiful country home, full of different color flowers: Orange, Red, pink, purple bougainvillea’s; white roses, yellow golden cup climbing flowers, blue bushes… all in contrast harmoniously with the big green grass yard we adore, we also have three to four different mango trees, two sort of avocado trees, Papaya, Orange, lemon, Grapefruit, Anona, Zapote, Pistachio trees and more. Hot Chili pepper from the region, we used to have habanero but not anymore. And a lot of coconut trees. Also animals, like squirrels, woodpeckers, sparrows, Chachalacas, Broken bones birds, hawks and more are always coming and going around. In other words…we live in paradise. You may think all we need is the beach, well, we have it too. At a twenty minute distance from here.

Like I said we live in the country, we belong to Papantla County town near here. It is like being on a permanent vacation in spite of the many things we have engaged to do and the time pressure that comes along.

¿Is life complicated or do we strive to make it so? That is why I used this title to write this assignment.

Nouns	Pronouns	adjectives	adverb
Birds	I	Beautiful	Hard
Nest	Their	good	now
Meal	It	Awful	When
Son	Her	demanding	Where
Woodshop	me	Complicated	Why
Dog		hard	eagerly
life		every	always, gladly

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