The Jaltemba Express Community Newspaper English Languag

The Almost Daily Newspaper for Jaltemba Bay and Surrounding Areas Circulation 1266

Good Morning - Buenos días.... and Welcome to Paradise

Wednesday January 3, 2007 A different perspective everyday

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe Email: editor@ontheroadin.com

Bill Bell Photograph

Headlines

3,000 Soldiers Head for Tijuana - Click here

Smuggled Mexico Puppies Drops - Click here

Calderon Addresses Nation - Click here

Moth Attacks Nopal Cactus - Click here
Don't Forget Your Passport
Three years after Congress first moved to require every traveler entering this country hold a passport, including US citizens, the rule is finally taking effect Jan. 23.

Jaltemba News & Notes

La Peñita NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH

The La Peñita Neighbourhood Watch meeting will take place on January 9 at 4:00PM at the Hotel California. This is for all residents of La Peñita. You do not need to be a property owner to attend.

If you are concerned about keeping La Peñita a quaint, safe, clean village attend this meeting. Contact anesthesia94@yahoo.ca for more details.

HAMMOCKS FOR HOUNDS

Hala has pulled through again!

Without a doubt, Hala's got the most gorgeous hammocks in the Bay Area. She has personally selected the best craftspeople in Merida and has worked with them to produce some of the most sought after hammocks in the country. These aren't the kind that you will toss after one season. No. She has selected the best fibres, the tightest weaves to ensure you get quality when you buy from her shop.

Once again, Hala has opened her heart to the community and given the Animal Rescue Group a Hammock to kick start their fundraising efforts. It is a beautiful brightly covered hammock chair, one of her most popular sellers, that will keep you swinging in your home in Paradise. It is the perfect gift for tourist or residents alike.

Carole Thacker at the La Peñita RV Resort and Spa will be auctioning this hammock chair as well as a few other great prizes in the next few weeks. You can purchase tickets from her at the La Peñita RV Park at Taco Tuesday and Hamburger Nights. If you are not a Park resident and wish to purchase a ticket write editor@ontheroadin.com and we will make sure you can get a ticket.

Repairs for the Bridge of Life

DO SOMETHING REALLY GREAT FOR EVERYONE AROUND YOU

Volunteers urgently needed to donate time and /or money to fix the walk and bike suspension bridge between La Peñita and Rincon on January 7th 2007 PLEASE MEET at the BRIDGE at 0700am. The estimate to fix is 1300USD and volunteers will be adding and pulling cable, replacing screws and boards, installing new cyclone fencing, installing two posts to stop the motorized vehicles that are tearing up the bridge, two trash barrels at each end. THE ONLY ONE WHO WILL APPRECIATE THIS IS THOSE WHO USE THE BRIDGE - BUT THE ONLY ONE WHO WILL REPAIR THE BRIDGE IS YOU

Golf For a Cure

On February 25, 2007, the Field of Dreams Golf Course, Campo Ensueño will be the host Golf Course for the1st Annual Community Golf Challenge. Teams from throughout the Bay Area will compete for the Jaltemba Cup - the Best Golfers in the area. Each community will challenge the others to determine which Town receives the Cup. We are expecting a sell out crowd of 150 people including players, audience and media.

All proceeds will go to Cancer Research, specifically the Dana-Farber Research Hospital in Boston, associated with Harvard Medical School. Their work has been a benefit to cancer patients throughout the world and they continue to be a leader in the field of cancer research.

The event will attract a large number of people because it involves community pride - the Best Golfers in the area. Each town will have at least one team representing their community. It will also have a number of smaller events within the event; Driving Competition, Putting Competition and potentially best Cheerleading Squad. The goal is to have a fun event and to raise money for a Cure to this deadly disease that has touched all of our lives.

WE NEED YOUR HELP.

We are seeking sponsors for the event who will donate prizes for the players and participants. We are looking for all kinds of prizes - large and small - T-shirts, Gift items, Beer, Wine, Gift Certificates, Fishing Passes, Dinners for two, A weekend at a B & B or Hotel.....Everyone has something to contribute.

Every sponsor will be recognized. The Jaltemba Express will print the full list of business sponsors who have contributed to event. Major gifts will be acknowledged in detail. In addition, every player will receive a list of sponsors in their Golf Packages and sponsorship lists will be displayed at all tables for the audiences. We will recognize the sponsors from the podium at the event.

However this event is not just about recognition. It is about giving to an event to support Cancer Research.

The cost of the tournament will be 150 pesos plus green fees, all annual members and those persons having a pass for the month of February are exempt from the green fees. Included in the price will be a spectacular rib dinner prepared by the Road Kill Grill.

Help us support a cure. Please give generously. More information to follow.

Contact Dorothy Bell if you need more information or want to contribute a prize.

Email: editor@ontheroadin.com

Letters to the Editor

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Editor,

Please subscribe this address in Canada Thank you

Dianna Belitski

Hi Dot,
Really enjoy getting the 'paper' every day, and keeping up on what is going on down there . . . since we are back in rainy, cold Southeast Alaska. You are doing a great job!
One suggestion: the font you have used for the spay/neuter clinic reports, and Ms. Maneras, is really difficult to read . . . with all the curly cues, etc. Please consider using a font that is easier to read .
. . I don't want to miss anything!
Jane Hill

(Editors Note: Different browsers "see" different fonts. Our browser looks fine. Thanks for your heads up though and we will make some changes. Let us know if they work)

Publisher Views

Pity the American Traveler who has to put up with the Smug Canadians...eh!

Bill Bell is the publisher of the Jaltemba Bay Express. He also writes a political column for the North Shore News in Vancouver Canada. The following is an extract of a column written for the North Shore News. Bill was born and raised in Canada by American parents. He now resides in Mexico. He freely admits that he is a recovering smug Canadian,

John is an American RVer who every winter drives his motor home over 2000 miles from his house in Washington State down the highways to make his winter home in a small Mexican town of Lo de Marcos, Nayarit Mexico - about an one hour drive north of Puerto Vallarta. He loves Mexico, its friendly people and the warm tropical Pacific weather. He has one problem that infuriates him. Its his neighbors, ¨the smug Canadians.¨

Lo de Marcos is on the southern edge of Jaltemba Bay, where thousands of Canadians flock every year in their fifth wheels, trailers, buses and motor homes to get away from the cold winters back home. The areas´ hotels, bungalows, trailer parks and condos fill up with Canadians in such numbers that on any given night you can go out to a restaurant where the Canucks will out number the Yankees and Mexicans two to one.

John along with many of the Americans tell me that the Canadians that they meet on the road are constantly lecturing them on everything from flawed United States foreign policy to American travelers´ rude and brash behaviour when they visit a foreign country.

So what is wrong with that eh? And where does John get off in calling us Canadians smug?
After all aren’t we the travelers that the world loves? We proudly stitch our Canadian flag onto our back packs and luggage. We are the peacekeepers of the world. We have an innate ability to recognize and deal with other cultures in a manner that respects the places that we visit.

Many Canadians believe that all of the above is absolutely true and lord it over our cousins to the south. Some take pleasure in ranting – especially to Americans - about the so called “ugly American traveler” who would complain about things not being as good as it is back in the good old US of A. Thus we have become known as the ¨smug Canadians.¨

From world politics, to a national health care plan, to our gun laws, we love to point out our superior way of doing things to anyone who will listen. We take special delight of having Americans within earshot of the conversation.

Its as if the Molson’s ¨I am Canadian¨ ad has gone to our collective head and now we along with our baggage to foreign countries carry with us a new found sense of pride.

That Canadian pride, however, is in reality not much more than America bashing at its worst. I wonder when we can define ourselves as a nation without comparing ourselves to the giant next door and worse yet, berating individuals about what their government or nation has decided or done.

For Americans like John it is rightfully infuriating and frustrating. Somewhere along the line, we have forgotten our manners and our humility and in doing so we are edging toward being referred to as the ¨Ugly Canadian.¨ And that’s not a tag that I want to proudly display.

Feature Article

Gifford and Esther Newlon: Early Residents of Rincon de Guayabitos

Meet Gifford Newlon. Gifford envisioned the first condominium development in Rincon de Guayabitos. Born in 1915 in Fairview, Montana, Gifford has traveled in Mexico for over 40 years. Now 91 years old, he recalls the early days of Rincon de Guayabitos which he first visited in the 1970’s. At that time, he was working as a land-use planner for a Hawaiian based company. The company was interested in a possible development in Mexico and hired Gifford to locate a likely spot along the Pacific coast of Mexico. After a year of wandering along the coast, Gifford and his wife Esther were most impressed by the small village in the tropical paradise known as Rincon de Guayabitos.

In those days, Rincon was a small fishing village with a few houses, a couple of small hotels and some small “rustic” restaurants famous for their fresh fish and shrimp dishes. Mostly, it had breathtaking views of the ocean and a beautiful, unspoiled beach. Back then, it was only a camera stop for vacationers on their way to more developed areas of Puerto Vallarta, San Blas and Guadalajara. They would snap photos of the fisherman pulling in their nets along with the beautiful sunsets with the backdrop of the island, La Penita de Jaltemba, seen from every location. At night during certain seasons, the sand on the beach came alive with thousands of tiny crabs scurrying about.

Original 1970 Casita on property of Playa Linda Condominios

As fate would have it, the Hawaiian company which employed Gifford was bought out and the new owners were no longer interested in developments in Mexico, but Gifford and his wife, Esther, had fallen in love with Rincon. He decided to try his own development, on a modest scale, so they could remain in their new paradise-found. He was following a family tradition: his grandfather had founded the town of Newlon, Montana, and his father founded Fairview, Montana. Developing in Rincon would be Gifford’s dream.

1980 Playa Linda Condominios

He sold his house in California, sold a few stocks and bought a casita on a one acre parcel right on the beach. The house had been built by a Canadian, one of the first non-Mexicans to occupy property there. In those days, foreigners could not develop property on the beach without a bank trust and a Mexican partner who held controlling interest. He acquired a partner for the project and they planned the first condominium project in the state of Nayarit. (Later, when the Mexican laws changed, he was able to buy out his partner. However, the title still remained legally held in the bank trust)

To overcome the hurdles of complex real estate transactions with complicated legal terms, all in Spanish, Gifford relied on the

Spanish courses he had taken at UCLA in his early days. At first he was shy about his language skills, but an argument with a cab driver in Mexico City proved to him that he had mastered the language! Now he is completely fluent and can easily switch between English and Spanish.

The ground was broken for the Playa Linda Condominios (named for his daughter, Lynda) in 1974. Gifford and Esther lived in their original casita while the condos were being built all around them. The building project provided Gifford and Esther with an occupation and a lifestyle until the final unit was completed in 1990.

                             2007 Playa Linda Condominios

                     (Nestled between Stephany’s and Villas Buenavida)

Gifford and Esther enjoyed their 40 years in Mexico and are well known by most of the locals in Rincon and La Penita. They loved to have people over and could be seen dancing and partying at all of the local restaurants. Although Esther passed away in 2002, Gifford is still going strong today. He now lives most of the time in California with his son, Michael and daughter-in-law Lorraine in the Santa Rosa Valley, near Camarillo.   He travels to his Playa Linda condo paradise about three times a year these days, accompanied by his son Michael or his daughter Lynda. He plans to return in late January 2007. Drop in and say hello to Gifford, one of Rincon’s earliest developers.

Gifford & Esther with daughter-in-law Lorraine; grandchildren Jamie and Michelle

Weather

5-Day Forecast for Puerto Vallarta

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

82° F | 66° F
28° C | 19° C

82° F | 59° F
28° C | 15° C

84° F | 62° F
29° C | 17° C

84° F | 64° F
29° C | 18° C

86° F | 66° F
30° C | 19° C

Chance of Rain
20% chance of precipitation
Scattered Clouds Overcast Scattered Clouds Scattered Clouds

Humor

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS WE CAN ALL KEEP

Read less.

Put on at least 30 pounds.

Watch more TV. I've been missing some good stuff.

Procrastinate more.

Drink. Drink some more.

Start being superstitious.

Spend more time at work.

Take up a new habit: maybe smoking!

Start buying lottery tickets at a luckier store.

Learn what the hell "resolution" means.
Jaime and his other brother Jaime (Jack)

Jaltemba Bay Animal Rescue

Contributions are Coming In! 1,340.34 USD

Tom and Bruce from Casa Libertad contributed $170.00, Linda M Caterer $100.00, Alexandrine Allard $50, Audrey Allard $50, Amélie Drolet $50, Charlotte Drolet $50, Julie Drolet $50, Pierre Etienne Drolet $50, Sarah Drolet $50, Anaïs Plante $50, Charles Plante $50, Cleo $25 (also a rescued dog!) & PicNic $25 (a dog Regine and Rene rescued from Los Ayala last year), Jane Hill $100.

Brenda and Jeff Bitkoff, Nina Steffins and Ed and Marylyn Doll for their kind offers of accommodation for the vets and their assistants.

Thanks to Nancy Milski and Rosalie Hope & Fay & Fred Hodson for their contributions of lunch for a day at the clinic in Los Ayala. Deb and Rick Martin and Heather and Rob Erickson who dropped off catheters, stethoscopes and other medical supplies.

Barry, Sheila and Pauline - over $200 of IV supplies, stethoscope, and linens

Dr. Jeff Schucker and Staff, VCA Feist Animal Hospital - Supplies

Current Needs

1 Volunteers to help with lunches and refreshments during the clinic

2.Volunteers to help with the clinic

3.Donations

Many thanks to those of you who have donated!

Lin (linchimes@hotmail.com)

YOU may now give directly to the Animal Rescue fund. PLEASE GIVE BY CLICKING THE BUTTON BELOW All donations will be listed the following day

La Peñita RV Resort News & Notes

Schedule Today - Click here

La Peñita Resort & Spa Website - Click here

Raffle Tickets for Animal Rescue can be purchased on Taco Tuesday and Hamburger Night or at the Office

Spanish Classes

We have a Spanish teacher. She will be in the park 3 days per week, starting this week. There is a sign up sheet on the bulletin board.

NEW YEARS Special Thanks

A special thank you to Cheryl Sholan for the great New Years Eve party at the pool side the other night...Cheryl and her helpers Cornel and Lori who were selling drinks, plus numerous others that helped with the decorations made it another special New Years Eve. But, it was Cheryl that spent several hours burning CD's for music, purchasing balloons, building those beautiful blue and white balloon arches, plus acting as "DJ with the mostest" that made it the big hit that it was.....Thanks Cheryl, LPRVP is fortunate to have a volunteer like yourself.

Linda & Jim Ross

Sports
The new Wolfman, Charlie Hanshaw takes 15 points out of 18 on Tuesdays Wolf games that's one more than Gary Stackhouse...La Peñita rules

!WANTED!!
                    for the
9th ANNUAL "EL FAMOSO" (world tour) horseshoe
tournament a.k.a bob howell....

VOLUNTEERS... need 4 to assist the tournament
director...
EXPERIENCE...none/will train

DUTIES...2 people to assist in scorekeeping and 2
people to assist in judging. must have a. sense of
humor to deal with the pitchers....

scorekeepers... will assist in posting
scores, directing lost pitchers to their courts and
assisting in handing out raffle prizes later.

judges will assist walking the beach and assisting the
puzzled faces on scoring and shoe count...

byron/chris/scotty...??? if you knuckle heads are up
to this let me know soon.... women are encourage too..

excellent volunteer opportunity to meet/with people...

jimmy howell (tournament director) barbqueguy1@yahoo.com

Dining Out

Check This Out
Click Here for a complete Listing of some of Jaltemba´s Best restaurants with menus and maps

Click here for for past restaurant reviews

Georges Sunset Bar and Grill
Wow Martha has outdone herself !!!! she will be making shrimp balls or BBQ your own steak (filet mignon) or half and half but here comes the yummy part......they all come with Martha's Mexican "sloppy joes" that's delicious CHICKEN MOLE ON A BUN...MMMM...MMM...MMMM...so see you here from 5pm till 9pm at the SUNSET BAR AND GRILL
PIZZA MADNESS

Ricardo's Pizza is offering a 15% discount on food items on their menu between Noon and 2 pm - an incredible bargain on GREAT already well-priced pizza and Italian foods. (offer not to be combined with other offers) Benny or Tracy are on hand to give you very special service you are accustomed to. Now through to the end of January...A great place for lunch and to get away from those left over turkey sandwiches

Want pizza for dinner? ASK your server for the Large Pizza and get two free beers. What a deal! You must tell your host that you heard about it in the Jaltemba Bay Express to get the above specials-

Community Calendar

.Click Here for a complete calendar in a glance of Jaltemba Bay Activities

For a more detailed description of Events Click here

JANUARY

Jan 9:               La Peñita Home Owners Association

FEBRUARY

Feb 10             Annual Horseshoe Tournament - Check-in will be at Mateja Restaurant on the beach, Rincon de Guayabitos on Friday February 9, 2007. The Tournament is the next day.

ONGOING

Sunday            Artistic and Cultural will be held Sundays - December 17th, 24th and 31st in La Peñita at 9:00 a.m to 5 pm next to the garden of La Peñita in the basketball court.

Monday           AA Meeting. English speaking "Friends of Bill W" meet every Monday & Thursdays at 4 pm at Penamar Hotel in Rincon De Guayabitos, Room #13. The Penamar Hotel is located next to Tonota's II.

Wednesday     Women's Golf Every Wednesday

                        Erik Nice performs at Mateja's Every Wednesday for Happy Hour 2-4

                        Enrique Preciado Performs at the Bavarian 6 pm Gardens Wednesday. Romantic, Oldies & Dancing

Thursday           Market Day La Peñita  - Every Thursday approximately 8-2

                        AA Meeting. English speaking "Friends of Bill W" meet every Monday & Thursdays at 4 pm at Penamar Hotel in Rincon De Guayabitos, Room #13. The Penamar Hotel is located next to Tonota's II.

                        Men's Day Every Thursday Golf

Friday              Erik Nice performs at El Capitan in Sayulita 1-3 on the beach near Don Pedro's on Friday

                        Redneck Mothers perform every Friday Night at the Bavarian Gardens

The Jaltemba Express Classified Section

We've gotten too big for ourselves and had to set up an entire section Please click here to view the following items in the Jaltemba Bay Classified Section

Events & Activities

Fasting Retreat

Horseback Tours

Wanted

Articles, Photos

Accommodation

Grill

Wanted Relationships

Female

Male

Services

Fishing

Massage

Computer Repair

American Veterans Assistance

Taxis

Chiropractor

For Sale Miscellaneous

Jewellery

Mexico Road Logs & Driving Guides

Mexican Auto, RV & Boat Insurance

Spanish Course CDs

Computer Repair

American Veterans Assistance

Taxis

Chiropractor

For Sale RVs & Parts

Accommodation

Great Links

Please click here to view the above items in the Jaltemba Bay Classified Section

Feature Classified

Relieve Those Aches and Pains

Doctor Quiropractico

Victor J. Youcha D.C. Dipl. AC

Casa Clinica Campesina

Las Varas

(327) 272-0184 Clinic

(327) 274-1040 Casa

youchacare@yahoo

Pierce County Computers Will Help Children in Rural Mexico
PVNN Banderas Bay News

Children in the Mexican village of San Pancho will benefit from a plan to donate surplus Pierce County computers. The effort is spearheaded by Bill Garrison, chief investigator for the county prosecutor's office. (Pierce County)

Surplus Pierce County computers are about to begin a new role helping Mexican children to learn. Fifty computers complete with monitors are being cleaned and serviced before being shipped to Mexico for the children of San Pancho, a fishing village an hour’s drive north of Puerto Vallarta.

The shipment was arranged by Bill Garrison of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. “Computers are all but unknown in the average family residence, and access to technology is almost nonexistent,” Garrison said. “The need is enormous.”

Garrison, chief investigator for the prosecutor’s office, has been working for months to arrange for the shipment, which is scheduled in late December or early January. Alaska Airlines will transport the computers to Puerto Vallarta at a significantly reduced price. Garrison originally planned to take them to Mexico by truck.

The project still has cash and equipment needs, and he reluctantly is letting county employees know that in the event some want to help. “I basically just decided that I am going to make this happen. There is no group conducting fundraisers -- just a few friends that are providing help and support,” he said.

Tax-deductible contributions can be made to Computer Technology Investigators Northwest, a nonprofit organization that works with law enforcement agencies. The computers were donated to CTIN, which in turn will donate them to another nonprofit, Entre-Amigos. Cash donations can be sent to CTIN, c/o Franklin Clark, PO Box 1417, Puyallup, WA 98371. Clark is CTIN’s executive board president.

Air freight, customs broker and local trucking costs are estimated at between $1,000 and $1,500. While computers and monitors are provided, Garrison needs such equipment as surge protectors, routers and DSL modems.

Garrison and his wife, Karen, first visited San Pancho (also known as San Francisco) 10 years ago. “It is an unspoiled and beautiful piece of paradise located away from the elite resorts that seem to be everywhere in the Mexican Riviera,” he said. “We fell in love with the community and returned year after year, eventually buying a small lot and building a casita for our retirement. The people are honest and hardworking, and the community became special to us.”

They discovered that the local government lacked tax revenue and was unable to provide adequate services. School suppies and textbooks are in short supply. Most kids quit school to take menial jobs. Technology is virtully nonexistent -- even the Mayor’s Office handles its daily business using a manual typewriter with carbon paper. “The sad thing is that these are bright people, most of whom are bilingual and have the potential to succeed if given the chance,” Garrison said.

The Garrisons became acquainted a couple years ago with Nicole Swedlow, who founded Entre-Amigos in California to help the San Pancho children.

She organized a school with classes in reading, English, Spanish, art, swimming, ecology and even yoga. She solicited the local expatriate community to buy textbooks. “Karen and I donated $250 to buy textbooks for the 8th grade,” he said.

Swedlow worked with both the local and state governments. The result was creation of Bilioteca San Pancho, the village’s first library services. “Soon the need for access to computers and the Internet became obvious,” he said.

Garrison contacted Pierce County Information Technology, and 50 surplus computers were given new life, so to speak.

“These computers will be incredibly useful to the kids of San Pancho,” he said. “They could change their futures greatly for the better.”

To view more photographs of Scammon Lagoon whales click here