This rum-based, coffee flavored liqueur be enjoyed on its own, in milk or cream, made into numerous cocktails or as a flavoring ingredient in desserts.
It was first produced by Pedro Domecq in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, in 1936. Its name is taken from the Nahuatl language spoken by the indigenous Acolhua people of Veracruz meaning “House of the Acolhua People”.

Truly a Mexican product, Kahlua is made with the premium Arabica coffee beans grown in Veracruz and sugarcane. As it grew in popularity, Kahlua added other flavors to its brand including Hazelnut, Mocha, Peppermint, French Vanilla and Kahlua Especial which packs a 35% alcohol content punch.

It’s a lengthy 7 year process of growing, harvesting, drying and aging the coffee beans and sugarcane before the distilling process of Kahlua begins. The coffee is roasted in micro-lots and then ground to extract the flavor. It is then combined with the sugarcane, vanilla and caramel and rested for eight weeks before being filtered and bottled.

Ready to try some Kahlua? You can find it at any liquor retailer in Puerto Vallarta or Riviera Nayarit.

Cheers!

FROZEN MUDSLIDE

2 oz. Vodka
2 oz. Kahlua
2 oz. Bailey’s
6 oz vanilla ice cream or you can use ice

Blend alcohol with ice cream, serve in a frosted glass. For an extra touch swirl chocolate sauce on the inside of the glass before serving.

Mudslide

ESPRESSO MARTINI

1 1/4 oz. Stoli Vanilla (or any vanilla flavored vodka)
3/4 oz. Baileys
3/4 oz. Kahula
1/2 Shot Espresso

Shake the ingredients vigorously over ice in a cocktail shaker, pour in to martini glass and garnish with 3 espresso beans

Espresso Martini

CHOCOLATE MARTINI

3/4 oz. Stoli Raspberry
3/4 oz. Stoli Vanilla
1/2 oz. Baileys
1/2 oz. Kahlua
1 oz. Godiva liquor
Splash of Guinness

Shake the ingredients vigorously over ice in a cocktail shaker, pour in to martini glass and garnish with shaved chocolate.

BLACK RUSSIAN

1 1/4 oz. Vodka
3/4 oz. Kahula

Mix in cocktail glass with ice.

COLORADO BULLDOG

1 1/2 oz.

Vodka
1 oz. Kahula
2 oz. Half & Half

Mix in pint glass with ice and top with a splash of Coke..

Colorado Bulldog

MEXICAN COFFEE

3/4 oz Tequila
3/4 oz Kahlua
1 sugar cube

Pour in coffee and top with whip cream.

Mexican Coffee

[readon1 url="http://elengornrealtors.com/blog/2014/12/the-other-spirit-of-mexico-kahlua/"]Source:elengornrealtors.com[/readon1]

One of the reasons Puerto Vallarta is such a popular destination for vacation home buyers or those wanting to retire in Mexico is the excellent, affordable healthcare. That includes dentists and in fact, many vacationers from Canada and the United States take advantage and include a trip to the dentist as part of their holiday plans, finding that the cost savings helps to pay for a good portion of their vacation.

All around Banderas Bay, you will find dentists and dental specialists that are perfectly bilingual and have office equipment and techniques that are equivalent to other parts of North America. In fact, it is very common for Puerto Vallarta dentists to take participate in educational conferences and training in the USA to keep their skills on the tip of the latest technology.

Some commonly performed dental procedures in Puerto Vallarta include:

Reconstructive Dentistry

And the best part of dental care in Puerto Vallarta? The cost! You can expect to save up to 50% (and sometime more) by getting taking care of your dental care in Mexico as opposed to in Canada or the United States. It’s just another reason why owning a home in Puerto Vallarta is such a popular choice.

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It is common for those who live or retire in Puerto Vallarta to hire domestic staff to help around the home. Staff may include housekeepers, gardeners, tradespeople, drivers and cooks and domestic help is much less expensive than in the USA or Canada. But it is important to know the laws regarding domestic employees and your responsibility as an employer.

Your domestic help is entitled to one day per week off (usually Sunday), Mexican statutory holidays and 6 days of holiday per year.

It is the law to provide domestic staff with a Christmas bonus equal to 2 weeks’ salary, which must be paid prior to the 15th of December.

Vacation pay is also due to them, you can typically pay them their regular salary for the vacation time, many workers will just take a day off here and there rather than several days in a row.

Domestic staff should receive regular cost of living increases.

It is important to also remember that your domestic staff live under different financial circumstances, so it is important to consider transportation costs, like fare increases on the bus, or to pay taxi fare request your staff to stay late into the night.

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By the last week in October, we had seen a bit of variety during our little getaway: the eastern Baltic Sea, the North Atlantic Ocean, a bit of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, and now the vast Pacific Ocean was pulling us through the Central and North American tropics.

Copenhagen, our voyage starting point, lies on the Baltic Sea, at 55.7 degrees north latitude, and Cartagena, our southern-most stop, lies at nine degrees north; that's a difference of 46.7 degrees, or 52 percent of the latitudes between the North Pole and the Equator.

When you sail those vast distances, you get to see so much: changes in the color of the water, dramatic effects of various climate conditions on the sea's surface, aquatic animals' daily activities in the ocean. You can learn for yourself the difference between bays and oceans and seas, follow your course on a maritime chart, and of course sample the sights in the many strange lands along the way.

Living in Turkey is the greatest adventure of my life; the land, culture and history here are so absorbing that it's easy to forget there is another world out there, maybe not so ancient or distinguished, but pretty awesome, nonetheless. I don't think anything (easy to do and non-lethal, anyway) shows that as distinctly as a long sea voyage.

After our canal adventure, and the ill-advised (but exciting) Costa Rica rainforest zip-lining frolic that followed, our by-now-homey ship turned at last for its final northwest climb through the Tropic of Cancer; we wouldn't be out of the tropics for several more days, but now, slowly, slowly, we traveled north, with no more southern swoops and storms, nor nighttime views of Cuban and Haitian shores. As we left behind the Central American coast at the border of Guatemala and officially entered the Northern American waters of Mexico, we looked forward to visiting our other favorite country, besides Turkey and the US.

Like both of those countries, Mexico is home to more cultures than you could shake a stick at, and its history has involved invasions by land and sea going back thousands of years, all of which have left their mark on the culture today. Also like Turkey, it boasts a varied and distinctive cuisine that is for some reason usually overlooked in culinary journals, although its use of chili peppers, corn and tomatoes has influenced just about every “popular” cuisine in the world; there's a lot more to Mexican food than refried beans. (Nonetheless, when enjoyed with a stack of warm tortillas, frijoles refritos are hard to beat.)

Mexico resembles its northern neighbor in many ways, too, perhaps because the part of today's US that used to belong to Mexico is bigger than Mexico is today! What is now the state of Texas was forcibly invaded and annexed in the early 19th century by Northern American settlers and speculators backed by government troops (“Remember the Alamo!”), and the area covering most of present-day Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah, plus parts of several other states, were “ceded” to the US in 1848, not-so-coincidentally the year gold was discovered in northern California.

While the “new” lands greatly enhanced America's ideal of a Manifest Destiny, the same could not be said for Mexico's end of the deal; this was not one of America's finer moments, to say the least. But I digress.

Puerto de Chiapas

Chiapas is the Mexican state that sits above the Guatemalan border. It was from a village in Chiapas that José Salvador Alvarenga left in December of 2012 for a three-day fishing trip. He wasn't seen again until he washed up on the beach in the Marshall Islands (South Pacific) 13 months later.

Chiapas is arguably the most naturally beautiful state in Mexico, as well as its (inarguably) poorest one. Like so many cash-strapped countries, various governments in Mexico have grasped at tourism as the panacea for financial problems, and under the presidency of the reform-minded (but largely ineffective) Vicente Fox, millions of pesos were lavished on Chiapas to build a port capable of berthing large cruise ships.

Unfortunately, following the lead of his little friend George W. Bush, who was the US president at the time, Fox chose to ignore the outcry of local residents, who didn't want cruise ships or tourists in their little corner of the world: Chiapas contains several revered sites of an ancient civilization (Mayan) as well as at least a dozen different indigenous cultures, most of which still practice, to varying degrees, the “old ways.”

Even though the local rainforest has long since been destroyed to support agriculture and ranching, Chiapas today is still densely wooded in many places, and so full of birds that it is downright spooky in places. There are other spooky things about Chiapas, like the continued unrest regarding the mysterious disappearance-by-police of 43 university students, along with the discovery of several mass graves in the vicinity of their last known whereabouts.

That was probably the explanation for the full-court police escort provided to our silly little tour bus, although we never did get an answer as to that.

All the weirdness aside, Chiapas is drop-dead beautiful, the people are lovely, small and friendly, and they make chocolate from the local cacao beans in cheerful demonstrations for tourists. We'd definitely go again.

Hualtuco

The next day we stopped in Hualtuco, located in Oaxaca (Wahl-too-coh in Wah-ha-cah). Oaxaca is the fourth poorest state in Mexico (out of 32 states), and is also trying to encourage tourism.

Your reporter was a little under the weather that day, and we didn't have any big adventures. We did, however, notice a lot of construction of villas and condos along the heretofore magnificent coastline of the city. Right on cue, we met an American couple in town who had just closed the deal on a purchase of a condo there. They had lived for 15 years in Mazatlán, further up the coast; they said there were too many people there now, and recommended living in Huatulco to any interested parties.

Puerto Vallarta

Our third Mexican port was in Puerto Vallarta, located in the state of Jalisco (the 19th poorest, or, actually, the 13th richest!). The splendors of Puerto Vallarta -- wild jungles meet black sand beaches -- were first revealed to a mass international audience with the release of the John Huston film “Night of the Iguana,” in 1963, starring Richard Burton, the talented British actor who was then having a torrid affair with Elizabeth Taylor; needless to say, the press had a heyday during the entire shoot.

The resultant “elevation” of what had been up until then an established vacation spot for Mexican tourists resulted in its being chosen to host then-US President Richard Nixon for a treaty signing, which in turn led to the hasty construction of an international airport; and that's, as they say, all she wrote.

The gracious, poignant charm of the pre-1970s Puerto Vallarta is very nearly gone, but a first-time traveler wouldn't know the difference, as long as they didn't approach by sea: The first view the passenger has of this near-legendary tropical Empyrean is a spectacular composite landscape containing a Galleria mall, a Sam's Club and a Walmart, nestled artfully below towering-but-tacky high-rise buildings.

Fortunately, a couple of American expats living in PV had asked us to join them ashore for lunch and a look at their homes, so we were able to scoot past the quayside abominations and go straight to town, where, I am happy to report, things were much different.

Even though the city has grown enormously (over 250,000 fulltime occupants), the individual neighborhoods have retained much of their culture and atmosphere. The art-colony atmosphere is a little over the top for me, but I'm sure its influence has contributed greatly to the maintenance of Puerto Vallarta's still powerful beauty and charm. Both Jennifer and Helen, our expat hosts, live alone in safety and comfort, in large, tasteful apartments that are equally comfortable and exciting, while completely different one from the other.

We lunched in a lovely hotel with a view of the entire city, dining on the delicious Mexican food we had been craving. The lady whose hotel it was is also an expat who, with her husband, built up the business over several years; her husband died a few years ago, and she runs the place herself now. We were there for day one of the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday (Oct. 31 to Nov. 2), and it was a mixed-cultural treat to see the ofrenda (private altar) the hotel had constructed in the restaurant in memory of the deceased patron: a purely Mexican customary tribute to a foreigner who came to a strange land, and stayed.

Cabo San Lucas

After crossing the bottom of the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez), we came to the southernmost point of the state of Baja California Sur (the sixth richest). Baja is a desert, and probably the most interesting thing in Cabo is the desert rocks that march out to land's end in dramatic style, observably dividing the warm waters of the Sea of Cortez from the cold currents of the Pacific.

If game fishing in overfished bays, hanging out in solid-block condo complexes, hiring a camel and guide for a “real” caravan experience (in Mexico??) and partying from dusk until dawn are your thing, then Cabo San Lucas is for you. It is not, however, for us, but we knew that, so we weren't disappointed. We did, however, gorge on -- yes, Mexican food -- until we nearly dropped.

That evening, we finally set sail for Los Angeles, California, and our American family; it was getting hard to wait.

Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta ofrenda (private altar)

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[readon1 url="http://www.todayszaman.com/expat-zone_taking-a-break-6-the-fragile-fascinating-mexican-riviera_369765.html"]Source:www.todayszaman.com[/readon1]

Route expansions may not seem like exciting news, but they're a bigger deal than you probably think. Why? Because they often spark competition between airlines and drive down fares on multiple carriers. If your New Year's resolution involves traveling more, it may be time to give one of these new routes a try.

San Francisco to Las Vegas on JetBlue

This month, JetBlue launched new nonstop service between San Francisco and Las Vegas. This route is already covered by nonstop flights from other major players, including Southwest, United, and Virgin America. Right now, the introductory rate on the nonstop route is as low as $148.

Boston to Cleveland on JetBlue

Another nonstop route on JetBlue's horizon is the launch of its 88th destination: Cleveland. This expansion is much needed to fill the void left by United when it dropped more than 100 daily flights to Cleveland in 2014. Expect JetBlue's Boston-Cleveland inaugural flight on April 30.

Denver to Los Angeles and Denver to San Diego on Spirit

The Mile High City is reaching new heights with Spirit. The carrier is adding nonstop Denver flights from two major California cities: Los Angeles (beginning on April 16) and San Diego (launched on January 6). These two new additions make Spirit's ninth and 10th nonstop connections in Denver. And on January 6, Spirit increased its Denver-Chicago service to two daily nonstop flights.

Houston to Aruba on Southwest

Southwest Airlines has set its eyes on the lucrative international market. Starting March 7, Southwest customers will have access to Houston-Aruba with Saturday-only flights. The new Caribbean route also points to Southwest's other ambition: expanding into the Latin American market. In December, the airline filed applications with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to fly from Houston to four popular Mexican vacation spots: Cancun, Los Cabos, Mexico City, and Puerto Vallarta, as well as Belize City, Belize, and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Baltimore/Washington, D.C., to San Jose, Costa Rica, on Southwest

Southwest is also venturing into Costa Rica with flights from Baltimore/Washington International. San Jose is Southwest's introduction to the international market outside of the Caribbean and Mexico -- and an aggressive one, with daily nonstops from the nation's capital.

Houston to Tokyo on All Nippon Airways

All Nippon Airways (ANA) announced new routes from Houston to one of its hub cities, Tokyo. Starting June 12, Narita Airport and Houston Bush International will give United Airlines some healthy competition. Both carriers' Japan/Texas routes are nonstop. This is ANA's 10th North American destination, and one it hopes will be the catalyst to connect Houston to Central and South America.

Houston to Tampa on Spirit

Spirit will soon connect Houston and Tampa with daily nonstop service beginning March 26. This is just one of 10 new routes to Bush International that the carrier announced last month. Other cities with new nonstop air travel from Houston include Baltimore/D.C.; Oakland (seasonal only); Cancun; Los Cabos, Mexico (seasonal only); Toluca, Mexico (seasonal only); Managua, Nicaragua; San Jose, Costa Rica; San Pedro Sula, Honduras; and San Salvador, El Salvador. If these 10 new routes go through (these international markets are not yet wholly approved by the DOJ but are expected to be long before the May launch dates), that'll be 22 city pairs out of Houston International Airport for Spirit.

New York City to Birmingham, England, on American

New York City and Birmingham, England, will soon be paired up with American Airlines flights. Daily service is due to commence on May 7. In addition to Birmingham, American will expand its presence in five other U.K. cities, including Edinburgh, which is also set to launch on May 7. Both new transatlantic routes are seasonal and will be flown under the American Airlines-British Airways codeshare partnership. Higher demand on the Los Angeles -- London route is pushing American to increase its frequency to two daily flights beginning March 29.

Miami to Frankfurt on American

Move over, Lufthansa, American is getting back into the Miami-Frankfurt market! A route currently dominated by Germany's flagship carrier, the southern Florida-Frankfurt market hasn't been served by American since 1997, but that'll change with daily service by American come May 14. The two cities make an obvious pair, as one's the banking capital of Europe while the other is a thriving international center.

Boston to Las Vegas on Virgin America

As of January 8 and only seasonally through April 28, Virgin America now offers nonstop Boston-Las Vegas flights four times per week. That's direct competition for JetBlue, which currently covers the city pair and cites it as its second most popular route.

Equally exciting are Virgin America's seasonal flights from New York's JFK to Ft. Lauderdale, which will be offered daily through April 28.

With every New Year we make resolutions to be a little healthier. But if you’ve found that your will power is already slipping, here are some easy ways to get your healthy resolutions back on track in Puerto Vallarta.

Keeping your health and fitness goals in Puerto Vallarta can be easy if you just take advantage of all that the city and its natural surroundings offer. Live life in Vallarta and you’ll be healthy all year round!

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We are now day 3 into the 2 week Beginner Session and already everyone is more relaxed and making progress.

We all need a little more color in our life. Let these vibrant neighborhoods around the world inspire you to paint your walls, ceilings, furniture (everything and anything!)

As a beach destination, Puerto Vallarta has little competition, either in Mexico or in the world at large.

The same as every year, Senator margarita Flores fulfills her promise of paying for Nayarit student’s school enrollment fee, so they can complete their studies. Promise that she made when she was running as a candidate for her position.

“I made this promise when I was a candidate to the senate; I asked the youth to trust me, to register to go to school, and I was going to support them with the fees for as long as I were a senator. It makes me proud to see them going to school and I feel the urge to help them”, stated Margarita Flores. At the same time she pointed out that her support is a demonstration that she is working for the Nayaritas.

The Nayarit’s senator informed that she gets together with the students every six months, to go over their progress and results. The students who benefit from this program attend Nayarit’s Autonomous University (UAN), Tepic’s Institute of Technology (ITT) and Nayarit’s Technology University (UT).

“Listening to them motivates me to go on with my work; it tells me that I need to hurry and do my best for Nayarit”, said Margarita Flores. She went on to say: “It is important to mention that, every year, these scholarships come out of Senator Margarita Flores’ own salary”

Nayarit’s students are thankful for the help they receive from the Senator, for her availability to come up to them to talk, and for the motivation they receive from her to continue with their studies.

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[readon1 url="index.php?option=com_sobipro&pid=1&sid=703:mar&Itemid=212"]Source:www.VallartaToday.com-by MAR Translation Services[/readon1]

The time was in the 1970’s, the place was the Playboy Mansion in L.A. and the occasion was the annual John Tracy Tennis Tournament.

The annual tournament was a charity event to benefit the John Tracy Clinic which had been established by Spencer Tracy’s widow.

During the preceding weeks, many of the Beverly Hills private tennis courts had been used to whittle down mixed doubles players with the finalists competing on the stadium court on the Mansion’s grounds.

Highlight of the full day of activities was the evening’s operation of a casino-type arrangement around the outdoor swimming pool. It proved to be the main source of fund-raising for the charity. Players would buy scrip to be used for betting and the person with the most scrip at the end of the evening would be awarded the top prize from a large board of some two dozen prizes. I noticed on the three occasions when I was at the event, several people would combine their scrip with a big winner so that he would be assured of winning the top prize.

Since I had met the host committee, I was able to critique the casino set-up and aid them in securing the number one prize for two of the three years. For the first year, I had a week’s stay for a couple at a palatial villa in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It was called “Casa de la Aventura” and was owned by my good friend and tennis partner, Gary Flanders from the Bay Area. I had prevailed upon Flanders by offering to take him with me to the Mansion activities.

For the second year, a friend of mine at Lake Tahoe Racquet Club was interested in contributing to the charity. He made an offer of a week-long cruise on his private yacht which was based in Hawaii. The cruise would include accommodations for three couples. It would also come with a captain to navigate the vessel and a full stock of food and libations.

As the donor of the top prizes, I would have to wait for the closing bell of the evening so that I could make arrangements with the winners.

After the yacht award, which occurred just past 2 a.m., I found myself waiting in the courtyard for the final shuttle bus to the parking garage at UCLA. As I stood there, a figure approached. It was a pipe-smoking individual, clad in pajamas and robe. He thanked me for obtaining such a great prize and introduced himself as the Lord of the Manor.

He said his name was Hugh Hefner and we proceeded to chat about magazine publication. He talked about his early days pasting up the original issues of his magazine and I mentioned I was also doing the same thing about the same time when I published Reno This Week, a local entertainment guide.

I’ve had occasion to visit many large and impressive residences in my time but the king of them all was the Playboy Mansion.

Harry Spencer is a long-time northern Nevada resident.

The community of French residents in Puerto Vallarta announced the completion of plans for a demonstration for freedom of expression in Puerto Vallarta, scheduled for Tuesday, January 13 at 4:00 pm and all are invited to join the community.

The demonstration is in support of #JE SUIS CHARLIE and will also be a tribute to the journalist victims of the terrorist attack against the newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France, perpetrated on January 7, 2015.

The venue was not included in the Vallarta Opina article, however the above photo of Los Arcos on the Malecon suggests that location (from the VO Facebook page).

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[readon1 url="http://pvangels.com/news/3177/french-residents-to-demonstrate-in-puerto-vallarta-in-support-of-je-suis-charlie"]Source:pvangels.com[/readon1]