Every week, Ellen has huge giveaway just for her newsletter subscribers! This week she's giving away 5-day, 4-night vacation in Mexico!

Garza Blanca Preserve in Puerto Vallarta is an ultra-chic five-star resort spectacularly flanked by the Pacific Ocean and jungle-covered mountains, while Villa del Palmar Cancun faces white sandy beaches and the turquoise Caribbean Sea. Both offer world-class spas, breathtaking views, infinity pools and magnificent restaurants to make your vacation even more spectacular. What a decision to make! Subscribe here to enter for your chance win!

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Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano may be the Queen of Spain today, but years ago when she was a student and lived in Guadalajara, Mexico, she had to work hard in order to become a renowned journalist. Letizia Ortiz studied journalism at the Complutense University of Madrid before beginning graduate studies in Guadalajara, where she was an assistant at a cigar shop. It took a few years before Rocasolano married into royalty.

According images released by the Daily Mail, in an article entitled "The Cigarette Girl Who Became a Queen: Pictures Reveal Spanish Royal Letizia Selling Tobacco When She Was a Student at Mexican University," the now wife of Philip VI worked providing information on a brand of cigarettes in order to earn extra money. Letizia and then returned to work for television in SPain at CNN + and TVE.

It was while working for TVE that she met Philip, who proposed in 2003 and married Rocasolano in 2004. When King Juan Carlos I abdicated the throne lat week, Letizia became Queen of Spain. "We have a great country, we are a great nation -- let us trust in it,” said King Philip at the coronation ceremony. The proclamation and reception possessed more of a military-style quality, while no foreign leaders were invited.

[readon1 url="http://www.latintimes.com/letizia-ortiz-rocasolano-photos-see-spanish-queen-she-was-princess-192703"]Source:www.latintimes.com[/readon1]

The families affected were given medical care, and were endowed antialacránico serum, among other supports like sheets tied to the roofs of their homes, cots, blankets, mattresses and pantries

Tepic, Nayarit/16 July 14 -. The Government of the People concerned about the safety and welfare of the less fortunate and need quick attended this Wednesday and timely manner called the affected families of the indigenous community of Cora Below with the delivery of highly sought support because of the storm that erupted last for days in the capital of Nayarit and heavily damaged the homes of the area.

Accompanying the actions of the Government of the People and on behalf of the state executive, Roberto Sandoval and the president of DIF Nayarit, Ana Lilia Lopez de Sandoval Senator Margarita Flores Sanchez went to the affected community, where he was received with great affection for the people who happy received great support as sheets as the wind whipped the roofs of houses, plus cots, blankets, toys and blankets for children were provided antialacránico serum and likewise care was given to children and adults.

Margarita Flores stated that the Government of the People is always and will closely follow those most in need and the people of Cora de Abajo not be the exception, "by Roberto Sandoval and his wife Lilia Lopez Ana Sandoval, such losses will recover, because we will not let it alone, "he said.

Over a hundred people that make the families of the community were deeply grateful and happy with the Government of the People stated that they will continue together to overcome this setback and certainly with the current administration, Cora de Abajo rise again to their families have a better quality of life.

MEXICO CITY — When the taxman calls, artist Teresa Cito doesn’t wince. She knows the state isn’t after a single peso.

The taxman wants a donation of her artwork.

An unusual program in Mexico allows painters, sculptors and other artists to donate part of their annual production of artwork to the state in lieu of paying taxes. The program, begun in 1957, has helped the government amass a huge collection of contemporary art. It’s also left artists such as Cito content, free from worry about tax forms and audits.

“I don’t even have an accountant,” Cito said.

The program is so simple she doesn’t need one. If she sells up to five pieces in one calendar year, she donates one of equal value to the state. If she sells six to eight pieces, she donates two. The sliding scale continues until an artist gives a maximum of six pieces.

Cito, who does colorful oil paintings as well as stark chalk drawings on paper, doesn’t slough off her lesser work to the state. She knows it will be exhibited, perhaps in a government ministry or museum, or a Mexican embassy abroad.

“My priority is to offer a nice piece,” Cito said, praising the program known simply as Payment in Kind. “I admire it very, very, very much. The government says, ‘Pay your taxes in artwork. Keep on painting.’ ”

Hundreds of artists take part, and it’s hard to find one with even the faintest hesitation. Many hail the program as unique in the world.

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Naomi Siegmann, a sculptor born in New York who’s lived in Mexico for five decades. Her tax payments are on display “in offices all over the country, government offices as well as public buildings.”

Siegmann said got a thrill when she saw one of her pieces _ often large hyper-realistic objects carved in wood _ gracing a public space.

“I walk in and see my work hanging or on pedestals. I think, ‘How nice!’ ” Siegmann said, adding that she recalls seeing one in the boardroom of the Secretariat of Foreign Relations.

“Every big artist is in this program. I mean the top, top artists. It’s not just the new artists, the beginners,” she said.

The program is thought to have had its genesis in a 1957 encounter between a tax official and David Alfaro Siqueiros, a muralist and painter of social realism, who related how an artist friend faced jail time for not paying taxes.

“Siqueiros vehemently argued that a painter knows nothing about accounting or complications of tax law. The only thing we have, he said, are pictures, and if you like, we can pay our obligations to the government with the delivery of some paintings,” the tax official and eventual diplomat, Hugo B. Margain, later wrote.

“It doesn’t seem like a bad idea, I told him,” Margain wrote.

The program was approved, and since then the federal government has taken in 4,394 works of art, said Cristina Lopez Beltran, an official at the Tax Administration Service who oversees execution of the Payment in Kind program. Lopez Beltran.

A rotating committee of seven artists and curators evaluates proposed donations to see whether they fairly represent the body of work of a given artist.

“More than evaluate the monetary value of a work, the experts decide if the work is representative of the artist’s oeuvre,” Lopez Beltran said.

Curators said the program had generated good will among artists, helped amass an impressive collection of some of Mexico’s most renowned artists and beautified the walls and open spaces of public buildings.

“It was a totally visionary thing to do,” said Patricia Sloane, a former gallery owner who’s now adjunct curator of the University Museum of Contemporary Art in the capital. “The artists have a much more generous attitude because they know their work will be shown in a museum.”

If the program has a fault, it may be that the state takes too much art, some of it of dubious quality that ends up gathering dust in vaults. Lopez Beltran said changes were in the offing to reduce the number of donations and to ensure they were of higher quality.

“There are many very bad artists who pay in kind,” said Victor Guadalajara, a sculptor, wood craftsman and lithographer. “It’s deceitful. One supposes that the committee doesn’t have members with the background or level to be there.”

Of course, not every artist who makes a living from selling his or her work is endowed with prodigious talent. Mexico has plenty of artists who sell their work at park fairs or in markets. They, too, have a right to take part in the program even if the state finds itself swimming in work that might not belong in a museum.

Still, the overall collection contains works by some of Mexico’s most renowned painters and sculptors.

“All the important artists from La Ruptura, which is the generation after the muralists, are in there,” Guadalajara said.

Artists such as Francisco Toledo, the Zapotec painter from Oaxaca who’s one of the nation’s most acclaimed living artists, British-born sculptor Leonora Carrington, painter Juan Soriano, who was part of the Ruptura vanguard that broke away in the 1950s from the nationalist imagery of the muralists, and Rufino Tamayo, a leader of the Mexican 20th-century renaissance, all have works in the Payment in Kind collection.

The collection even has three paintings by Diego Rivera, the greatest Mexican painter of the 20th century; an accomplishment, given that he was on his deathbed the year the program was founded.

Widely known artists endeavor to donate work they’re proud of.

“They are aware that their pieces may be exhibited not only in Mexico but also abroad,” said Jose San Cristobal Larrea, the head of the Cultural Promotion division of the Secretariat of Finance. “They don’t dare donate works of bad quality.”

San Cristobal said authorities were careful not to pass judgment on the work collected from artists, conscious that high artistic talent wasn’t always self-evident.

“Emerging artists who aren’t important today might be important tomorrow,” he said.

About 30 percent of the works collected by the state under the Payment in Kind program are listed as national patrimony, San Cristobal said.

“They form part of our itinerant collection. We have 15 to 20 expositions put together that we send out to museums,” San Cristobal said, noting that exhibitions have been or will be shown this year in museums in countries as varied as Turkey, Israel, India, Georgia, Venezuela, Thailand, Bolivia and Saudi Arabia.

In recent years, photography has been included in the program. Lopez Beltran said the tax service was studying whether other kinds of artistic expression might be included, perhaps theater or performance art, which would be recorded and shown time after time.

Guadalajara said part of the charm of the Payment in Kind program was its simplicity. No matter how much an artist earns, the formula stays the same.

“They don’t ask you how much you earned. They only ask you how many pieces of artwork you sold,” he said. Because he sells quite a few pieces a year, “I’ve always paid with six pieces, the limit.”

With that, the taxman is happy.

[readon1 url="http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2014/07/15/3751562/when-mexicos-tax-time-comes-artists.html"]Source:www.simplyvallarta.com[/readon1]

Sure it rains everywhere. But if you haven’t spent time in a tropical location during its rainy season, you don’t know rain. Spending a summer in Puerto Vallarta during the rainy season is true travel experience not to be missed, and here are five reasons why:

1. It’s Just Impressive – The summer months are like clockwork; the mornings/early afternoons are beautiful and sunny and then around 5 o’clock, the clouds roll in, the sky opens up, and it pours all night. And I mean pours.

It rains so hard you can’t see, and the streets literally become rivers. No lie, I’ve seen cars floating down my street, which, as I said, is pretty freaking impressive.

2. It’s Like a Snow Day – Anyone who lives in a city that gets snowy winters can attest to the awesomeness of a snow day. Businesses shut down, cars get snowed in, and everyone bundles up and heads to the bar to hunker down for the storm. The same happens here in PV, minus the bundling up. I was at Blake’s Sports Bar last night when the rain started and this old man who had just asked for his tab took a look outside, turned to the bartender, and said with a grin, “Better keep that baby open.” Needless to say, we became fast of friends as the rain fell, which brings me to reason number three…

3. It Creates Instant Camaraderie – Also like a snow day, the monsoon-like summer rains of Puerto Vallarta bring people together in a sort of “us against the storm” kind of way. You can’t help but to smile and laugh with the person next to you who also forgot their umbrella. When you finally arrive at your destination after getting caught in the rain, you always arrive to open arms (and often free tequila ;)) as everyone inside appreciates the aquatic beating you just survived.

4. It’s Good Fun – Who doesn’t love that feeling of release that comes when you realize it’s futile to fight to stay dry and you just say: “Fuck it, let’s get soaked.” You feel like that Singing in the Rain guy as you splash your way through the streets. It’s pure joy, like a baby in a bathtub. The other night my girlfriend and I bought two pairs of big rubber boots and stomped our way through the rain to a local cantina where we drank Tecates amidst the thunder and the lightening. It was just… awesome.

5. It Builds Appreciation – I must admit, as fun and impressive as the rainy season can be, by the end of those three of four months, you’re over it. But then just as you begin to turn crabby, the weather breaks, the humidity lifts, and you look around and go Holy crap, everything is so bright and lush! The rainy season not only quenches the thirst of the dried up Mexican earth, it also prepares you mentally to really appreciate the ridiculously perfect weather of Fall and Winter in Puerto Vallarta. To those readers who have braved a rainy season in Puerto Vallarta, what do you think? What would you add to this list of reasons to experience the summer months of PV?

photo courtesy of Mattock Photography

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Victims of rainfall supported by Government of the People

The Government of the People, by elements of the Department of Civil Protection and Fire Nayarit, and accompanied by staff of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Army, attended the Monday morning to Cora de Abajo community, Municipality of Tepic, in order to carry out a survey of involvement by the registered strong winds Sunday night, said the Director of the agency, Martin Tapia Miranda.

The state official said that in total 14 households were affected and 53 people, and explained that indications of the Governor of the State went to the upper area of ​​the municipality by the Apache helicopter to immediately support the inhabitants of the indigenous community recovery of their homes.

"Some of the 14 homes lost roofs completely and others partially, causing the loss of belongings such as mattresses and blankets, fortunately only material losses and directions of the Governor is to provide all necessary support either sheets, blankets, mats and whatever is necessary for these people to return to normal, and the lifting is being done to see actually that much material will be needed to support these people who were affected in the upper area of ​​the Municipality " noted.

Tapia Miranda added that heavy rain was recorded on Sunday, but in itself which caused the disaster were strong winds, in addition to the effect on households, also brought down many trees in the area.

Students from the Autonomous University of Nayarit (UAN) welcomed the support provided by the Government of the People at this university, through various works that paid to the safety of the university community.

Weighted to institutional support as ever this translates into better quality of facilities generally are renewed now accesses are continuously monitored and the perimeter Bardeo comes to ensuring the integrity of the university community.

They said that with the reliable support of the Government of the People, the commitment of the university community have towards their community invigorates and renews, beyond the role that each person plays, they all correspond to seek support in turn received as students.

In this regard the nursing student Octavio Hernández said: "It is great that the government can actually worry for the University, our university, because in reality we students need good infrastructure to do better. That which made ​​the whole University bardear I think is perfect for safety, which is already controlled access right now. "

For its part, also a student of the faculty of nursing at the UAN, Pamela Vazquez, said: "It makes me very good works because we too are things that we needed here as long, and they have been very efficient the works very well positioned, very well made, very good. I think so much commitment and because we are all united, because as this is all. "

Meanwhile, student accounting and administration, Kupuri Tortolero said: "Very favorable for college, mostly for safety we have to cross streets and the best places to take us. It benefits mostly supports giving the governor directly to college, such as scholarships for further study. Yes there is a big commitment and I do think they are doing a great job. "

The worker at the Autonomous University of Nayarit, Jesus Sanchez, said: "We as employees of the University have here the CENDI of our children and all when leaving at two in the afternoon, right now there are more fluent by the number of lanes out there. They are fine works. Thanks to the State Government is doing good works, which is the periphery of the University and we are benefiting. "

Works with tangible and real use to the university community, the Government of the People patentiza its commitment to highest seat of learning of Nayarit.

Chihuahua white pine (Pinus strobiformis) is found in the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains in Northern Mexico as well as in southern Mexico through Chihuahua and Durango to Jalisco. This pine has also been found growing in the US in AZ, CO, NM, and TX. Other common names include Border pine and Southwestern White pine.

The Chihuahua white pine is a small to medium sized tree growing to heights of 50-80 feet with a height of 98 feet in perfect growing conditions. This tree likes to grow in well-drained sandy/loam soils mostly in high elevations on steep foothills or mountains. The Chihuahua pine is drought tolerant and shade intolerant, with some resistance to wind. The trunk diameter of this pine is between 30-60 inches wide with the bark being light grey when immature and maturing to a dark brown with deep grooves. The needles grow in bundles of five and measure 2.4-4 inches long. The cones measure 2.8-9.8 inches long with the wingless seeds measuring 0.4-0.5 inches long. Seeds are dependent upon birds to spread beyond the parent tree.

The wood from this tree is used for building furniture and doors in Mexico. The seeds are edible and can be eaten raw or cooked, or ground into a powder. Native Americans used the seed as it is rich in oils, is soft and has a slight resinous flavor.

Image Caption: Chihuahua white pine (Pinus strobiformis). Credit: Wikipedia (public domain)

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New York, July 14, 2014 - Latin America's leading LGBT business network, LGBT Confex, has developed and produced an LGBT Business Forum for Bogota's Equality Week to be held in the Colombian city from October 02- 04. The forum will focus on the needs of LGBT Business Market and will be the first of its kind in the country.

The LGBT Business Forum will be held at Camara de Comercio de Bogota - Chapinero and will be a B2B and consumer event targeting the LGBT with every element of this event designed to maximize networking business and educational opportunities in addition to, educational and social opportunities, making the experience as complete as possible for all participants.

LGBT Confex was invited to attend Bogotas's Equality week by the City's government.
The new event will include presentations from government, business and community leaders and is focused on delegates better understanding how the 6% of Colombia's population who comprise the LGBT communities are the same as - and also different from - the mainstream population of Colombia.

Alexandra Torres, Director of the Greater Convention Bureau of Bogota said: "Being chosen as the host city for the 5th LGBT Confex Business Forum 2014 is a great honor for us. Bogotá is a dynamic capital, full of energy, culture, colors and flavors that promises them a quality event ... That is our duty! Promises a unique and magical event. "

CEO of LGBT Confex, Ruben Sandoval, said "We are often asked to bring an LGBT Confex business event to different places, "Since we started bringing business, non-government organizations and companies together to learn more about LGBT people in Mexico in 2011, this is the first time we have produced an event in another country. The support we are receiving from everyone in Bogota and Colombia is much appreciated by us and we are very much looking forward to bringing opportunities of networking and education that are world-class for delegates in Bogota this October."

Education presentations and workshops will be included from many leading global LGBT thought-leaders. Selisse Berry, head of Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, based in San Francisco, USA - focused on LGBT diversity in the workplace - is to host a roundtable discussion on workplace issues. Ian Johnson, Founder and CEO of Out Now Global - the world's leading LGBT consulting organization - is based in the Netherlands and is presenting findings from LGBT2020, the world's largest LGBT market research program as well as best-practice marketing case studies, showing how LGBT people are helping redefine business across Latin America - and around the world.

For more information or to register as a delegate contact Horacio Horta This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Media Contact:
Carlos Lopez - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Andres Reyes - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ABOUT LGBT CONFEX
Latin America’s leading LGBT Business Network is LGBT Confex http://www.lgbtconfex.com. Established in 2011, the organization has quickly demonstrated its capabilities to put together a professional team with staff that brings many years in event management and business networks expertise. Following the success of their inaugural event in 2011, LGBT Confex doubled in scale with its 2012 edition in Cancun and continued its growth in 2013's International LGBT Business Expo in Guadalajara, Mexico. In 2014 the 4th edition was held in Puerto Vallarta in June.

With an investment of 40 million pesos the Government of the People is building the new Social Revolution Avenue in Nayarit capital work to date shows an increase of 40 percent, as reported by the responsible office of the Ministry of Works Public state Avila Ignacio Ruiz.

He explained that this important avenue will have the same features of the great works driven by the Governor of the People, Roberto Sandoval Castañeda, then have a renovated drainage system and drinking water, underground networks, street lighting and signs and respective fittings.

With a length of just over ½ mile, Avenue-from Culture to Priscillian Sánchez-avenue, the avenue revolution has become a major traffic artery vent in the city Avila Ruiz said.

"The demand for modern and functional roads has grown while traffic has increased in the city, only Revolution Avenue traffic flow is approximately 20 thousand vehicles per day. This definitely wearing significantly the asphalt today through the efforts of our Governor Sandoval Ro berto continue with the modernization of roads capital with the construction of this new avenue, "he said.

In this work we work in the same way that once the street Zacatecas, ie for blocks, this with the sole intention of impeding the passage was constructed as little as possible. Currently work is performed in the dirt section Avenue street culture Vicente Guerrero.

The Government of the People made the second stimulus delivery equipment and wildland fire protection to a total of 220 fighters from 22 local rural brigades which are distributed in the 12 municipalities facing major problems in forest fires.

The government headed by Roberto Sandoval Castañeda stresses the importance of community brigades because they live in nearby places where accidents happen and can promptly address these cases, achieving significantly reduce damage to the environment, a strategy that has worked well.

With this action the Government of the People temporarily creates jobs, supports community brigades that deal to help fight forest fires that occur throughout the state, and at the same time takes care of forests and green areas.

Summer is the quintessential vacation season in most parts of the world. People like to get away on vacation and enjoy this beautiful time of year.

If you are planning on heading to the beach for your summer vacation and expect an off-the-charts holiday, you really must come to Puerto Vallarta. Its tropical climate and wide range of beaches all along Banderas Bay, surrounded by the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains, offers unique and spectacular mountain and beach scenery.

Don’t let the rainy season hinder you from coming. Rainfall often comes at night, and it is a spectacle of nature worth enjoying. In this part of the world it rains heavily at night, and by dawn you will enjoy a beautiful sunny day and sunsets with clouds of every color.

The rains bring water to the numerous rivers flowing along the bay, from the Riviera Nayarit to the Ameca River, which already belongs to Puerto Vallarta, and to the municipality of Cabo Corrientes. You can visit and enjoy numerous rivers and different ecotourism activities; some even flow into the beautiful beaches which merge with the sea water.

Summer is a great season to enjoy much more than just going to the beach, with nature manifesting itself and showing you its splendor and beauty. Puerto Vallarta awaits you with open arms this summer and always.

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