In this edition the star will be the grape, as there will be a focus on the variety there is in the world for the making of wines, such as: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay; said Fidetur Puerto Vallarta in a report

This meeting was held last year in the town of Tomatlán, where 39 children participated

Authorities System for Integral Family Development (DIF) of Puerto Vallarta, represented by Magaly Fregoso Ortiz, gave awards to children and youth who participated in the ninth edition of Cultural encounter and Deportivo Prevention Program Psychosocial Risk (PREVERP) 2013.

This meeting is held every year and the last edition was held in the town of Tomatlán, where a total of 39 under Puerto Vallarta, who managed to get four first places in the categories involved: young single song, youth group singing, Preventive Women's 100m short and child levels.

During the presentation of awards from Magaly Ortiz Fregoso, children demonstrated their talent, as in the case of Esmeralda Moctezuma and Jacqueline Rojas, winner in the individual chanting youth, who gave a musical intervention and got applause from the audience meeting in the premises of the Directorate for the Protection of Children (DPI).

In addition, the video "Ways to prevent addictions," prepared by the young Michelangelo Cortés Martínez, Alan Santana Ulises Vega Vallejo and Enrique Alarcon, winners in the short film was screened preventive.

Also, María Hernández Miranda and Joselynne winning the Women's 100m child category ups, gave testimony and thanked the DIF system to boost these activities that keep children and young people from addiction and psychosocial risks and gives them the opportunity to continue their studies through a scholarship given periodically.

Meanwhile, city officials expressed the willingness of the institution to continue to encourage young people and their families. Also the president of the Municipal DIF, acknowledged the hard work responsibly perform those involved in prevention programs, including Alma Gonzalez, Edgar Corrales, Paul Rodriguez Sergio Rojas and Carlos Ruiz, as well as each of the volunteers.

The PREVERP program seeks to promote healthy lifestyles as a measure to reduce and prevent substance abuse among children and their families.

Coming soon….

Epic Glow Party at Señor Frog's Vallarta

This February 1st.

This famous restaurant is going to celebrate

Their 15 year Anniversary!!

No kidding It's going to be awesome!!

The year 2014 for Riviera Nayarit is a year with new challenges, the town of Sayulita has its own, an example is the 1st Sayulita 2014 Festival: A sample of film, food, tequila, music, surf and a great heart.

From January 16th to 19th, the “hippie chic” town gets into a party mood to exhibit the places, sounds, flavors and broad range of tastes that it can offer its visitors.

“It is a new project that came out of the heart of the town. We chose a time in the calendar in which we could attract more people, tourism and income for the town", expressed Gabriel Villarrubia, one of the directors of the Festival.

There will be a transmission of films of culture, action, sports, mountain climbing, surf, music and family movies. The idea is that the people have the opportunity to see films in many places of the town.

“The greatest and most cool theater is in the Sayulita beach, every night we will have a screen of a size that you can't even imagine, for some 500 or 600 people”, said Villarrubia.

The tequila and the food have a special place in this festival, for which there will be tastings in different places. For the Mexicans the tequila and the food is something that mixes well, but not so for foreign tourists, who need to be taught that other phase of the Mexican beverage par excellence.

“On Friday nights there are events in five different restaurants, we are doing tastings. We will have a special menu that night”, he said.

On Saturday there is a surf tournament as part of the festival, to which any person can come in to enjoy, as it is not professional event, but a recreational activity to give the town its place in what distinguishes it in the world.

On that night there will be an “aftertasting”, an intimate moment with tequila, music, folkloric dances and mariachi to close with a finishing touch.

The Office of Visitors and Conventions of Riviera Nayarit, supports this event and extends the invitation so that the Sayulita Festival achieves the greatness that the town deserves.

“We appreciate all of the support and the help that they are giving us, we are a small group, we make what is possible but with a lot of heart. The support that we receive is like a gift from friends, we respect that a lot", thanked Gabriel Villarrubia

“What Sayulita offers is a heart that is different from other places around here, it is an international destination, people from all over the world live here with their families. It is a bohemian destination with a family environment”, he finalized.

Here is the official website of the Festival: www.festivalsayulita.com

[readon1 url="http://notivallarta.com/2014/01/13/riviera-nayarit-celebra-el-1er-festival-sayulita-2014/"]Source: NotiVallarta Translated by Rene Tripp[/readon1]

The growth in the production of film is not enough, say members of the Group of Reflection on Economy and Culture

78 per cent of the Mexican population cannot access the movie theaters.

January 9th, 2014.- Even though areas like the radio, t.v., design, architecture and cuisine of Mexico have benefited in general in the 20 years of the North American Free Trade Agreement, other areas like cinema have been affected with such an economic opening, said members of the Group of Reflection on Economy and Culture (Grecu) of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana.

For example in 1989, with neoliberal policies already in their peak, in the country 92 movies were produced, but from there started a "precipitous fall" until reaching only nine films in 1997. And even though starting in 2002 a slow recovery started (14 films) and in 2012 seventy four were produced, this growth has been "insufficient" and has been due mainly due to the "movements of civil society".

The movie maker Víctor Ugalde commented:

"It looks like with the current development model, the most benefited ones have been the U.S. cinema, which today covers the screens. We have the worst cinematographic balance of payments, it used to be more or less balanced, with a deficit in some years, good in others, with 10 or 15 percent in variation. We have a balance in the Mexican cinematographic audiovisual of 99 per cent. This is terrifying".

Ugalde clarified that in 1993 there were 103 million spectators and now they add up to 257 million, and that the box office was of 752 million pesos and 20 years later it is of 11 billion 902 million.

He added that with the neoliberal model, 78 per cent of the Mexican population cannot access the movie theaters and that before, with the "popular model", half of the population could enter.

Also, before NAFTA, there were 2 thousand 300 towns with movie theaters and half of the audience watched Mexican cinema. Now, "in the best of the past 20 years", in between 26 and 30 million people saw national cinema, while in the 80s it was an average of 200 million Mexicans.

On January 1st 1994 the NAFTA was put into practice. According to the promoters, the objective was to generate a fast economic growth. However, since 1994 the Mexican economy has registered one of the lowest growth rates in Latin America.

The image shows a protest against the treaty by some farmers.

Headed by Eduardo Cruz Vázquez, coordinator of the Grecu, coming out of the Program of Cultural Economy of the mentioned university to drive the full acknowledgment of the cultural economy as a significant part of the development of the country, the academics, creators and journalists of the group also announced the making of the forum Free movement for culture, treatment and maltreatment of NAFTA, for march 25th and 26th in the UAM Xochimilco and the Senate.

Also, from May to October they will carry out the third edition of the qualification course in business opportunities in culture, as well as another in science and business. And in their website they will reflect and value the special program of art and culture of the federal government, as well as the discussion about the fourth constitutional article referring to a general law of culture.

They said that the forum is seeking to revise and make available the most current information, quantitatively and qualitatively, about what NAFTA has meant for the cultural sector of the country. A lot has been discussed about other areas of the economy in relation to the treaty, but almost nothing about culture, due in part to the scarcity of available information and analysis, besides the difficult access to existing data, pointed out Cruz Vázquez.

To better study it, the Grecu divides the cultural sector into sub-sectors, thematic base of the forum: audiovisual, visual arts, scenic arts, telecommunications and digital media, science and technology, and culture and art of the Ministry of Education, where the National Council for the Culture and the Arts and other facilities are located.

[readon1 url="http://www.lajornadajalisco.com.mx/2014/01/09/cine-mexicano-de-los-mas-afectados-por-el-tlcan-segun-la-uam/"]Source: La Jornada Jalisco Translated by Rene Tripp[/readon1]

Ada Sailing does it again! We all know its Andie's charm that draws the whales close to share their thoughts with her!  She is the ultimate Whale Whisperer!

With the motive of the beginning of the whale season, the ecological group “Ecología y Conservación de Ballenas A.C. (ECOBAC) announces the celebration of the first Whale Festival “Ballenarte” from January 8th to 11th of 2014, event which will take place in Puerto Vallarta in our beautiful Banderas Bay, which each year is visited by the Hunchback Whale and other marine mammals.

Interest for sightseeing the hunchback whale considerably increases in Banderas Bay.

The best place to enjoy a night of fun.

This Thursday January 2nd of 2014, a necklace party was carried out, which is the first celebration of 2014 in the famous Mandala bar situated at the center of the Pier in Puerto Vallarta.

For more than 20 minutes locals and visitors enjoyed the multicolored lights that lit the sky to say good bye to the year

Thousands of people, in between locals and visitors, enjoyed the fireworks show, which shortly before midnight, began to light the sky of Puerto Vallarta to welcome 2014.

It was more than 20 minutes of multicolored fireworks and music, which caused the applause of the Vallartans as well as national and foreign tourists, which from a very early hour arrived to the center of the city, where despite the rain, they were waiting for the show of the end of the year by the municipal government of Puerto Vallarta.

Caps and crowns colored in red, silver, black or gold, with the legend “Happy New Year”, as well as a great quantity of umbrellas, were the accessories that thousands of visitors carried, protecting themselves against the rain that kept falling throughout the soiree to enjoy the event with great enthusiasm.

THOUSANDS OF VISITORS

Visitors of Guadalajara, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Michoacán, Mexico City, Baja California Sur, Guanajuato, California, Canada, among others, agreed that it was a night to celebrate with family and friends and receive the New Year with the best purposes and in a unique stage like the pier of Puerto Vallarta.

María Isabel Gutiérrez of Guadalajara, commented that “this is the first time that I come, and with the rain I expected that there would not be anything but the truth is that the party was great and we are happy to enjoy the new year in this place”.

It is noteworthy that for the security of those present, the officers of Public Security, Traffic, Firemen and Civil Protection, established an End of the Year 2013 Operative, in which they kept the visitors to the center of the city from coming in with objects that represent some risk for those who enjoyed this celebration.

Shortly before midnight the sky was lit with multicolored lights to say good bye to 2013, Vallartans and visitors enjoyed the show of the end of the year

The rain did not prevent thousands of people from forming part of the celebration. Attendees sought to take with them the best memory of this show. Since an early hour, Vallartans and visitors began to arrive to the center of the city. The pier offered a unique stage to receive 2014; with more than 20 minutes of multicolored fireworks and music

The data

Visitors of diverse states of the country, United States and Canada received the new year in Vallarta

[readon1 url="http://vallartaopina.net/2014/01/02/acuden-miles-de-personas-a-espectaculo-de-pirotecnia/"]Source: Vallarta Opina Translated by Rene Tripp[/readon1]

Ontario’s Courtney Smith won a six-night/seven-day stay for two courtesy of the Hard Rock Hotel Vallarta and Air Canada Vacations on Chris Robinson’s Travel Show radio program.

On December 20th Ontario’s Courtney Smith received an early Christmas present when she tuned in to Chris Robinson’s Travel Show radio program during which he promoted the Riviera Nayarit.
 
The promotion was sponsored by the Hard Rock Hotel Vallarta and Air Canada Vacations, which offered a free six-night/seven-day stay for two in a Deluxe Gold Room, including transportation, for whoever called in to answer a question about the “Vallarta-Nayarit, Live it to believe it” campaign.
 
The radio station produced two one-hour specials during which staff from the Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau had the opportunity to interact with listeners and answer any questions they had about the destination.
 
During these hour-long live shows they talked about the wonders of Mexico’s Pacific Treasure and its charming towns, its hotel infrastructure and other tourism services.
 
Promotion for the shows began early on stations Newstalk 1010 in Ontario and CIAD in Montreal, which transmitted 83 spots during the month of November announcing the November 30th and December 7th air dates.
 
The first three people to answer the question correctly by December 20th were entered into a drawing from which the winner was selected.
 
The promotion generated an estimated 8.8 million impressions (2.2 million per week.) The destination was also promoted on the stations’ and the host’s social media channels, as well as their websites.
 
This type of promotional work strengthens ties with Canada, a captive market that is already in second place as far as numbers of foreign visitors to the Riviera Nayarit.
 
The Riviera Nayarit CVB continues to search for alternatives to inform visitors and maintain their interest in the destination. The Travel Show centers exclusively on tourism destinations around the world.

The Show will be synchronized with cheerful musical notes and will have a length of a little more than 20 minutes

The arches of the pier, will be the perfect stage so that thousands of tourists and Vallartans welcome the new year 2014 through a show of fireworks, that in synchrony with cheerful musical pieces, will light the sky of the bay in a space of 20 minutes.

Carlos Gerard Guzmán, director of Municipal Tourism, detailed that the fireworks show will start near 11:50 on the night of December 31st for the delight of local families and national and foreign visitors, who traditionally come to the pier, to be part of this celebration of new year.

“It is an event for all the tourists, but also for the locals. They are invited to come to live the end of the year to the center of the city, with a musical and fireworks show that for nearly 20 minutes will fill the sky with multi-colored shapes”, explained the civil servant.

THE ANNIVERSARY

Carlos Gerard Guzmán also invited those who visit the destination to prolong their holidays until January 8th, in which they have prepared a big celebration for the anniversary of the jetty of The Dead in which there will be a big festival, music and a good environment for the assistants.

He also pointed out that in this last week of 2013, a lot of hotels already register an occupation of one hundred percent, which determines that there will be an excellent closing of the year in terms of tourism; likewise the beginning of 2014 is looking good with the arrival of foreign tourists.

He mentioned that since the jetty of The Dead has transformed itself into the most recent tourist icon of the city, a program of celebrations so that it also becomes an excuse for partying with the tourists has been prepared.

The data

The fireworks show will start near 11:50 at night on December 31st.

[readon1 url="http://vallartaopina.net/2013/12/27/anuncian-espectaculo-de-pirotecnia-para-recibir-2014/"]Source: Vallarta Opina Translated by Rene Tripp[/readon1]