The apex of cheesy television during the 1970's and 80's was The Love Boat. It lasted for eight seasons on ABC, before being mercifully sunk. The Love Boat centered around the adventures of the Pacific Princess, a cruise ship that traveled reguarly between Los Angeles and Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. Of course, the silver screen is two-dimensional, as were the plots on that series. The real world has three dimensions, four if you count time. Here is some of what has been happening in the real world in Puerto Vallarta of late.
February 24, 2012 - Approximately 22 American tourists were assaulted by an armed group in Puerto Vallarta, according to authorities.
The events occured when the tourists were on a tour to see the attractions in the town of "El Nogalito," towards the Mismaloya area on board a special truck, when masked men on the road stopped the truck.
Afterwards, according to a report, the subjects got on the truck and took money and valuable items from the 22 foreigners, and then escaped. In light of this event, police agents and other police entities cordoned off the area with no result.
February 21, 2012 - Personnel for the Mexican armed forces helped and transferred ten tourists and four crewmembers to port. They were on a boat that sank due to a strong sea 5 nautical miles out of playa Destiladeras, in the area north of Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit.
The military, through a communique, confirmed that all the occupants of the boat "Manta" were found floating and after being retrieved from the water were taken to the Eighth Naval Zone installations where they were examined and found in good health, and left by their own means.
The aid was fortunate thanks to the mobility of the "Defender" type of boat, that upon receiving the call for help left rapidly with specialist personnel in search and rescue.
The tourists on the recreation boat told the military personnel that for a good part of the morning and afternoon they were diving in the area of the Islas Marietas, and upon their return to Vallarta, they hit heavy seas and the boat took on water.
Unfortunately, the passengers confirmed, the boat "Manta" had problems with the bilge pump, which caused the boat to sink.
The call for help was received at the Search and Rescue Station at the Naval Zone, when a person telephoned that her husband, who was on the boat, reported via cell phone of the problems and that the boat was sinking, and located the position as offshore of playa de Destiladeras.
February 5, 2012 - In events which still have not been completely clarified, two people are dead from gunfire and five more that were in front of a diner were wounded, among them a 10-year old girl with a bullet in the head, and another 5-year old who was shot in both legs.
January 3, 2012 - A retired mechanic from B.C. was shot and killed early Tuesday morning in a town south of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Robin Wood, 67, was returning from a concert when he was shot by robbers who had entered the home he was staying at in Melaque, the CBC reported.
Wood had lived in Puerto Vallarta for about four years, after several decades on B.C.'s Saltspring Island.
December 12, 2011 - El Torito restaurant in Puerto Vallarta. A couple went for a late night bite and literally watched the short waiter set up two different male tourists to buy pot and then point them out to the police to get busted. The police in turn extracted $400 to keep the one man staying at the same hotel as the reporting couple ouy of jail. So they feed you a meal and then serve you up to crooked cops.
November 24, 2011 - A U.S. citizen was discovered stabbed to death in Puerto Vallarta this week, in what is thought to be an act of violent robbery, although authorities have given no suspected motive for the crime.
Found gagged and bound, David W. Reitz III, believed to be aged 62 to 65, died of multiple knife wounds. His body was discovered on Wednesday in the shower of his apartment on Calle Allende in the center of Vallarta, with his hands and feet tied with white ribbon.
Reitz had been renting the apartment for just 15 days. Police determined that he had not left the apartment since Monday, when neighbors saw him enter with two unknown persons. No one has been arrested in connection with the crime.
November 2, 2011 - American Donna Davies, 52-years old was walking down the street in Puerto Vallarta yesterday when four men ripped her purse out of her hands and fled in a car. She called the police and gave them the license plate number, and the police captured the four assailants.
September 10, 2011 - Like a scene out of an action movie, two men on a motorcycle attacked César Iván Arredondo Camacho, who was in his grey Lexis. The running chase lasted for several miles, until Camacho finally was killed with more than 10 bullet wounds to this body and crashed right in front of the Hotel Fiesta Americana in the central tourist section of town, much to the surprise of the American and Canadian tourists in the hotel lobby.
The apex of cheesy television during the 1970's and 80's was The Love Boat. It lasted for eight seasons on ABC, before being mercifully sunk. The Love Boat centered around the adventures of the Pacific Princess, a cruise ship that traveled reguarly between Los Angeles and Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. Of course, the silver screen is two-dimensional, as were the plots on that series. The real world has three dimensions, four if you count time. Here is some of what has been happening in the real world in Puerto Vallarta of late.
February 24, 2012 - Approximately 22 American tourists were assaulted by an armed group in Puerto Vallarta, according to authorities.
The events occured when the tourists were on a tour to see the attractions in the town of "El Nogalito," towards the Mismaloya area on board a special truck, when masked men on the road stopped the truck.
Afterwards, according to a report, the subjects got on the truck and took money and valuable items from the 22 foreigners, and then escaped. In light of this event, police agents and other police entities cordoned off the area with no result.
February 21, 2012 - Personnel for the Mexican armed forces helped and transferred ten tourists and four crewmembers to port. They were on a boat that sank due to a strong sea 5 nautical miles out of playa Destiladeras, in the area north of Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit.
The military, through a communique, confirmed that all the occupants of the boat "Manta" were found floating and after being retrieved from the water were taken to the Eighth Naval Zone installations where they were examined and found in good health, and left by their own means.
The aid was fortunate thanks to the mobility of the "Defender" type of boat, that upon receiving the call for help left rapidly with specialist personnel in search and rescue.
The tourists on the recreation boat told the military personnel that for a good part of the morning and afternoon they were diving in the area of the Islas Marietas, and upon their return to Vallarta, they hit heavy seas and the boat took on water.
Unfortunately, the passengers confirmed, the boat "Manta" had problems with the bilge pump, which caused the boat to sink.
The call for help was received at the Search and Rescue Station at the Naval Zone, when a person telephoned that her husband, who was on the boat, reported via cell phone of the problems and that the boat was sinking, and located the position as offshore of playa de Destiladeras.
February 5, 2012 - In events which still have not been completely clarified, two people are dead from gunfire and five more that were in front of a diner were wounded, among them a 10-year old girl with a bullet in the head, and another 5-year old who was shot in both legs.
January 3, 2012 - A retired mechanic from B.C. was shot and killed early Tuesday morning in a town south of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Robin Wood, 67, was returning from a concert when he was shot by robbers who had entered the home he was staying at in Melaque, the CBC reported.
Wood had lived in Puerto Vallarta for about four years, after several decades on B.C.'s Saltspring Island.
December 12, 2011 - El Torito restaurant in Puerto Vallarta. A couple went for a late night bite and literally watched the short waiter set up two different male tourists to buy pot and then point them out to the police to get busted. The police in turn extracted $400 to keep the one man staying at the same hotel as the reporting couple ouy of jail. So they feed you a meal and then serve you up to crooked cops.
November 24, 2011 - A U.S. citizen was discovered stabbed to death in Puerto Vallarta this week, in what is thought to be an act of violent robbery, although authorities have given no suspected motive for the crime.
Found gagged and bound, David W. Reitz III, believed to be aged 62 to 65, died of multiple knife wounds. His body was discovered on Wednesday in the shower of his apartment on Calle Allende in the center of Vallarta, with his hands and feet tied with white ribbon.
Reitz had been renting the apartment for just 15 days. Police determined that he had not left the apartment since Monday, when neighbors saw him enter with two unknown persons. No one has been arrested in connection with the crime.
November 2, 2011 - American Donna Davies, 52-years old was walking down the street in Puerto Vallarta yesterday when four men ripped her purse out of her hands and fled in a car. She called the police and gave them the license plate number, and the police captured the four assailants.
September 10, 2011 - Like a scene out of an action movie, two men on a motorcycle attacked César Iván Arredondo Camacho, who was in his grey Lexis. The running chase lasted for several miles, until Camacho finally was killed with more than 10 bullet wounds to this body and crashed right in front of the Hotel Fiesta Americana in the central tourist section of town, much to the surprise of the American and Canadian tourists in the hotel lobby.