A new Indian Restaurant in  Puerto Vallarta. Located just off the new Malecon  around the corner from the
Bodeguita del Medio on Allende Street (number 144) is a delightful little gem
of a find offering a taste of India. 

Only recently opened, this yummy intimate
restaurant already has quite a following; bringing the some new twists to
traditional Indian platters and the staple classics we all love. 

Affordable
dishes, appetizers and wines, with great attention to detail and excellent
service. I was truly impressed.

India Gate will become one of my favorites for our girls’
nights out as they offer 2 x 1 martinis on Wednesdays (try to Gingertini and
the original Chaitini!) and their great tasting Naan.

Tasty, reasonable and friendly, a great combination!

If you are in the mood for something unique, special but still
affordable, look no further than Chantel Mann’s stalls at the markets in Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit .

Chantel Mann is originally from
Washington State and was raised by parents in the antique business, so is no
stranger to vintage finds.  

Recently featured in print in Vallarta Today, Chantel´s
budding business has grown exponentially over the last year.

Set up on her stalls in the Old Town Farmer’s
Marketon Saturday mornings and at the La Cruz
Marina market on Sundays, Chantel can just barely be seen
through the amount of clients gathering round her stall.

She handcrafts antique silver spoons into beautiful earrings,
chains, necklaces, rings, bracelets and key chains. Also, if you have a
particular piece of family silverware you want customized, she will take
individual orders to create wearable family air looms!

Chantel offers splendid ideas for gifts or to treat yourself
to something special. Check her out for yourself and help support a local
handcrafted trade, the hype is fully deserved.

 Find out more on her Facebook Page.

2012 is proving to be an exciting season for the new Mexican
star in the NBA.

Gustavo Ayon, from Nayarit, has shown huge strength this
year as an NBA Rookie with the New Orleans Hornets, coming from several seasons
playing in Spain with Fuen Lambrada.

Amazingly, this player visited Puerto
Vallarta for the sports classic and played in the local tournament with our
teams and is now doing a stellar job representing Nayarit in the best basketball
league in the world.

Ayon is the third Mexican basketball player in history to have reached
the dizzying heights of the NBA, behind Horacio Llamas from Sinaloa y Eduardo
Nájera from Chihuahua.

He recently broke the Mexican record for rebounding,
grabbing 17 rebounds against Cleveland, which passed Najara’s 15 when he was
playing with the Dallas Mavericks. More astonishing is that this record was
surpassed halfway in the season, with plenty more games to play.

His defensive
skills have been remarked upon on TNT, NBA TV and even in the sports columns of
the New York Times. Let’s hope this bodes well for the rest of his excellent
1st year and bag him many more to come. 

Viva Mexico!

Vallarta is ready to host this year’s Tourism Fair, which has been held in Acapulco since its inauguration. 

Tourism is of huge importance to Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit and represents the third biggest income for the country as a whole, behind oil and remittance (sent from working Mexican abroad). 

The idea is to maximize the capacity Mexico has a tourist destination and steadily increase the number of international visitors coming to our shores every year. 

The hosting city will be on a rotational basis so it is of utmost importance that Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit, as joint hosts of 2012 impress the visiting contingency.

We are with you Vallarta!

The fair will take place from March 25 to 28, 2012 at the International Convention Center Puerto Vallarta.

The annual Sailing Regatta Copa Mexico is to return again to
the north shores of Banderas Bay in Nayarit. 

This year’s schedule is from March 2nd to 10th, 2012 and will see more than 10 different nations represented in the
numerous participating sail boats.

 The events are set to depart from the fabulous new Marina at
La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. 

These impressive events are a great spectator sport and
it is recommended for those who want to catch these live to congregate at the
Marina to see the sailboatdepartures between 11am and 12 noon and then again
from 4 to 6pm to see the sailboats arrive back in the bay and catch the end of
the race.

It is a great event to watch! Don’t miss it.

Despite the hammering of negative press from the mouths of
TV pundits and news readers across the border, there are new stats that speak
volumes about how enticing a place Mexico really is.

Just look at the figures
released by the Mexican Tourism Board, SECTUR, showing that 2011 was a record
breaking year for the numbers of tourist visiting Mexico. SECTUR announced that
almost 190 million people visited Mexico in 2011.

Astounding numbers given the
endless array of “warnings” and hyped up anti Mexican publicity, proving that
people aren’t always swayed by whoever speaks their opinion the loudest.

SECTUR wants to focus in the coming years to make Mexico
the 5^th most visited Tourist destination

Stats Sourced from: http://www.sectur.gob.mx/es/sectur/Boletin_54

This month marked the historic election of Josefina
Vazquez Mota as the PAN (National Action Party) candidate in the
upcoming general elections to be held later this year.

In the Mexican political system,
Presidents stand for one single term (6 years) and cannot be reelected. This
means that the current President, Felipe Calderon will
stand down to pass the presidency on to the winner of this year’s elections. 

Mexico
has not yet had a female candidate for the top job, let alone a President
itself, this is an exciting time for Mexican history and for the empowerment of
women in Latin America as a whole. Will Vazquez attain the highest prize as did
her counterparts in Argentina, Chile and Brazil?

In actual fact, the gender card could be an influential
decision in the outcome of the election, especially as the ruling PAN
political party is trailing in the pones behind Peña Nieto, the
charismatic good looking PRI candidate.

Will women rally around this candidate and break beyond
traditional party lines?… we shall have to wait and see.

Phew! Finally…some good news for drivers, passengers and
children in Puerto Vallarta. Vallarta has decided to finally implement some new traffic laws that
are going to see safety increased on our roads.

A new law introducing fines for traffic offences will go a
long way to help educate and enforce the importance of safe driving practices.
Great for our kids is that young children are not to be transported in the
front seats, except in vehicles that do not have rear seats, and that babies
must always be strapped into approved car seats.

Some of the most important features that will now see the
drivers fined include the following:

I. Not using seat belts, the driver and his passengers.

II. Transporting children under 12 in the front seats.
Children should be driven in safety seats or restraint systems appropriate to
their age at all times.

III. The driver of a vehicle exceeds the speed limit by more
than 10 kilometers per hour, provided that there are signs where the limit is
announced. In schools, shopping centers, and hospitals, there is no tolerance
whatsoever.

IV. Not having insurance to cover damage to third parties.
This sentence may be waived if the offender presents proof of insurance against
third parties within 20 days.

V. In addition to third party liability insurance, public
and specialized transportation vehicles must have life insurance for all
passengers.

For more detailed information, visit the Banderas News website here.

The 4th annual Vallarta Mardi Gras
celebration is coming. On Feb 18th from 9pm Vallarta’s own Carnaval  will begin at Parque Hidalgo, winding
down the Malecon  on to Basilio Badillo
 and then ending on Olas
Altas at approx midnight.

This excellent event has been gathering fans and sponsors
since it began 4 years ago and this year is set to be the biggest yet.  Hundreds of entries are expected from walking
individuals to the most outrageous floats.

New also this year is the live video feed being produced
for audiences who want to see what is happening but prefer to avoid the crowds.
You can view the action from the comfort of your own home via internet for the
first time ever thanks to Video Diva Productions,.

Get the glitter and feathers ready people… the party is
about to start.

The news was delivered this week that Whitney Houston, known globally for her powerful voice and her tumultuous marriage to Bobby Brown was found dead in a Hilton Beverly Hills hotel room.