The Marvelous Malecon: Puerto Vallarta's Premier Promenade Dennis D. Jacobs - Examiner.com
go to original December 1, 2012

video by Promovision Professional Video Services

Chicago may have the Mag Mile, but Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, has the Marvelous Malecón, which stretches about a mile along the city's Pacific coastline.

This zona peatonal, or pedestrian-only zone, includes many of Puerto Vallarta's coolest shops and hottest nightspots. I spent a recent afternoon exploring the length of the Malecón, from the Cuale River north to the Hotel Rosita.

Sculpting a new Malecón

With a large parking garage on my right as I started out, my gaze quickly moved toward the sea, where I spotted the first in a string of sculptures that line the Malecón. One was of San Pascual Bailon by sculptor Ramiz Barquet. In his rendition of the Spanish saint known for his cooking prowess, Barquet has given Pascual a very elongated neck. This Picasso-like touch sets the stage for many of the sculptures along the Malecón, which feature modernistic elements.

I was more taken with the next sculpture, which to me looked like a couple of German World War II beach defenses with long metal spikes emanating from a central ball. In reality, they are meant to portray sea urchins. The sea provides frequent inspiration for sculptor Maritza Vasquez of Guadalajara.

"If mermaids existed, I would have liked to have been one myself," she says on her website.

Many of Puerto Vallarta's famous sculptures had to be placed in temporary storage during major renovation work on the Malecón completed last year. The project included enhancements to the city's sea wall, a new walking surface, and elimination of vehicle traffic on Paseo Diaz Ordaz, a street which is the address of many of the Malecón's popular shops and nightspots.

Nursing a museum to life

At the corner where Zaragoza Street ends at the Malecón is the Museo Historico Naval, or Maritime History Museum of Puerto Vallarta.

This spot still shows up as a hospital on some maps of Puerto Vallarta because that's what it was before it became a museum six years ago. The building housed a naval hospital and also served as the office of the harbor master and as a local command center for the Mexican Navy.

Exhibits in the museum provide an overview of the history of Mexico's Navy, which it may surprise some Americans to learn is one of the world's largest. The Mexican Navy has about 56,000 uniformed men and women, nearly 200 ships, and roughly 130 aircraft.

There is a long history of naval operations in the area dating back to Spanish colonial days. The Spanish opened a naval base at nearby San Blas in 1768.

The museum is open from 10 am until 7:30 pm Tuesday through Sunday.

Across Zaragoza Street from the museum is the small Los Arcos amphitheater, named for four stone arches supported by five columns resembling ancient Roman ruins that offer nice framing for photos of Banderas Bay. The arches also are evocative of the Los Arcos Natural Marine Area, some small rocky islands with natural arches a few miles south of the city that are popular with snorkelers and divers.

East of the amphitheater, across Morelos Street, is Puerto Vallarta's small Plaza Principal, or Main Square. There's a bandstand in the center, where musical performances sometimes take place, but on this day the area under the cupola was filled with political dissidents and their hand-made signs. This is a common sight in any Mexican seat of government and their presence here made sense when city hall was next door. City hall is in the process of moving to new digs away from the center of town, however, and the old city hall building is to be converted into a new art museum.

Icons of Puerto Vallarta

Just beyond the plaza is the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a frequent symbol of Puerto Vallarta. Construction on the church began shortly after the end of World War I, but was not completed until 1951.

"Why so much time?" local guide Andreas Chavez asked a group of tourists standing in front of the building. "Not enough money."

Chavez explained that all of the churches in Mexico were built through local donations and Puerto Vallarta on the early 20th century was just a small fishing village. Local families came up with a solution to the financial problem that allowed construction on the church to continue, albeit slowly.

"It's true, we don't have the money," the families concluded, according to Chavez. "But we have materials in our homes."

Family members carried bricks from their homes, rocks from the Cuale River, and other building materials to the construction site. The use of this variety of materials contributes to the church's unique style. Somehow, the construction laborers made it all work, as the beautiful towers of the church are frequently used in photos promoting Puerto Vallarta.

Returning to the Malecón, I resumed my northward trek along Banderas Bay, coming in a short block to another icon of Puerto Vallarta, the sculpture of a child riding a seahorse.

The work of art is entitled "Caballito del Mar," literally, "little horse of the sea." It is a 1976 replica of the original sculpture by Rafael Zamarripa that was installed at Los Muerto Beach ten years earlier. The original work was swept out to sea, but reappeared after its twin was placed on the Malecón. The sculpture disappeared again during Hurricane Kenna in 2002, but was later reclaimed.

A couple of blocks farther north at the intersection of Galeana and Morelos streets is yet another symbol of Puerto Vallarta, the old harbor light. It was constructed in 1932 and was in use for 38 years when vessels used to dock downtown. With the construction of a new cruise harbor and marina near the airport, it was no longer needed as an aid to navigation.

Today, the harbor light serves as a signal of the start of Puerto Vallarta's downtown nightlife district. Across Morelos Street is the Roo nightclub and Señor Frogs. Just to the north on the Malecón are more popular nightclubs, including Mandala, Zoo, and Hilo.

High-flying successes

This part of the Malecón, along the Paseo Diaz Ordaz, is where you will find the Papantla Flyers performing their unusual revolving rope descent from a 50-foot tower. Part tourist attraction, part religious ceremony, the flyers perform this event every hour on the hour in the late afternoon and early evening.

The ceremony originated 1,500 years ago with native people who lived in central Mexico. In the midst of a severe drought, they came up with this ritual to ask the gods for rain. Enough rain evidently fell because the tradition has persisted to this day.

With the rope tied to their waist and one ankle, each of the four flyers make 13 revolutions around the pole with their head pointed at the ground, getting increasingly farther away from the center as more and more of the rope unravels. Eventually, they reach the beach, where they upright themselves before making a gentle landing thanks to many hours of painstaking practice.

The Malecón ends at the Rosita Hotel, at the corner of Paseo Diaz Ordaz and 31 de Octubre streets. Many thought Salvador González Gutiérrez was loco when he opened this hotel for business in 1948. At the time, there was no electricity in Puerto Vallarta, so guests were given a kerosene lamp to light their rooms. There also was no running water.

Despite these drawbacks, the hotel prospered, growing from 12 rooms initially to 115 today, complete with all the modern amenities. González, 39 when he founded the hotel, continued to operate it until his death in 1996. He and his wife had four children and 11 grandchildren, and the family continues to run the business.

The Rosita success story parallels that of Puerto Vallarta itself, making this a fitting ending point for our tour of the Malecón, the marvelous heart of this captivating city.