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| John Huston |
“When I first came here, almost 30 years ago, Vallarta was a
fishing village of some 2000 souls. There was one road to the outside world -
and it was impassable during the rainy season.”
So wrote American film director John Huston about his first encounter
with the sleepy, isolated fishing village he was destined to change into an international
mega resort.
In 1962, Huston was one of the world’s top film directors. He had hit upon a formula that worked
perfectly. In films like The African Queen and The Treasure of Sierra Madre, he placed
famous stars in beautiful and remote settings and let the location become a
central part of the story.
Now, in 1962, charged with creating the film version of
Tennessee Williams’ hit play, Night of
the Iguana, he selected as his setting Mismaloya, a curving arc of a beach on
the Bay of Banduras, just south of the remote village of Puerto Vallarta.
And then the chaos began.
Mismaloya had no electricity, no running water, and no
roads. The film crew, equipment and
actors had to come to the location every day by boat.
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| Richard Burton and Liz Taylor at their homes in PV |
And what a crew it was.
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were the two most popular and highly
paid actors in the world. Both of them
were married, but not to each other.
They had fallen in love making Cleopatra
(the most expensive movie in history at the time), and their affair thrilled
the world. The Vatican went so far as to
condemn it (calling it “erotic vagrancy,”) and a new word was imported from
Italy to name the swarm of photographers who chased them – “paparazzi,” Italian
for annoying insects.
Burton was starring in the film with three equally
glamourous actresses, Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr and Sue Lyon. Liz was along just to be close to
Burton.
For her 32nd birthday, Burton bought Liz a
gorgeous home in the hills above Puerto Vallarta – then bought himself the
house next door, building a bridge between the two. The press went nuts.
When the publicists and photographers weren’t busy chasing
Dick and Liz, they spent their time glorifying the incredible beauty of the
location. Puerto Vallarta was portrayed
as paradise – a tiny village at the edge of jungle mountains with whitewashed
buildings clinging to the hills, covered with pink bougainvillea and topped
with red tile roofs. Quaint cobblestone streets led to lazy, sun-drenched
plazas, while palm trees swayed over golden beaches lined with palapas selling
fresh fish. Overhead, squadrons of
pelicans floated in the always warm and blue sky.
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| Puerto Vallarta today is a world famous resort with a population of 250,000 |
Small wonder that with the encouragement of the Mexican
government and local tourism officials, Puerto Vallarta became the “accidental”
resort, mushrooming from a village with no roads that was only accessible by
air or sea, into today’s city of a quarter million people with a cruise ship
dock, spas, five star restaurants and resorts, exquisite art galleries and a
huge assortment of adventure travel activities ranging from zip-lining to
swimming with dolphins.
But strangely, with all the growth, it is still easy to find
the romantic, isolated village of Dick and Liz.
Here’s a few places:
The Backstreets.
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| The red tile roofs and cobblestone back streets are little changed. |
The quiet cobblestone backstreets of
Vallarta’s historic downtown (dubbed the Romantic Zone) still feel like a
village with flowers, terraces, gorgeous white villas, red tiled roofs, and
views of the Pacific in every direction.
The Lady of Guadalupe Church (the symbol of the city) rings its bell on
the quarter hour adding a romantic touch.
Two reasons the area hasn’t changed much – the streets are incredibly
steep and walking on cobblestones can be painfully difficult. If you’re up for it, you can climb 222 steps
to the top cross high above the city for a sweeping view of the bay.
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| The Lady of Guadalupe Church |
Or better, take a two-hour walking tour with Sandra
Cesca of Walk Vallarta! On a variety of $30 tours you can see the
colonial architecture of Gringo Gulch, visit shops and markets to watch
artisans at work, sample local chocolate, cigars and coffee, meet some
residents and hear wild tales about Dick and Liz, and their friends and fellow hell
raisers who they entertained in Vallarta like Peter O’Toole, Richard Harris and
Oliver Reed. The romantic Hotel Catedral
near the swinging bridges over the Cuale River is a wonderful place to stay.
Drink Cerveza in a Palapa in Yelapa
Until a few years ago, Yelapa had no outside electricity or
roads and even today, most visitors arrive by boat. Getting there is an
adventure. Hop a bus and travel along
the rugged, cliff-lined coast six miles south to Boca de Tomatlan. This is the “end of the line,” the
southernmost town on Bahia de Banderas (the 7th largest bay in the
world). From here, the paved road turns
away from the sea and heads into the mountains.
To the west there is 50 miles of coast that is only accessible by water.
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| Boca de Tomatlan |
Boca feels like the “end of the line.” Jungle palm trees come to the edge of the
bay, and the only sounds at the few, quiet waterside restaurants come from
birds overhead or waiters snapping open bottles of Pacifico.
All activity centers on the boat dock, where launches
holding 6 to 15 passengers leave every hour or so for a string of beachside
villages: Playa Las Animas, Quimixto and
-- the farthest out and most popular -- Yelapa.
The trip can get quite rough in heavy seas (prepare to get wet), but as
you round a rocky point and get your first view of paradise, Yelapa appears
like a dream.
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| Yelapa appears like a dream |
Verdant, green jungle pours down to a turquoise-colored bay,
where on a thin sliver of sand there are a dozen or so palapa restaurants…and
nothing else. Large numbers of people
settle in for the day here, snacking on grilled shrimp, fish and beer, while
the waves lap up to their feet, but the town is worth exploring. A jungle river divides the town from the
restaurants; you can hike a half-mile into the jungle to the one bridge, or
just wade across the knee-high stream.
There are a couple of general stores in town, and there’s a
pleasant hike to a 150-foot high waterfall, but the most fun is just seeing the
houses and people who live here, much like they did in Old Vallarta, where it
is so quiet you can always hear the birds, the surf and the occasional
clip-clop of a local riding a horse.
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| Waterfall in Yelapa |
Sunset in Sayulita and San Pancho
Sayulita is no longer undiscovered. For years, this village an hour from Puerto Vallarta survived as an out-of-the-way
surfer paradise, accessible by dirt road with a mile-long beach, big breakers,
and a string of beachside palapas. The
surfers are still there, along with a wild assortment of hippies and
beachcombers. There are drums at sunset,
dreadlocks and bikinis, and the smell of marijuana is sometimes present.
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| Sayulita this has the feel of a small town |
But paved roads have brought shopping, dining and lodging
(and the first major wave of tourists) to the town, which consists of a half
dozen streets scattered between the beach and a plaza. There’s still a small town feel though. Every third person seems to be holding a
surfboard, and there are plenty of restaurants on the cobblestone back streets
and along the beach. Try the mixed seafood ceviche – shrimp, scallops and
octopus cured in lime and fruit juices and served with green pepper, tomatoes
and avocado.
Three kilometers up the coast, Sayulita’s sleepy neighbor, San
Pancho, does not exist on maps. Its
official name is San Francisco, but that’s too high-sounding a name for this
one cobblestone street town, so they call it by its nickname, “San Pancho.”
(Pancho Villa’s real name was Francisco, so all Francisco’s are nicknamed
Pancho). This is a quiet place, except for the surf on the beach,
which is a curving arc of sand between two rock headlands. Much of the beach at San Pancho backs up to
private houses, which is good in that it will keep away major development. The center of town has the usual beach palapa
restaurants.
The big story in San Pancho is the La Patrona Polo Club
Restaurant, Bar, Lounge & Café – an incredible complex that has a full
scale polo field in the center of the village with Saturday night polo games,
dressage shows, and an exquisite, multi-story outdoor bar with live music after
the matches. It’s simply amazing in a
little town, and it certainly would have attracted John Huston, an avid horseman
who was an honorary member of the Mexican cavalry.
An Unforgettable Night Under the Stars
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| Las Caletas at night is only accessible by sea. |
After filming Night of
the Iguana, Huston leased land from the Chacala Indians and lived for
nearly two decades just south of Boca de Tomatlan in Las Caletas. Perhaps the prettiest of all Vallarta
beaches, it is accessible only by sea. Today,
Vallarta Adventures has the exclusive lease and offers beach visits to Las
Caletas by day, or an exciting mystical show and dinner called Rhythms of the Night, a sort of Mexican
Cirque du Soleil with traditional native dancing and acrobatics that ends with
a chance to dine seaside by flickering candles.
It’s a magical outdoor experience capped by an hour long return boat
trip to Vallarta under the stars. Sailing along the rugged coast, past Mismaloya
with the mountains looming against the sea, it’s easy to understand how this
isolated stretch of coast became one of the world’s most famous resorts.
IF YOU GO: Puerto Vallarta Information
