Golf - Lifestyle

Puerto Vallarta: Endless Sunsets for American Retirees

by Brian McCallen

The AARP is getting pretty hip in its old age.

The venerable association recently named Puerto Vallarta, Mexico as the No. 1 destination for American retirees. The decision factored in climate, the ex-pat community environment, cost of living, housing, health care, culture and leisure, plus ease of access to and from the U.S.

Located on the Pacific coast an hour’s flight west of Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta first came to light in 1963, when director John Huston arrived with a cast and crew (including Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) to film Tennessee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana in what was tthen a sleepy colonial seaside village. Liz and Rich’s torrid off-screen affair during the making of the movie made international headlines, gaining instant fame for Puerto Vallarta.

Flash forward to the 1990’s. The mansions Taylor and Burton owned in an area known as “Gringo Gulch” had morphed into a b & b called Casa Kimberley. The Love Boat, sigh, had long since come and gone.

There was a time in the ‘80s when Puerto Vallarta was one of the fastest-growing seaside resorts in the hemisphere. Easy to see why. Tumbling down from wild mountains to the 25-mile-long crescent of Banderas Bay (Bahia de Banderas), Puerto Vallarta is a colorful town known for its cobblestone streets and Spanish Mission-style architecture. Its vibrant Malecon, a popular waterfront promenade, is perfect for a stroll. Lively seaside cafes serve fish tacos and cold beer on one side, with the second-largest bay in North America on the other. Ascend any of the hills rising from the city, and a panoramic view of the azure-blue sea and the steeple of the Church of Guadalupe is all yours.

And yet while it boasted an international airport, maintained 16,000 hotel rooms and welcomed more than three million visitors annually, many of them cruise ship passengers, Puerto Vallarta had no first-rate golf to offer at the approach of the millennium.

Enter...

O Monty, O Monty, O What Have You Done?

by Stephen Goodwin

O Monty, O Monty, O what have you done?

You huffed and you puffed and then chose . . . Harrington!

Didn’t anyone tell you what the rest of us knew –

His recent Cup record is 0-7-2.

Surely, O Monty, you will someday disclose

Just why you passed over both Casey and Rose.

As for the selection of Signor Molinari . . .

That was either pure genius, or plain hari-kari.

Captain Montgomery, permit me to say

You’ve won many new fans in the U. S. of A.

As the matches approach, we try not to savor it

But in one swell goof you have made us the favorite.

... Full Story

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