by David Simmonds

Puerto Vallarta has always been my favorite town, my One Particular Harbor, as Jimmy Buffett sings about. I first drove there in the summer of 1970 in an old VW bus from San Diego not long after the road was completed into PV from Tepic. I know things change, but Vallarta was an entirely different place then. It was, quite simply, perfect. Since that first trip I have been  just about everywhere in Mexico and other Latin countries, and most of Europe several times. But nothing comes close to the PV I found nearly 40 years ago. I won’t try to describe what it was like on this blog, that would take a book or many hours over beers. But I have found a great online photo album by someone named Chico on the web site PhotoBucket that displays over 100 vintage images from all over Vallarta…the streets, malecon, airport, beaches. Most are black and white and only a few identify the date taken or the specific subject. Most of the dates I did see were early 1960’s, although one was dated 1924, and many more look at least that old. The first thing you notice is no cars, and then you see the hills before the houses started to climb their sides. And the dress of the locals, you don’t see gringos, could be from 100 years ago.

Anyway, take a look at this amazing collection of what the perfect town looked like at one time in history, and understand that progress is a very confusing and damning concept to many of us who remember.

Click here to see the PV photos http://s101.photobucket.com/albums/m43/chico98_/?start=all