Women’s Center
Outgoing Jalisco Governor Aristóteles Sandoval has opened a new facility to provide justice specifically to women in Puerto Vallarta and its outlying region.
In inaugurating the Centro de Justicia para las Mujeres, the governor said society as a whole benefits when women are empowered.
Staff at the center will include social workers, psychologists, doctors and legal experts. They will provide attention and offer advice and legal counsel to women affected by domestic violence or any other kind of gender-related abuse.
Sandoval remarked that Puerto Vallarta and its environs has the dubious distinction of having the highest rates of domestic violence in Jalisco.
The center, which cost 14 million pesos to build and equip, will embrace a wide catchment area that includes the municipalities of Mascota, Cabo Corrientes, San Sebastián del Oeste and Tomatlán.
The Jalisco state government contributed eight million pesos toward the cost of the center, while the remainder came from federal coffers.
Children with cancer
The 10th “Mi Amigo Sin Pelo” (My Friend Without Hair) event to raise funds for children with cancer has been rescheduled for Sunday, December 16, 5-10 p.m. at the Malecón Arches. Previously announced for December 9, the date was changed due to a municipal event taking place on the same day.
The event benefits the Guadalajara-based charity Centro de Apoyo a Niños con Cáncer (Canica), which is currently assisting 28 children with cancer in the Vallarta area with treatment in Guadalajara. There will be fun, games and food for sale.
A fundraising campaign for Canica, organized by the Asociación Femenil Vallartense, started in October with the goal of raising 350,000 pesos. A similar campaign last year raised 323,000 pesos.
Guadalupe parades
Puerto Vallarta’s 12-day observances honoring the city’s patron saint, Our Lady of Guadalupe, began on December 1. During this period dozens of processions file through city streets each day to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, adjacent to the main square.
The festivities commemorate the miraculous apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the indigenous peasant Juan Diego on December 12, 1531.
According to tradition, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was imprinted on the cloak of Juan Diego, and to this day it is on display in Mexico City at the Basilica of Guadalupe, which was constructed at the site of the appearance.
Hundreds of local Puerto Vallarta businesses, unions, neighborhoods and organizations and their employees parade from their place of employment through the streets of Puerto Vallarta during the Celebrations of Our Lady of Guadalupe and end up at the local Our Lady of Guadalupe Church (Hidalgo 370).
The candlelight processions generally start in front of the Woolworth store and go the 11 blocks down Juárez to the Guadalupe church. They include plenty of banners, music, singing and colorfully decorated floats which usually portray the Virgin Mary and Juan Diego. Many of the walkers will wear traditional Mexican costumes and carry religious offerings to their saint. The celebrations conclude on Monday, December 12 – Dia de la Virgin de Guadalupe – with a fireworks display and fiesta on the main plaza.
Christmas concerts
The Puerto Vallarta Chamber Orchestra is putting on two Christmas concerts, each featuring a program of classical favorites and popular and traditional seasonal music.
The concerts feature two local soloists, D’Rachel from the United States and Klaus Liebetanz from Germany, interpreting Cimarosa’s Concerto for Two Flutes and Orchestra. Guest performers also include the children of the Primeria Benito Juarez school singing Christmas selections with the orchestra.
The first concert is at the Colegio Americano (Albatros 129, Marina Vallarta) Sunday, December 16, 7 p.m. The second is the following day, Monday, December 17, 7 p.m., at the Salon Paraiso (Paseo de Cocoteros 67, Nuevo Vallarta, next to the Hospital San Javier).
Admission is 200 pesos for adults and 80 pesos for children.
The orchestra began in the fall of 2004, when a few musicians met in a home to play some classical music together.
The concerts are co-sponsored by the Instituto de Artes Musicales Puerto Vallarta.
Gay Men’s Chorus
The Puerto Vallarta Gay Men’s Chorus continues its holiday musical tradition with the FA LA LA concert series Tuesday, December 11 and Friday, December 14, 8 p.m.; and Saturday, December 15, 3 p.m. at Act II Stages Main Stage. This debut of new Artistic Director Derek Carkner will take you on a light-hearted romp of Christmas music in English and Spanish, as well as move you with more inspirational music. Joining the chorus will be Puerto Vallarta favorites Miss Conception and Steve Grand.