The feature image of the “castle” monument that puts the chess pieces of life in Puerto Vallarta reminds again and again that the visual arts are a palate for the delivery of food!  The turret at the Cafe Des Artistes is landmark and magnet.  Over years the steadfast attention to detail, the love of environs and a growing international palette has made castling a move where attraction is much better than promotion.

In the piazza the bronze sculpture shows an attempting to move Balaam’s ass!  The sculpture reminiscent of Rembrandt’s painting captures the futility of moving and listening to a donkey.  After a few days in PV most visitors simply get on board and ride the tide of donkey into the sun.

On the way it was great to capture a moment of Casey riding into town to spend an evening with his sister.  Food, stories, laughter and family news updates were spread across the table between courses of food.  Shoulder to shoulder the siblings share the laughter of being together.

The taxis trolling the pier in Puerto Vallarta appear like any sea of yellow taxis.  Here there are no roads, no medallion officers, no traffic lights, no meters.  Yet the charter traffic to Yelapa is worth playing boat bumper-pool over.  The progression from boatmen hustling fares on beaches to an attempted pier organization hints at a systems failure.  Pushing and pulling the donkey does not work.  The answer may be in riding along for the fun of it.