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According to the 2011 census, Puerto Vallarta had a population of 255,725.
Although the Spaniard Pedro de Alvarado discovered this area in 1521, it was
then “forgotten” for over 300 years.
The name Sanchez gave to this village was Las Peñas de Santa Maria de
Guadalupe. By 1918 it evolved into a town, and received a new name:
Puerto Vallarta, to honor Lic. Ignacio Luis Vallarta.
Las Peñas de Santa Maria de Guadalupe the governor of the state (Jalisco)
and later, concurrently served as Mexico’s Foreign Minister and President
of its Supreme Court (1877-1882). It was his statue that now stood in the Main Plaza.
The reason for the deviation was explained by a sign in Puerto Vallarta’s
Main Plaza as the “commercial character of the village” that became Puerto
Vallarta. This land was owned by the Camarena brothers who were also the
owners of the Union en Cuale mining company.
The Church dominates the Main Plaza which is the heart of downtown.
The design of the Plaza follows the traditional Spanish plan for all
of Latin America based on the Leyes de Indias (The Laws of
the Indies) by King Phillip II’s proclamation in 1573 which established
“the rule to locate the symbols of political and religious powers facing
a central square.”
The Malecon sculpture that is widely associated with Puerto Vallarta,
as its “calling card,” is the bronze Caballeo del Mar (Boy on a Seahorse)
Josse pointed to another of his huge work a few steps away. “That is Taj Mahal,” he said. It had a vaguely “oriental” architecture.
Other temporary exhibits: The ephemeral sand sculptures on the beach. I talked to Josse who had sculpted what he called Movemiento (Movement).
On the opposite side, I had seen the shiny high rises of the new hotels lining up the Banderas shore.
Over half of Puerto Vallarta’s workforce now earn their livelihood from employment in the tourist industry; and the next biggest employed group is in construction. Agriculture has become by far the smaller source of employment. The main products are tropical fruit such as mango, papaya, watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe and banana. I found a good sampling of them on the back of the fruit truck parked in the middle of the town next to Malecon.
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