Author: Marcia Blondin

Welcome back! To my uncluttered, fabulous life and Happy New Year. It seems to have been a long ‘holiday season’; I am relieved to start saying hello or whatever without prefacing it with Happy or Merry, okay? But this one is lovely – GOOD Morning! The last Gay+Mixer of 2025 was held at the new…

Today is the last publication of Vallarta Mirror. I am grateful to the many contributors who have written on various topics from raising spiritual awareness, to where to go to catch roosterfish. From raising kids in paradise to Crayola colors, brilliant poetry to strolling back streets in a local barrio; growing exotic plants, real estate…

”Night Divine’‘ was superbly named. Last evening’s love fest of a concert at Teatro Vallarta went off without a hitch, with hundreds and hundreds of Effie Passero and Branden & James’ fan base very nearly filling that massive 900-seat concert hall. Shouts of “We love you, Effie!” drifted down from the audience and made Effie…

I woke up dreaming of my mom making grilled cheese sandwiches. With every bite, butter would dribble down my face, over my hands. Clearly, I am missing fat in my life and feel some baked spaghetti coming on! Chris Lopez has done it again. He took a tribute show and boosted it to fantasy standards…

Happy Boxing Day to my fellow Canadians. Lots of places in town will be serving great sandwiches with leftover turkey today, including Fridas and Langostinos on the beach. Bogie and I had a great Christmas, grazing through whatever was in the fridge, working a bit on some editing, and enjoying the quiet after a rambunctious…

Merry Christmas, everybody! When Bogie finally got me up this morning, it was a full-blown day. And a gorgeous one, to boot! Nary a sign of snow, and the whole city is still sound asleep, having been up all night long singing and having a party until just a couple of hours ago. Santa had…

Yesterday, at about 4:40, I left my house and started walking to El Coloso and my friend Sandra Bradley’s condo for a gathering. I took advantage of the light and chose the scenic route up Guerrero/Cuathemoc, which I don’t/won’t walk after dark. There is often construction trash dumped on the side of the road, and…

Christmas is tomorrow if you are Mexican, and the day after tomorrow if you are Canadian or American. I will celebrate both because I can! Mistletoe was in full swing as ”A Very Gouda Christmas” got underway last night at Nacho Daddy, starring Gouda Gabor. Of course. I wonder how tall Gouda is, counting her…

This will be the last whole week of Vallarta Mirror. It doesn’t make me sad one bit. I made a note in my daytimer that the Rearview Mirror is two years old today. It will have two more publications – this Friday, the 26th, and next Wednesday, the 31st. I gave it a good shot.…

Enrique de Allende has a pile of talented friends! Pass it on! Happy Birthday, Enrique; your party at Coco Cabaret sure made a lot of people happy. I don’t think there was an empty chair in the house at 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Gouda Gabor hosted the festivities, and Derek Carkner provided gorgeous accompaniment on…

Another classy and sassy Chris Lopez production – That’s Life – has The Palm Cabaret and Bar close to sold out, mid-week at 5 pm. Last night, backed by Musical Director Alexis Macias on piano, his son on standup bass, and Diana Luna on saxophone that added a bit of smokin’ sexiness, Armando Chakam and…

One week to Christmas Eve; it still thrills me to have my window wide open and to look out and see trees growing and not a lick of snow anywhere! I walked over to the Social Club last night, right at 6 pm, for Out and About Puerto Vallarta magazine’s Gay Mixer. It was already…

The fundraising continues in earnest, with the Vallarta School for Girls and the kids at RISE benefiting from the last two events I attended. Los Mangos Library was again the scene of the Tropical Christmas party, which began late afternoon and continued with dancing to music by Kim Kuzma under the giant mango trees. Derek…

The tiny theatre tucked into Arte Vallarta was overflowing with those who love live theater, and they were most certainly not disappointed by the unusualness of ”Anak ni Tapia: Leaving Mother,” which starred playwright Lani T. Montreal in a solo show that ran 75 minutes without an intermission. Kudos to Lani for writing and starring…

Bogie and I were abruptly woken up at the stroke of midnight by explosions of fireworks and all the bells in the church banging and crashing in collision with the overhead cacophony of sounds celebrating the first seconds of Guadalupe’s Feast Day. Bogie meowed in protest and fled under the bed. I waited until it…

Yesterday was so long and so busy, I didn’t have time to get tired! The overstimulation continued into a calm, quiet corner of Casita & Garden, where three large, round tables were simply, but elegantly laid for dinner with tiny roses in small vases clustered loosely in the center, offering up delicate scents and unobstructed…

It’s just past 5 am, and I am on my second cup of coffee. Why so early after a relatively late night? I have an appointment at 8 this morning for a couple of X-rays and maybe get to touch base with my IMSS doctor, who is in Aurora and close to one of my…

Patrice and I will make one more run out to Coapinole this morning to see if there are any fabulous sweaters or down vests to keep her warm when she flies home to southern Alberta the day after tomorrow. Of course, my eyes will be peeled for anything chiffon-y or so pretty I cannot ignore…

Forty-five years ago today, John Lennon was shot and killed outside his home in New York City. I was living in Victoria, B.C., an entire lifetime ago. I remember reading that shocking – and breaking – news running across the bottom of my TV screen, and it took hours to find out what happened. Today,…

A Mexican friend of mine told me there is a huge cold front on its way to Vallarta this weekend, bringing us rain. I hope he’s wrong. Plans are to go back to Mojoneras Sunday morning, but many of the streets in that colonia are unpaved, and it’s not fun slogging through mud up to…