Open Mic With ‘Cleavage’ at Nacho Daddy
It’s going to be a busy one with Scrabble at 12:30 at Qulture and Bingo for the PuRR Project at 4 pm at Nacho Daddy. There’ll just be time to go home, offload all the bingo prizes we won, then head south to Casa Karma for the 6:30 start of Toast of the Town, a fundraiser for Gholi’s Field of Dreams where, it seems, every performer in Vallarta will be to entertain.
So, the sprawling new greenhouses at the Botanical Garden currently house thousands and thousands of primarily orchids that are propagated in the lab, then carried up the hill where they will be nurtured, potted and repotted many times over the years until they bloom and grow up big and strong enough to go on display and/or for sale in the Gift Shop. Manuel was excited to show us how to pollinate an orchid – a tricky, time-consuming task. He also showed us a tiny orchid endemic to the Botanical Garden that was identified a mere two years ago! This glimpse behind the scenes made me love the Botanical Garden even more, with the intense infrastructure ensuring that these magnificent flowers, many on the edge of extinction, will survive and thrive. The greenhouses are not open to the public, and if you wander by them, remember, sssh! Babies are sleeping!
Lydia Damato hosted Open Mic with help from the Cleavage gals from Canada, who led off last night’s events with improv hilarity. Send healing vibes to Gouda Gabor, who was feeling unwell enough to stay home in bed; we missed you, Gouda!
The small crowd upstairs at Nacho Daddy was treated to some exquisite stylings by Nick Rogers, original music from Aldo, clever, tongue-twisting Spanish lyrics from Enoch, and gorgeous guitar work from Dash Robles, an extraordinary self-taught musician. Bing Young accompanied on piano when asked, and the Women’s Shelter, Casa Esperanza, was the charity of choice last night. Shows were plugged, including Sargento Dan’s tonight at Garbo’s at 10, after he performs at Casa Karma. Diana Frances and Karen Parker snagged unsuspecting Rick and Monica Miller as foils for their hilarious comedic sketch. Catch Diana and Karen at Arte Vallarta Theater, this Friday and Saturday for their final performances of Leave it to Cleavage. You can thank me later.