Why is Puerto Vallarta a tourist destination? - Part 1 - Orlando / Florida Guide
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Why is Puerto Vallarta a tourist destination? - Part 1
I thought I would write a few information articles about this location and this seemed a valid question given the towns history.
If you are from Europe and not a film buff you may never have heard of Puerto Vallarta. However it is now a well know tourist destination for those in North America. All this happened by chance as did my first visit to area.
As villa owners in Florida we also like to combine our trips to the villa with visits to other locations. At least once a year we try to start our trip somewhere else in the U. S. and finish up in Florida. This particular year we decided to visit San Diego, which is my favourite West coast location. Our visit here this time was because we had booked a cruise which went down to and then through the Panama Canal before terminating in Ft. Lauderdale. There were many interesting ports along the way and one of them was Puerto Vallarta which up to that point I had never come across before.
We had a full day there, this enabled us to do a tour in the morning and then relax in the afternoon at a beach bar where we had lunch and some cocktails. When it was time to leave we had already decided that we would come back to the area for a stay and explore holiday as there was so much we had heard about but had not seen.
However back to the original question, Puerto Vallarta was both scene and set for a famous love story/scandal. It was between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and happened while Burton was filming ' The Night of the Iguana' . It was an event that changed this sleepy little town into a world class tourist destination.
The filming happened during 1963 when John Huston arrived to produce his 25th movie. Burton and Taylor and many other stars arrived in the town at the same time.
All three were very famous and Taylor had just finished staring as the lead in Cleopatra, where she also met and had an affair with Burton who had played the part of Anthony. Both were married to other people at the time and so this received a large amount of attention from the tabloid press. Both of them were unable to travel anywhere without being mobbed by fans and the press.
The pair had started off with rooms at the Hotel Oceano by the Malecon. It was reported that after an incident with a cockroach, and the pair threatening to leave, they were offered Huston' s own Puerto Vallarta villa, the Casa Kimberley. They would then walk down to the harbour each morning and take a speedboat along the coast to Mismaloya to continue the shooting and work.
Continued in part 2
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