The Changing Landscape of Nightlife in Vallarta
By Josef Kandoll W

While Puerto Vallarta earned the moniker of "party-vallarty" in earlier years, signs point to some interesting changes in the ever hectic nightlife. La Palapa's Alberto Pérez, a musician by passion, notes that "one of the major shifts is that dining is one of the favorite pastimes of visitors. With some of the best restaurants in the country, everyone dines out at least once if not every night. When people are dining, they look for a place where they can relax and have a good time. Live music used to be hard to find. But the restaurants comprehend the electric combination of live music with dining."

"Most established restaurants stay open year-round, offering the same level of dining for residents as well as for visitors, and our summers are getting busier as well. There is a variety of choices that didn't exist before." At La Palapa, Alberto mentions that "people come in now just to hear the music. They sit in the bar area and enjoy a cocktail, while diners can relax without pressure of direct contact with the musicians if they don't wish it."

Alberto, who began playing the acoustic guitar in junior high, says he finds the instrument "very warm and romantic. People identify with it." Beginning with six nights a week, he eventually decided that two nights was enough to maintain his presence with the public without wearing himself out. He just produced his first CD ("Noches en La Palapa"), which he says is "not a commercial venture, but something for diners to remember the evening by." And remember it they will.
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