El Caballito: If it’s a symbol we’re talking about, El Caballito (The Little Horse) with the kid does represent Puerto Vallarta. An artwork by sculptor Rafael Zamarripa, this bronze statue of nearly 10 feet high has a magic history of its own. In 1976 it was the only sculpture perched on the seawall, yet another one like it had been placed in Playa de los Muertos ten years earlier. The strength of the sea and the people who used to climb atop made it fall down to the ground and get lost into the sea. It showed back up mysteriously a few years later until the Kenna snatched it again only to pop back up and be remounted right the beach where it keeps greeting all visitors.

SEAPORT: The seaport is another landmark of Vallarta, a homeport for lots of tourists that breathe life into the town. Originally built to accommodate just one cruise liner, the pier was enhanced in 2007 to dock a couple of more large vessels. Today, Puerto Vallarta features three big slips to cater to a trio of huge cruises simultaneously. The maritime terminal also delivers all kinds of complementary tourist and commercial services such as cabs, guide-chauffeurs, money exchange houses, handicraft stores and a whole lot more.

Golf is an attraction all by itself, luring countless tourists. Vallarta features 7 top-of-the-line golf courses and an annual tournament in the month of November. The courses are Marina Vallarta, Vista Vallarta Tom Weiskopf, Mayan Palace, Paradise Village-El Tigre, Vista Vallarta, Jack Niclaus, Four Season and Flamingos.

Marina: The marina is a major center of fun and entertainment, full of many of the most important hotels, restaurants and trendy locations. Large enough to accommodate 400 yachts, this is the right place to tuck in some good food while enjoying the view and the peacefulness. The lighthouse has a bar with a breathtaking view.

Tequila: The history and legends around tequila are just as magic as Mexico’s own culture. Until 1600, the use of that beverage and its byproducts was at a very slim scale. In that same year, the first distillery for the making of mescal wine was built. Pedro de Tagle, the Marquis of Altamira, is said to be the man who built the first factory and started the formal growth of agave on the premises, introducing a drink fully distilled –a process the indigenous dwellers never did- that turned tequila into a half-breed liquor. After so many ups and downs, in 1758 Jose Antonio Cuervo received the first license to manufacture the mescal wine in the Cuevo Pub. La Rojeña was the first factory that started producing tequila as we know it today. From that moment to date, tequila has turned out to be a well-known drink all around the world, still filled with magic and history.

MARIACHI: There are version galore about the origin of the word Mariachi. We prefer the one that goes back into the Nahualt term MARIA CE SON, found in a prayer to the Virgin of Pila that worshippers used to pronounce as Maria-she or Maria-shi. In the beginning, mariachis included no brass instruments; just guitars, violins and harps. In the 1930s, they added trumpets and in 1949 Pedro Iturralde recorded the first single with two trumpets in the soundtrack. One of the best-known bands in the world is the Mariachi Vargas from Tecalitlan, founded by Silvestre Vargas and a bunch of his friends he taught to read music –quite a sea change up to that moment because mariachis were solely playing by ear.

JARIPEO: Attending a jaripeo helps anybody better feel and understand what Mexico is all about. You can feel the strength of its people, and even how relationships among men, as well as between men and animals, are construed. For many, jaripeo is the forerunner of today’s charreada; for others it’s nothing but bull riding. Let’s stick to the first concept. Jaripeo involves different teams that must execute the set of ten charra stints –some individually and others as a team. However, one charro should never pull off more than three stints, though the so-called all-around charreada consists of the execution of seven out of the entire set of ten stints by one charro. The ten stints that make up the charreada can be grouped in two kinds of performances: those executed with lasso and those done without it. They are: horse dragging, stints on canvass, the tailing, the bull riding, the lassoing of a bull’s head and the dragging of it by its feet, the mare riding, the stints on the ground, the stints on horseback and the passage of death.