Puerto Vallarta is a popular Mexican resort among the residents of the west coast of the United States. However, since the 60s of the last century, when tourists began to arrive here more and more actively, luxury hotels here sharply contrasted with the poverty of the local population, which is involved not so much in the service sector as in agriculture.
The city authorities are constantly working to integrate the two components of the urban space (tourist area and residential areas), and one of the projects in this direction was the reconstruction of the coastal promenade in Malecon, where local peasants rest mixed with tourists. The project was developed and implemented by the Dutch bureau West 8 in record time - eight months.
Stretching for a kilometer along the Pacific coast, the new embankment has all the components of a comfortable and modern urban environment. Three hundred palm trees provide the cool shade needed in Mexico's hot climates. Flowerbeds with green plants follow the shape of the waves; their white-stone parapet simultaneously serves as a bench, from where, under the shade of palm leaves, among the streams of breeze and the aromas of southern plants, it is so pleasant to admire the ocean.
Among other greenery, the promenade is adorned with a hundred bougainvillea bushes; the initiative to plant them here came from the city's botanical garden workers who want to revive the annual bougainvillea festival. It is expected to take place during the flowering season of this evergreen, which will attract even more tourists to Puerto Vallarta and increase the flow of funds into the city treasury.
Another decoration of the promenade, imparting a national flavor to it, are river stone mosaics created in the traditional technique for this region. Sketches for the mosaics were created by local artist Fidenzio Benitez, in which the author talks about the cosmogony of Vallarta, the place where the Earth meets the Ocean.
The audience is especially crowded here in the evenings, and for this time of day the architects have developed a special lighting system, which they call the "moonlight effect". Sufficiently bright lighting does not blind strollers, does not overshadow the view of the ocean plunged into darkness; moreover, it does not bother the turtles living on the shore.
Tatiana Shovskaya
