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By Rick Martínez
In Vallarta you don’t have to look far and wide for a date; they come to you.
One of the great things about living in the gay Center of the Universe is that it’s a magnet for friends – old and new.
It is one thing to contact an old college flame and say, “Hey, I’m living in Cleveland now, come and see me!” (The exclamation mark is absolutely essential if you’re trying to lure a guy to Ohio.) But Puerto Vallarta speaks for itself. When I’m chatting online this time of year I like to say how I’m in front of my computer wearing a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops while a tropical breeze tickles the palms outside my window.
The reaction is always one of envy. And though it may mean my chakras are not aligned with the universe, I’m receptive to a bit of envy from friends. Envy from strangers isn’t so bad either. I meet the latter when I log on to one of the two, sometimes three, dating sites I sporadically explore. Usually, a guy is coming to Vallarta and he is doing what my friend Eric calls “advance work” on the gay scene here. A common refrain is: “I’m arriving New Year’s Eve and I’m staying at (gay hotel here) and do you want to grab a beer?”
Of course, any gay man who lives here long enough knows this represents both the best and worst of being single in Puerto Vallarta. A cast of characters arrives every Thursday by boat, plane and bus and leaves the following Tuesday. If you don’t meet Mr. Right this weekend, don’t fret, because next weekend there will be a whole new sea of faces at Mañana.
I’ve been thinking about this because I was recently contacted by a guy I briefly dated 10 years ago when I was a reporter in Philadelphia and he was pounding out stories in San Francisco. Ray is coming to Vallarta for New Year’s and he asked if I wanted to meet and catch up. Maybe this would happen if I lived in Cleveland but I’m guessing Lake Erie gay resorts aren’t the magnet Vallarta is.
The past decade has been kind to Ray. He looks hot in his recent photos and our online chats have shown he’s as witty as he was when we were cub reporters. So we’ll have a beer, fill in the blanks in our life stories and then … say goodbye again. He’ll return to California and I’ll burrow back into my riverside fortress in Gringo Gulch. And the following weekend I’ll be at Mañana, gazing at a whole new cast of characters.
Rick Martinez is a recovering journalist and may be contacted at Holachi@hotmail.com. After nearly four years of living in Vallarta, he is still looking for the perfect pozole.
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