Does Puerto Vallarta have a gentrification problem?
Queer tourists flock to Puerto Vallarta, lauded as gay paradise, for its beaches and its hospitality. But are they inadvertently contributing to the gentrification of the city?
WORDS BY NICOLE GARCIA MERIDA HEADER BY YOSEF PHELAN There’s a long running myth that it was John Huston’s 1964 film The Night of the Iguana, starring Richard Burton, Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr, that launched the Mexican city of Puerto Vallarta into the international stage. “But really, that was only part of it,” says Otoniel Sosa Rodriguez, a professor and researcher at the Universidad de Colima.
Puerto Vallarta sits on a strip of coast in the Mexican state of Jalisco, at the foot of the Sierra Madre Occidental, a major mountain range that runs through the Western part of the country.
The Night of the Iguana, and the drama surrounding its production, did play a part in Vallarta’s publicity back in the 60s. Puerto Vallarta has existed as a tourist destination for over seven decades – you only need to look at pictures to figure out why.
