My family and friends call me “Pita Garduño,” a name that echoes my deep connection to Puerto Vallarta. Although I was born in Guadalajara on November 8th at the very beginning of the 50s, I was brought back to Vallarta only a few days after my birth. In the 50s, Vallarteans mothers who could afford to have their babies in Guadalajara at the same maternity clinic did so, as many of my mother’s friends did. Therefore, no mom from Vallarta who had been at that clinic in Guadalajara let us forget how old we were as we coincided with their children’s age. I had three brothers and was the only girl and the third child.
My dad, Carlos’ oldest sister and French brother-in-law from Mexico City, offered Mom (Yolanda) to help care for me when I was a baby. Mom was pregnant with my baby brother, and I had many health problems. Soon, the trips between Mexico City and Puerto Vallarta on Mexicana Airlines were constant. In fourth grade, at the public school for girls 15 de Mayo in Puerto Vallarta, my aunt and uncle offered my parents to pay for my education at a private school in Mexico City. It was a great but difficult experience to be in a highly educated nuns’ school with girls who had started their English education when they were in kindergarten.
After finishing high school, I moved back to Puerto Vallarta to live with my parents. My mother had opened a clothing designer business named Originales Yolanda. First, I worked at the store; second, I was a secretary at a travel agency; third, I worked at Hacienda del Lobo Hotel; then, I went to Aeromexico to learn to be a ticket agent. The latter was one of my best experiences when I was only 18. The agency’s manager took me under his wing, and I learned a lot. Unfortunately, my short career with Aeromexico was interrupted when my parents got in a car accident. It was challenging, but my older brother Beto and I managed to care for my parents’ business.
I became deeply involved in my mom’s clothing store as the years passed. When she started a boutique at the Posada Vallarta Resort, I took over and became her partner. I also founded an Aide’s Association for Conventions. This group aimed to support and assist the growing number of conventions being held in Puerto Vallarta with a group of young girls from Vallarta.
In May 1978, I met my husband Jim through some friends of my parents who matched us. We married in Puerto Vallarta on September 22nd, 1978, and with his family in Colorado on October 2nd, 1978. Although I have lived far away from my homeland, Puerto Vallarta, which I still call “my paradise,” I have always promoted it.
My grandmother, Catalina Montes de Oca de Contreras, wrote a book about her memoirs of arriving in Puerto Vallarta in 1918, titled “Puerto Vallarta en mis Recuerdos.” My mother, Yolanda Contreras de Garduno, was the coauthor. She helped Grandmother Catalina publish her book in 1982 with the sponsorship of the government of Jalisco. The book was a hit and soon sold out. My mother was left with the copyrights after her mom Catalina’s passing in 1986. This book, a testament to our family’s history, became a cherished part of our legacy.
In 2000, when I was living in California, I received a call from my mother asking me to translate the book into English, a task I accomplished with pride after one year of dedicated work. My mom and I went to M.C. Jeffry Fernandez, Dean at CUC University, who was a native of Vallarta. In 2002, the CUC, through Jeffry, sponsored publishing a second edition of the book in Spanish and the first edition in English. It took until 2016 when both books sold out again. My mom sought the help of the CUC to reprint. However, it became an issue that I wanted to redo the book, making it more interesting and adding a lot of vintage photos for readers to have a more visual acquaintance with it. We sought the sponsorship of the City of Puerto Vallarta through Mayor Arturo Davalos. The City agreed to have only the book in Spanish reprinted. I went to edit the book on my own. I was fascinated with my grandmother’s stories in her book and added many pictures. I also added a new chapter of the book Aquel Ayer from my mother’s memories. The book’s third edition in Spanish was released at a City Hall ceremony on the One Hundred Anniversary of Puerto Vallarta on May 31st, 2018.
Still, I was eager to share the unique viewpoint of Puerto Vallarta’s early days, as seen through my grandmother’s eyes with the English-speaking community. When Covid-19 forced us into quarantine in 2020, I seized the opportunity to work on the second edition in English. I reached out to Tricia Lyman, the renowned creator and administrator of Puerto Vallarta: Everything You Need or Want to Know, and proposed to publish some chapters of the book’s English version, titled Puerto Vallarta, My Memories. Tricia was captivated by the idea, and the articles quickly gained popularity.
It’s a joy to announce that some of the articles from Puerto Vallarta, My Memories, have been selected for publication on PVEverything.com. The response to these articles has been overwhelming, and I’m thrilled to see them reaching a wider audience.
My greatest wish is that those who delve into my grandmother’s stories will be transported to the Puerto Vallarta of yesteryear, just as I have been every time I’ve revisited them. I hope you’ll be as captivated by these real-life stories as I have been.
