A Flurry Of Off-beach Activities

Many tourist complain that beach holidays offer little more than lazy days by the pool that result in little more than sun-burnt skin and an over consumption of margaritas. But that is not the case in Puerto Vallarta.

The Taheima Wellness Resort & Spa, just north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, gives its guests more to ponder in a number of lectures by members of the faculty of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.

In the next weeklong session ("Cultural Legacies: Mexico Across Borders," Nov. 13 to 19), lectures will focus on the cultural relationship between the United States and Mexico. That session is followed by another, in which environmental scientists survey Mexico's biodiversity via field trips ("Flora, Fauna and the Politics of Biodiversity," Dec. 4 to 11). And in "Mexico, Media and Democracy," Jan. 22 to 29, journalists from each side of the border gather to present lectures.

For those seeking to improve if not save the world, Puerto Vallarta offers a variety of volunteer events even for those on short visits to Mexico's second largest beach-resort destination.

Movie nights are becoming very popular in the city with more arty cafes springing up around the historic center in this beautiful pacific city. For those more interested in the plastic arts, the Malecon – Vallarta's famous seaside promenade - offers near daily sculpture tours that bring the cities art scene to life.

This September also sees the aria of the Strauss Orchestra of Vienna at the newly launched Teatro Vallarta, an experience that classical music aficionadas are in sheer ecstatic expectancy to see.

There are many cultural and historical events taking place this autumn due to the dual celebrations of Mexico's centennial celebrating the revolution and bicentennial celebrating the Independence from Spain.

If you are seeking to combine action with history, why not try a power-walking tour that takes you from the city center to the highest peaks of Puerto Vallarta's Sierra Madre Mountains and back down the river valley of the Cuale River.

And for environmentalists, El Arrayan, one of Vallarta's leading gourmet Mexican restaurants is teaming up with Leslie Korn a Harvard doctorate researcher to present Medicines of the Jungle, a book that looks at the medicinal plants of the Puerto Vallarta and Cabos Corriente regions in early December.

Whatever your interests, Puerto Vallarta is sure to keep you busy.