An interview with Sofia Boettner, Marketing Director of Grupo La Palapa in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We talk about the amazing Luxury Private Beach Resort, La Troza. We also talk about La Palapa, the Vista Grill and El Dorado Restaurants.   Also the 12 Day Celebration and Pilgrimage of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the history behind the Holiday   Listen to The Podcast Hello fellow travelers, welcome this episode of the Puerto Vallarta Travel show. I am your host Barry Kessler and I am just so happy to be introducing you to my favorite vacation destination, and maybe even yours, Puerto Vallarta Mexico. That music you were just listing to is performed by Alberto Perez, the owner of the La Palapa Group of Restaurants. Those are La Palapa, The El Dorado Restaurant, and at night for dinner The El Dorado transforms into the ever so romantic Vista Grill with those dramatic views of the Los Muertos Pier all lit up at night in beautiful colors. Of course, at La Palapa you can enjoy that same view of the Los Muertos Pier all day long for breakfast, lunch or dinner, seated with your toes in the sand right at the water’s edge. It’s so romantic, it’s so Puerto Vallarta my friends! This week, I have a special guest, Sofia Boettner, with Group La Palapa will be talking about their beautiful property, La Troza Beach Resort, south of Puerto Vallarta, actually just north of Playa Las Animas, but before we get to that conversation, let’s see what’s happening in Puerto Vallarta this week, November 29, 2017. Last week I promised you I would talk about the Pilgrimage, the 12-day pilgrimage of our Lady de Guadalupe. The one that is going to be celebrated in Puerto Vallarta for 13 days this. Well, in Puerto Vallarta, there is this beautiful church and it serves as an icon. It is part and parcel of the landscape and the center of all the tourist brochures, everyone wants a picture of the church, the Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe.  And because of its name, and dedication to the Lady of Guadalupe, it has been one of the places in Mexico, besides the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, where the faithful make the pilgrimage to honor this occasion, this event that changed Mexico, and entwined Mexico with the Catholic Church. I want to tell you about the history of the church in Puerto Vallarta, the Iglesias de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, but before that, let me give you a little history and let me tell you the story of the miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the story of Juan Diego. Just keep in mind that 10 years earlier, Hernando Cortez had just conquered Mexico City and just defeated Montezuma. And in 1523 Franciscan missionaries came ‘a evangelizing the Indian people who were living there. And, they were really good at it too and an Archdiocese of Mexico City was established in 1528. Now Juan Diego and many of his family members were among the early native Indian converts to Catholicism. He was baptized Juan Diego. He was given that name by the church. His name was some other Indian name that I cannot pronounce it I'm not even going to try it. [caption id="attachment_2023" align="alignleft" width="216"] Juan Diego[/caption] Juan Diego was baptized in 1525 along with his wife and his uncle. Now remember that Juan Diego had grown up under Aztec oppression, and the Aztecs were not really nice people. They would cut the hearts out of sacrifices while they were still alive. It was pretty gross this was a bloodthirsty civilization. It was said that over 50,000 human beings were sacrificed having their hearts cut out every year. In fact, just imagine back in 1487, before Cortez arrived when Juan Diego was just 13 years old he would have witnessed all this chaos and bloodthirsty behavior. It must have shocked the Spanish Conquistadores no end. In 1520 Cortes outlawed human sacrifice and he took the two idols out of the pyramids, cleansed the stone of all the blood, and erected a new altar. And then, Cortez along with his soldiers and father