Mexico: After hurricane, Puerto Vallarta still cleaning up

If you're heading soon to the Mexican resort of Puerto Vallarta and staying in an oceanfront hotel or condo, double-check on the condition of pools, restaurants and other amenities.

Some hotels and resorts were damaged by the high winds and surging waves of Hurricane Kenna in late October. While cleanup efforts have been intense in the tourist-dependent town, the conditions can vary. Many businesses and hotels were undamaged or had only minor damage, but at least seven hotels remained closed last week because of damage from the strongest hurricane to hit Mexico's Pacific coast in decades.

Miriam Beck of Mercer Island owns a bay-front condo in the Los Tules complex, in what's called the hotel zone in Puerto Vallarta, and was there during and after the Oct. 25 hurricane.

Beck said there was extensive damage to some condos after high winds blew out windows, and seawater and sand surged through some ground-floor units. And, said Beck, "the restaurant is down to bare bricks."

Beck and her husband, who fled their unit for shelter in a nearby hotel, spent days cleaning sand out of their condo, but said it had much less damage than some.

The Puerto Vallarta Board of Tourism said an estimated 10 percent of the town's resorts had suffered damage in the storm.

Among the hotels that remain closed are the Buenaventura Beach Club, due to reopen next month, and the Sheraton Buganvilias Resort which is closed until early January. The 684-room beachfront Sheraton had extensive damage to its restaurant, meeting rooms, grounds and some guest rooms.

For more information, check with individual hotels and your travel agent. And try these sources:

• Puerto Vallarta Board of Tourism, www.visitpuertovallarta.com.

• The privately run Web site www.vallartaonline.com has some of the most useful information, including a list of what hotels are closed and their reopening dates. There also are photos from the day of the storm and of the cleanup.

Also check the Web site of the PVMirror, www.pvmirror.com, another privately-run English-language news site.

• The Mexican Tourism Board has some post-hurricane information: 800-446-3942 or www.visitmexico.com.

San Blas hit hard

The small town of San Blas, about a three-hour drive north of Puerto Vallarta, bore the brunt of the hurricane with extensive damage to houses, fishing boats and small tourist businesses from winds that reached an estimated 140 mph.

The Web site of the guidebook "People's Guide to Mexico" has some updates on conditions and relief efforts in San Blas: www.peoplesguide.com.