In 28 months time, the city of Guadalajara will be sizzling with the feast of sporting events brought by the Pan-American Games.

The capital of the state of Jalisco is currently undergoing a huge renovation project in order to bring the city into the 21st century and stage what they believe will be the greatest Pan-American Games ever.

More than 5,000 athletes from approximately 42 countries across America and the Caribbean will be competing at Guadalajara 2011. Sports will range from aquatics, to football, to racquetball with a confirmed total of 30 and another six being considered.

The first Pan-American Games were celebrated in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 25 February 1951 with over 2,500 athletes competing from 22 different countries.

The games were proposed as an extension to the Central America regional games involving Mexico, Guatemala and Cuba, and were due to begin in 1942 but were postponed due to World War II.

New Infrastructure

With a total budget of $250 million, COPAG (the Organizing Committee for the Pan American Games Guadalajara 2011) has a vision of drastically updating both the sporting and non-sporting infrastructure of the city.

The Re-engineering of the downtown area of the city will include new streets and roads and a number of new hotels, with Guadalajara predicted to have 22,000 hotel rooms by 2011.

The new bus rapid transit (BRT) system, Macrobús, was launched in March 2009 due to the city’s capture of the games. The Macrobús is designed to give cheap, quick transit around the city for its citizens and the predicted mass influx of tourists during the games in 2011.

Further infrastructure planned ahead for 2011 includes a second terminal in the city’s International Airport, a highway to Puerto Vallarta, and a bypass for southern Guadalajara.

Pan-American Village

The Pan-American Games will also mean the creation of its very own Pan-American Village in Guadalajara.

A number of buildings around the Morelos Park area of Guadalajara are currently being knocked down in order to create space for the 12 brand-new buildings of the village that will accommodate people involved with the games. Plans of the village can be seen at VillaPanAmericanaGdl.com.mx.

After the games the 12 buildings of the Pan-American Village will be used as housing for the residents of Guadalajara.

Sporting Venues

There are already 13 existing venues in Guadalajara that the games will use, including the Jalisco Stadium, UAG 3 de Marzo Stadium, and the UAG Gymnasium.

But the city is planning to introduce a number of new buildings for the sporting games to take place in.

Currently, there are four new sporting venues in the planning stage, seven under construction, and four finished. The brand new Aquatics Centre, Hockey Field and Weightlifting Arena are included in these.

There are also new operative buildings for the games, including the Pan-American Building in Morelos Park, and the currently under construction Centre for Sports Medicine.

The Pan-American Games will have its opening ceremony in the Jalisco Stadium, Guadalajara on 13 October 2011. Organizers are currently looking for volunteers to help out with the games and anyone interested should visit Guadalajara2011.org.mx.

To prepare for the Pan American Games to be held in Guadalajara in 2011, Puerto Vallarta is hosting and promoting sporting events of an international status, such as the First Sports Series Puerto Vallarta 2008, to be held from September 25 – October 5. The series will comprise of three events in one: open water swimming, triathlon and beach volleyball held at national and international levels. These events will attract many visitors to our area, thanks to the participation of over a hundred athletes.

“The Pan American Games are a very powerful reason to become a host for major events, and to obtain the international recognition that our tourist destination needs,” said the Secretary of State for Tourism, Aurelio Lopez Rocha. He also hopes that the games will place Jalisco and in particular the city of Guadalajara, on the map of major events held at an international caliber.

The event will start with the beach volleyball competition on Thursday September 25 at the Agustin Flores Contreras Municipal Sports Stadium, with the participation of the twelve best women’s teams in the Pan American region. This will include teams from the countries of Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Mexico. The event continues on October 4, with an open national swimming competition in the ocean. Two hundred participants will swim over ten kilometers from our beautiful local beaches. The Pan American Youth Triathlon will close the series on October 5. In this grueling competition, 700 triathletes will attempt to complete 1.5 miles swimming, 40 km of cycling and 10 kilometers of running.

The town is referred to as “gay Puerto Vallarta” for a reason: it’s one of the most gay-friendly cities in Mexico. There are a couple of gay beaches, as well as plenty of gay-friendly hotels and an area of town almost exclusively dedicated to gay nightlife. In peak tourist season (the winter months), there are plenty of gay-oriented activities, including horseback riding, drag shows and even gay bingo. What keeps gay travelers coming back is the laid-back nature of the gay scene; it’s all very low-key and relaxed.

Visitors to gay Puerto Vallarta often talk about “the gay beach”. However, more than one beach fits this description. At the south end of Los Muertos Beach is the Blue Chairs Resort. You’ll recognise it by the rainbow flags. In front of the hotel is the Blue Chairs Beach, so called because (you guessed it) it’s full of blue chairs. In keeping with the general atmosphere of gay Puerto Vallarta, the beach is a chilled-out place to snooze in the sun. Take a chair and sunbathe, or eat some of the beach snacks on offer from vendors (grilled fish on a stick is a specialty). This is a good place to meet new people, both Mexican and American. The other gay beach is known as Paco’s Gay Beach. This is a secluded 20-acre area on the south coast of the bay, where you can enjoy snorkeling, beach volleyball and swimming. There’s also a restaurant and bar. Entry to the beach is about $5, and the privacy and beauty of the area makes it well worth the money. Paco’s Beach is inaccessible by road, so take a water taxi from Boca de Tomatlan. Sometimes there are cruises to the beach too.

As for nightlife, most gay clubs and bars are in the part of town known as the South Side, or the zona romantica . The kind of music on offer varies, but all clubs tend to be more down-to-earth and less high-energy than their straight counterparts elsewhere in Puerto Vallarta.

When you hear about gay Puerto Vallarta, you usually hear about the male scene, but it’s a very woman-friendly destination too. Diana DeCoste runs “Diana’s Tours”, and organizes many activities for lesbian visitors. For example, you can go on a five-hour ecological tour of the surrounding countryside, including horseback riding and swimming, for about $40.