This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Matthew Breen, a 51-year-old podcast producer and talent manager based in New York who’s currently in Puerto Vallarta. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I’m based in New York City most of the year, but for the past couple of winters, I’ve been coming to Puerto Vallarta with my husband to escape the cold. We rent an apartment year-round in Zona Romántica. My parents eventually decided to winter here, too.
It started as holiday trips, then gradually grew into staying for a few months at a time. I work remotely as a podcast producer and talent manager.
We’ve all loved it for years. I’ve never felt unsafe until this past weekend, and now we’re heading home early.
Puerto Vallarta and our zone in particular are known for being very safe
I’ve been here this winter since mid-November, and I monitor my parents nearby. They rent an apartment in the same building, just downstairs from us.
Friends who have grown up here said they’ve seen cartel violence elsewhere, but never in Zona Romántica.
Sunday was frightening. We woke up to loud bangs and activity.
From our roof and window, we could see giant plumes of smoke rising a few blocks away. Friends in other parts of town said the explosions were car fuel tanks blowing up.
We heard from friends, family, and neighbors of two different unrelated acquaintances who were forced out of their cars at gunpoint. The explosions ceased for a while and then resumed early afternoon.
From our balcony, we watched a car race down our block with two people on a motorcycle chasing it, a gun aimed at the driver. The car turned the corner and disappeared, the motorcycle close behind, and then we heard a gunshot. We didn’t see smoke afterward, so we hoped the car got away.
From the same vantage point, we saw five or six guys on motorcycles pull into a mattress store parking lot about 100 feet away. The storefront itself was out of view, but we heard glass shatter, and soon after, huge plumes of black smoke poured from the building. There’s nothing left to go inside.
It’s been quiet since then, except for military helicopters circling above us early Sunday evening
At around 8:30 Monday morning, people were outside, mostly neighbors talking to each other. We walked the neighborhood and saw one tourist bus still smoldering. There were at least 20 burned-out shells of cars, several burned convenience stores, and a burned hotel around the corner.
There were a couple of fruit and vegetable stands open and a few smaller local family places, but none of the big chains were open, as far as we could tell. Apart from that, the fires have gone out.
We haven’t heard any more explosions. We’ve just seen a few military trucks with people in camo and machine guns walking the streets.
This is unprecedented, so we’re going to try to get my parents home ASAP
My parents were planning to leave town toward the end of March for the season, and I was going to accompany them and assist with travel. Now we’re moving up the dates as soon as possible. I don’t feel unsafe here, generally. Sunday was the aberration.
I’ll accompany my parents to Denver, then fly home to New York with my husband. We’ll monitor what things look like from a distance and come back as soon as we can. Otherwise, we would stay longer. We’ve been able to rebook the flights we had scheduled for early next week.
The town is very resilient; we’ve battled disasters before, like hurricanes. It’s important to us locals to patronize companies as they rebuild. It’s a wait-and-see kind of thing.
We’re cautious but seeing signs of life in town again, so we feel much better about going out.
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