A couple of years ago, on one of my trips to Puerto Vallarta, I met an exhuberant young man named Elias Solorzano. I was strolling down Los Olas Altas one humid July evening, and at the corner of Olas Altas and Francisca Rodrigues at the Apaches restaraunt, at one of the sidewalk cafe tables, sat a handsome young man, engaged in conversation with a couple of guys who I knew from the Hotel Mercurio where I was staying.
I joined the conversation, happy that Elias had a much better command of english than I did of Spanish. He was a very passionate young man, attractive, young, latin, everything I love about Puerto Vallarta.
He proceeded to challenge me on why I was visiting Puerto Vallarta, with my plentiful American Dollars, taking advantage of a small town, assuming that I was welcome just because I had money in my pocket to burn. He wasn’t being vindictive, he was merely making me think, and making me realize that for the thousands of residents of Puerto Vallarta, it was just a place to live. It was not the inexpensive retreat from the reality of work and cold and humdrum that I saw it as, it was home, a place to respect, a city of many different interests, and while my American dollars were welcome, I needed to respect the inhabitants. Elias was a most interesting person.
When I returned home, Elias graciously “friended” me on Facebook, and I became one of his more than 1,000 friends around the world. Over the past few years, I’ve looked forward to his posts – he was an active young man, with many interests, very proud of his home country. He moved from Puerto Vallarta to Cabo San Lucas, and his posts were always full of pictures, meals he cooked, and positive things about his beloved home Mexico.
Elias always was smiling, always had a good word to say about everything, and was always willing to challenge anyone who had a negative impression of Mexico. He was a free spirit.
Elias died in Cabo San Lucas, Saturday May 26th at age 28, from complications from a stroke. I will miss his smile, his friendly banter and his beautiful pictures from Mexico. Sleep well, my friend. Once again you are teaching us a lesson. Life is short, we do not know if we have a tomorrow, so we need to live each day as if it were our last.
I knew Elias very well. I used to chat with him by email almost every day. Then the emails stopped and I have been trying to work out what happened. Doing some searches I chanted upon your blog. Being a Facebook luddite I didn’t get to see anything, I guess that’s how you found out? I’d really like to be able to pass my condolences to his family. Do you have any contact details, or could maybe get me in contact with his sister Silveria?
Alan, did not know any of his family. If his Facebook page is still up there may be info there.