Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico - Puerto Vallarta city officials recently made a brief, but productive, visit to sister city Highland Park, Illinois, where they enjoyed the 'Taste of Highland Park/Port Clinton Art' festival, and toured the local high school, library and health clinic, among other activities.

Although educational issues were discussed during the Highland Park High School tour led by Principal Greg Swanson, bonding between the Vallarta and Highland Park delegations was definitely buoyed by a shared appreciation of art, including the 35' x 8' mural, painted by Puerto Vallarta artist Javier Nino, that dominates one wall of the school's cafeteria.

The visitors also saw artwork and photographs in the school hallways, visited computer labs, and were taken on a tour of an inner courtyard, where they were shown two park benches that feature murals painted by Puerto Vallarta’s Ada Colorina and HPHS students during last April's 'Focus on the Arts.' At the end of the tour, the high school was given a gift of a hand-beaded Jaguar made by the Huichol Indians of Puerto Vallarta.

During the visit, the President of Puerto Vallarta's Sister Cities Committee, Agustin Valdivia, was presented with a key to the city of Highland Park, and Mayor Rotering was given a small replica of the whale sculpture that graces Sister Cities park in downtown Highland Park. The group also participated in a joint sister cities meeting held at the Botanic Gardens on Sunday morning and a Chicago concert in the Ravinia open-air pavilion on Sunday night.

Highland Park and Puerto Vallarta have been sister cities for 11 years. As sister cities, citizens and organizations are involved in the exchanging of ideas, cultures and people. Highland Park and Puerto Vallarta have participated in several exchanges since the relationships were forged. Several organizations from Highland Park have traveled to Puerto Vallarta including the Highland Park Strings and HPHS student groups.

According to Valdivia, who is also a member of Puerto Vallarta's Tourism Board and City Council, these visits help cement relationships, raise money for local charities and to promote tourism to the destination city on Mexico's Pacific Coast.

"We need help from our sister cities to promote Puerto Vallarta as a safe destination," Valdivia said. "Americans and Canadians love our weather and our beaches, so we put a lot of focus on our tourism," he added.