The Pacific Pearl is eleven years old this month and still going strong. Publishers Mike & Maricha Veselik have seen an idea, hatched at their kitchen table in 1992, grow into Mazatlán´s favorite magazine for millions of English speaking tourists and expat residents of this fascinating city by the sea. The road to Year Eleven has occasionally been bumpy, but the ink is now firmly set in their veins. A few questions had Mike reminiscing…… What was the philosophy behind the Pacific Pearl? We wanted to inform visitors to Mazatlán, and residents, of what is happening in the city in order for them to have a better vacation. It´s that simple. That includes activities, places to see, local customs, interesting characters—the gamut of life here. Sometimes, like everywhere else in the world, it also involves cautions to tourists. The magazine always aims to make visitors´ stay fun, and safe. What is your proudest accomplishment? Definitely helping to start local community groups, and sponsoring baseball

and soccer teams. In terms of the Pearl, I think it´s an accomplishment that we´re still going. This year we branched out with a CD of local musicians and a comprehensive guidebook for Mazatlán. Our Website grew from 2.5 million hits last year to 3.3 million this year. What was the biggest hurdle in the last eleven years? Without a doubt, 1996. The year the peso devalued. It was devastating for us, and very stressful. Businesses were collapsing all around us, and we weren´t sure we would pull through. We lost our cottage in the States but managed, somehow, to hang on and keep going. What is the biggest change you´ve seen in business in Mazatlán? Probably the most important for the Pearl is the change in attitude of government officials. They now seem more open to accepting us, because they realize that foreign tourists and residents are important to the economy. And that´s certainly a breath of fresh air. Gracias to our loyal advertisers and readers for making the Pacific Pearl the “must read” magazine for a fabulous holiday in Mazatlán!