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Kevin Feltner profiles Marcia’s life journey and her impact on Puerto Vallarta. Kevin also works with VallartaCalender.com and ShowMePV.com, where you can see more of his writing and keep up with events in Puerto Vallarta.
Marcia Blondin: 4 Decades From Here
Marcia Blondin is marking 40 years since Puerto Vallarta quietly changed the course of her life. What began as a two-week visit in 1986 became a lifelong connection shaped by writing, storytelling, and a deep commitment to the city’s cultural life.
From the moment she arrived, she felt it. In those days, passengers crossed the tarmac on foot, and as her foot touched the ground, she experienced an overwhelming sense of recognition—something immediate and impossible to ignore.
“The second my foot touched the ground, I was hit with the same feeling I once had standing at dawn in the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi,” she recalls. Though she was on her honeymoon, she immediately knew Vallarta held a deeper claim on her.
She returned as often as possible over the next five years, drawn by something she couldn’t fully explain. “I had to come back and reunite with my soul that refused to get back on the plane with me,” she says. By 1991, she stopped resisting and made the move permanent.
Her early years were simple and freeing. Living in the maid’s quarters of a beachfront penthouse, she had few expenses and the space to explore creative pursuits—painting, making jewelry, and building a life grounded in independence and creativity.
Writing became central in 2013 when she began contributing to the Vallarta Tribune. Her column, From Here, quickly found its voice as a reflection of her connection to the city and its rhythms.
“I hope that people who have fallen in love with Vallarta and can’t be here will still feel a connection through me,” she says, describing the readers she writes for most often.
After the Tribune closed, she continued at the PV Mirror and eventually took on the responsibility of running the publication herself. The workload was immense—“like having two full-time jobs”—but she carried it forward, even after publisher Allyna Vineberg’s passing in 2023.
In recent years, a chronic neck condition forced her to reconsider that pace. “I physically cannot do 12-plus hours a day anymore,” she says. In November 2025, she made the decision to close the publication, honoring commitments through year’s end.
Today, she continues writing From Here through VallartaCalendar.com and social media, focusing on the experiences that inspire her most—local events, food, and the everyday magic of Vallarta.
Looking back, she believes the city holds a rare kind of magic—“old, ancient, healing magic”—and insists its heart remains unchanged, no matter how much the city grows.
What matters most now is connection.
“That I love them,” she says of her readers. “That’s what I want them to know.”
This article was featured in our Summer 2026 issue. Read the digital copy here.
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