Yukoners in Puerto Vallarta ‘stay calm and carry on’ as crisis erupts

When Theresa Hayduck looked out over her balcony Sunday morning, she thought it was weird that the postcard-like view of Mexico’s Puerto Vallarta should be marred with pillars of black smoke.

“I just thought: ‘Oh. That’s kind of weird to have forest fires.’”

And then she heard explosions. 

Hayduck, who is from Yukon, landed in Puerto Vallarta on Friday. But her scenic vacation took a seemingly screen-to-real-life turn after violence struck several states in Mexico, including the coastal city of Puerto Vallarta, which is in Jalisco. 

The unrest was triggered after the leader of one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organizations was reported to have died following a clash with special forces operatives, authorities said.

Global Affairs Canada issued  a “shelter in place” order in that coastal town, while several airlines cancelled flights to and from Puerto Vallarta.

Hayduck, who is in a party of 13, said her friends were trying to keep her calm.

“This is my first time in Mexico. I feel like I’m living my best life. My first morning I just woke up with so much gratitude,” she said in a phone interview. 

“And then I’m like, ‘Gosh. I’ve watched a lot of shows about the cartel, and now I’m in Mexico, where one of the largest, you know, drug dealers is gone.’ And it’s crazy to be here. So I’m just trying to not freak out.”

Vincent Esquiro, one of her travelling companions and another Yukoner, said he saw “dozens” of fires and heard explosions from his room at the Sunscape Resort in Puerto Vallarta.

“And you can see the flames above the trees,” he said.

“The streets were empty. No people walking. Nobody driving. Nobody out. It was very, very quiet. No birds.”

The hotel lobby, on the other hand, he said, was packed because no one was allowed to leave. 

The group is scheduled to stay at the resort until Friday, and Esquiro said they plan to assess the situation and flights day-by-day.

Esquiro said he posted pictures and an update of the situation on social media but there was little reaction from friends for most of the morning.

“I think it was like everybody — everybody in Canada was watching that game,” he said, referring to the Canada-United States 2026 Winter Olympics hockey match.

“And then after the game was over — about an hour after that — I got a whole ton of likes and comments on the post.” 

He said he and the group are taking the situation in stride, are happy to be safe and will have an exciting story to tell when they get back.

“There does seem to be a sense of ‘stay calm and carry on,’” he said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Hayduck said she is not sad about how her vacation turned out.

“It’s -29 [in Yukon], and we’re sitting in plus 29,” she said. 

“We’ll just enjoy our time as much as we can and keep safe. I guess we’re all just going to hunker down in the resort.”

Doug Phillips, former commissioner of Yukon who has been on vacation in Mexico for about three weeks, said he was watching the hockey game at a restaurant at the waterfront near Marina Puerto Vallarta, when he saw a “big pillar of smoke rising on the far side.”

When he got back to the hotel, he said staff told him about the lockdown.

“We just went to our room and then stood on our balcony with quite a view of Puerto Vallarta and we saw over 15 fires starting in downtown Puerto Vallarta and the surrounding area.”

He said the situation was a “little scary” but he and his family were quite safe at the hotel.

Puerto Vallarta is a safe town and the attack is not directed toward tourists, he noted. 

“It’s actually more of an attack between the fights between the different cartels. … Hunker down and stay where you’re safe.”

Phillips was supposed to leave Mayan Palace at Vidanta Puerto Vallarta where is staying on Monday, though his itinerary now is up in the air.

“We’re kind of in no-man’s-land right now,” he said. “I can’t wait to get back to the 25 below. And no cartel.”