My winter break came late this year. As this is my fifth column at least on Puerto Vallarta, I’ve become somewhat comparative in my analysis as I seek to discover the cacophony that is Mexican color.

We’re tracking El Niño this year, and my appointed day for a photo excursion was so cool and grey I halfway expected pirates to pop out of the mist, treasure in tow.

As always, Bugambilia Pink and Lime dominate the old part of town around my hotel. Last year I noticed an abundance of tobacco colors; this year it was soft ochre-pinks and underwater blues.

I also had to note this to myself: I’ve written widely of my dislike of all-white as an interior color (it makes my face look pasty), but I’m in New York. Travel 4000 miles anywhere and you begin to sense a shift in paradigm. If you lived somewhere with winter daytime temps of 80 degrees, you too would want surfaces white to reflect light and heat instead of absorbing it. To that, you’d start adding colors as per your natural environment.

That pink bridge of sighs once connected the two properties owned by Elizabeth Taylor, though now it’s being turned into condos.

You can get a lot of bang for your buck if you paint your door frames hot pink, your silver shop deep turquoise and your café in dry tobacco.

Possible color recommendations:

Ralph Lauren -
Mexico City Yellow IB65
Villa Torlonia VM63
Blue Lagoon VM 127
Limeade Green IB75
Aruba Pink IB52

- Mark Chamberlain, interior and decorative painter
Markchamberlainpainting.com