My wife and I spent more than a week with friends in Puerto Vallarta, in honour of one of our friend's 80th birthday. A good time was had by all. Mariachis played at the festivities, and everyone enjoyed the renowned Mexican hospitality.
We timed our trip in order to be back when Derek was scheduled for his next chemo treatment (he's suffering the side effects today). It's amazing and encouraging to hear that a number of the people present either had had colon cancer themselves or know people who did. Our 80 year old friend also battled this disease some years back; he knows better than most of us what Derek is going through. What's encouraging is that they are all still alive to tell the tale.
We read Derek's blog while there when we had access to the internet. It kept us just as informed as all other readers of his blog regarding the state of his fight - as his parents, we have a special interest. This is certainly an instance where the internet shines.
Puerto Vallarta is far from the little fishing village it was before the film "The Night of the Iguana", starring Liz Taylor and Richard Burton was made there. Today, P.V. is home to about 400,000 people, and new condos are going up at an unprecedented rate. We had the opportunity to look at a couple of condominium apartments being built next door. They each are 3000+ square feet - 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a 650 square foot "balcony", in a building with about 170 of them, on the waterfront with a terrific view, and start at about US$570,000. I'm not sure what this will do to the truly Mexican lifestyle in this area, but you can't stop progress - after all, it's happening here, too.
