Back from Los Muertos

The Day of the Dead celebration is November 1. As we strolled the friendly streets of Puerto Vallarta, families and merchants were preparing for a holiday that predates our Halloween. Appropriately, we sunned, dined, drank and relaxed on PV's most popular stretch of sand - La Playa de Los Muertos, the beach of the dead. Indeed, our condo overlooks the beach. In the photo above, our white "piano building" is visible above the craggy rock and beneath the overhanging trees.

In case all this should sound morbid, you must not have seen the lively depictions of the dearly departed enjoying themselves in the afterlife. The dead apparently get up to all of the tricks of the living. And they have no use for timeshares either!

Puerto Vallarta bound...

For the first time in many years of visiting beautiful Banderas Bay, we are going down to PV in October. It is just the beginning of the winter High Season and it's a chance for us to check on and prepare our one bedroom condo for this season's visitors.

"Alondra" has proven easy to rent due to it's prime location overlooking the "blue chairs" on Los Muertos beach, the architectural quality of the building and it's romantic ambience. We have the amenities of a hotel - daily maid service, night security, A.C., pool and the same, very competent, English-speaking Manager for twenty years - but enjoy the small, safe and friendly scale of just eleven condo units.

Websites such as vacationrentals.com make it easy for visitors to find the right place at the right price.

Having rented other people's condos and now owning a vacation getaway of our own, I can't imagine why anyone would want to stay in a cookie-cutter hotel room. For the same price or less, you can stay somewhere that really feels like it's yours.

Vancouver's Olympics - getting ready!

Beijing, Vancouver, London, Rio de Janeiro.... Good company to keep.

Vancouver likes to party. The invitations have been accepted and we are working hard to get ready....

The excitement is starting to build....

The athletes are gathering to train at their competition venues....

And soon - the world will be joining them.

We always knew we were special.

Two very fun things this week.



I received an email entitled "Vancouver Originals - you are one". This is a new Vancouver website where the listings are chosen by a local jury. To be selected, the business must originate in Vancouver, have a unique and original product or service that is recognized, or have all of the above with historical merit in addition. As their slogan states:"Chosen by locals in the know...." It's very nice to be acknowledged. VancouverOriginals is a site to keep an eye on.



And then we had the honour of hosting Nick Vivion, a formidable young film-maker from New York and San Francisco. He was in Vancouver on assignment for http://www.tripfilms.com/, the net's best quality source for member-generated travel videos. Nick, like ourselves, is a traveller in love with life. Check out his work at tripfilms or via his own website. He shot a video review of Nelson House B & B, which we can hardly wait to see!