Based on a modular design, the houses were prefabricated in Puerto Vallarta and then brought by boat to the site. Once on the site, constructing the houses required no moving of soil or excavating as the houses were designed to be lofted on V-shaped stands planted into the ground.

More than 30 years ago during one of our first visits to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, while browsing through a small souvenir shop, we noticed a handful of small black objects high on a back corner shelf. They were covered with dust and obviously hadn’t been touched for years. We asked the owner of the tienda what they were and he indicated that they were obsidian artifacts; insinuating that they were very old and that obsidian was quite rare and virtually approaching extinction.

Krystal started as a yoga teacher at a hotel in the northern hotel zone doing classes on the beach and then expanded her capabilities of include massage therapy. “There were maybe two other people in all of Vallarta who were doing massage therapy back in the mid-1990s. I opened my business, Body and Sol, in 1995 in a location very near the popular Rizzo’s grocery store on the south side of town. It was great for walk-in traffic and also had Access to parking, which was a real plus.”

Puerto Vallarta is situated on the shoreline of the 25 mile diameter Banderas Bay which is surrounded by the Sierra Madre Mountains. There are approximately 35 miles of coastal land, much of which has very scenic adjacent hillside property that has been privatized for foreign purchase. Retirement property ranges from beachfront condominium towers to mountainside villas, all of which have panoramic views of the city, the Pacific Ocean, and the Sierra Madres with their native fauna and flora.

Living in Phoenix means it’s an easy, 2-hour flight to one of the greatest cities in the world for delicious, healthy food, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The fruits and vegetables taste like they were hand picked at dawn, and often that is the case. The seafood is right out of the ocean, while the menu choices are fresh, flavorful and often qualify as healthy food.

With the country in recession, and major airlines like Air Canada cutting flights and some jobs, WestJet seems to be flying through the economic storm with little to no turbulence.

Robert Palmer, the public-relations manager for WestJet, said some mid-week, low-capacity “fringe” flights have been dropped in Canada, but Abbotsford will not be affected.

The most beautiful and prestigious coastlines in the world claim their own “Rivieras” – from the south of France to California’s most desirable strands. In Mexico, it can be found in Riviera Nayarit, about 30 to 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta. Defined geographically by 190 miles of coastline with mesmerizing waters and illuminating sands, the area is also known for its first-rate resorts and golf, protected seclusion, cultural offerings and eco-treasures in its jungles, rivers and islands.

Jalisco state is best known for the white sand beaches of popular resort town Puerto Vallarta, but this geographic and historic heart of Mexico is said by locals to have given the world three much more important things: charros (progenitors of North American cowboy culture), silver and (last but not least) tequila. Without much effort one will find these iconic products represented in the shops and restaurants that line Puerto Vallarta’s streets, but for the restless, the curious and the brave, authentic Jalisco is easily accessible not too far off the Malecon oceanfront boardwalk.

It’s a simple enough matter to hire a guide and a mule in this town and go riding off in search of buried treasure in the caves of the Sierra Madre mountains- but you had better beware of The Curse of the Sunken Mine.

San Sebastian is a mere 70-minute drive from the Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta, but it takes the traveller four centuries back in time, deep into Mexico’s colourful colonial past.

Nestled in the folds of mist-wreathed mountains, the former gold and silver mining town is a living museum of the 16th-century invasion of Mexico by the Spanish conquistadors who uprooted an ancient Indian civilization.

The word “iguana“ is the Spanish derivation of the Carib (Amerindian) word, “iwana“; a name given to a family of lizards that are found throughout the Americas.

Iguanas are one of the five generally recognized infraorders of the lacertilian suborder of reptiles which includes all lizards. The Iguanidae family is only one of about 17 families of the lacertilian