Saturday, June 27, 2009

Puerto Vallarta

Our love of Mexico brought us once again to Puerto Vallarta despite the crazy media blitz around the H1N1 virus. And, just for the record, there were absolutely no signs of the virus anywhere…everyone looked very healthy and energized for the summer months.

Given that it was already June by the time we left Canada, we were well overdue for our yearly visit at the Children of the Dump (which is slowly becoming one of our favorite yearly traditions!). This time around, we brought many English books to be donated to the School of Champions, which will be building their own library over the summer months. Thanks to the Vancouver Public Library who donated these books to the Isa Mundo Foundation, the library will be well stocked and the children will be able to enjoy learning English and developing their reading skills while discovering great stories along the way.

We also took advantage of our trip to PV to visit Pasitos de Luz, a free daycare facility providing children with severe disabilities with a caring and loving environment, treatment for individual rehabilitation, nutritional meals, physical stimulation, massages and therapy. Pasitos also provides regular evaluations from medical specialists, including occupational and speech therapists; as well as providing free orthopedic equipment. In addition, Pasitos provides moral and emotional support to the families of these children. The people that work at Pasitos de Luz are an inspiration to us all; the enthusiasm and love that is felt for the children is amazing! Gracias Yolanda y todos a Pasitos! Ustedes son una inspiraciĆ³n para todos!

We are currently in full research mode in figuring out how to best help Pasitos...and we have lots of ideas!