Returning home

Our High Country Club villa at Punta Mita. I hope to visit the HCC head offices in Denver, CO, when there for the SMPS Build Business Convention in August.

Our flight home (via Mexico City and New York) departs at 6:30 a.m.; so we have to be up very early to drive to the airport and check in. We'll overnight (Saturday) in New York before returning by plane to Montreal and train home mid afternoon on Sunday. As we journey, there likely won't be much time for blogging so the next entry will probably be on Monday morning.

Clearly, the tourism economy is doing good things for the construction business in this part of the world -- construction, in fact, is the second largest employer after tourism. Hotels, time shares and condos are sprouting up along the Pacific Ocean, ranging from the mass market timeshare stuff, to the exclusive Four Seasons Resort further up the cost near where we are in Punta Mita -- where work is under way for a private air strip for those with the money, and desire to avoid the masses.

I'd say the recessionary winds blowing in the U.S. haven't reached these shores yet. For a Canadian, prices of "tourist stuff" are as expected; restaurant meals can be overpriced, gas is a bit expensive. Food purchased at the large Mega supermarket about 10 minutes away from here is another matter -- we were shocked by how inexpensive everything is. Since our villa has a fully equipped (large) kitchen, and eating involves looking over the balcony to the Pacific Ocean breakers, we ended up eating at 'home' most of the time.

Are vacations healthy for the soul and spirit? Absolutely! I don't think I'm ready to do what the Gecko rental car company owner did, however. He had a successful road building business in Alberta, and sold it in the mid 1990s, and owned a property here. On 'retirement' he decided to move here permanently; and with children arriving on the scene late in life, he decided to start the rental car business. A second career, and not a bad one at that . . .

But in about 10 years, maybe I'll be ready to spend more time in warm and sunny places. In the meantime, we'll take a few vacations each year, and I'll continue connecting the dots about business and construction marketing.

Next trip -- on Tuesday, I fly to Thunder Bay as we prepare to launch Northern Ontario Construction News.