Yelapa, Gripe and Spanish classes

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Despite the issues with the swine flu my folks admirably managed to make it here last week. Last Sunday we went by water taxi to Yelapa, a secluded village around 30 mins south of Puerto Vallarta. Yelapa is only accessible by sea so we took a water taxi. Despite a bumpy ride, I felt relatively safe until I noticed the captain was around 12 years old! If you want to get away from it all, Yelapa really is the place to go, however if you miss the last taxi back at night you are in trouble! The swine flu is beginning to affect tourism here and a number of hotels have been forced to shut. The main damage to the local economy has been the cancellation of the cruise ships, which bring thousands of visitors at a time. All cruise ships have been cancelled at least until June. The reduction in the number of tourists has been clearly visible in the last week and it feels like a ghost town in the evenings. Its a real shame for the locals here, a lot of whom are losing their jobs. The feeling amongst the local people is that the travel warnings are down to politics more than anything else. I have started a 2 week intensive spanish course at a branch of the University of Guadalajara. I have 4 hours of class each morning plus 1-2 hours of homework (which i do on the beach whilst drinking a few beers!). I am due to travel to Mexico City on the 20th May but not sure yet if I'm going to go.....will keep you posted. Hasta luego, Dave

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