Visit RIVIERA NAYARIT Mexico.com for current info on Hotels, Real Estate,
Condos, Villas, Tours, Golf, Fishing,
Resorts, Rentals, Weather and more! CLICK HERE
Visit PUERTOVALLARTAMexico.com for current info on Hotels, Real Estate,
Condos, Villas, Tours, Golf, Fishing,
Resorts, Rentals, Weather and more! CLICK HERE
Krystal Frost – Part II
Married • Missoula, Montana • Owner/Operator Body and Sol
John and Krystal remained in the Billings area for a few years while Krystal taught anthropology at the Billings extension of Montana State University. She learned the history and the culture of America’s indigenous people through the eyes of her husband and his people. In 1984, they moved to Missoula in western Montana to follow John’s job as an electrical line inspector. It also was an opportunity to distance John from the influence of alcoholism n the reservation. When the girls were two and four, Krystal returned to work at the University of Montana working with the Sports Foundation to bring young and promising athletes from all over the country to the school to participate in sports.
While in Missoula, Krystal became interested in the hospitality business, left the University of Montana, and became the director of sales for the Red Lion Corporation.
She and John bought ten acres of land outside of town on the Clarks River and built a home for their family.
Life on the ranch, though, did not last for Krystal and her kids. John alcoholism had taken a toll on the family, so she decided to take the girls to the land she loved: Latin America.
She longed for the languid life south of the border, but even more importantly, she wanted to give her kids the advantage of being reared in a culturally rich environment where they could learn a second language. South America, though, was too far away from friends and family, so she got out her map, looked at Hawaii’s latitude, and drew a straight line to Puerto Vallarta on Mexico’s west central coast. She had been to Hawaii on vacation and loved the climate. Puerto Vallarta offered both the climate and the culture she adored, so they began packing their bags.
Krystal had done no research on Puerto Vallarta before she jumped on a plane in 1986 and flew down to live. A Friend offered her a nice rental condo on the beach south of PV while she searched for a job and prepared to bring her children to Vallarta. She quickly found employment as the property manager for a large villa on a south coast beach near Garza Blanca that was owned by Americans. The large, beautiful home was host to one of Mexico’s presidents during the two years Krystal managed the property. While working there, she found a live in nanny Maria from Chiapas to take care of the kids, which eased her mind. “There are no better people tan Latin women to take care of your kids,” Krystal admires. “It was like having a wife. She taught me to make tamales in banana leaves, chiles rellenos, sauces, and the attention and rituals that Mexican women employ in their cooking. My children learned Spanish and Chiapaneca tales first hand.”
Always restless, in 1988 the once flower child decided to move on and take a crack at selling time-shares, a job of both choice and necessity for most adventurous baby boomers who come to Vallarta without a job. “It worked for me. I maintained my ethics, did a good job, was mostly in the top 5 percent of performers, and had lots of satisfied customers. I didn’t make as much money as the more hard-sell sales people, but I have never been driven by money.”
She sold time-shares for the Krystal, Velas Vallarta, and several smaller properties. They key to working for them in Krystal’s mind was their more easygoing approach to time-share, no high- pressure tactics.
The hours of a time-share sales person worked perfectly for Krystal since her kids were old enough now for school. “I enrolled them in the American School in the Marina when it was just ‘there rooms and mud,” she laughs. “I kept them there for a few years and then moved them to the British American School in Las Aralias because I liked their curriculum better. The school also had a teacher that I really admired, so I made sure my kids were in her class.” At that time, the British American School offered only grades K-8. Her children were in the first graduating class. She moved them back to the American School for the first two years of high school before sending them t olive with her mother to finish high school in Eugene, Oregon. The girls wanted at least a few years of the “American high school experience” before they went to college.
“My girls’ exposure to a multi-cultural, bilingual environment and lots of hard work helped them get scholarships to good schools,” Krystal says proudly.
One morning in 1994 she woke up and found she was sick and tired of selling time-share is not a career. It’s just something that brings you money and gets you trough life. Its short term.”
She started her own body-healing business, utilizing the skills she had developed many years ago while attending school in Vancouver. “It was my hobby at that time. I learned shiatsu, massage, yoga, and other forms of body healing because it was kind of flower child thing to do. I learned all about herbal and organic remedies, also, and became very good at it.” Email to a friend.
Will continue next month…
• Please click here to read Chapter 2 – Part I
• Please click here to read Chapter 2 – Part II
• Please click here to read Chapter 2 – Part III
• Please click here to read Chapter 4 – Part I
• Please click here to read Chapter 4 – Part III
• Please click here to buy the book
• Please click here to read book reviews
PVMIrror.com
is an Electronic Monthly Travel Magazine covering Puerto
Vallarta and Bay of Banderas. All our information may be copied,
used and published through and by any other news media whether
printed, televised and/or electronic by national or international
means, respecting all its contained text and images (including
this declaration), as well as acknowledging PVMirror.com as
its original electronic source of information where to a link
must be activated.
PVMirror.com – E-Puerto Vallarta Travel Magazine
“True Transformation of Diffusion – June 2003”
Current
Weather Report
