Bobbie Snyder – Part III
Married • Vancouver, Washington • Partner, Real Estate & Beyond
“We were the only American couple present when Mexico’s then president Vicente Fox came to inaugurate the new bridge and highway over the Ameca River,” Bill recalls. “There were three or four hundred people at the ceremony, but Fox came over to speak with us, which greatly impressed Bobbie and me.
We were laughing because he inaugurated the bridge that day but would not inaugurate the new highway because only two of the four lanes had been completed. He told the local officials to call him when the other two lanes were done, and he would come back and officially inaugurate the highway at that time. And he did.”
The new highway has been open for just a few years now, but it’s already often at capacity, the result of planned new developments along the north shore of the bay and the western coast of the state of Nayarit. Mexico’s National Tourism Development Foundation (FONATUR), the same government agency that developed Cancun and Ixtapa, is a prime developer of the Riviera Nayarit. When completed, FONATUR’s development will stretch from the town of Litibu----sandwiched between Punta de Mita and Sayulita----to El Capomo, just south of Las Varas on the south coast of the state of Nayarit.
By 2020, FONATUR claims there will be nearly fifteen thousand additional rooms for tourist and residential lodging, which should attract an additional one million tourists each year.
More development doesn’t really bother Bobbie and Bill, though. Vallarta is their paradise, and they love it. “Weather is without question the number one reason we are living here,” Bill says. “The beauty of living in Vallarta is that inside living is the same as outside by the pool and the boat dock.”
With Bobbie running her own business now, Bill does most of the cooking and the shopping. The best thing he likes about grocery shopping in PV is the fresh tree-or vine-ripened produce. “The fruits and vegetables are better than anything you can buy in the states, “Bill concludes. “We stay away from the snack foods and other junk, except for the local ice cream, which is awesome.” Bill also catches a lot of fish each week, which becomes the protein for most meals. They eat healthy food, and that makes them feel better and saves them money.
Eating healthy helps them stay healthy, also. Bobbie especially likes the more natural approach to health care in Vallarta. She had an ultrasound done locally, which revealed gallstones.
The doctor told her not toil them operate on her in the States to remove the stones. Instead, the doctor recommended that for nine days she take olive oil and squeezed lime juice every morning, eat a green Apple at night, and lie on her left side when she slept. She did, and the problem went away. For Mexican doctors, she says, surgery is the last resort.
With a large house and busy lives, the couple is fortunate to have two local people work for them full-time as maid and handyman. They have become very closet o their employees and now pay the yearly tuition for their two kids----ages eight and five----to attend a K-12 bilingual school located near the PV airport. They also funded dan Olympic-size swimming pool for Colegio Mexico-Americano, Which now has the second best swimmer in all of Mexico who is representing Mexico in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
After nine years of living in Paradise, Bobbie and Bill have found a home for life. “Besides the great weather every day, we love the fact that local people will always stop and talk with you,” Bobbie enthuses. “That doesn’t happen very often where we came from. People there tend to look down when they walk by you. Here, everybody looks up and says hola, and you can stake up a conversation with a total stranger, if you like. The people are very open and more than willing to help you.”
“We’re here for the duration,” Bobbie proclaims, “even with all of the growth and changes we have seen. The fact is that everybody comes here with the expectation this is Mexico, but they want to change it to be like home. They want to bring certain things with them so that life is easier and more familiar for them. In many respects, Vallarta is becoming more and more like the States or Canada, with Home Depot, Sam’s, WalMart, Costco, and the enclosed malls. It didn’t exist before, and that’s why people would come here. That’s a big reason why we came here. Now, they could be anywhere. It’s a big reason why we came here. Now, they could be anywhere. It’s a big international resort city, not the charming, small town we once knew.
I don’t think it’s necessarily a negative, it’s a just what happens when growth comes to stay.” 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 II
• Please click here to read Chapter 4 – Part III
• Please click here to read Chapter 7 – Part I
• Please click here to read Chapter 7 – Part II
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We were laughing because he inaugurated the bridge that day but would not inaugurate the new highway because only two of the four lanes had been completed. He told the local officials to call him when the other two lanes were done, and he would come back and officially inaugurate the highway at that time. And he did.”
With Bobbie running her own business now, Bill does most of the cooking and the shopping. The best thing he likes about grocery shopping in 
After nine years of living in Paradise, Bobbie and Bill have found a home for life. “Besides the great weather every day, we love the fact that local people will always stop and talk with you,” Bobbie enthuses. “That doesn’t happen very often where we came from. People there tend to look down when they walk by you. Here, everybody looks up and says hola, and you can stake up a conversation with a total stranger, if you like. The people are very open and more than willing to help you.”