U/D Have a wonderful trip. To give when you go is so special.
I don't just like Mexico, I LOVE Mexico!
We cruised in our boat (36ft sail) Mazatlan to Zihuatenejo and back to San Diego. One tiny bay and the village of Tehuamixle just South of Cabo Corientes (Puera Vallarta area) used to be a drug running port, and in 1988 when I was cruising down there with friends we were warned not to overnight there as some had had shots fired over the bow, or escourted out of the bay by gun boats, etc. However, in 2000, it was suggested to take paper and pencils for the primary school. We did, and left many pounds of paper pencils colored pencils, and a bit of candy, too. There is one picture of me sitting at one of the restaurants (4 in this tiny village) handing out pencils and tootsie pops to a dozen kids. It was a really neat place of only about 30 families, and yes, you could see the large soccerfield was acutally a helispot and staging area. The brick warehouse for cocaine is now collapsed, and there is a little 3 room posada (inn) there.
We did a 2 week vacation to Puerta Vallarta and Mazatlan a couple years ago, and rented a car and drove 25 miles of 2 lane mexican highway and 25 miles of mexican dirt road that I would not have wanted to drive during the rainy season to go to the village for lunch. Candelario remembered us from before! Again, we left paper pencils and crayons for the school. The village now has electricity and telephone service! Lunch. A plate of a dozen shrimp the size of your thumb fresh off the boat that morning, saute'd in butter and garlic. A small side salad and rice, with tortillas, 2 cokes and a couple beers for $65 pesos. About $6.50 US! It just doesnt get much better.