During our winter break in Rincon de Guayabitos Mexico, Roger Roy invited me to the La Penita Bahia de Jaltempa Rotary club meetings (a 20 minute walk away). The club meets every Wednesday morning and the meetings go only for an hour and finishes promptly at 9:00 AM. I think the club president had a stop watch. The Sergeant at Arms role is easy – someone comes around and each visitor is asked to donate (~20 pesos) and say something if they wish. There were no fines as such – just a quasi mandatory donation.
Roger and I brought down a couple of donated walkers which we gave to the local club here and I hope to get a little more involved with the club activities and school projects next year as Roger mentioned in the last newsletter. It is a small world - Fred von Schellwitz used to be a member of our club and we talked about his days in Medicine Hat.
 
Charlene Bearden District 5360 Executive Assistant for southern Alberta gave an excellent presentation on her role and responsibilities with the Rotary clubs of our region which appeared in an earlier post this year (https://rotary5360.ca/stories/district-administrator-makes-presentations-everywhere/).
I also ran into Gail Surkan, former mayor of Red Deer, and her husband, who have had a condo in this region of Mexico for a number of years. I knew Gail when she and I served on the former Community Savings Credit Union board before its merger with Servus Credit Union in 2008.
Carol and I often took the local transportation to visit other beaches / fishing villages along the coast such as San Pancho (or San Francisco as it is sometimes called) about half way between Rincon de Guayabitos and Puerto Vallarta where we hooked up with fellow Rotarian Dan Kammerer and his partner Cheryl.
The ocean was very rough that day and really only for fearless surfers so we didn’t go in. Of all the beach resorts we visited during our stay in Mexico San Pancho has probably the most amenities including refined restaurants along with a touch of art and culture (a mini Banff).
During our walk through San Pancho the four of us had a chance to visit Entreamigos, a Community and Educational Center that provides educational opportunities to local children and young people in San Pancho which is a story in itself and which Dan could post in a future newsletter.