As Hurricane Patricia pounds Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, and little fishing villages such as my much-longed for Yelapa tonight, my thoughts and blessings and white lights and prayers are with the people who try to scratch out happy lives there. I have been dream shopping for trips back Puerto Morales, Isla Holbox, Yelapa, and Cozumel for February, and am always a fan of patronizing a place trying to recover from a disaster, just so I can help a place and its people recover. These areas, while know for tourism, are also homes to families who do not have steel-reinforced structures, and who can lost everything in 175 mph winds. I have seen the damage a strong hurricane can cause in North Carolina, a place where people have the resources to rebuild, and my heart goes out to those in poorer cultures who don’t have that kind of help.

I know that this worst-ever-hurricane pounded areas north of my previous stomping grounds, but I wanted to post an image of the white sand beauty of the area from when Niece #1 and I took our wonderful trip down there and I thought she’d been kidnapped looking for hielo. She’s an excellent traveling companion and the trip was a blessing I’ll always remember. So join me please, in prayers for Mexico and its lovely people and to many more beautiful, mystical trips there.

Riviera Maya
Tulum, Mexico.

Quote of the day: “Some things just couldn’t be protected from storms. Some things simply needed to be broken off…Once old thing were broken off, amazingly beautiful thing could grow in their place.” — Denise Hildreth Jones

Daily gratitudes:
Big skies today
A morning that looked like Scotland
A toast to the success ofAnastasia Fawni
Making it home just in time when your stomach is upset
MKL’s hugs