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Our duo touched down at
the Vallarta airport in December of 1967, over 37 years ago
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Many
people ask us how we managed to get into this business? In our first
newsletter we did give a thumbnail sketch of what took place to see us now
'retiring' to MEXICO. For those of you who are curious here it is again. Once upon
a time.... there were two young people very much in love in the best city to
do that in, MONTREAL. They were newly wed in July of 1966 and were planning
to launch a new company on the coattails of EXPO 1967. The company was to be
called AERIAL SIGN CO., which is still in business today, and now known as
SKYCOM of CANADA Ltd. The launch was a canaveral type with delays but in Dec.
of 1967 the company which had to sub-contract during EXPO got it's license to
operate a commercial air service Class seven AIRA (aerial inspection reconnaisance
and advertising). At that time and location operations in the winter were
futile and the format of 'hibernating' was evolved. Bill SEMEYN who had
earlier experiences in ACAPULCO thought that MEXICO was cheap and a better haven
than even his native British Columbia to take his new bride to await the more
hospitable weather and the return of the EXPOS to Jarry Park. Bill had
a friend that worked in the camera business where he worked prior to founding
SKYCOM. This friend had gone to work for XEROX which was at it's zenith,
having introduced the plain paper copier. Nothing was too good for 'their
boys' and this friend had won a trip to PUERTO VALLARTA in 1965 or 1966 and
was raving about the place. Certainly this has to be
on your itinerary he insisted and so it came to pass that aboard the lone
Cessna C-170B of Aerial SIGN Co. our duo touched down at the Puerto Vallarta
airport in December of 1967 over 36 years ago. Imagine. The irony was that
armed with Arthur FROMMS book "Mexico on $5 a day", as it was
called in those days, the couple didn't like their first night in a
beachfront hotel called the PARAISO (now CARLOS O'BRIAN's Clothesline). It
was a modest $3.00 USD (15% of the rate at CASA ANITA??) however the bathroom down the hall with only a curtain for
privacy was disturbing to Bill, whose wife's shapely figure would have caused
car accidents (had their been more than the 45 present around that time).
Finding another place was the first order of the second day in town. They had
the best it seemed and finally in desperation after having searched out most
of Arthur’s cheapies, they headed back to the airport seeking to fly south to Zihautanejo, 500 miles to the southeast. Here they met some difficulty that
would prove crucial to what you see today. |
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Bill argued with the
airport flight plan dispatcher but to no avail. It was Well they got in with this crowd who were awed that they were the ones that had 'buzzed the beach' the previous day. Where are you staying they asked? Bill and Annette explained their plight and of course trotted off with them to the POSADA del PEDREGAL, which is opposite the market and is still there but now operated as apartments I believe. It was $5.00 a night but clean and their own private biffy. Hey - this was living. That lesson on having a comfortable place to stay at an affordable price has never left them. They stayed one month and three days before continuing on through MEXICO to COZUMEL and then over the water (yes in a C-170B) to CUBA in March of 1968 when all the hijacking was going on. Of course, the rest is easy to imagine. The following year the 'Russian convention' became an annual affair and the Pedregal was home for a couple of years before any thought of buying something came into focus. "They were hippies with an airplane." They had $1100 Cdn. to last three to four months and aviation fuel has only been payable on a credit card in the last few years. Then is was 'efectivo señor'. Fate again played it's card. Just before leaving MONTREAL at the end of one season with the GREY CUP game behind them and on the way to a motel in St. Hubert after a very late party at Terry and Gladys HARPER's (remember the famous Hockey defense team of Harper and Laperriere) the family automobile ended up "totaled" in a ditch. Ironically, that year
they had mail forwarded to the same mailbox we have today, number 411 at the
main post office. You can tell the old timers by the low number of their post
office box. I know someone who has No. 10. Same goes for telephone numbers,
our local number 222-0018 was the 18th phone line in Puerto Vallarta! Anyway,
the proceeds cheque for the car turned up in the box a few days before a
friendly jog with the young and only bank manager in Puerto Vallarta. A
casual remark while jogging past a piece of property that was going to be
foreclosed on shortly as the owner was at the end of his rope, changed a
whole lot of things. On the way back they stopped and looked at the land
which the manager had a hankering for himself, but couldn't afford it, (as if
we could either). However the perception is that all gringos have money and
yes the proceed cheque would suffice to hold the 250 meter piece of land with
already some foundations and pillars erected on it until next year where they
would be expected to pay it off. In other words, they were taking out the
defunct debtor to the Bank in an amicable manner which saw him with some
proceeds and relieved of the burden that was overwhelming given his deteriorating
health. Presto, land barons in MEXICO. The pillars and foundation are now
called CASA ANITA #1, named after the French Canadian bride that Bill is
still in love with 36 years later·.. Annette.
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