Building the dream

In 2012, audiences were entertained by the film, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a story about a group of retirees who are financially challenged. They respond to the challenge by taking their retirement to India in anticipation of a life of leisure in an affordable luxury hotel. As it turns out, the hotel is in serious need of restoration. Although the dream retirement they were anticipating vanishes on arrival, the new life they find is enriching in ways they couldn’t have anticipated.

Tomorrow, May 17, a group of Americans, most of whom could be in retirement, will descend on Tijuana to build someone else’s dream. Organized under the auspices of Saint John Vianney Parish in Kirkland WA, they will stay in a posada, or “inn” in a two-acre compound situated 17 miles south of the border in  the La Gloria barrio of Tijuana. The posada has eight dormitory rooms, providing 64 beds.

The Most Exotic Tijuana Posada

  Each day they will rise, eat, and head out to work on construction of a modest concrete-block home for a family in a poor neighborhood.  Although teenagers and college students also spend stints in Tijuana building homes, The Best Exotic Tijuana Posada is the story of senior citizens who are spending part of their golden years giving back.  Or perhaps this qualifies as paying it forward. 

This is the 17^th year that envoys from Saint John Vianney  will be building homes in Tijuana. This year the project runs May 17-24. I’m inviting you to come along, via the blogosphere. Most of the readers of this blog are seniors, and it’s my hope that they will be curious about this type of adventure and perhaps even have a hankerin’ to try it. I hope to post frequent dispatches that convey a realistic picture of what to expect. Maybe you will decide this is something you would like to try here, or elsewhere.

As with my prior blogs, I’m not offended if you want to opt out. Just send an e-mail to dancingpotter@gmail.com, notifying me that you want to be removed from the list.  Otherwise, I’ll notify you each time there’s a new posting to The Best Exotic Tijuana Posada.

This blog is independent of any organization; errors, omissions, exaggerations and misinterpretations are solely the responsibility of the author.

Love,

Robert