From the pool, a look up to Buddy's living room window, here occupied by Darryl. Buddy's compassion allowed us to smoke in his condo. We tried to keep the smoke down by smoking near an open window.

Here's the view, from that same window. In case you don't know, the high-pitched, palm-leaf roof on stilts is a palapa. This one over a nice cooking and bar area, with steps down to the beach of the Pacific Ocean.

From the beach - the palapa mentioned above is to the right. Buddy's window (from the first picture on this page) is on the second floor, just to the left of the central breezeway. As you can see, a couple of floors and wings are under construction at this time. Buddy is contemplating the purchase of one of the new units, on the top floor, above the breezeway and spanning to the left.

Construction is "unorthodox" by U.S. standards. With a lack of mechanization in this region and a surplus of labor, much of the work is by hand. I-beams and concrete slabs are hoisted to the top by muscle applied to block-and-tackle rigs. We also found the same emphasis on manual work on the new highway under construction going up the coast.