January 27, 2010. Nuevo Vallarta, Mx. People.

How could I have done it? It was stupid in this day and age, but these folks were a bit older than us and retired, so I asked the husband what he did before retiring. They both laughed, so I knew I had made a mistake. Especially when he told me that he did not really work but did a lot of volunteer work over the years and every so often he was given money. Now I just had to find out the real story.

I had met them before several times over the years and had always enjoyed chatting with them. Until today, all I knew about them was that they spoke with a German accent and they lived in Salmon Arm, B.C. and they owned a fractional ownership property and they had just purchased a full ownership property in building one. They plan on spending four months here every year.

Here is their story. They moved to Canada in 1962 and both worked in Toronto; she did office work and he owned along with two partners a business repairing small machines. The business was a success and he sold his share to the other partners, while their family moved to Vancouver and began looking for a business to either start of buy. An opportunity to buy a travel agency became available in The Hundred Mile House in northern British Columbia so they bought it and moved there and ran the travel agency for the next 25 years and made a lot of money. He was active in the organizations of travel agencies and served as the President of the BC chapter several times. He still is asked to give talks to groups around the world about the Cariboo, for which he is paid. So you see how stupid I was. Karen ran the business while Hans was the figure head talking to everyone in sight trying to put Hundred Mile House on the map.

When they sold the business, they moved to Salmon Arm and bought a ranch outside of town. They are charming people, very supported of each other and we like them. People are amazing when you find the real story.