It’s Christmas Week in Mexico. For many it’s a week off, and in Mexico where the family is cardinal and most people live inland, Christmas Week is spent at the beach. Los Tules has beaches (a half mile of them) and swimming pools (seven). This is the place for Mexicans to take their families for Christmas Week, and scores of Mexicans have done just that.

There’s just one hitch: it’s raining.

Puerto Vallarta (which is where Los Tules is located) is in the tropics, where there are two seasons: wet (May through October) and dry (November through March). Thus it’s supposed to be dry here now. People pack up the family and travel hundreds of miles to be here during the dry season, and this year they got here just as the rain arrived. It’s like National Lampoon’s Vacation: Wally World is closed.

Rain is predicted well into next week.

Here in Puerto Vallarta, people wear sandals. Until I visited Portland for Christmas, I hadn’t worn shoes in six months. But when it rains, sandaled feet are soggy feet, especially in the city where cobblestone streets puddle with fallen rain. People congregate in the city when the pool and the beach are out of commission, but they’re no happier there than they were at the beach. In other words, when it rains during Christmas Week, it’s best to stay inside.

Don’t tell anyone, but Louise and I are pleased. We’re here for six months; a week of rain is welcome. The pool is just outside our front door. The rain keeps the mob out of the pool. When the mob is out of the pool, it’s quiet. The rain also grants us license to stay inside. I watch sports on TV. Louise crafts with her new bead loom. We both nap. This morning we slept in, well past sunrise. I’m sorry about Wally World, but the quiet and the down time are priceless. Hedonism has never had a better advocate.