As this wedding season gets kicked off to a start here in Vallarta, I've been working on something this summer with some friends of mine and would like to now introduce it as we have the preliminary stuff set up :).
Literacy in Mexico
Many of you probably don't know, but literacy is a problem here in Mexico. Most children in Mexico do not even own ONE book. Here in Vallarta we only have ONE library called Biblioteca Los Mangos and we have approximately 300,000 people. The children's section in the library is very sad ... many of the books are very outdated and very used and there are hardly any books to read that are fun AND educational - most books are old encyclopedias. I use to take my 6 year old niece there to have some time to ourselves and to encourage her to like reading - but it was always really sad to me that we had to struggle to find good, fun books to read.
Brides Without Borders
So, we've started a movement we've decided to call Brides Without Borders (Mexico). Just this idea that if every bride and/or guest coming to Vallarta could bring ONE book with them then, little by little, we could make the children's section of the library something to be proud of. We have a super urgent need for children's books in Spanish but ANY children's book is better than no book at all :).
How to Participate
Right now we have three different ways you can drop off and/or send books.
1. There is a great little site on the internet called Better World Books. You can buy new OR used books and they will ship ANYWHERE in the world for $3.97 usd which is an AMAZING deal (if you've ever tried to send something to Mexico, you know that's true ;). The shipping information you will need is:
Biblioteca Los Mangos
Av. Francisco Villa 1001
Fracc. Los Mangos
C.P. 48310
Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco
MEXICO
2. Drop offs ...
a). You can either take a little adventure and drop off to the library address listed up above OR b). there is a hotel in Old Town called Belamar where you can also drop off books. The address there is: Insurgentes 161, Colonia Emiliana Zapata. I marked Belmar on the map down below with a red heart.
c). You can also drop off books at the Marriott in the Marina. They simply request that the books have a note which states that it's for Biblioteca Los Mangos.
d). If you are a client of mine you can just drop it off with me! :)
We will be asking more hotels to participate in this program so we will be adding more drop-off locations!
What Kinds of Books?
Seriously, we are in such need of books that ANYTHING you once loved as a child would be useful. BUT, as most kids here speak Spanish and Spanish books are hard to find and expensive if you do find them, we could really use some good children's books in Spanish OR bilingual books would be AWESOME. Some ideas...
Also, if you do a search in a search engine like amazon.com for "children's books in spanish" or "dr. seuss books in spanish" or "bilingual children's books" you will pull up a wealth of information to help :).
Thank you so much ... up next we have Renee's maracas and Adam & Perla's wedding!!
