Love Bridge

As everyone knows (or at least everyone who's been to Puerto Vallarta) this little seaside enclave became famous when Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor shot a film here (Night of the Iguana) and then built homes here. I guess Burton built his first, because he built his cabana and then had this pink "puente de amor" built over the street to Elizabeth Taylor's pad.

Brit and I read about this in our trusty guide book, and headed over for a tour. No one answered when I rang the bell to "Casa Kimberly" (Taylor's home) so I just kept buzzing and buzzing because 1) we are intrepid travelers, and 2) it started raining really, really hard and there was nowhere else in sight to go.

Finally this guy comes down and answers the door and takes us inside, and it is only after we've been in there for several minutes charming him with our Span/Portuguese/lish that we figure out that this guy lives here by himself, in fact, he sleeps on a cot on the floor with his dog in what used to be Elizabeth Taylor's closet (we later witnessed said cot and dog--actually, I think Brit just smelled the dog). Anyway, the guy was nice enough to show us the entire place, including Burton's house, and offered to let us swim in the swimming pool! He even took the above photo of us on the pink love bridge. It turns out there was no official tour, he was just a nice/bored guy who felt bad for us and let us in his house. He didn't even accept money in return for our visit.

A few things to ponder after being an uninvited guest at Casa Kimberly:

1) Why not make each of your (four) bathrooms top-t0-bottom pink?

2) Ocean view patio (Taylor) or patio with a pool (Burton)?

3) Is it dysfunctional to live in a separate house from your spouse connected by an aerial passageway...or brilliant?

4) Taylor named each of the rooms in her house after her films, why not name the rooms in your house after projects to remind yourself of your accomplishments and milestones? Britton's could be something like, "Hostile Takeover from Another Private Equity Firm" or, "Night of the White Paper." Mine might be, "Who's Afraid of Another Student Loan?"

5) One day you're the hottest couple in Hollywood living out a torrid love affair on a tropical beach, the next you've been divorced seven times, there's a dude with his dog living in your closet, and your best friend is Michael Jackson.

This last message of lost love weighed heaviest on the minds of we two honeymooners...nonetheless we took Diego, his pink bridge, and his generosity as a good omen for our future.