We usually spend the “holidays” (Christmas and New Years) in Acapulco with family and rent out our place in Troncones.  While I’d rather be at the quite beaches of Troncones, visiting Acapulco has been a family tradition for as long as I’ve been a part of it.  This year, two of the condos in this building are for sale, has this place begun to lose its luster?

Part of my tradition in coming here is escaping for a run in the “cerito” (the little forest).  Behind my in-law’s condo on the beach is the “cerito” and therein lies a little sliver of heaven.  Heading out the front door of the complex, a few pedestrians and a handful of runners cross my path.  I’m not sure if I should tell about the little secret across the street and up the hill.  Should I let them continue to run down the street, pounding hard pavement and breathing the noxious fumes of the countless Volkswagen cabs and the belching exhaust of buses?  Or should I let them in on the secret?

What is this secret “cerito”? In fact it’s just a winding path up the hillside, a well tended gravel switchback trail, probably 1.5 miles to 2 miles up the hill, nestled in one of the few remaining patches of the trees in this concrete jungle.  This tiny patch of nature, in this vast expanse of concrete and pavement, high-rise condos, strip malls and tourist traps, is where I go to run.

As I ran the cerito today, I thought of the value this cerito has to those who know about it and use it and the value of having such an expanse of nature in your backyard.  I though of the vast expanse of nature that is Playa Viva and that all of Playa Viva is the inverse of this concrete jungle that surrounds this tiny patch of nature. What is the value of this cerito in calculating the value of the condos for sale in the building? Are the sellers even adding this place as an amenity?  Maybe, maybe not, for now, that’s our little secret to share.  Shhhhh!