Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Would you like to make some new friends or volunteer for a good cause or learn to play bridge or listen to a lecture or meditate or just go out to dinner with someone you've never met before? Look no further. The International Friendship Club (IFC) can meet those needs and lots more.

IFC is a club that welcomes anyone living in or passing through Puerto Vallarta who wants to be part of the community. It was founded 30 years ago by some ex-pats who wanted to help some local Mexican kids who had been born with a cleft palate or cleft lips and who needed surgery that was available only from surgeons in Guadalajara.

To raise funds the IFC was formed and started running its world-famous Home Tours, which have been going ever since. The Club has expanded its activities since then.

In December, the IFC provides Spanish Classes on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays for Intermediate, Advanced and "Tourist" levels. Details of times and costs can be found on our Activities Calendar.

Every Friday between 2 and 5 pm, from now to the end of the season, Social Bridge is played in the clubhouse and outside on the balcony. If you don't mind being "doubled" when you're "vulnerable" this is a good way to meet other aficionados of the game. If you would like to brush up old skills or learn the game from scratch, we offer bridge lessons on Monday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon.

However, if bridge is not your game and you'd rather roll the dice, have some laughs and, perhaps, sip a cerveza, come on over to Nacho Daddy (287 Basilio Badillo) any Thursday morning at 11 o'clock and we'll introduce you to some new friends.

Now that the snowbirds and tourists are flying back to Puerto Vallarta, the IFC serves liquid refreshments at the clubhouse for Social Hour every Friday afternoon at 5 pm. The purpose of this temporary watering hole is to encourage old friends and friends we've never met to mix, mingle and to feel at home. At 6 pm the bar closes, and whoever wants to have dinner will wander to a designated restaurant and enjoy good food and good conversation at a discount and on their own tab. It's a great way to meet new friends.

On Tuesday the 29th, the IFC resumed their Vallarta Home Tours, an activity that should not be missed by visitors, snowbirds or residents. Comfortable, air-conditioned buses take you to four homes that are unique for their architectural style, art, interior design and/or location.

Led by a knowledgeable docent, these tours, which are consistently rated as "Excellent" by Trip Advisor, lasts about three hours, and costs $600 pesos. Full details and a photo gallery can be found at toursforvallarta.com.

On Wednesday, December 7th from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm, an Enneagram Workshop will be held at the IFC for a 200 peso IFC donation. In this one-day workshop, you will identify your personality style and spiritual path through a self-assessment, through presentations, and by hearing panels of participants representing each path. Registration will be cut-off at 50 participants, so stop by the IFC to register soon!

Our Monday Night Movies start on December 26th with Night of the Iguana. The cost of Movie Night this year is 40 pesos, which includes free popcorn. A cash bar will be available. Doors open at 6:30, the movie starts at 7:00 pm.

Our gala event of December is our Christmas Party, which will be held at Coco Tropical on Tuesday, December 20th, at 6 pm. Coco is three steps away from the beach, a couple of places south of Daiquiri Dick's. The food and service are excellent, the sunset awe-inspiring, and the live music romantic. Hey! You just can't beat those promises for a great Christmas party.

Of course, the reason that we run the Home Tours, charge fees for membership and all of the other activities is to help the Mexican people of Puerto Vallarta. All profits of each season are used to run our own cleft palate program, provide free dental services in Boca de Tomatlan, sustain teachers at the Volcanes Community Education Project, buy books for Mexican schools in rural areas, help finance projects at Biblioteca Los Mangos Public Library and many other non-profit organizations that help the citizens of this great place.

It takes hundreds of hours of volunteer time, the support of many businesses in PV, the generosity of homeowners who open their homes to our tours, the CMQ hospital that provides operating rooms to our surgeons and nurses and, of course those medical staff who travel from Guadalajara every few months to operate on our cleft palate children.

Lots of people come to Puerto Vallarta enjoy time on the beach or around the pool, just relaxing. But if you'd like a break from that and learn something new, help someone by giving your time and make some new friends at the same time, the International Friendship Club will be pleased to help. Come on down!