I’ve known Patty since I first arrived on the beach of Yelapa, but getting her to share her amazing stories is like pulling duck teeth. I sat patiently while she played scrabble on the beach and pulled little bits out of her like petals off a flower.
Patricia followed her brother Victor Vanderflugt (another story, another time) to Yelapa in 1974. She arrived on New Year’s Eve to the Oceano Hotel where she slept on a bed in a closet as the hotel was full. I know this must be true as I once stayed in a closet during Easter!
She had a dream in the second grade of living in a jungle. Patty said it was a recurring dream til she fell in love. Her dream was like a Tarzan movie living in caves under a waterfall.
She stayed for one month and told her brother that was not long enough.The next time would need to be two months.
She stayed at Casa Emi with friend Janie Larson and used to make challah (braided bread) with her. Janie now lives in New Zealand with her husband Bob. They are sailors and old Santa Cruz connections for several of us..
Patty fell in love with dancing in Yelapa, but worried that she didn’t know how to do it right. Victor told her to dance to the beat of the music, it didn’t matter how. She’s been dancing ever since.
She was married but her husband didn’t want to come to Yelapa. He liked the rain. She tried to get him to come the second year, but it was the same. Eventually she left him for her full time life in Yelapa.
She had wanted to go to nursing school.
Her husband said he’d call off the divorce if she would stay home, but feisty Patty said no, she didn’t want to be controlled!
She met and fell in love with Valentin in Yelapa and now lives behind the main beach year round in her palapa surrounded by her beautiful gardens. Patty celebrates her 83rd BD this year....be sure to stop and greet her and get her to tell you some of those great stories...then come tell me!
Patricia was born in 1927 and has 4 children. One daughter is married to a marine in S. Korea.
