This record of our road trip was written by Pat. I added some comments while posting this on my website in July, 2020. My memories of this trip are mixed, some very good times and some very stressful times.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
We left on our road trip on on a beautiful sunny day in Calgary. The back seats of our car were folded down and we were packed to the roof. If we weren't coming back in the spring, I would have cried.
John's comment: I always appreciated living in Calgary. But after thirty-three years there, I felt no sadness leaving. I was totally ready to start a new chapter in my life, retirement in Mexico.
The drive through southern Alberta was beautiful and relaxing. We crossed the border at 2:10. The total time to get through including wait time was 10 minutes. Got into Great Falls shortly after 4:00. Went for a walk and then to a Mexican restaurant for supper. Had a really good Margarita.
Sunday, Sept 23
Left Great Falls around 10:00. We took the secondary highway instead of the Interstate. First part looked like the Longview area of Alberta - perfect for making western movies. We stopped at a very scenic spot with a stream beside the road and took some video with John's video camera and I took a few stills and one video with my iPad. Then the landscape turned into wide open spaces and rolling hills with fields of grasses and sagebrush. Not many trees. Many of the people who dwell here do not seem to be very well off. There were a lot of ramshackle buildings. The rest of trip was through clouds and haze brought about by a fire in the area. The country appeared to be very dry. There were several high fire hazard warnings along the way.
John's comment: I bought a video camera thinking I would use it lots on this trip and in my retirement years. But that is not what happened. Mostly it just sits on a shelf.
Stayed at the Kelly Inn in West Yellowstone. This town is all wood buildings with steakhouses and bars & grills that seem to serve a lot of red meat. It kind of reminded me of Heritage Park. There were a couple of stores that had native jewellery - the kind of stuff I like - turquoise, coral and all kinds of stones. John had done some previous research on where to eat and without that, we would have walked right by this unassuming little place. It was called Serenity Bistro and we both had a terrific meal there (without red meat).
Monday, Sept 24
Drove to Yellowstone Park. Saw a lot of people fishing in the Madison River. Made several stops in the thermal area to take pictures, video and walk the boardwalk. Saw steaming pools, bubbling mud and lively little geysers. Waited 40 minutes for the eruption of Old Faithful.
Very interesting area. Stopped at various boardwalk trails through several thermal areas. After our walks, it started to rain just as we got into the car for the drive to Jackson. The area we drove through was absolutely beautiful. There were blindingly bright yellow trees interspersed amongst the evergreens. We stopped at Lewis Falls beside Lewis Lake along the way and it wasn't raining! They reminded me of the Bow Falls. We saw two elk in Yellowstone along with the usual squirrels and chipmunks. John wanted to go on a trail but there was a bear warning so we scrapped that hike. We also crossed the Continental Divide several times.
Album - Yellowstone National Park
Album - Lewis Falls
Yellowstone Park merges into Grand Teton National Park. The Grand Tetons are huge jagged mountains which rise suddenly from the valley floor. Different from the Rockies. We stopped at a turnout to take a video. It was cold and windy. We also saw several grand houses across from the Grand Tetons in the middle of freaking nowhere. What do they do there? It seems the houses were there solely for the view.
Stayed at the Wyoming Inn in Jackson, Wyoming, the nicest hotel so far. Nice big shower.
John's comment: Of course Pat means Jackson Hole, the unlikely place where central bankers and economists gather every year. But the 2020 conference has been cancelled because of the pandemic. Oh to be a fly on the wall at such meetings!
Tuesday, Sept 25
We walked about a mile downtown for breakfast to a place called Dolce's, which was supposed to have the best coffee in town, but didn't. Then I went shopping in downtown Jackson for a couple of hours while John read the paper at the Wort Hotel lobby. Then we walked back to our hotel. By this time, the skies had cleared and we went to Teton Village where we caught the tram to the top of a ski area called Rendezvous Mountain which was at 10,450 feet. The trip (4,139 vertical feet) took just over 12 minutes. Amazing views from the top. We did a little bit of hiking at the top and stumbled upon a group of people who we think were making a commercial. There was a rock climber, well, several, as well as quite a few photographers. It was amazing to watch. John filmed some of it on his video camera. It was an awesome experience.
We got back to the hotel around 4:30 and went out to the Gun Barrel Steakhouse for a mess of red meat. It was much better than I expected. The place was a huge log cabin style restaurant with bear rugs, mountain sheep heads, stuffed buffalo, rifles, and all manner of western accoutrements. Our steaks were tasty but we had to leave some behind as it was just too much. It was a large place that was hopping all night.
Jackson is full of things made out of elk antlers (they shed their antlers every spring). There are antler chandeliers, antler Xmas trees, antler arches at the corners of the parks, and antler door handles.
What a gun totin', meat eatin', huntin', fishin' area!
Wednesday, Sept 26
Crossed into Idaho and drove through Butch Cassidy country. The scenery was beautiful. There were maple trees, which lent a lot more red to the colors.
We passed through a corner of Idaho and then into Utah. The drive was the most colourful, the most winding and the most up and down so far.
Album - Idaho
We stayed at a boutique hotel called Peery Hotel.
Thursday, Sept 27
We finally had the first decent coffee since we left Calgary. Cowboy country doesn't seem to be into Starbucks. John and I were happy to see a Starbucks here in Salt Lake City because 50% of the population is Mormon and don't drink tea or coffee. However, when we went there, there was a construction crew in there doing renovations and it was not open to the public. Wouldn't you know it? So we walked to a mall and found a place called ebar that was part of Nordstrom's and, finally, a cappuccino with some kick.
Our hotel, the Peery, is old and I was awakened in the middle of the night by someone directly above us who had probably checked in late or got in late from a nightclub or something. Anyway, this person was walking around getting ready for bed and the floor creaked with every step he took. These are the advantages of staying in an old place. It is quite nice, though, but the bathroom area needs work. Not enough towels or room to put your bathroom stuff. But the room itself is large with a couch and a coffee table.
So being in Salt Lake City, we had to see the Mormon Tabernacle. We had a guided tour through the premises and learned quite a bit about Mormonism. (Not for us). At 8:00 that evening, we went to watch the Mormon Tabernacle choir doing their practice runs for the church service on Sunday. Everyone is welcome to attend and it is free, so we went after supper.
Friday, Sept 28
When we went to load up our car in the morning, we noticed that the left rear window of our vehicle had been smashed in. We looked through everything and it did not appear anything was stolen, including our computer. It must have been a smash and grab plan, but it appears the thief had been spooked before he could take anything. Our car had been crammed full so it would have been difficult to pull anything out through the window. The computer certainly would not have fit through. In addition, we had a parking ticket on our windshield. We had parked our car in an open public parking lot and it cost us $10 a day. John paid for the first day, but when he used the machine the second day, it did not print a receipt. So he just left it. And got a ticket for it.
So we took all our stuff out of the car and the bellhop put it in storage in the basement of the hotel. John then phoned a glass place, made an appointment in the afternoon at 2:30, at which time the glass was replaced. We had to book an extra night in Salt Lake City so our trip was delayed by a day
Saturday, Sept 29
It cost us $200 to replace the window. We loaded up all our stuff from the basement locker and were ready for the road around 10:00.
John discovered when he paid his bill that his credit card was missing and realized that he had left it behind at the Olive Garden. So he had to go there in the morning. Of course, it was not open. So he banged on the door until a cleaning lady heard him. He asked for the manager. Thankfully, she was in and was able to retrieve his card for him. So, another heart palpitating start to our day!
The Peery Hotel was really nice to us. They charged us half price for our last day.
Drove on the Interstate rest of the way. The freeway in the Salt Lake City area was a confusing mess with many lanes veering every which way and intersecting all over the place. On top of it, there was road construction so several lanes were closed and we had to merge. Finally, a ways down, the traffic eased and we spent several boring hours driving. There were many huge trucks on the road as well as a lot of fifth wheelers, campers and motor homes. The scenery today was the most boring of our trip - lots of sage brush, flat plains, some pines and hills/mountains. The vegetation was not as colourful either. Had lunch at Sizzlers in Cedar City and went for a short walk to stretch our legs.
After a stressful drive on the freeway, we got lost trying to find our resort but finally got there - the Ravella Resort in Henderson 17 miles from Las Vegas.
John's comment: This was about the half way point of our road trip. It became more challenging and less satisfying. Soon a new and unexpected story would start.
Sunday, Sept 30
The Ravella Resort - what a lovely spot. I am amazed at how many people there are here. They seem to do a lot of business conferences and weddings.
There was a little shopping area called The Village beside the hotel. It had cafes, restaurants, jewellery stands, art stands, etc. and last night there was a jazz band playing. How very civilized! This was the nicest place we stayed. And we got a very good deal on it through Priceline.
It was very hot here - even too hot for me. We had dinner at Bernard's Bistro.
Monday, Oct 1
On Sunday when I looked out of our hotel room window, I saw several police cars with lights flashing in the distance and then witnessed a motorcycle escort followed by several long black cars, one of which was flying a flag standard. I thought maybe it was a funeral but later in the day we heard on the news that President Obama had come to Las Vegas to prepare for the presidential debate which was taking place on Wednesday in Denver. They said he was staying at the Westin Resort by Lake Las Vegas, which is the lake that the Ravella Resort is on. In the morning, John and I went for a walk before breakfast and walked past the Westin. There were police cars by the entrance checking every car that was passing by. The drivers had to get out of their cars, open up all the doors including the hood and trunk, and then there were several handlers with what I assume are bomb sniffing dogs (beautiful German Shepherds) walk around each car. Last night, several helicopters were flying above the resort while we were eating supper outside and I thought they would probably be flying all night and disturbing our sleep. However, both of us had a good sleep and did not hear them during the night. This place appears to be quite soundproof. We have heard very little outside our doors during the night.
I spent a few hours around the pool. During the week, it doesn't open until 11:00, which we think is ridiculous, given the hot weather here. Then John and I walked around a bit and he took some video pictures of the grounds.
At 4:00, we went to The Village to 3 Amigos. It was happy hour so we had Margaritas at $5 each - I had 3; John had 2. Then we had some appetizers and that was our meal for the day. Enjoyed being sprayed by a mist which was emitted by some genie type lamps around the perimeter of the patio. These same lamps turn into torches when the sun goes down and it gets cooler.
John's comment: At one time, before circumstances shortened our road trip, I had planned to go to Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon and Monument Valley. These are now well down on my bucket list. And the coronavirus crisis has made items high up on my bucket list uncertain.
Tuesday, Oct 2
This morning, we packed up our vehicle, took the orange tape off our fixed window and left the resort around 8:15.
We took the scenic route and crossed the new bridge around the Hoover Dam. John had seen a documentary on television about the bridge and had hoped to get a good look at it. But there was no place to stop and, because the bridge was under us, we couldn't see it.
We went through the Joshua Tree National Forest where we saw an interesting collection of vegetation - the Joshua tree, which looks like a cross between a pine tree and a cactus, various types of cacti, various types of trees and even some poplar trees.
Made it to the Hyatt Regency where we stayed in Phoenix downtown and, on the recommendation of the porter, parked in the Bank of America parkade, which accommodated our cargo bin and has security cameras everywhere.
John has been feeling a bit achy the last couple of days so he must have a touch of something.
We walked a couple of blocks from the hotel for a bite of supper. Unbelievable! It was shortly before 6:00 and it was still too hot to eat outside. Several places had misters that cooled the air a bit, but there were no tables left outside. Some of the places were too over air-conditioned to eat inside. We found an Italian restaurant that wasn't too cold inside and had a tasty bite. When we walked back, it was around 7:00 and the heat was still radiating up from the sidewalks! This is way too hot - even for me!
John's comment: This is the first mention of what became My Very Strange Illness, another story.
Wednesday, Oct 3
We left Phoenix at around noon and arrived at the Westward Look Resort in Tucson without too much trouble. It is wicked hot here. This is a huge resort. It will take some time to orient ourselves.
The room is the biggest yet. There are 2 double beds (they didn't have the king size room ready so John decided to take this one). There is a sitting area with couch and coffee table, a huge mirror that is leaning against the wall, and a big bathroom with a large walk-in shower and lots of counter space. Comfortable.
We have this place booked for 3 nights.
Thursday, Oct 4
Never in my life did I think I would be sleeping under a comforter in the desert. It is in the 40s outside but the air conditioner is going constantly inside and sometimes we feel chilly. The beds are comfortable with big fluffy duvets.
Went for a walk before breakfast on a narrow little trail beside the resort which wound amongst several varieties of cactus. While John did some business on his laptop, I sat on our little balcony for a bit reading my book until I couldn't stand the heat anymore. Went for a Margarita, guacamole (smashed avocado) and a dessert.
John has not been feeling well for several days. His body is aching and he has a bit of a sore throat and a cough so he had no appetite. I had supper at The Lookout restaurant by myself. It was a pleasant evening - not overbearingly hot as it had been the last couple of days. During this time, I overheard one of waitresses talking to some people at a table close by that a week ago, there was a huge rattlesnake on one of the ledges near the lobby. They had to call security to dispose of it. On the way back to our unit in the pitch dark (this is a large resort, so there is a bit of a walk), I came across a resort employee with a bucket and a long pole with a hook at the end of it. There was an elderly gentleman beside him who made a comment that "it was just a little one", so I am assuming that what was in the bucket was a snake. YIKES!!!
Friday, Oct 5
John is still feeling achy. We went for a coffee around 6:30 this morning. I was actually a tiny bit chilly! Then went for a walk around the resort.
John did some work this morning in preparation for our border crossing tomorrow.
The resort is very relaxing. It is huge and very desert like, with cacti all over the place and little lizards running around. The architecture is Spanish style, adobe villas with clay tile roofs. There are butterfly gardens where plants are specifically selected to attract butterflies. There are also lots of flowering plants and butterflies in abundance as well. There are several swimming pools and a small dipping pool by our villa, but it is too hot to use them. This is very conducive to being lazy.
By lunchtime, John was feeling a bit better. We went for a bite to eat. I had a prickly pear Margarita. It was very good. They do make good Margaritas here.
Spent a few hours in the lobby on our iPads. Then went to fill up with gas and ate at a place called Jax Kitchen. I had an absolutely delicious meal - pumpkin fettuccine with English peas, pea shoots, garlic and mushrooms. John had sea bass, which he said was very good also.
Saturday, Oct 6
Left Westward Look Resort early and headed to the border. Stopped for breakfast in Nogales at a very busy IHOP. It already felt like we were in Mexico as most of the clientele was Spanish.
Got to the border and pulled into the customs area in the items to declare area. There was a lady hanging around there who came over and asked a few questions and said that this was the place where we had to declare all of our merchandise. She then asked John to come inside. I stayed in the car. Several cars came in after us. There was no one to greet them. They went inside for a short while and then came out and left. Meanwhile, my husband had been swallowed up in the bowels of the building while I waited and waited. Just under an hour later, he came out.
What a freakin' schmozz! She did not examine what we had in the car. We had been prepared to unload everything and reload it. Instead, she went carefully over the list of items John had prepared. He had understood from his research that an itemized list was to be prepared of the stuff we were bringing in, which we did. This list was also supposed to be in Spanish. So John hired someone over the Internet to translate it for us. He took this list to the Mexican consulate in Calgary. The lady there went over it and said that all the items we had on the list were totally acceptable and that there should be no problem. In fact, she said we didn't need an itemized list of the stuff that we were taking with us in the car. John had also learned thru his research that we would need to pay duty on items that were newer than 6 months so he kept the receipts of our computer and some other items to prove how old they were.
Well, this lady at the border, who did not speak very good English, went over the Spanish list very carefully (it looks like it came in handy after all) and zeroed in on our computers and said we would need to pay duty on them. John said they were older than 6 months. She was not even interested in seeing the receipts for them and insisted that he pay the duty. John resisted. She resisted. Finally, after going back and forth for awhile, John pulled out his credit card. They don't take credit cards. He said he did not have enough pesos on him. She said there was an ATM at the town square and he could go there and get some cash to pay the duty, which was 2,900 pesos. By this time, he was getting anxious, found the square, got in line for the ATM. The machine rejected his Scotia card. The person in front of him also did not receive any cash. So he didn't know what to do. There was another ATM machine there, so he got back in line for that machine and thought he would use his HSBC card. He requested 2,000 pesos and just grabbed the money and left without counting it. When he got back to customs, the lady he had been dealing with was no longer there. The guy he got now quoted 2,300 pesos. John was short. He still had a stash of pesos from our earlier trip so he supplemented it. He figures he only got about 1,500 pesos instead of 2,000 from the ATM but he can't be sure because he didn't count it. So he probably got taken twice.
Then from customs, we went to immigration. The guy there issued us each a visa which is good for only 30 days. John already had visas from the consulate which are good for a year and expire in June 2013, which he showed the guy, but he seemed uninterested or unaware of what that was all about. So now we have 2 visas each, one for 30 days and one for a year. John will have to check into this once we get settled in Ajijic. I told him to see if he could get a refund for the duty we paid which we understood we wouldn't have to for items older than 6 months.
Then we had to get a vehicle permit to import our vehicle into the country. They issued it while I waited in the car. We went through all this rigmarole without having to unload our belongings, which we had been prepared to do. This whole process took 2 hours and 45 minutes. John had calculated that we needed to get all this done under 3 hours in order to get to our hotel before dark and we just made it. In retrospect, we probably could have driven through in the lanes that said nothing to declare.
Finally, we were on the road. You could immediately tell you were in Mexico. The buildings were run down, people would stand in the middle of the street near the speed bumps where the cars would be slowing down and try to sell you fruit or tacos or whatever. We had guys wanting to wash our windows while we were stopped at a traffic light. The countryside, however, was similar to Arizona in the vegetation.
The drive was not relaxing. Although we had a divided highway a good part of the way, there was a lot of construction and there would be two way traffic on the parts they were working on. Parts of it were quite winding. As well, there were no shoulders, with sharp drop-offs in many spots. There were many big trucks on the road, and a few people (most of them driving white trucks) that were speeding like crazy. The speed limit was always changing and was mainly ignored. John has done all the driving so far. He doesn't need help when the drive is relaxing and I don't want to drive when it isn't, so I owe him big time.
As we got nearer to Guaymas, the shape of the mountains changed to something surreal that you would find in a fairytale book. Very sharp finger like peaks. The mountains go right to the coast.
Finally, we got to the San Carlos Plaza Resort. It is right by the ocean and very humid there, which John was not expecting after all that desert. It is huge and the lobby is grand, so the first impression is impressive. However, the standard of the rooms does not measure up. They are old and when we got in, there were a bunch of dead bugs on the floor and a layer of dust on the toilet seat (on top of the sanitized strip of paper) and on the toilet tank. I made John pick up the bugs with a Kleenex and flush them down the toilet. Also the TV just had snow. We went down and mentioned it to the front desk. They offered to give us another room or send someone up to clean it but John said he had already flushed them down the toilet and not to bother - that we just wanted them to know that it was not very clean. As for the TV, they said it probably had not been programmed. WTF? Was this some room that was never used that the TV was not programmed? They did send someone down to program it while we were at supper. I had a sneaking suspicion that this room is not used very much and that they fumigated it and forgot to sweep it up afterward. We have a partial view of the ocean, but the bathroom is old and the bugs have turned me off. Also, there is a separate tap by the sink for purified water. This is the first time we have run across this.
I can tell it is going to be noisy. There are a lot of kids here. The other places we stayed were very quiet. Even though there were a lot of cars in the parking lot, we would not see too many people. John regrets that he has booked this place for 3 nights.
We walked around a bit. The pool area is huge but there is too much activity there for my taste.
We did have a fairly good meal at an Italian restaurant here in the hotel, although the pasta sauce could have had a bit more kick to it.
Sunday, Oct 7
We took a walk before breakfast. There is no place to go outside the resort as there are no sidewalks or paths. We did a short walk on the beach. It was 9:00 a.m. And it was already getting hot.
Didn't do too much today. John is still not feeling well. He watched football and I read an ebook.
Monday, Oct 8
It was quiet last night. The weekend revellers had gone home. I looked out onto the parking lot and it was quite empty and our car was sitting all alone way out there, so I went over and moved it closer to the hotel entrance. This resort appears to be popular with Mexicans. I think they come from surrounding areas for the weekend. It looked like we were the only gringos here.
John is feeling better today. Hope it lasts. He has been deteriorating during the day, but this morning, he actually had an appetite. We went for a long walk on the beach before breakfast and went all the way to the point and back. We got back around 8:15 and it was already hot.
We sure don't see many people in the few restaurants here, except for Sunday brunch yesterday. That was popular. We noticed some people bringing in coolers, although that is against hotel rules.
We went into town and filled up with gas for our trip tomorrow. That went well.
Then came back and took some pictures. By this time, I was getting hungry. We went to the poolside lounge, which specialized in seafood, but were able to get a very good Margarita (2 for me) and some guacamole. There is something about sitting outside looking at the ocean and drinking Margaritas that makes your worries recede into the background.
We then spent a couple of hours reading in the room (since it was just too hot to do anything else).
We have been having nothing but trouble with the lock on our room here. We are now on our 3rd key card. First, the deadbolt was't working. They sent someone down to fix that. Then when we left the room and the door closed behind us, John tested it by pushing on it - and it opened! He did it a few more times. Same thing. So I stayed in the room while John went downstairs to reception. They sent someone up with new key cards and told us we needed to insert the key card into the door from the outside when we were leaving the room and wait until we heard a click to indicate it had locked. No one had told us this before. However, the next few times that we left the room, we did not need to do this, as the door did lock automatically behind us. John tested it by pushing on it and it was fine. However, several hours later, our cards did not open the room, so we had to go down yet again and get another set. I just don't get it. It sure doesn't give us much confidence on the security here.
Had a leisurely start to the morning and left the resort around 11:15. John is a little concerned about finding our hotel in Los Mochis. It is much bigger than he expected; we are right downtown; it is full of one way streets.
Tuesday, October 9
John talked some more business with Rene this morning but the connection was deteriorating on Rene's end, so John finished his conversation via email.
Today was very interesting. We left the resort around 11:10. We experienced both the best highway in Mexico yet - divided with a shoulder - which we were on for about an hour and the worst - stuck among about 10 big trucks on a rickety road travelling about 20 km. per hour.
Mexico has a lot of toll roads. Just today, we went through 4. The toll was about 65 pesos or $5. That can add up. We had some yesterday and I am sure we will have some more on the rest of our trip. THEY'RE BLEEDING US DRY!
During our trip, there was a police check stop. Their uniforms were marked PGR. I couldn't make out what that stood for. There was a guy on the highway picking and choosing who to flag down and he chose us. When we turned off, there were about 10 other guys in uniform. They had pulled over a white Hummer and a couple of white trucks as well. They spoke pretty good English and were pleasant enough, but intimidating. One guy started asking John rapid-fire questions such as where are you going? What are you going to do there? How much money are you bringing? What did you used to do for a job? He was peering into the slot that our window rolls up from. At the same time, another guy was on my side, asking me to open my purse, open up the pouch inside my purse, open up my aspirin container, open up the iPad case, open up John's purse. At one point, one guy asked if we were carrying drugs. I thought it was kind of funny. (Why yes - yes, we are).
At one point, John was outside the car and said that one guy noticed our license plate from Alberta and mentioned it to another guy - that we were Canadians not Americans. Then their demeanour changed - for the better - and they sent us on our way. Later on, there was a second police stop but this time they waved us on.
John, ever the organizer, planned out the route to our hotel in Los Mochis, which was right in the middle of downtown. Well, we got lost, again. His directions were not making any sense whatsoever. We must have missed the first turn. So we just followed the signs toward Los Mochis Centro. Finally, at one point, we were on a street that was in John's notes. He looked up to the right, and there was our hotel, the Santa Anita. It was a miracle. We didn't know how we got there.
Then, the hotel did not have our booking. John came back to the car, where I was waiting, to get the iPad to show them the confirmation. Well, it turns out John made a mistake and booked the hotel for last night, not tonight. They are going to charge us for that mistake, but he said it would not be the full price.
The hotel is old, but charming and the room is pretty big. This will do fine.
Wednesday, October 10
We got a good start to the day and had a divided highway (with a shoulder) most of the way.
It was farmland all the way. We couldn't tell what the crops were other than the sugar cane and corn. There were tractors in the fields and workers bending over and doing something. There was a lot of road construction as well. They do manual work on the roads as well as use machines. We saw some guys with pickaxes breaking up the pavement. Those poor Mexicans work so hard.
There were a couple of federal police cars with blue lights flashing along one part and John thought they motioned us over. A guy came up and when we indicated that we don't speak Spanish, he sent over the English guy. The English guy said he doesn't speak much English. He asked us what we wanted. We said "nothing". He laughed and said, "then go". So we went.
We had to pay 5 tolls today, some less than yesterday and some more. I have never seen anything like it. One toll was $110 pesos for a network of freeways that they are building.
Made it to Mazatlan and got lost, of course. Finally found our hotel, the El Cid Marina. It is the nicest room yet - actually an apartment. I think they sell condos here. I wish we were staying longer. This is a beautiful resort. The suite is sparkling clean, huge and modern. This is more my style!
John talked to Rene via Skype and I sent out some emails, then we went for a walk and a bite to eat. I had a Mojito, however, it just did't cut it. The best Mojito I ever had in my life was right here in Mazatlan a few years ago and I would have liked to have had the time to revisit that restaurant as well as all the silver shops that I enjoyed so much last time. I did buy a pair of nice sandals at a shop in the hotel to wear inside the house. That has been my only purchase this trip other than some skin care products.
Thursday, October 11
The good news this morning is that we were making good time on the freeway. The bad news is that we were going in the wrong direction. John had a route planned out to leave Mazatlan using the freeway, but there seemed to be access on to it only in one direction. And then there was a barrier down the middle so you could not turn around. It was bizarre! We drove on it for 15 minutes before we got to a toll booth, at which point we turned around. So we lost half an hour and were back at square one.
There were a lot of toll booths today. We saw all kinds of vegetation, from palm trees to pine trees and lots of farmland, including crops of sugar cane, groves of fruit trees, fields of agave, and other unidentifiable stuff.
After John made the comment that today was pretty boring, we had another heart palpitating moment near the end of our trip. After all the toll booths, we didn't have much cash left. We stopped at a Pemex to fill up the car. When John handed over his credit card, the attendant said, "cash only". This had never happened before at any of the previous Pemex gas stations that we filled up at. Moment of panic. John went to the back of the car and pulled out his stash of pesos. He counted it and said he did not have enough. He shrugged his shoulders at the attendant and said, "What do we do now?" The attendant did not speak very good English and he shrugged his shoulders. So John shrugged back. After a bit of shrugging, John counted his cash again. Lo and behold! With his bills and the change we had, we did have enough indeed! He paid the attendant, who beamed with pleasure and we were on our way. We went through 7 toll booths today and some were expensive, like around $10 a shot.
And ... We got lost again. And it started to rain. The lightning was scary. Big flashes right to the ground. We finally made it into Ajijic just before dark.
It sure was good to see Steve. A familiar face made the difference. John parked around the corner in a secure parking lot. As usual, Steve provided us with a bottle of wine. I will be drinking it this weekend. We went to Tango, which Steve said takes credit cards, had a good meal, (I had 2 Margaritas) went to the ATM and pulled out some more cash.
Whew! We are finally here! Tomorrow we go to our unit and start living our life. We plan to pick up some food at Walmart and see if we can set up a wifi network and then next week will will start dealing with the hassles that face us.
I think I have aged!