Mexican Riviera - Time to Cruise

It was time for the annual vacation get away.  We had two free airline tickets from our trip the year before, so the sky was the limit. We decided we would go on a Mexican Riviera Cruise to celebrate Thanksgiving.  This year we did not rent a limo or have a sedan drive us to the airport, Tanya's son had the honor.  They were to pick me up at my home around four in the morning for an early flight.  I had been up all night as I saw no point in going to bed for five minutes.  I was waiting in my drive way dreaming of ocean water and sunshine.  Pulling out my lounge chair, I  plopped it right in the center of the drive so when they pulled up, the head lights would hit me, sitting in my lounge chair, in a fur coat, waiting to be whisked away to the tropical weather.

I usually make all the arrangements for our trip, but this year, Tanya was responsible for booking us a room for one night.  We would arrive in LA and spend one evening before we boarded the cruise line the next morning. She found this place on line and it was  rather inexpensive.  Our only requirement was that they could shuttle us to the cruise line.

The flight from Indianapolis to Atlanta was a breeze.  The flight from Atlanta to LA, entertaining.  A young boy and his mother sat behind us.  It was his first flight and his name was Hayden.  How do I know that? Because the mother kept saying his name over and over while giving him a blow by blow narration of every thing going on around him.  I had to peek between the seat to see if poor Hayden was blind! She pointed out birds and explained that we would fly higher than birds and no birds could be seen later.  She explained the plane flew like a bird only the wings didn't flap.  I suggested to Tanya that Aunt Cindy should teach Hayden how to do the Bird to Morris Day's song The Bird, that would get the plane off the ground.  Apparently Hayden was learning to read and the words on his plate that day? What, want and were.  I about lost it when she read, "Want, see ant in want? I want an ant, want."  Well, I want peace and quiet or some bird is going to be flying in between the seats at Hayden.  Thank goodness, Hayden fell asleep, I don't know if I could have prepared myself for any more commentary on every thing going on around us. "Look Hayden, those are clouds.  We are flying in the clouds.  We see clouds from the ground but we can not touch them.  We are in the clouds and yet, we still can not touch them.  Trust me Hayden, she is lying.  I can open up the emergency hatch and not only will you touch the clouds, you will be flying in them, flap those wings Hayden!

Don't get me wrong, I understand she was teaching her son, but it was this annoying little voice of hers that raised the hair on my neck.  Squeaky little mouse with a nasal passage blockage.  It was not a voice you could live long with.

$500 to heat your rear

We arrived in LA and was taxied to the hotel.  We thought the driver was lost as we were driving around what appeared to be an industrial park but alas, he pulled up in front of our hotel.  As we entered the room, all dreams of taking an adventure outside of our room ended.  This room was made for a Queen!  There was a fifty inch flat screen, DVD player, Ipod station, a shower that was made to party in with a deep, deep tub and best of all, a heated toilet seat!  I fell in love with this toilet seat and thought I had to have one, until I found it for five hundred dollars.  I think I will just carry fond memories of it for now.

There were no restaurants within walking distance.  The two in the hotel served only Japanese food.  I would rather starve than eat Japanese.  We were in the Japanese community of LA known as Torrence, California. 

We decided we would go to the grocery store located next door and just pick up some thing to eat, but that was even a challenge.  Every thing was in Japanese.  I know knew what it felt like to be in a country that I could not read the labels or the  know what food I was selecting.  I found Pop Tarts that had the American label on them, but I couldn't pay eight dollars.  We ended up getting Japanese spaghetti, a pretty safe bet for a picky eater.  Tanya slept all day and night.  I think she slept close to twenty four hours.  I read, watched TV, went back to the market and napped.  I was not surprised to see on the news that there were storm warnings.  I was on vacation!  The storm warnings ranged from snow in northern California to mud slides in central California to flooding near where we were staying.  The newscaster said this was "a first."  I find that hard to believe as every where I vacation the news casters always report the weather is "a first" for the region.

Before we headed out the next day we were going to order room service, but one egg was fifteen dollars and a cheeseburger was twenty.  I love cheeseburgers, but I have never had one that was worth twenty dollars.  We ended up eating pop tarts and kitty cocktails, mine served as a virgin.

The weather was cold and neither of us packed for winter, we were going on a cruise to Mexico, not Alaska.   Anxious to relax and get away from the pressure of work and noise,  we discovered, this particular cruise had nine hundred and seventy kids on board.  We were going to the dining room for dinner, but overslept, old people do that when they vacation, take naps in the middle of the afternoon. Our internal clocks had not recalculated to the west coast time change.  Our evening meal was taken in the cafeteria along with the children.  I preferred the cafeteria as the dining room was too time consuming, you had to wait for your fifty entrees and be social with people you didn't know.  I wanted to get away from everyone and every thing.

We were both sick the entire cruise.  Tanya was having issues with her stomach that is always brought on by stress and always seems to pop up just before we leave or shortly after.  I was having a major sinus infection and was miserable.  The weather was so cold we couldn't even sit pool side and enjoy the sun, so we spent our time in the room, napping and napping.

Our first port of call was Cabo San Lucas. I had purchased Bendyral on the ship for fifteen dollars for a few measly pills.  Again, I was being held hostage by the desire of want and needs.  I needed the pills to allow me to breath, so I had to swallow the price tag. 

Cabo Wabo Catina

First things first.  My whole reason behind the trip was to buy replacement earrings.  I knew I could get them for much less if purchased outside of the States.  We were going to walk to down town Cabo, but Tanya is not made for walking, so we rented a man who allowed us to sit in the seat built for two attached to his bicycle.  I would not have taken his job for love or money.  The roads were hilly and you could tell he was straining to get us there.  He had a standard bike, no gears.  I told Tanya I was surprised he was not thin as  rail, but perhaps he was new on the job as he was a big boy.

We were on a mission, diamond earrings.  I knew that I could not afford to replace what had been stolen, but I could get some thing nicer.  I spent two hours looking at these sparkly gems when I finally decided on a pair.  I gave the man my credit card without much thought. I knew I could put these on my card and still have credit for the rest of my trip.  I have one MasterCard, with a very low limit, requested by me to control liabilities if the card were lost or stolen.

Land's End

He rang up the purchase and it dawned on me, my bill was due later that week and until they received their payment, I had nothing open on the card to use in the event I found some thing later.  We were one day into this trip and I was maxed out! Anxiety was setting in!  I would get on line later and reschedule the payment earlier, that was my plan, but, I couldn't as the payment needed five days to process and it had already been issued.

I had cash but I prefer to put things on credit and pay it off at the end of each month.  I was sick, not because I just dropped a large amount of cash on earrings, but because I did not have a credit card to use! I was having major withdraws. I never say no to Cindy and yet, here I was having to say, "No, you can't have that, look at your damn ears!"

We had lunch at Cabo Wabo, the restaurant owned by Sammy Hagar.  My teeth fell out of my mouth when I saw the price for a cheeseburger, $75.00.  Little did we know the sign in front of the seventy five stood for their cash equivalent, so the burger was only $6.95 in American money.

In the afternoon we had purchased tickets to take a catamaran to go see Land's End.  It was just breathtaking, the water, the beaches and the rock

The scene from the restaurant

formations.  From there we boarded a bus to go to the other side of the island to a restaurant that is open only when there are no ships in port.  Can you imagine?  The view was beautiful and a perfect spot for a wedding, if you were in to that, I was not!

We were done for the day, one port down. We headed back to the ship, where I took a nap and Tanya ventured out to the casino.  We were going to meet up later for a movie and production show after grabbing a quick bite to eat. Tanya won one hundred dollars. That girl is so lucky when it comes to gambling!

She told me I should gamble to win some money and I reminded her of the black cloud that lingers over my head twenty four seven. "I am broke, Tanya, are you looking at my ears?"

She said she would give me ten dollars of her winnings and I suggested we visit the five hundred dollar toilet seat and watch it as it swirled down the drain as that is where it would end up if I gambled.  I told her she should gamble it for me and so she did.  I stood over her shoulder, much like I did Chappy on our honeymoon, she was up, she was down, she was up, she was down, it wasn't even my money and I was sweating bullets!  We had made the deal whatever she won, we'd split.  She had doubled her bet, we both could walk away with ten dollars in our pocket, before she could hit the button to flush it all away, my hand came over her shoulder and cashed her out.  "Winners, we are winners!"  A good gambler knows when to walk away.  I was walking away with ten dollars more than I had when she sat down!