Los Barriles, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Hotel Spa Buena Vista
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
One day really does just blend into another. The way I try to figure out what day it is is by an accounting of the mornings that have passed. Morning one was coffee on the beach. Morning two...slept until almost 9:00, 9:00! Never happens. But I did because I could. By breakfast it was about 90 degrees and humid, so we headed to the pool and staked our lounge chair claim. If you don't sprawl your personal items all over you chair and on surrounding ground the likelihood of finding someone has pirated your seat when you've left to go to the restroom is high. Madi and I stayed at the pool all day long while Steve and the kids were back and forth from the beach, lunch etc. By dinner time we were all exhausted and somewhat unpleasant with one another. The sign of a good day.
This morning I caught the sunrise on the beach with my coffee. We brought Starbucks Via with us. It's a far cry from Sanka the instant coffee of by-gone days. There is a hot wind blowing from the south. It was kind of a weird wind all day. Beautiful and hot. The hotel has cleared out and quieted down a lot. Most the kids are gone which made the pool far more peaceful (translate: boring for our kids) but after a few days of intense play and sun it was good to have a down day and everyone pulled out a book at one point or another. We all took a few rounds on the quads, Sea-Doo or paddle board. The later afternoon is when the jelly fish tend to come toward shore but I really wanted to go in. Feeling empowered and convinced by the book I'm reading that living dangerously really is the only kind of living, I threw caution to the wind and took at dip. The beach is great here. The hotel is built right on top of hot springs and you can feel the hot water coming up through the sand. We made it through the day with no jelly fish stings. However, Madi reports 7 mosquito bites on one foot alone and I have a sunburned belly...so we haven't come out completely unscathed.
Our friend Werner, who lives part time in the the neighborhood next to the hotel leaves tonight so we went for dinner together at Tio Pablos in town. Chum and Nate had the pizza Tropicana, which may very well be the best pizza they've had in years. Steve and I both got the shrimp brochette. Delicious. Madison ordered the chicken chimichanga which was the size of a small fried baby. We were all stuffed. Werner's daughter had an ear infection so after dinner he called the clinic in town and within 8 minutes the doctor was there and got the needed antibiotics and pain meds. 24 hour, on-call medical service, meds included for $45.00. You can't beat that.
Los Barriles, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Friday, June 22, 2012
A travel blog really should be written if one is actually traveling. I am sitting... sitting and reading...treading water. That really doesn't qualify as travel. Yesterday was a great day for sitting and reading and treading water....oh, I paddle boarded and kayaked too. It was a really nice day but there's not much to say about it. No news.
So, I'll watch the sun come up and have my coffee on the beach...again.
There, in fact, is so little "news" that I am merging several days entries into one just to make it seem like we've done something significant. Yesterday, June 22, we lulled around and decided to go south to Rancho Leonaro to get a snack, maybe lunch. We usually have two quads and divide the 5 of us as evenly as possible to make the drive down there on the beach. One of the quads is being used so we decided that if we were to go we would have to do 2, if by land and 3, if by sea. Steve took Nate and Chum and went on the Sea Doo and Madi and I took the quad. Madi and I pulled up close to the hotel property but Steve beached the Sea Doo further away. I watched him try to pull it up further to be sure it was grounded but he was unable to move it by himself. Afraid he would just figure it was "good enough" and leave it there, only to make the rest of the afternoon a fiasco once it floated out to sea, I walked to help him and with one great heave, proceeded to pull my low back out. We enjoyed some cold drinks at Rancho Leonaro and opted to return home for lunch. This time Madi drove me on the Sea Doo and it was the other 3 by land. Chum had seen some big manta rays and didn't want to get back in the water. We had a nice lunch at home and settled in by the pool. My back was tightening up by the minute and I could just barely walk up the path for my 3:30 massage...but I made it...in to the fiercely strong hands of Eva Clemente...consistently the best massage anywhere.
Some how Steve had arranged for a birthday cake to be made for me and after some incredible coconut shrimp and a painfully loud mariachi serenade I had my cake, and I ate it too. Badda bing...and another year is gone.
I took the kids to Barnes and Nobel to get some books for the summer and in spite of my desire to read something in the growing pile on my night stand I couldn't help myself and bought "the best book of the year"...The Family Fang. I knew right away it was going to be mildly dark and a bit disturbing...and I was right. But I've enjoyed (?) it. Maybe it's just because the conditions are so right to read through a whole book here...something that never happens at home. Anyway, I've plowed through it with some level of enjoyment and today by the pool I finished it. What a total let down. It was like watching a balloon tightly filled with air, expectantly waiting for it to propel itself wildly around the room, until finally in the end, falls to the finish. Completed. Instead, once the scene was set and ready for something really big, really exciting...all the air is expelled in one, uneventful rush and you realize that it's done..and the ride was nothing like anticipated...but not in a good way. ...and I'm left with a book that I can't even pass on to some one. I think I'll leave it here at the hotel...without letting anyone see me do so.
June 23...
more wrinkles. more sun spots. pool. no book. nice breeze. up 5 pounds or so.
Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico
Monday, June 25, 2012
We'll, it's time to go home. After too much of, well... everything. Too much sun. Too much water. Too much food. Too much quality family time. Neutral corners please!
After plenty hugs from the staff and one last Happy Hour we were picked up by Ulysses our driver and taken the 45 minutes or so to Cabo airport.
I must explain the the Happy Hour. The kids order smoothies all week, lots, which are basically virgin pina coladas. From 4:00 to 5:00 in the game room bar there are 2 for 1 specials so the kids never want to miss a happy hour. However I know it doesn't sound great to have my kids hollering about going to happy hour... but I do like that they appreciate a bargain.
As I walked the beach yesterday looking for sea glass I thought about how much I would like to get a rock tumbler when I get home to soften the edges of some of the pieces we found. Then I really realized how different things are between being here on vacation and what it is like at home. Here, there is time for thinking...not frenzied thinking, like planning...to do lists, etc. There is time for creative thinking. We've walked and talked about life thoughts. Steve and I have spent time assessing how life is going...what things we'd still like to do in our lives...with our kids. In that realm there is a place for buying a rock tumbler and worrying about the rough edges on my found beach glass. However, I know that all that won't matter much to me when I get home anymore. Frenzied thinking is just around the corner.
We have a credit with the hotel that expires at the end of the year. Someone will have to go back soon…