Vámonos pa' Mazatlán part 2

This is the song, if you'll recall from a previous entry, that Lenin would always sing when we were trying to figure out our next plan.  And I would always say, "Vámonos," as if we had nothing else to do than go to Mazatlán in the middle of the night!

Dad was set to arrive Thursday night at 7:45.  I decided to get a day of sun out of it, so I planned on leaving my house around 1.  That should get me to the hotel by 3:00 check in time, or at least by 4.

About three minutes after I had called Fran (whom I hadn't called since Mom was here in March!), Alma's mom got home, knocked on my door, and asked if I was ready to go.  She was going to take me.  I told her I had called a cab and there was no need for her to take time out of her day.  She was not having it of course and told me to call Fran back quickly.

I did.  He was annoyed.  Oh well.

As we were leaving, one of Mamá Alma's sisters called her because her dad has been really sick lately.  He's been sick for years, but it's looking like the end.  Tía Gaby called saying that the doctor had arrived at the house.  So we stopped in our way.  He's really sick and it made me sad for them.

I got to the bus station with my two suitcases, backpack and purse.  Mamá asked me how long I was staying, but I informed her that I was sending as much stuff back with dad in an empty suitcase as possible.

I got a ticket quickly and my bus let within 15 minutes.  I got to the bus station around 4 and there were two Engligh teachers from Mazatlán there to pick me up.  Ana Luisa had told me they wanted to help as much as possible since they wouldn't be able to meet dad.  

They took me to my hotel and told me that a teacher named Ana would be there at 7 to pick me up to go to the airport (a 250 peso taxi ride).  Again, how helpful and willing are my friends/colleagues?!

As we pulled up, I was sorely disappointed.  This hotel, Hotel Emporio, is my home away from home.  Away from home.  I like it so much, that's where Ashley and I stayed in Mexico City.  The hotel in Mazatlán is simple, but impressive.  However...

They were doing construction.  Are you kidding me?!  When you walked up the steps, instead of seeing palm trees, two pools and the ocean, you saw plywood walls and men working.  The front had been torn down and they were replacing the sign.  Ay, no.  On top of that, it wasn't sunny.  It was sprinkling!

I unpacked my stuff, after being recognized by the bellboy, and sucked it up.  I ventured out into the rain for a smoothie that I'd been craving for days leading up to my trip.

At 7, Ana showed up with another teacher and we drove the 35 minutes to the airport.  While the screen said dad's flight was on time, it arrived about 20 minutes late.  Later we found out that this was because of the federal soldiers at the airport during one of his stopovers.  

The teachers dropped us off and wished us luck with the weather.  We got some of dad's stuff unloaded and headed up to northern Mazatlán to La Costa Marinera for dinner.  It was 10:00.

After that, all we wanted was sleep!

On Friday, we woke up to rain, clouds, and wind.  Ugh.  We read and did computer things until about 11:30 when it was apparent it wasn't going to let up enough for us to walk to the smoothie place.  I was crushed.  We battled the rain and wind to get to the hotel restaurant buffet.  Because the hotel is right on the beach, and because there are big french doors to the restaurant, it was super windy and the food labels went flying.  The power went out about three times.  At one point, I thought, "When is the point where I stop living the Mexican adventure and start making sure we survive this thing?"

We went back up to the room and I checked out the weather online.  Bad news.  Tropical Depression.  In effect until 8pm Saturday.  Yeah right.

However, around 1 on Friday, it ceased to be a storm.  It wasn't sunny per se, but it was plenty warm and there were enough UV rays to justify being by the pool.

We spent the five days like one should in Mazatlán: eating, tanning, sleeping, repeating.  It was awesome.  I used SPF 30 for the first two days and 6 the last three, and I'm tanner than I've been in a long time.  For the first time maybe ever, my legs and arms match!  My legs hardly ever get as tan as my arms.  Probably because I spend so much time in the pool.  Since it was overcast several days, I was able to be out of the pool.

I read 4 books and did a tiny bit of GRE study.

Everything went perfectly.  The weather after the first three hours of that storm was perfect.  The pool was not too crowded aside from one day.  The food was incredible.

The only real regret I have is from the last night.  I had eaten a big lunch and still wasn't hungry for dinner when we left at 8:30.  But I was content eating just tres leches cake.  However, we got to the restaurant and it was closed.  It was almost a 30 minute drive to get there and then back.  By the time we arrived at La Costa Marinera, it had been a 200 peso taxi ride!

Dad had better shopping luck than I did.  But his standards were a little lower (t-shirts).  I saved my shopping until Tuesday morning after he had left at 7am, and apparently the store where I was going to buy my mirror among other possibilities, was closed on Tuesdays or its owners were on vacation.  If I lived in Mazatlán, I would never go on vacation!

As I said, it was a perfect trip.  The only bad thing was that it had to come to an end...