Vacation Part 3

(Geez, it is hard to believe that it has been a month since our vacation. I hope this post puts it to bed!)

Tuesday
Most of the resorts are time share affairs, with partial ownership of part of the property. In order to sell these, the property offers incentives (free breakfast, dinner, taxi rides, etc) to listen to the sales pitch of how “you too can live the luxurious lifestyle” these resorts offer. That was the beginning of our day. We met a very nice salesperson, “Charlie” from Argentina who walked us through the presentation. 3 hours later, Deb and I were an afterthought as Dave and sue were getting grilled about their other properties and how they could trade up. Deb and I were dismissed, and so we went to the beach. 2 hour Dave and sue showed up, looking haggard, and more than a little peeved. Not only had Charlie tried to get them to bite, but there were 4 other “managers” involved. It is revealing that a) Dave and sue did not yield, and b) how much fine print is not disclosed during the presentation. We all spent the next 2+ hours talking about this, sleeping, and soaking up the sun. Siesta!

After being refreshed we took public transportation to the downtown are and had dinner at a small out of the way cantina. We enjoyed heaping amounts of food, good company, and growing sense of relaxation. The nice thing about this establishment was the warmth we received upon entering. The proprietor, Jesus (Hay Seuss) treated us like family. It sure beat having dinner at the resort which seems like some of the hospitality is forced.

Wed-Sat

To the city! The bus ride to the downtown area (the resort is about 5 – 7 miles to the north) is becoming a normative means of travel. The cost is 80 pesos (at the current rate of $1.320/1 peso) this is equivalent to about ___ cents. Given that both US and Mexican currency is freely exchanged in the normal day to day commerce, we usually give a dollar to the driver, so that he ends up with a tip for himself. Traffic is crazy with speed limits rarely enforced and cars and buses both attempting to get to their destinations as quickly as possible.
Throw into this mix buses stopping to pick up or drop off riders, taxis doing the same, cars parked halfway out into the road way, pedestrians darting across the roadway. This results in a lot of weaving, close calls and a feeling of organized chaos on the byways. Surprisingly we have not seen one accident.
Downtown the streets are narrow and there is a lot of hustle and bustle. There is a lot of nice architecture as well as a lot of abandoned buildings.
The old mixes with the new here. Not being a shopper, the market as a place to obtain goods does not interest me that much, although the sociology of the place does.


As cruise ships also stop here I get the impression that there are too many vendors chasing after too few gringo dollars. Not only does the market place have many "tourista" goods (hats, t-shirts, various items of silver, beads, beach wear, etc.), but the street vendors selling the same items are also ubiquitous. They can be found, not only in the local sightseeing spots but on the beaches, and on street corners as well.

(A cliff diver performs for the touristas! What this picture does not show is all of the vendors hawking their wares! (by the way this guy is over 60 years old and he continues to jump into water that is 4 to 6 feet deep!)

We end up on the main tourist drag and begin anew our shopping quest.

An example of some of the pottery that can be found

Mexico is full of religious iconic goods

In the center of the Mercado.

An example of the various delicious meat cuts tat can be found

Deb ends up finding some nice items to bring home to the kids (which did not include any meat by-products!), which actually might be practical! This was our life for the next four days.

Sunset on the Del Mar!

It was a lot of fun, but of course reality impinges upon even the most idyllic times. when we got back to the cities it was -2. we arrived home at 2am to get 3 hours of sleep for work the next day.

It is hard to believe that it was a month ago, but the memories will last longer than that.