The day before Ryan and loaded ourselves onto the plane that would take us to our fabulous Mexican destination (Cabo!), we spent the day in San Francisco. We thought it would kick off our time together quite well. After arriving in The City, we had lunch on Pier 39 then spent some time at the Museum of Modern Art. It was a nice leisurely kid-less afternoon.
We stayed the night in a nice hotel and awoke super-early the next morning in order to catch our 8 am flight. I had no idea how luxurious it would be to go through an airport and not have to herd my brood along the way. So nice was it that I didn't mind having to get up so early in the morning! Even the security stop didn't dampen my mood....not even when they had to stop me and search my purse for the knife that was inside. (doh! I had forgotten that I put my floral knife in my purse the previous month when I helped with the flowers for my cousins wedding....bye bye floral knife, sorry TSA!). No, not even a lay over in the dreaded LAX did not darken my expectations of our long-awaited vacation.
Not until we arrived did the let down begin. First off, it was hot (have I mentioned that before? - see previous post). When de-boarding in Mexico we had to walk across the tarmac and into an ever increasing line for Mexico customs. From one long, snaking line, it broke off into three other lines. Of course we got in the wrong one, the slow one. The customs guy manning our line was more interested in frequent updates on the Mexico vs. USA soccer game. He even kept his coworkers updated as he followed along on his Mac and radio that sat beside his work station. Friendly guy, just not overly concerned with the tourists trying to flow past his station. (but he did give me my first ever stamp in my passport, so I can't be too upset with the guy)
Next up was getting our baggage. No problem there. Got it and moved on.
After claiming our bags, we headed toward the outside of the terminal to find transportation to our hotel. But to get outside we had to walk through two rooms. The first room had small booths around the perimeter with men shouting for your attention, asking if you need a taxi. We got sucked in for we were in need of one. Score, this shouldn't be too bad after all! Wrong.
After listening to a guy tell us about what is available to do while in Cabo, he was so happy to set up for us a time-share presentation and along with it a cheaper rate on a taxi to our hotel as well as our return trip to the airport when our vacation was done. This did not sit well with Ryan. All we wanted was a taxi! That's it, nothing more, thank you. So the guy handed us off to his friend who then began the same schpeal. We were so frustrated that we just pick up our bags and left the building. As we did so, we walked through the last room that was filled with legit guys offering legit transportation. But now we were outside and were not allowed back inside (exit, no entry). So Ryan began talking with the other gringos standing outside and asked how to get a taxi. I'm not the world traveler like Ryan is so I just stood back and did nothing as I silently prayed for divine intervention! Ryan did find some helpful tourists who directed us to where we could find transportation. However it was at another terminal. A kind taxi driver took us to the terminal we needed without charge and Ryan secured us a shuttle van that left within minutes of us getting inside.
We climbed inside the waiting van to find seven other people waiting. The a/c was on but you wouldn't know it other than the coolish-type air being somewhat blasted from the vent above. At least there was some kind of air current moving around the stifling heat. But at this point I didn't care, I was just glad to be headed to our hotel and away from the crazy airport. My relief was short-lived as we quickly found ourselves in the midst of what we now refer to as 'the party van'.
There were three couples and one single lady, all of whom did not know each other prior to being thrown into the party van but struck up quick acquaintances as they drank their beers before we joined the van. I tried to ignore the loud, obnoxious conversations going on around me, but became quite annoyed as one guy soon asked the driver if we could 'stop at the Mega Mart to get some beer and water'. *sigh, grrrr, grumble, grumble, grumble* The single lady objected but not hard enough as she quickly gave in when a promise was given that it would be no longer than 10 minutes. *more sighing and grumbling*
I inwardly thank our driver for pulling over at a hole-in-the-wall liquor store and not the asked-for Mega Mart. The partyers were in and out in less than 10 minutes. I did see the Mega Mart later as we drove away, and I again thank our driver, for it truly was a mega mart in size and there was no way our partyers would have been in and out within 20 minutes.
The roads from the airport to Cabo San Lucas were not like I expected. I thought they would be filled with cars that paid no attention to lanes (if there were any) and would zip in and out of non existent spaces between vehicles. We could have rented a car and been just fine. However, this did not stop one particular driver from doing a little fancy maneuvering and cutting off our driver resulting in some hard breaking. This brought one passenger to stick her head out of our drivers window and yell a spanish obscenity at the offending driver. Yes, this is the point where I am embarrassed to be an American tourist. Hide me in the back with the luggage, but press on and get me to the hotel and out of these people's presence, por favor!!!
The time-share guy back at the airport had told us wrong (surprise.). In his attempt to get us to take a taxi, he had told us that the shuttles would take 2 hours to get us to our hotel. So I was pleasantly surprised (overly so!) when our shuttle driver delivered us to the hotel (first! and again I thank him!) within 45 minutes!
After bidding our fellow van mates good riddance adios, we checked into our hotel. When we got to our room I think we just collasped on the beds (two double beds, grrr!, it was supposed to be a king!!!) and layed there with wide eyes, shocked really, as the past two hours of our lives soaked in. How we made it down to the pool and let the time-share snakes, humidity and the party van slip away, I know not. I only know that after about an hour or so we were able to push it aside and see that our vacation may not be ruined after all.
It's amazing what a little pool water and ocean air can do for a person.
