cabo part 1

from december 10th-15th we took a babymoon to cabo.
it was kind of a spur of the moment kind of deal.
i got to thinking one day, "this baby is coming soon, and you work quite a bit. once that teeny mini arrives time for travel is up for a spell."
we have saved up some flyer miles- so i looked at anywhere they flew that had a beach.
we thought about florida, but when i go to florida i'm going to harry potter world- and my abilities to fully enjoy that experience are not up to par.
so i perused other beach destination.
some were outrageously priced.
then there was cabo.
flights were cheap, hotel was cheap, peso conversions were in our favor.
i booked the flights.
i booked multiple hotel rooms (i like to keep my options open).
i booked babysitters.
up until we got on the plane i was about to back out.
mary got pretty sick about a week and a half before we were planning to leave.
then we had to fix some things with our car so i thought whelp, there goes our vacation money.
we went through with it though.
we left wednesday morning to catch our plane at 5:30 (thank you brother for the ride).
from there we stopped in las vegas- we just stayed on the plane, which was a bit odd to me.
then we switched planes in orange county.
our total flight time was about 4 1/2 hours, but our travel time was 8ish.
when we arrived at the airport we were bombarded with resort, time share, and outing sales people.
warning for if you ever go to cabo- just walk straight outside and don't talk to anyone.... people trying to swindle you into purchasing things is the worst thing ever.
they try hard too- and it's annoying.
so after wasting 30 minutes with people trying to scheme us we finally found a shuttle to our rental car pick-up.
oh rental cars- our price per day was $3.
we were surprised to find out the rental insurance we purchased for the trip pretty much covered nothing that it needed to-
so we ended up paying like 150 bucks for our rental car.... that was a cheap gals worst nightmare.

then the first car we got into had a check engine light on…. ya, no way we were driving that car in a foreign land for 6 days. swapped it out.

that rental car was pretty crappy- made me appreciate all the other rental cars i’ve ever gotten.

we then made our way to our hotel.

dale’s phone died right when we were about to arrive; with the gps down we winged it.

i instantly regretted only spending $136 dollars for our total stay on our hotel room.

the pictures were deceiving.

i laid down on the bed and knew this was going to be one hell of a “vacation”.

we unloaded our car and went out on the town in search of our first meal.

tacos- tacos- and more tacos.

so we had tacos.

they were fine tacos- the finest thing about mexico tacos is they have this buffet style condiment area. not only do they have salsa’s and pico de gallo of all types but they also have some random vegetables you can snack on. Like cucumbers and carrots.

that buffet style vegetable thing was my favorite part about the tacos.

i’m not real big on authentic mexican food- shame on me, i know, but i usually prefer taco time to any other option…. so i gave all the authentic a try and then went straight for a steak the first chance i got.

that evening we bunkered down on our hard beds in our non-a/c room for our first evening as a couple abroad.

day 2 had to include a beach; the whole reason we were on vacation.

we had gotten a fine beach recommendation from our hotel manager.

a local spot that wasn’t so tourist infested with great snorkeling. 

on our way there we decided to stop at the walmart and get some snacks and lots and lots of water. we also exchanged some of our cash into pesos.

then we were off to the beach.

when we arrived i went to go take a picture with my phone.

where was my phone?

last i remembered i had checked the conversion rate at the place in walmart and then slipped it into dale’s pocket because my dress didn’t have any pockets.

i frantically searched everything.

every pocket of our backpack.

every inch of our snorkel gear pack.

every nook of the car.

i searched everything at least 5 times.

no phone.

then panic really set in.

i grabbed the car keys,

abandoned dale at the beach,

and drove like a crazy woman back to Walmart.

the thing about this particular road in mexico is you have to find a certain spot to do some crazy turn around at.

there’s rarely a warning for when you can pull such turn arounds.

i missed 2 of them.

so i ended up driving forever in the wrong direction.

then when i did turn around there was a random human procession blocking traffic for blocks.

here i am in mexico, no identification, no phone, no spouse, no ability to communicate with others, driving on some street i’ve only been on once, in a panic about my phone, stuck behind some procession….

i arrived at walmart- and no one spoke english.

so they are trying to sell me a new phone.

i finally get directed to someone that can help me and just as i suspected my hopes of ever finding my device were nil.

he told me people steal pens so if my phone had been left or dropped or whatever chances were extra high it was gone forever. (which i knew- but i still had a glimmer of hope in the humanity of man, and my luck.)

mid communicating with this man the tears started welling up hard. 

a choke in the throat.

an inability to communicate.

it was over after that.

hard tears- the kind you’re embarrassed you can produce over such trivial matters.

i haven’t cried that hard in a long time.

i headed back to the beach.

mad at dale.

because really i put it in his pocket for 2 seconds and it disappears.

i was wrong to be mad at him ever.

i’ll never know what happened to that phone- i kept second guessing what i had done with it, kept retracing what had happened- I’ll never know for sure. (this pregnancy brain doesn’t help with my mental acuity either…. it’s real, and it’s a bitch.)

so i sulked for a little while longer.

then i realized how absolutely stupid it was that i had gotten so crazy over a phone.

embarrassed a bit by my reaction-

i would have really been devastated (and for a good reason) had i lost all of my pictures, notes, contacts- but i didn’t.

the night before we left i had this strange panicky feeling that i needed to back my phone up.

a part of me was like, “this is the worst timing ever to want to do this.”

it was late,

i was tired,

it made no sense to me at the moment.

when i was sitting there on the beach thinking about how i had felt so inclined to back that phone up i realized it was a merciful act from heaven.

i’m a firm believer in teeny promptings that can save us a lot of grief.

most the time they don’t make any sense at the moment- but then i do or do not do them and i realize i should have just listened or i am extra glad i did listen.

i’ve saved or lost a lot of time and energy following small random inklings.

i know God instilled in me that pressure feeling to back-up my phone before we left just to save me a lot of grief over a stupid phone.

i can also see the benefit in me losing my phone.

i had become way to crazy attached to it- I needed a firm reminder of what’s important. I needed to quit wasting so much time on an inanimate object.

so i lost my phone. 
on day 2 in mexico. 
i had my sister try the find my iphone deal, i had our hotel man call walmart and chat with them. rip first smart phone.

after i quit crying over spilt milk we had a fabulous day at the beach.

we snorkeled, i napped, i got angry at dog people bringing their dog to a non-pet beach, i ate half a watermelon- it was lovely.

on our way back to the hotel dungeon dale got a coveted coconut.

that evening we once again had tacos.

we also went to exodus (prior to its release in the states).

we paid about $4 for the pair of us- nice stadium seating only thing different from a theatre in the states was the spanish subtitles.

at that moment we decided we were going to see any movie that looked remotely interesting while we were in mexico.

thus ended day 2 in mexico.
more of mexico to come. 
a month and a half late.... but documented none the less. 

random parading- 

the buffet trays that made the tacos worth it