Thought of the Day - another "what if"

I was driving this morning and was singing, sipping coffee, talking on the cell phone, pretty everything but driving. So I turned everything off, put the coffee down and did some thinking. What if the next time you drove you were an active driver, a focused driver, a driver who was paying more attention to the road and less attention to all of the things we have in our cars that offer entertainment while driving. Think about that for a second. Our cars are designed to be our home away from home. THey have music, dvd players, butt warmers, and pretty much all the other gadgets that make our drive more entertaining.
It seems everything we have is designed for talking our mind off the task at hand, driving. We're all so busy with life, going here and there, rushing from point a to point b. What if we took the time were are in the car as quite time, self reflection time, or prayer time? What if for 5, 10, 30 minutes we didn't answer the phone or listen to our ipods, what if we just were? What if we just actively drove. I did that this morning and I noticed the freeway and the cars around me with a greater clarity then yesterday . I became active instead of passive. As everyone always says, I was "in the moment". The thing I noticed is that I was a calmer less irritated driver. Maybe this was because I wasn't upset by other drivers who took me away from a phone call or a song I was singing when they cut me off. Or maybe it was because I was so active in my driving that cars didn't cut me off. I wonder. I know it's hard to take time away from the world, but don't you think we'd be a better place if we all reclaimed "quite" time. Do you think that if we took away the distractions while driving we'd have less accidents? Who knows. Know I'm sure you're saying your an active driver, but are you really? I mean really? I challenge you, the next time you step inside your car, don't do anything but drive. See what happens.
Peace

What if?

What if for every $100 you spent on holiday gifts this year, you gave $10 to a charity?
What if for every meal you ate out, you gave a can/box/bag of food to the Unity Shop?
What if this year you gave with an open hand instead of a receiving heart? What if for every hour you spent shopping you spent 30 minutes donating your time? Think of all the families that don't have what we have. Think of the people that this year will spend the holiday alone. What if you spent one hour of this crazy season not living for you but living for others?
What if...

There is this great website that all you have to do is enter in your zip code and it gives you a list of places you could donate to.

This year, let's not just think what if, let's do.


- www.volunteermatch.org

- Unity Shop - http://www.unityshoppe.org/donation (they always need volunteers who speak Spanish to help in the store).

- Noah's Anchorage (home for at risk kids) 301 W. Figueroa Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Marya Torrez (Program Manager)(I love this one, it's great, you can buy a gift for a child and then drop if off at the house. So many kids this year won't get anything).

Peace


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Back from Mexico - with a cold

I've found the best way to top of a relaxing stress free vacation is to come home and prompty get a cold! What's up with that? Lukcy for me it's just head stuff and nothing more.

Re-entry

Can i just say the re-entry into the world after a week of Mexico is NOT COOL!

Viva La Mexico

What a trip, what a week, what a country!
I'm going to post in the next few days all the ins and outs so if anyone goes to Mazatlan you know some of the great places to eat and things to do! I had fun with this blog and I hope that everyone else did too. Who's knows, I might go Doogie Hosward (?) on you all and blog nightly!
Peace

Eve of Goodbye Mexico!

As our last night slowly fades into tomorrow I think how blessed I am to have had such a great experience in Mexico with one of my best friends. We spent the day tooling around, eating pan-dulce, drinking mexican mocha's, avoiding the timeshare-ers, frolicking in the large waves that over took the ocean and drinking from coconuts. It was a good day. It was fitting that we had dinner with this great couple that we meet on our first day here. We went to Pedro and Lola's where we drank beer, ate good food and had fantastic conversation. Pedro and Lola's is one of the 8 or so places that incircle the main downtown plaza. On the weekends they close of the plaza to only foot traffic, giving the eaterys more room for tables, and more room for guests! Our waiter let us know that he only had three menus and he'd get to us at somepoint, "it's crazy here, a lot going on right now, i'll get to you"! We noted that in the states we would have left the place but in mexico it's all a different pace. Everything happens in a mexico moment, which could be a few seconds or a few days. We sat down for dinner at 7:45 and returned home at 11:30. But what an evening. The old Mazatlan is slowly turing into this hip place with art studios and unexpected places to eat. I can see why Maztlan is a place that so many people come to each year over and over again. It's like coming home. The people are friendly, the food is good and the beer is cheap. The worries are left at the door and the sun is always shinning. What more should there be? Peace

Day in the Life of Monica, i.e. Mr. Cuba!

Day Six - Is that Monica or is that Ricky Ricardo in Havana?

What a day! We took one of our free tours out to Copola for a visit of the mexican country side. What a trip. I felt like I was in a scene from Romancing the Stone. We toured and toured and toured. it was like being back in China, on the bus, off the bus, on the bus, off the bus. Buy here, buy there! We saw something interesting things and Monica got some really great photos so it was all worth it. Monica wanted to fit in so she dressed in true Mexcian meets Cuban style. It was great. we saw a few churches, donkeys and pottery. We ate lunch in this very tiny little place smack dab in the mexican jungle. They even had pot growing from pots on the railing. And, the waiter was ready to show it off! We're lucky we left the beach because it rained all day today. It's still muggy and warm however. We just finished off dinner at a fun little hut type place that played bad 80's (or in my case wedding songs) music and ate more shrimp!

I wish my photos were Monica's as she really did take some amazing shots, mine are more fun!

Peace

Day Five - Adventure on the High Seas

We spent the day crusing the bay of Maxatlan. We frolicked on stone island where we feasted on a simple mexican lunch. After a rough sail home, with me holding on for dear life, we finished the day by the pool with nachos and ceviche. As is our habit in Mexico Mon and I walked to the shore to watch yet another amazing sun setting over the pacific. With horses in the background and the sound of guitars in the background we sat in peace as the reds of the sun slowly melted into the blue of the ocean. What a life of sun sand and sea. Sun drunk a still on my sea legs we sip our mexican hot chocolates, smell the sweet air of mexico and lounge with our books. It's another magical day in Mexico.

Peace

Day Four - Avoiding being sold into white slavery

Monica and happy hour
Yummy lunch, Chorizo and Cheese and Chicken and Bacon and cheese, mmm good.
We take a lot of self photos... this one was right before we left for dinner.

We were supposed to go to the timeshare today to see The Grand Mayan Restort. We were invited the night before as we left Gus Gus by a charming vato loco, really. Well when we woke up we searched the phone book/travel book/guide book and local barista and we coudln't find this place. Our vato loco was suppose to meet us at 9:30 in front of the hotel (we had an 8:45 date with another timeshare but blew him off for Juan Jose) and yet Mon and I couldn't locate this place. The invitation didn't even have a address, so we used our good judgement, i know dad, you're shocked that I have some, and decided to sneak out the hotel the back way and make our way downtown. I'm gald we did because the deal was shady and I think had we gone I would be blogging from some shanty in mexico.

We ended up haveing an amazing day. We took a self guided art walk of old mazatlan's local gallerys and had such an interesting time. We walk though the market and I tried my best to not vomit and keep an open mind. Mon took a few pictures of whole cow heads! We had lunch in this cute little place right before everyone took an afternoon siesta. It's always happy hour in mexico so everytime you order a drink you get two, that's the reason everyone is so drunk here. It's amazing how many drunks we see, always Americans!

Fun story - we were in the art shop and Monica, the know it all artist was looking at this amazing panting (picture large canves with lots of red/brown/rust/oragne with a few smaller red blobs and one larger blueishgreen blob. Monica pointed it out saying she loved the shoe picture and I said "shoe? What Shoe?" and she said "what do you mean shoe, how can you not see the shoe" So I looked a little more and said "that's not a shoe" she replied in a haughty arty tone, "of course it's a shoe how can you not see it's a shoe" and me, being me responded with "I don't understand why it has to be a shoe, it could be a rock, i think it's a rock." She laughed and shook her head and said "no it's a shoe" so we moved on. After a few more moments of looking in the shop she decided to ask the cost of the painting. After figuring out that they were saying 1,200 pesos not 1,000 pesos we asked the name of the panting, which was something like planet ground. i asked the woman what the blueishgreen thing was and she said it was a STONE! HA! This is where I did my touchdown-victory dance all over the store lauging all the way out and Monica and her shoe! It was a great moment for me.

Old town Mazatlan is pretty interesting and we look forward to going back on saturday for dinner and Padro and Lola's. After our trip downtown we went back to the hotel where Mon slept and I spent time at the beach. Finally, I was suckered into a beach vendor and his goods. He was charming and he kept reminding me that everything was almost free and it was "only money after all". THe life of these beach peddlers is really interesting, it's very oraganized and they are all very persistance. Anyway after watching the sun go down over the pacific we changed and went to this really tasty Italian dinner, then we came home and here we are now.
it's been a good day. Tomorrow it's off to stone island, which I'm really looking forward to, then on Friday it's Copola which should be an interesting look into a mexican village.

Mon took some cool photos today which everyone will see once she's home and has had time to download them onto her work computer. I know my blogs are not very exciting, it's just that were not doing things that are that blogable, it's really a true vacation of lazyness and sand.

Peace

Tuesday Night

Everyone should be so proud, we still haven't bought a time share, tho Mon was a little bit more interested today then yesterday. i'm a bit worried about tomorrow's presentation. I know it sounds like an odd way to vacation but we're actually meeting some cool people and learning a lot more about this city. We've learned a few tips from these timeshare crazies. But the best one of all, is you're not at all interested, just say "we're leaving tomorrow" nothing shuts them down faster! After our timeshare presentation we took a little put put boat to a private beach and layed in the sun and swam in the ocean. We had yummy nachos. (yikes, they just turned all the lights off in this joint, i'm blogin in the bar by the pool) Again we meet a few nice people, i'm so amazing at how nice the vistors are. Monica loves to talk in the elavator and as we're on the 26 floor she gets a lot of talking in, it's quite funny to watch. I have now found myself talking to people in the elavator when she's not there to do it for me! Not sure where that side track came from. Back to the day, after the beach we came back to the room and got ready to go to dinner. We had a yummy american meal at a place called Cow Boy. Totally my place, I had ribs and listened to country music! It was great. We then walked back to our hotel, about 2 miles maybe 3. It was a really hot a sticky night so that walk was nice. Tomorrow we're planning on going back downtown and hitting the market, the church, the lighthouse and few other things. Tomorrow should be a busy day! No more of this laying around like bums!

I wish my blogs were more exciting, but there not. I'm not working and that's exiciting!

Peace

Photos

Monica and I with our afternoon snacks on the beach.

This is the square that we're going to return friday. They close the roads and it's a big mazatlan fiesta!

The two of us at GUS GUS having two very grande drinks!

This is two of the views from Old Mazatlan that i took while on the city tour.


This is a video of the cliff divers. They do this all day from 11-7...


Th water isn't as warm in all places of mazatlan, interesting enough not all beachs are created equal. being so close to the tropic of cancer makes Maztlan the second most humid place in the world. It's pretty steamy over here!

Day Two - Time Shares and Beers

Day Two
I bet you’re wondering if we bought a time share, well we didn’t but we have two more to go to so I’ll keep you posted. We’re making money while on vacation, and I bet you thought I’d stop working! HA!
Today was a great day. Very tropical and very vacation. We started the day off with the same awful breakfast from yesterday, only this was this time it was free. Then after that we cruised over to our timeshare speal, listened, learned, and moved on. It wasn’t a hard sell at all. It was super easy to say no and walk away. We then headed down to the beach where we sat and drank pina coladas and frolicked in the sand. And we really frolicked, Monica will tell you all about it, I made her frolic. The one thing I’ve noticed is how nice the people are. One guy said that visitors to Mazatlan were guests to be treated like royalty, know he was trying to get us to go visit a time share….. I’ll tell you how that turns out in a few days!
Yesterday we meet a disenchanted woman from Vancouver Island who had been to Mazatlan one to many times. When I asked her what was great and what I just couldn’t miss all she had to say was about all the places not to go! Yikes! Lucky for me I quickly meet Linda who told me all about the great parts of this city. Today we meet this sweet couple on their honeymoon. We were going to go on the city tour with them but the girl had a bit two much of the local drink….. the margaritas! We also meet this family who’s been coming for 16 years and they love it. They told us of some great place to eat like Pedro and Lola’s and Gus Gus. I decided to buy something from the local beach peddlers and ended up with a wrap, it took about 15 minutes of some hard bargaining but I got what I wanted, almost. It was fun and part of the México experience. After the beach we showered and changed and then headed on the city tour, which is an open air trolley around town. The tour reminded me of China as we only went to places to shop where their were sponsors of the trip. Regardless it was still very cool and a great thing to do to become familiar with the city. We’re going to go back on Friday night and have dinner and Pedro and Lola’s and sit in the historic central and listen to the live music. We also soAfter the tour they take you to a place to eat. Monica and I sat down and after looking at the menu decided that it was to expensive and a total trap. So we left the tour and walked back to our hotel. On the way we came across gus gus so we decided to have dinner their. It was fantastic! Shrimp fajitas for 8.00, our whole meal plus my two drinks was 30. We danced and laughed and had a really great time. We also signed up for another timeshare presentation. As we were leaving another man stopped us and started chatting. That’s how they get you, they trick into thinking their nice! This guy was hilarious! He is from LA and has only been in Mexico for 5 months. He kept calling me and Mon his “people”. It was great. We’re seeing his timeshare on Wednesday. I know, we’re crazy.
In general we’re having a really great time. I’m looking forward to our tour to Copola as it’s the real Mexico.
I wish I had the computer with me all the time so that I could blog on the spot or write down the things that Monca. Tomorrow the cruise ships come to port so we’re leaving our beach and heading to a private beach for the day. I’ve become sodoku addicted, I just can’t stop! I haven’t even read the first line of my book or books (I brought 5)!
It’s late and I’m beat so I’ll stop boring you of my travels for one night.
Peace

Day One - Lunes in Mexico

The view from breakfast

Day One – The Longest Day of My Life.
We boarded the plane at 2:15 Sunday am for a scheduled 2:45 take off time. The plane was nice, the crew nice and the in flight meal (on a two hour flight) was fine. There was a bit of turbulence but nothing crazy. Both Mon and I were able to sleep, for 30 minutes. We landed 10 minutes ahead of schedule and walk off the plan at 6:15 Mazatlan time. Get our bags, going though customs and finding the exit were easy. The hard part was maneuvering the timeshare crazy people that get you and every turn. Finally we selected a 6$ shuttle and were off. Both Mon and I had now been up for 24 hours so I wasn’t taking in much. I do however remember thinking that Mexico looked like a jungle that people came into, built a road and started building half house and big boxes and factories and then just stopped. Our first glimpse of this amazing destination was basically driving in south la or maybe it’s east. Anyway, whatever you’ve seen in moves it’s pretty spot on.
After a 30 minute car ride we arrived at the mega plex El Cid. 7:30 was 7 hours to early for check in, so Mon and I dropped our bags of with the Bell desk, changed into beach friendly clothing and headed to the outdoor restaurant in our hotel. Very beautiful, rattan chairs, big umbrellas, sun, sand and surf. After a so so breakfast we walked the few steps to the beach, found nice lounge chairs and tried to nap. We were unsuccessful in sleeping. The waves were loud, the people were loud and mostly we were too excited to sleep. The vendors come up everyone two seconds asking you to buy something, it jets annoying but you get over it. While they have some cool stuff we’re waiting for “Cheap Charlies” which we’re told is the place to buy stuff. We were pretty beat at this point and all we wanted to do was check into our room. However, it wasn’t ready. So Mon and I did the next best thing and had a Pina Colada. It was great. We felt like that corona commercial where all you see are the peoples feet, all you hear is the crashing sound of the waves and all you know is that simple relaxing is the only task at hand. I meet a few people on the beach which was nice. It seems that Mazatlan lends to women travelers and single women travelers. Linda was traving with her sisters and friends and told us of Cheap Charlie’s and Sandra, echoed later by Linda, said we just had to eat at Gus Gus sometime during our stay.
After a few hours and being sucked into one timeshare (we see it on Monday, and no we PROMISE we won’t buy) later we were ready to check into our two bedroom, three bath, two kitchen, one living room suit. It’s pretty sweet. The décor might be fore the late 70’s but it’s still a fun place and way to big for just me and Mon. The floors are marble and the towels and toilet paper are all folded up into funny shapes. The beds are hard, but not as hard a China so that’s a plus. We have a balcony off the living room and off my room. Amazing views. I don’t do well with heights so I’ve pretty much just took the phto and left the balcony alone.
view of from our room

After a quick change and Monica’s 10 minute nap we walked out of our hotel and into a golf car cab and asked to be taken to the best seafood place in town. 33 pesos later we were at this very cute very local Mexican restaurant. We ordered some beer and just sat watching the waves crash against the rocks. While sipping my beer, listening to the harp playing mariachis I really felt like I was on vacation and having one of those remember forever moments. Lunch was shrimp in a coconut which was pretty good even if it tasted more Indian then Mexican! After lunch we walked along the beach back to our hotel where we did a bit of wondering and a little more laying in the sun. Monica and I had a goal, which was to see a firework show that only happens on Sunday at La Playa Mazatlan Hotel. This is the reason that we hadn’t finally said after 30 hours of no sleep to just call it a night. We jumped into another golf car taxi and 50 pesos later ended up at the hotel where we had drinks, appetizers and watched this really cheesy, not to safe but really fun firework display. After a few hours and the sleepless hours finally catching up to us we decided it was time for showers and sleep. I took a shower tonight in a shower/bath that could easily fit 5. Tomorrow I think I might us the walk in marble shower.
It’s been an amazing day keep in mind while ready this that I am typing this up on my 40th hour of being awake. Tomorrow it’s an early day as well as we have timeshares not to buy! It’s crazy what they will give you if you just go see. I’ve heard that they give you a hard sell but all you have to do is say no. I’m good at that!
I wish that everyone was here to experience this with us. I can’t tell you how many times today I went to use my cell phone. It’s registered and I can use it as an alarm clock but as far as making calls I haven’t been able to figure it out. Which is a good thing.
I’m really looking forward tomorrow as were off to Old Mazatlan to see the lighthouse, the cliff divers and some local art and the flea market. Oh joy, the flea market.
Enjoy the photos of our first day, keep in mind I took most of the photos.
Peace

The Day before Day One - Sunday

Saturday came and Monica and I were back and ready to go. We left SB after dropping the kitties of with g’ma around 9:15, after a quick subway stop we were on our way. The drive I must say was a bit rough. The traffic was light, which was nice. However Monica and I had both gotten up at 7:00 and were slightly sleepy. We made it to the parking garage that I took months and months to finally book. However, we never made it in. I freaked out at the look of the place and told monica that I wasn’t leaving Ella there. Mon then directed me to Lot B (where I should of just parked to start with). There are bigh t lights, easy shuttles and it’s 8 per day. Once we safely got on the shuttle we (I) relaxed a bit and started to get into vacation mode. After customs and a quick although somewhat confusing check in process Mon and I made it to our gate with plenty (2 hours) to spare. Thankfully there was a little bar still open and we started our vacation off with a Malibu and coke. As the clock hit 12 the day before day one ended.

peace

Eve of Mexico

It's the night before Monica and I leave for Mexico. In true Mel style we're taking a red eye (does it really count as a red eye at 2:35 am?)tomorrow. I still need to book parking at LAX and confirm our flights. I'm assuming we can check in online tomorrow. So far I've packed twice and I've gotten my stuff down to one small bag and a carry on. I've packed my backpack for day trips. Monica on the other hand has a suitcase a small child could fit into. We're both excited. Monica's still on Texas time so she's super beat by 9 our time. I'm guessing that the time change in Mexico will only jack her up more, making her a real mess once she gets back home to Austin.
I work tomorrow so my vacation doesn't really start until around 4, but I did have a glass of champagne tonight in honor of our trip.
Now the final question is, to take the lap top or not.
I have a few more things to toss in the bag and then it's off to sleep! Peace

"Say hello Monica"

I

El Cid - Megaplex Resort

Check it out, here is a virtual tour of where we're staying. The place have a lot of towers and we're in the el morrow.
The hotel is located in the Zona Dorado which means the golden zone.


if You go to www.elcid.com and then click on English and then Mazatlan and then vitural tour, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Mel and the Miss

My First Blog

I'm going to become a blogger. Or at least I'm going to try. I'm not sure how well it's going to work. For some reason the word Meixo is on the top of the page and maybe I'll need to learn spanish and blog that way.
I set the blog up in hopes that I'll be able to blog while on vacation. The goal, blog and download phhotos in between laying on the beach and laying on the beach.
Monica arrived yesterday, which was fantastic. Holly came over last night and we watched tv and laughed. It's good to have her here, like she never left.
I finished packing last night. I only have the bathroom stuff like toothpaste and makeup and then i'm 100% ready to jet off South of the Border. How exciting. I've never been to Mexico before. Monica and I picked it because the flight wasn't long (last year the flight to China was 11+ hours) and it was an inexpensive place to visit. Also, Robyn, a very good friend of mine, has a timeshare that we were able to use. It's going to pretty fantastic. It was two bedrooms and three, count them, three bathrooms! There is also a living area and a kitchen. The resort (www.elcid.com) has 11 places to eat, 8 bars, a disco and 8 pools, 3 beach fronts, a spa and a shopping complex. Crazy, right? I'm really looking forward to going to Stone Island, Deer Island and Goat Island. Ok I was kidding about Goat Island. We are going to visit the second largest lighthouse in the world, which is pretty cool.
Ok, that's enough about the start of the vacation. Stayed in touch and we'll see how well this blog thing works out.
Peace.
M