Tuesday, February 25: revisions, revisions

No one was up early after our pleasantly-long dinner last night.  We had made reservations for a sunset sail tonight, so it was to be a short day.  Then there's the question of when to prepare the final new menu ... after sail, or tomorrow?

After some circular conversation, we learn that the sail has been cancelled as the five of us are not enough to make the minimum number of passengers needed.  We spend time trying to reach Martha at her hotel, to tell her to bring swimsuits, but the hotel has no record of her residency again today.  Weird!

We then settle into our typical routine ... Carolyn enjoying wide-open sliding doors and a cool sea breeze, Linda & Claudette enjoying sunshine & breeze poolside.  We reconnect around 1P in the room, as Martha should arrive soon (expecting to sail).

The supply of vino blanco had been entirely exhausted last night, so when Martha and Alicia arrive we discuss the logistics of the next few days.  It's agreed that Martha, Alicia & Claudette will drive to Walmart and fill in a few blanks, while Carolyn & Linda concentrate on dinner prep.  Stuffing rehydrated dried anchos with diced potatoes was an interesting assignment ... pieces of pork roast were quickly sauteed and held for later presentation, and two zucchinis and chayotes were diced up.  Chayote was a new thing for us, it's a cousin of zucchini with a bit of a radish-y zip to it.  It was pleasant eating sampled raw, and added a nice crunch to the ultimate dinner dish.

The shoppers returned after a bit and we chatted for a while.  Finally it became clear why Martha was so unknown at her place of residence ... the reservation is in her husband's name!  OK, we feel less weird now.

With no cruise to attend, we served dinner a little early.  The starter was the stuffed anchos draped with an onion mixture in a sweet/sour sauce that was mighty tasty.

After a little break, the pork cutlets were presented with the steamed, cubed vegetables in a tomatillo-and-pepita sauce; a few roasted pepitas garnshed the presentation.  Steamed broccoli and the marinated onion mixture on the side, and we tucked right in.  No one felt the need for dessert.

We discussed plans for Wednesday and Thursday; we're hopeful that the museums will be open on Wednesday, so we will meet in the pleasant plaza in front of the Art Museum tomorrow at 11.  After taking in the exhibits there and at the neighboring Archeology Museum, we'll grab a bus up to F.I.S.H. and enjoy a fresh dinner, then split to our respective domiciles.  Martha took the heavy bag of goodies that Claudette had brought for her, and we celebrated the fact that the little styrofoam cooler now was filled primarily with beer (not fresh produce).  We're making progress!

And another beautiful evening to tuck us all in...

Sunday 2/16 getting it together

We enjoyed toast for breakfast and began to sort out the tour opportunities and sketch out a plan.  There's a sunset cruise; we have free passes to a city tour; there's a combo tour of a nearby town plus the local tequila factory, and too many other options.  We have set priorities and will see how timing works out.  Also, the friends from Tepic arrive next week and may want to participate in some ... we'll see!

Linda had begun to edit some gnarly English on a handout we'd been given yesterday.  I added a couple of things and we took it back to the nice woman at the concierge desk.  She was startled to see so many suggestions, but pleased for the education as she's studying to be a teacher.  We told her she could email us any time and we'd proofread, and she actually sounded like she might DO that.  In any event, she asked if we had any input on the other handouts available at the desk.

Linda and Claudette then hit the sun'n'sand.  The pool has a wall across its middle, dividing the heated section from the unheated (water volleyball) section.  This is the clearest indication we've had that we are significantly further north than Puerto Vallarta, let alone Acapulco.  In addition to conserving warm water, the wall serves as a freeway for the local iguana colony, who seem to thrive in the water despite the chlorine.

Meanwhile, I flung open the sliding windows and pulled things together in our small kitchen (Linda had kindly packed a nice assortment of additional tools, making life much simpler).  Four rounds of blendered sauces later, we were set for a seared skirt steak with adobo sauce dinner, augmented by a favorite, green poblano rice.  Plus a flavorful paste to be turned into mole, and a roasted cactus salad for tomorrow.

We polished off the jicama for a late lunch, happy to find it even better with the overnight blending of its flavors.  Dinner was ample and provided some leftovers for a future lunch or snack.

The fresh air, and still being a bit off-kilter from our travel day led to an early-to-bed stampede, with a shared goal of walking the beach early in the morning tomorrow.

Saturday 2/15: free hustle and breakfast

As usual, the venue extends an offer for a fabulous free breakfast buffet and then a "review" of your arrangements.  Our salesman was a quintessential surfer-dude and quite a charmer.  Beyond THAT, he found a whole variety of ways to improve the existing arrangements.  So for once, it seems things balanced out to our favor.

We worked on a menu plan for the first several days and hailed a cab to the local Wal-Mart.  The driver was experienced in these matters and told us he'd pick us up in an hour.  We had the usual challenges of navigating with Spanish not even a SECOND language, but worked it out and got on home again.  Grilled cheese on home-baked sourdough (we brought three loaves of good bread to sustain us) was the feature for dinner, flanked by an interesting salad of jicama/radish/cucumber/oranges with a garnish of pickled red onions.

Oh, and BTW, we cut up and poached a chicken for use in coming days.  Not bad for a trio of jet-lagged gringas.

Friday 2/14: Early to rise, early to bed!

Day 1:   Up at 3A, out at 5A into a (comparatively) balmy 20 degrees in Chicago.  Arrive O'Hare without incident, and fall into line to get checked in.  Our error, we felt since we were connecting to an international flight we should not try the self-check-in.  45 l...o...n...g minutes later, we learned the sad truth.  But, with a little rearranging of contents, all suitcases passed the weight test and we were finally on our way.

By then, our flight was well into boarding and the announcement was made that there was no remaining overhead storage, so Linda had to check her larger carry-on.  But we made it to PHX and got connected to our flight to Mazatlan without any further challenges.  (I managed to complete the first "beach read" we'd brought along!)

We found our free ride to the hotel easily, and arranged for return transport for Linda and me; Claudette will stay up in Tepic another couple of weeks.  Lucky lady! 

While the route to the hotel was convoluted, we eventually DID arrive and found our standard room.  We know how to work this easily, and settled in.  The lodging provided chits for free margaritas and had a nice Valentine's Day special at the restaurant, so we treated ourselves and gratefully turned in for a well-earned night's sleep.