2 Day Trippin

Well let's see... how to write about the recent past events without taking up yards of blog space... Let me just say that it has been raining, alot. Rained hard in the afternoon Saturday and all night Sunday, and Sunday morning I left to watch football at Caliente with the Ceruttis around 11am. Left at 11, got in the car around 11:15, since the stairs are so FREAKING dangerous when they are wet. It would have been best just to slither down the stairs like a snake. Anyway, went and watched football all day, and it rained all day as well. By the time we were ready to go, around 5:30, the parking lot was completely flooded and the water was up half way up the tires on the van. We waded out to it (more or less) and on the way back to my 'hood we encountered much flooding and traffic. They dropped me off and left, but when I made it up to my apartment, no lights. No power, no fan, nothing. Pissed. I grabbed the phone and called Janet's cel and they came back and picked me up, as I had to get ready for work. I also called Martha (landlord) because when I called Laura (neighbor), SHE had power. So Martha did some checking and figured it was something with my meter (like this little piece that gets fried or something, I don't know, I'm an escrow officer, God dammit), and said it was too rainy to send "the electrician" out Sunday night, but would send him out at 7:30 Monday morning. Fine. I worked and went home at 12:30 to a quiet, stuffy, dark apartment. Blah.Monday morning, still raining. I was up at 7:15 and started pulling stuff out to start packing, since Janet and I were going to Florida that day, leaving at 12n. THAT was fun, poking in the even-darker spots of this freaking apartment looking for things I haven't used in months... I loved that... Anyway, 7:30 came and went and no sign of "the electrician", so I gave him til 9am and I called Martha. She said she would try to reach him, and that she herself was coming by 10am, but I was flipping out on her because I had to shower and leave the country and all that and this could not be a WORSE day for all of this shit to not be getting fixed. Not to mention all the food in my fridge (okay, there wasn't that much in there) that I lost and the freezer defrosting all over the kitchen floor. I was on the phone unloading all over poor Janet who had phoned to see how things were going (and who was rightfully excited about our little trip),when I saw “the electrician” walking up the parking lot: Wilberth, Martha’s handyman who had installed the hammock hooks one day, speaking a Spanish I could not understand while he pounded out holes in the wall like Fred Flintstone writing a letter. I hung up with Janet and greeted him at the door looking like the picture I am first thing in the morning, and blundered through an explanation as to what was wrong. He went downstairs to the meter while I continued to pack and about 15 minutes later I felt a cool breeze on my neck: the ceiling fan! Moments later Martha phoned and said she was downstairs with Wilberth and that she would be up in a minute, she was going to have him show her how to fix it in the future.

Now I am stressed and it’s 11am and I am not showered and … well you know how it goes. We got to the airport in plenty of time (quick detour to terminal 2 for Janet to get her papers to leave with an FM3) and our flight left a little bit early and arrived a little bit early, which was nice.

Our hotel room rocked – I thought (no, I KNOW) I booked a 1 bedroom suite, and we ended up with a 2 bedroom suite (2 full baths, full kitchen, living room, dining room) that was huge. Janet called it her happy place. We actually got to watch network TV and see shows that I didn’t even know existed. So that was nice.

Monday night we walked over to Borders Bookstore (woo hoo) and picked up a book for my friend Kimberley who lives here and couldn’t get the book shipped, then crossed the street to the Wild Oats (woo HOO) and picked up some hummus and some flatbread, some muffins for breakfast and some orange juice, and then next door to the Starbucks (WOO HOO) for a venti pumpkin spice latte (I was practically weeping while trying to decide what to have). We stayed up til like 1:30am watching network TV. Silly what you miss.

Tuesday we were at the mall next door from 10:30 until about 2:30 or so. Janet scored big time, huge bargains and got some really great stuff. I hit Victoria’s Secret and got some Ralph Lauren pants on sale (of course, on sale for Ralph means about $70), and then we took a little break and cabbed over to the Coral Ridge Mall, where there is a Target and a Marshall’s and that kind of stuff. I spent well over $80 (based upon my adage that you cannot leave Target without dropping $80) and got some good shit. We also picked up some taco seasoning (those little packets?) for Anto of all people, who wanted her tacos to taste like Taco Bell. That cracks me up. Anto was born in DF and raised in Cancun… We went back to the hotel and had a sandwich in the restaurant, then stayed up late enough to watch Boston Legal (yay).

Wednesday I was up at 6:30, and we were at the airport by 9am. Flight was about ½ an hour late but still we got back to Cancun with little issue at the airport (they xray all suitcases and mine was pulled for a hand search, either it was my gigantic curling iron or the George Forman grill I bought, but I wasn’t that concerned since the natural peanut butter I got for Kim was sealed). Other than that, no issues in immigration (didn’t get but 30 days, but I can live with that, looks like you’ll be reading about another immigration trip sooner than later). Back to all kinds of rain (raining for days) and my slippery staircase, but at least I still have power.

It was a good trip, worth it all around, and now I am pretty much set until February I guess. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens then.

Nice idea, trying to keep it short.