I think I've caught a traveling nervous disorder, although I'm not 100% certain since it hasn't happened in three's just yet. The first symptom occurred on January 4th, 2011, when Aimee and I were held up at customs in super long lines, and our flight left without us (my first missed flight ever). Then this morning, not even two months later, I found myself standing at an empty gate, wondering why my flight wasn't boarding at a mere 5-minutes to the scheduled departure - and the attendant told me that it had boarded at a different gate 25 minutes prior. So much for getting to the airport super early in hopes of blazing through security (which I had). Anywho, I was quickly put on the next available flight which turned out to be only 30 minutes later, and I was on my way once again! International connection crisis averted! Fast forward one gross Burger King breakfast and seven hours later, and you'd find me casually laying on the oddly soft crab grass at the Manzanillo Aeropuerto, waiting for some form of Christian (maybe a Catholic, a Baptist, or even someone resembling the friend I'm meeting) to appear an sweep me away to an aquatic Mexican paradise. But no one was there, so I opened my new TSA locks on my Pelican case (first time traveling with it in a non-work related journey) and snapped off a shot of me on said crabgrass (again, surprisingly soft!), and contemplated nothing - it was great. Minutes later and with a slowly-clearing cache of city-life opening my brain up to more brilliant colors and smells, a Christian tried to creep up from behind me, but I saw him and foiled his plot to startle me (that's Danny - 2, Christian - 0, for the record). After a good embrace, hello, and introduction to the kindly and providing Kip (or Christobol) who was giving us a ride back to Melaque, we cranked the A/C worked our way to the beach. Past the truck filled with maniquins, around the roadside machinegun turrets, to Grandmother's house we go! We arrived at the Bungalows at San Pedro 20-something minutes later, and upon exiting the car Christian began singing "Maria....!" in his best WSS immatation. And yes, I just abbreviated a classic. Anywho, out onto the second story veranda peeks a slender, beautiful woman with a voice like...well, a French-Canadian Chinese Jazz singer. And, low and behold, if she isn't just that! Now this may seem a bit odd here in Mexico, but in fact this small town is nearly run-over by Canadians! Seriously, population density almost puts the local Mexicans in the minority! Seriously? Well, for what it's worth, the tacos are cheap, the language barrier isn't inpenetrable, and the mood is positive and mild. But then again, it IS Sunday night, and we caught the tail end of the 7-o'clock mass as we were strolling the streets looking for a specific pizza joint with a Pink Floyd poster of painted ladies. Fast forward two hours, we ate the pizza, I attempted to teach 13 to Maria and Christian with a non-suited deck of Mexican cards (40 cards, apparently...), and failed. So then it turned to magic tricks using the before-mentioned Mexican cards, followed by more laughs and ultimately, failure. : ) I've got internet access tonight, and some time to unwind, so I thought I'd hit up the ol' blogger before we said off for a few weeks (I have no idea when I'll be in a city again, except for when I fly out of Acapulco on the 12th. In the photos above, you'll see an aerial photo of the bay, and another of the bay we're anchored in. If you look directly south of the "M" in Melaque, where that line meets the beach is where we are, and it's a nice anchorage. Sandy bottom, northern protection, limited swell wrap, and easy-access tacos. Mmm-Mmmm-Good.
Alright, I'm off to watch a movie - peace yo!
