(Please read our Covid 19 Statement first - Ed) After a fun-filled and relaxing day at Bahia de San Quintin, we're relaxing in our room at the Mission Inn in Vicente Guerrero when my wife announces that her brother just posted on Facebook that he, his wife, and their two kids are at Estero Beach Hotel in Ensenada.
While we'd had some other plans, mostly of the shopping variety, for tomorrow, this changes things.
The wife and kids live in Mexicali so it's a rare day when we get to see them. I haven't seen the boy for five years and I've never met the girl.
We quickly rehash the itinerary. Third night at the Mission Inn is cancelled and a quick call to Estero Beach gets us a reservation for tomorrow night.
Bags are repacked and we bed down to get rested up for our impromptu family reunion the next day.
We have a final breakfast at the hotel restaurant, shower up (which will come in handy for what's ahead), check out, and hit the road.
On the way down, Letty saw a guy selling copper pots on the side of the road. I said we could stop and take a look on the way back if he was still there. He was so I have to honor my promise.
She checks out the dozens on display and shows me the pot she wants and tells me the guy wants $180 US for it. I start back towards the car. She tells the guy that I won't spend that much money. He drops the price to $120. I show him the $80 I have in my wallet and tell him he can have that for the pot because that's all I have.
Deal. Now just to find a spot in the van for a rather large copper pot.
We chat with the guy for a few more minutes before continuing on to Estero Beach, which is nearby.
After checking in, we find our room is just three doors down from Letty's brother's room. It's large and the hotel has been upgraded since we've last been here. A spacious room with two queen beds, flat screen with a whole lot more than the three, barely perceptible channels we had last time, and the same patio with the great ocean view.
Families come together on our patio. Tim, my brother-in-law, and I kill a bottle of tequila together while chatting in the ocean breeze.
My nephew and niece are two very sweet kids with the girl being a little more of an extrovert than the boy. I take them over to the nearby beach.
Between their very basic grasp on English and my similar skills in Spanish, I'm able to at least teach them the joys of building sand castles.
We spend the rest of the day just catching up on the patio before having up to a great steak dinner at the adjacent restaurant and calling it a night.
In the morning, I go to take a shower but when I turn the spigot all the way on, nothing comes out. I call the office but there's no answer. It's about a quarter mile walk to the office so I wait a bit.
After about an hour, the phone rings. It's the front office apologizing that there's no water. There won't be until noon, they say. I'll be out by then, I say.
"How about a free breakfast on us?"
"Won't the restaurant need water too?" I ask.
Probably, the lady at the counter admits. I ask for a room discount which they are not too keen to give.
Hanging up, I thank God that I took one last shower in San Quintin, along with Tim taking one too, so we can get by if we needed to. A half hour later, two water trucks arrive to fill up the hotel's cisterns. Water is now available and all talk of discounts are off the table.
With that, it's one more plate of chilaquiles in the restaurant and it's off to endure the border crossing back into the states. It's a complete pain but at least today it only takes us 68 minutes to cross compared to the almost three hours of our last trip.
That's it for this trip into Mexico. For us, and you, this will wrap up our Month of Mexico.
Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved
Photos copyright 2015 - Letty Musick
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