Top 10 List - Mazatlan

In no particular order ...

10. 3 Body Massages and a pedicure...all around $35 each! Not to mention meeting the amazing Cucka masseusse. Not only was she amazing...if you were lucky, which Jaime and I were, she would even offer you some of her tamale she had been saving for lunch. We thouroghly enjoyed our pedicures as we talked of economics, politics and passports and visas with our lovely Monica and Lucy. Jaime's Spanish really came out that day...I was so proud.

Note to self: when getting a pedicure in MX, stick with a solid paint color...now I know why they didn't ask us if we wanted a flower on our big toe.

Getting our pedis

Cuckita and Me

Getting ready for our last massage

9. Having our favorite friends Danny and Jaime with us to celebrate their 14th anniversary and our 10th anniversary. We weren't sure if it was a sure thing as the Summerhays' had recently sold their house and bought a new one. Luckily the closing dates aren't for later this month and they graced us with their presence for 5 nights. Not only are they great BFF's, but they also work part time as referees and had to work a couple of hours on our infamous night of words.


8. Getting a sweet deal at the "90 minute" timeshare meeting. We received: breakfast, 2 rounds of 18 holes, 2 - 1 hour massages, $300 in meal vouchers and a city tour that was never used. Thank you Cheryl...even though you came to hate us in the end, we toasted to your name each night we were eating out in style!

To Cheryl....

7. Playing Phase 10 every night...except for one...(but that game was made up the next day.) Each night Leo would break out the playlist and anytime a song was requested, if he had it...he would play it. But only after he got to choose 6 Spanish songs. The games wouldn't have been complete without a kitchen break for Danny every 5 minutes or a preauthoriezed signature line if you wanted to opt out of the game. Jaime was eventually crowned Queen of Sinaloa State (Mazatlan).



6. Alberto and his cute, bushy eyebrows. His brows were so full of animation each time a question arose. This guy was the best waiter ever...kind, friendly and not easy to offend. Don't ever be afraid to tell your waiter that your guacamole and cheese taste like Caballo...horse, because mine did. He was there on our beautiful last night, and walked over to Angelo's to get Jaime and our our chocolate cheesecake that we had been craving.

Alberto...or was it Alfonso?


5. Our wonderful boys from Monterrey Mexico..also on vacation. They seemed to have brought their woofer, subwoofer and their whole sound system as a carryon. They set up shop right next to us by the pool daily and took our requests (only Country) kindly. If you were lucky...which we were, and if they had enough to drink, they would even sing to the songs. This all came to a complete hault after another guest at the hotel complained. Was it the loudness, or their 50 foot extension cord that wrapped into some strangers room... or the hazard of having all those expensive electronics near a pool....we will never know...we never got their names. To us they will always be: The Monterrey Boys

They basically looked like this...only dark and with hair

4. Our wonderful, yet dangerous rides on the Pominos...and our ever favorite chauffer Miguel. We were pleasured to have Miguel pick us up as we ventured to Joe's Oyster Bar that was supposedly a couple of blocks away. As we started getting nervous being in a questionable part of town...out of nowhere came Miguel, speeding thru the street with Def Leopard blasting. We survived a few near crashes as he amused us with his stories and partial slurring while telling them. Our last night was complete in Mazatlan when we went to hail a taxi (Pamino...golf cart) and Miguel was the driver. We requested Def Leopard, had him take us to our usual and concluded with a picture together. It would've been icing on the cake if he would've remembered us...our suspicions were correct during our first encounter...he shouldn't have been driving that night...he was a little tipsy.

Miguel

Rocking out to Def Leopard

3. Juan Carlos...enough said. This little Dustin Hoffmann look-a-like gave Jaime and I whatever we requested...although all we requested was a late checkout and an iron...he always came thru and quickly became known to me as "Mi Amorcito"...My Love. Come to find out he was the Manager of the Hotel and was humbled at the request to be in our picture.

Us with Juan Carlos

2. Converting pesos to dollars and vice versa. Since we had $300 in meal vouchers (in $50 increments) we had to plan accordingly. It was a "use it or lose it" philosophy...if you didn't order $50 worth of food, there was no money given back on the vouchers. So, Jaime and I sat down and carefully planned out the alotted amount we could use each night. All of that usually went out the window once Leo and Danny ordered or when Jaime and Danny ordered...somehow I always got the short end of the stick...like my chocolate cake that was eaten by the Summerhays with my points.



1. Relaxation...just being by the beach and the pool was all I needed to be happy for the week. Along with some American food from Sam's Club that basically consisted of The Cheesecake Factory stuff and Belgian Waffles with whip cream. There was never a shortage of poolside margaritas and daquiris along with huge orders of chips and guacamole and reading The Time Travelers Wife and chatting it up with Jaime as we meticulously timed each side of our layout sessions.