Okay, I guess I might as well do this in chronological order.
Tuesday
So, we did end up going to House of Nanking for dinner, and we did have to wait for quite some time before we were allowed to enter the restaurant and be seated. Anyway, we finished dinner around 9pm, and we found ourselves at a New Orleans-style jazz bar where we had a couple of drinks before we headed off to the airport.
We parked over at my favorite off-airport long-term parking facility, Anza Park and Sky. If you ever use long-term parking, be sure to check out LongTermParking.com... it's really a great place to get online coupons. Parking for 6 full days cost me just under $60 with their $9.50 per day coupon.
Anyway, back to the story... well, I guess it's technically Wednesday now.
Wednesday
Our 3-legged flight from San Francisco to Houston to Mexico City to Zihuatanejo was on-time and departed at 12:40am. Having gotten very little sleep the night before, I promptly fell asleep. When we get to Houston, we grabbed some breakfast and basically waited around doing nothing, but being tired and grumpy travellers. Finally, we're off the Mexico City, where we had a difficult time trying to figure out where we needed to be to catch the flight to our final destination. Apparently, many flights at the Mexico City airport are not assigned gates until an hour before departure. That really confused the hell out of us.
Ok, we finally get word of the gate, and we arrive there and get on the plane. But, all is not right... where are Mr. and Mrs. GZA of 12th Street? The four of us were supposed to share this leg of the trip, and we were supposed to get our pre-party drink on. Didn't happen. Turns out their flight out of LAX was delayed and they missed the connection. Bummer. So, QB and I end up at Zihuatanejo without Mr. and Mrs. 12th Street.
After landing, we catch a cab to the Barceló Ixtapa Beach Hotel. It was around 3 o'clock when we chekced in. The hotel is very nice... not 5-star nice, but a solid 4 stars. All of us purchased the all-inclusive package, and so everything was covered. This included all of our meals and all alcoholic drinks (no top-shelf stuff, but it was alright), along with all the regular stuff you'd get with any hotel room. All of us ended up with an ocean view rooms, which was definitely a nice bonus.
Here are two shots from the hotel room balcony.
So, after checking out the view, we head down to the pool area to get some drinks. Mr. and Mrs. Spud found the two of us, and we exchanged tales about our long flights. They arrived at the hotel a couple of hours before we did, and they started their journey at 1:30am.
That afternoon, we lounged around by the pool and beach for the most part. The water was ridiculously warm. Might as well have been swimming in a bathtub. Not refreshing at all. The beach, however, was awesome. The water was the perfect temperature, really. Eventually, we made our way back to our rooms, and it was then that I received a call from the GZA, who went on to explain everything.
That first night, we all ate a special hotel dinner while watching a Mexican dance show on a stage. The food was definitely decent, considering it was all included in our package and was buffet-style. And, since we're all such smart people, we figured out the secret to getting strong drinks at an all-inclusive place... you simply order a mixed drink along with shots of hard liquor of your choice.
We also kicked it at the hotel bar, which was the closest thing to a club at the hotel. It had a dance floor and everything. And, they had great servers that really knew how to take care of their customers. Also, one other thing... this particular bar was air-conditioned. It was extremely hot and humid in Ixtapa... full of mosquitoes too.
Thursday
In the morning, Spud and I went down for some breakfast, and then off to the Aqua Paradise dive shop at the hotel. Spud loves diving... he's been talking about diving for quite some time now. And, before our trip, I had more or less promised I'd do a scuba diving program with him. Had I known how much time and effort would have been required beforehand, there's no way I would have agreed to it. Though, in hindsight, I'm really glad I went through with it.
We were then given a scuba diving manual and asked to read it before our first lesson, which would take place at 4pm on Friday. We had to do all this reading, because on top of completing chapter tests that get sent to the PADI organization, we'd also be given 4 quizzes followed by a final exam to obtain our cerficates.
Once we had all of that taken care of, it was time to relax on the beach. The beach was awesome, and all of us were mostly just relaxing and doing some reading, attempting to solve Sudokus, or getting a tan. The GZA went parasailing, also.
Here's the GZA up in the air. You can barely see him, but I assure you that it's him.
Unfortunately, the beach fun did not last. Mrs. Spud, the QB, and I went out into the water at some point that afternoon. I swam out sort of far to float around and do some swimming, and Mrs. Spud and QB were closer to shore jumping waves and enjoying the water's coolness. Then, I spot this pretty large wave break right on them and wipe them out. Mrs. Spud recovers, but QB is nowhere to be seen. I get really worried and start swimming towards shore, when a few seconds later QB gets up from her spill. But, something's not right, as I see Mrs. Spud rush off with her out of the water.
I make it to shore and catch up with them halfway to the hotel. And, QB's face is completely bloodied from what appears to be a broken nose. Man, I was really feeling bad. The swelling was severe, and blood was everywhere. We head off the the 24-hour First Aid center inside the hotel, and a doctor is on standby and checks her out. He was surprised that there was not a broken nose after all, just an incredible amount of swelling. He prescribed some anti-inflammatory medicine, and asked us to get X-Rays the next morning, just in case.
The hotel staff was able to secure the medication and deliver it to our room. We planned on taking the night off for the most part due to the injury. But, QB's a trooper who really wanted to go down and have fun with everyone else. So, we did. We all had a lot of good laughs. Mostly talking about old shit and funny stuff that's happened in our lives. The GZA and Mrs. GZA got their dance floor groove on that night, as did Spud and his wife. I was exempt, and decided to have a ton of pina coladas instead. Note to self: Do not go overboard on pina coladas, especially if you've also had way too much fresh fruit that same day. We won't be getting into any details about that, but you can use your imagination.
Friday
Woke up early, and headed to Zihuatanejo to get X-Rays done on QB's face. Good news... no fractures. So, we headed back to the hotel for another day of eating, drinking, and lounging around.
At 4pm, Spud and I head to the dive shop and get ready for our lessons. But, before we can begin, the instructor had use fulfill the PADI swimming requirement. We had to swim laps adding up to roughly an eighth of a mile (in the uncomfortably warm swimming pool, I might add). Following the swim, we had to float in the water for 10 minutes. The swim really shouldn't have been too tough, but man I'm getting out of shape. And, the uncomfortable temperature of the water surely did not help. The float kind of sucked, because I'm so used to floating in saltwater, which is way easier.
After the swim test, we learned all about the equipment used for scuba diving and how to put everything together. We were then ready for our confined water dive. We put on all our scuba gear and did the scuba thing in the swimming pool. Not much to see down there except for fat and hairy legs and the occasional set of sexy ones. This confined dive also included practice of many of the skills required for certification. In order to get certified, you need to show competency in a number of skills during an ocean dive ranging from flushing out water-filled goggles to performing an emergency ascent to towing an exhausted diver on the water's surface. The confined dive and all the associated training took nearly four hours!
QB was sitting by the pool waiting for me to hurry up, since we were both very late to a dinner engagement with the Mr. and Mrs. GZA. So, anyway, after this first lesson, I rushed upstairs and got changed. We were off to a 'restaurant' called La Sirena Gorda (The Fat Mermaid) that GZA's cousin had recommended from when she had traveled to Ixtapa. I put restaurant in quotes, because it's much more like a bar. The food was quite good though... no complaints. I had octopus tacos, and the QB had a whole snapper. I can't recall what the 12th street clan had, but I do remember it looked good. Oh ya, the guacamole dip was excellent.
After the meal, we checked out the gift shop. Mrs. GZA bought a nice pair of earrings and also a gift for a friend. We ended up buying nothing, because we're cheap bastards. No, actually, QB was gonna buy something, but changed her mind for some reason. The GZA and I are guys, and it goes without saying that we don't really shop.
After we got back to the hotel, it was more of the same... drinking and relaxing at the hotel bar. Not for me though. I had maybe only one more beer at the bar that night, since I'd have to be up early the next morning to go dive in the real ocean.
Saturday
I get up bright and early and grab a very light breakfast. Spud had mostly finished his meal by the time I started eating. That breakfast that Spud had might have played a role in the events that were to unfold.
After we ate, we are sent to the pier to meet up with our instructor to begin our real ocean dives. We need to complete four of these for the certification. As we head out, Spud is getting noticeably seasick. A very bad sign considering he had taken Dramamine, a Pfizer (PFE) Consumer Healthcare product. Well, we started our first dive, and within a few minutes Spud is really not feeling well and had to return to the boat. It was a sad hour in Ixtapa.
So, after I finished the dive and proved my competency in a few skills, we headed back to the pier and dropped Spud off. At least he did not puke, and for that we salute Spud, Mr. I-Got-Seasick-But-Held-It-In-Like-A-Man, a real American Hero.
After we dropped him off, the instructor and I headed back out for my second dive. It was a shorter dive, and also shallower. Turns out that you're supposed to do deeper dives first and shallower ones later. That's what I learned anyhow. So, after that dive, we get back to the pier, and I'm glad to see that Spud's doing a lot better.
Before I go on, I gotta say that diving is pretty awesome. There's a ton of crazy shit down there. And, unless you're really familiar with ocean life, there are a ton of misconceptions. Like, I got to actually play around with an octopus and a blown-up puffer fish while I was down there. I had no idea that puffer quills are more like blunt pencils than sharp pins.
While diving, I also got to see a number of different eels and lots of other sea life. Two eels I remember most vividly are the regular moray and the zebra moray. I also got bitten a few times by a Damsel Fish (highly territorial, and one of the bites broke skin). If I actually held grudges, I'd go back there hunt it down and cook it. I also encountered the highly venomous stonefish, which was quickly shoo'd away by the instructor.
After the dive, I hung out at the beach a bit, and then took the final examination, which I passed with an 86%... not a great score, but a fairly efficient one. Perfect efficiency would have had me passing with the bare minimum of 75%. Oh well.
That night, QB and I went to an amazing restaurant with the GZA and his wife. The place was called Villa De La Selva. What a place! What great food. It had the most awesome view, and the food was beyond excellent. We all absolutely loved the food there. It was pricy, but the kind of meal we got would have easily cost us double had it been in San Francisco.
We all had nice appetizers... here's a taste.
The GZA had an arrachera dish. For those who are unfamiliar, arrachera is a special cut of beef that comes from the cow's diaphragm. Here's a look at his lovely dish.
I had an excellent seared tuna dish. Mrs. GZA had a 'surf and turf' dish. And, QB had triple medley of fish. Here are a few more pics of our food, respectively. The food looks much better in person... blame the photographer for the poor quality pictures.
Here's a view from our table...
For dessert, GZA and his wife shared Banana Flambé. And, QB and I opted to skip dessert and have some coffee.
Sunday
Our trip was coming to a close. This was going to be our last full day. I headed off to complete my diving certification. After two more dives and many skill demonstrations later, I was official. I went and got my picture taken, and I'll be expecting a certification card in the mail some time soon. Yay!
On our final night, all of us headed to the Don Quixote restaurant in the hotel. This is our one special restaurant meal that we get with our all-inclusive package. We got to choose an appetizer, a soup, a main dish, and a dessert. I personally thought the meal was great. But, not everyone shares my feelings... that night, Mrs. Spud experienced some sickness. As a result, I'll keep the kudos to myself.
At least I got to drink and party a fair amount that night having no dive to make the next day. We had plenty of beer and tequila... yay, again!
Monday
QB and I get up fairly early to pack and check-out. After doing so, we headed to the stores across the street and did some gift-shopping. I picked up a cool looking bowl for her mother, which she appreciated.
Anyway, we fly back without any real problems, and here I am days later writing this.
Hope you enjoyed the travel log.
