The Final Installment - Lost in Los Cabos

Ha, no, actually this isn't the final installment...in fact, I've got a lot more of Mexico to go. And knowing I'm going to be doing nightwatch in a few days on the open ocean voyage to Puerto Vallarta, I know that's gonna be an exciting tale to tell.

But anyway, this is final installment of my precarious adventures by myself in Cabo. So I will continue...

There I was on the bus, just starting to relax (and wonder why the hell my parents never came to meet me at the airport) when Jessie came on board.

As the bus roared off down the road, Jessie and I got to talking. Well, I should say, I got to talking, unloading on him about my woes and adventures of the day.

Feeling sorry for me (and generous) he split a six-pack of Corona with me (the bus pulled over to a roadside liquor store) ...only to realize that we didn't have a bottle opener. No matter, he had one built in to the bottom of his shoes.

Anyhoo, we got to talking and turns out we had a lot in common. An Alaskan boy going to the University of Reno (and taking, get this, Journalism), Jessie was flying down for a few days to meet his dad (who is in oil) on a boys fishing trip.

By the time the bus dropped me off at my hotel, we exchanged hotel numbers, thinking that since we are both here with our parents, we would probably want to go out and party in order to take a break from them.

Feeling buzzed on my three Coronitas, I waved goodbye to him and checked into my hotel, which ended up being a lot further out of town than I had originally thought.

At one point I asked the front desk girl if my mother was here (my parents were, or so I thought, well aware of what hotel I was staying in for my first few days in Cabo and my mum was in fact supposed to be staying in the room with me while my father was on the boat). The front desk girl didn't speak much English but when I mentioned the word "Mother," she started nodding, "Yes your Mother, I know."

I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking my parents were probably in my room at the moment.

So you can imagine my confusion when I burst into my room, only to find no one there at all.

I looked at the clock. It was 6 PM, hours after my flight had first arrived. Where the fuck was everyone?

Confused, I called my father's cell phone, his US cell phone and his Satellite phone. Nothing worked and no one answered.

Eventually, as the night wore on, I called Ross thinking that perhaps he had heard from my parents...I also missed him dearly (yes I'd been away from him for a day, but so sue me, I'm a sap and you try being cool when you are alone and poor in a foreign country).

Unfortunately, Ross hadn't heard from them either. So that's when I started to panick, despite him reassuring me that everything would be OK.

Then the phone cut out and I wasn't able to call out again. I have no idea why. Mexico befuddles me.

I fell asleep early, thinking that the only thing I could do was just wait for my parents to call. Since they knew what hotel I was in, how hard would it be to call me up and at least tell me what the hell is going on? I think it was at this part I shed a few tears...but hey, I was tired and completely frusterated.

******

I woke up at 11 PM to the phone ringing. Breathlessly, I answered it.

"Hey, find your parents yet?"

It was Jessie, inviting me out with his dad and him. I declined, being half-asleep in bed and also lacking the funds to get into town. I was also getting angry. How is it that a guy from Alaska that I had just met a few hours ago was calling me to see if I was OK, and yet my parents were nowhere to be found.

******

The next morning came around. I lasted until about 1PM before I started to panick again. I was able to sneak down to the Breakfast Room to get a slice of toast and coffee, but other than that I was unwilling to leave my room in case they showed up or called. So, I was pretty much trapped in my hotel room with old magazines and nothing to do but worry and wait.

At 2 PM, Jessie called again, back from his fishing trip. He talked some sense into me and told me to come down to see his dad and him in town. They would pay for my taxi ride as well as lunch. I reluctantly agreed, not wanting anymore charity, but at least I could go to an internet cafe and see if someone had emailed me. I left a message with the front desk in case my parents came by or called (something along the lines of "I'm in town with friend. I have no money. Am hungry, need food. Will be back later.")

I got to town (which ended up being only a 3 min cab ride), thanked the taxi driver (who held my hand a little too, uh, long) and Jessie came out to pay for my cab.

Their hotel was the Siesta Suites, which was a nice, quaint little motel in the middle of town and near the marina. The dad bought me a beer and I made a beeline to the glories of all glories: An Internet Cafe.

There I updated my blog (ha, as you can see, my priorities are straight) and got an email from the boyfriend. Thank God, my parents had gotten in touch with him (apparentlty they did NOT know what hotel I was in, the satellite phone BARELY works and they wouldn't even BE in Cabo San Lucas until later that evening).

So after letting him know the name and number of my hotel (and Jessie's hotel in case we were hanging out in the bar), I felt like I could finally breathe. My parents hadn't forgotten about me, they were just unable to reach me.

I don't know about you, but nothing follows relief better than a gigantic margarita, dranken by the sea with gusto. Which is what I proceeded to do as I was treated to a nice meal of tortilla soup by Jessie's father and their friend Scotty.
The treating was continued as we went back to their hotel and drank more beer and tequila at the cute hotel bar. While Jessie's dad and Scotty were busy hacking up the million pounds of Tuna they caught earler that day, Jessie and I infiltrated the hotel owner's birthday party where we were treated to free appetizers (but not free drinks. Boo).

Which was just as well, considering I was not in any state of mind to keep drinking. Of course, I did keep drinking...went on to try some tasty but dangerous tequila shots at the Zoo bar and the Hard Rock Cafe. I think at one point I whipped out my credit card and insisted on buying shots for Jessie as well as all of the waiters there.

Anyway, it wasn't too long before I felt ill and just wanted to go back to the hotel, feeling that my parents were probably there and waiting for me.

The cab dropped me off and I stumbled haphazardly into my room, flicking on the lights. And once again, no one was there.

It was at this point that I lost it completely. All the stress, all the booze and all of my anxiety just melded into one and I started freaking right out and crying all over the place. Why hadn't they come yet? They said they would be here. Where are they? Why haven't they called? Why aren't there any messages? It was already 1 AM but not knowing what to do I rang up Ross. He didn't answer so I left a long, sobbing message on his machine which probably didn't make much sense.

Then I passed out.

*******

At 8 AM the next morning, the phone rang, waking me out of my stupor. It was Ross, and even though I barely remember talking to him in my drunk/comatose/hungover state, I knew he was saying soothing things like "don't worry" and "everything will be fine." I also think he told me that he had gotten in touch with my parents again and that the phone numbers I had given Ross over the email didn't work for them or him (until he googled the hotel). But I'm pretty sure he ended the conversation by saying something like "you'll see them today."

I didn't matter anyway. I just passed out again.

*******

At noon the door to my hotel room flung open and in came my Mother. I should have been happy and relieved to see her but not only was I a bit miffed at the whole ordeal that I had been put through over the last few days, I was suffering from the mother of all hangovers (what on earth was in those shots?)

Anyhoo, she explained her situation, which is a long one and which I will explain one day, but the short of it is that there was a lot of mixed signals, coupled with the fact that their phone never worked and that Mexican red tape slowed their trip down a few days. And of course, if you know my mom, or anyone's mom for that matter, she was freaking out about not finding me as much as I was freaking out about not finding her.

When she was done explaining and decided to head down to the pool, I passed out again. But this time my headache and vomityness was peppered with a sense of relief and knowing that, for now, everything was going to be all right.

*******

Later that evening, as I ate with gusto (yay, I have money now), I dragged my feet over to the boat, Norfinn, which is anchored off shore. Being in the wavy ocean isn't the best for a hangover, but I made it, even though as I was trying to get off the dingy and onto the boat a huge wave got sucked up between the two vessels and shot up my skirt, soaking me.

It was my first welcome to the boat life in Mexico.




Ahhh, made it on board at last