Kicking Back
05 March 2012 | The Ridge, Playa Grande Resort
Bill with a buzz
Decadence, pure and simple. For several good reasons, we had awaked early on the Sunday that we left California and allowed ourselves to catch up on the sleep this morning. After a long sleep, we dressed in swim suits, grabbed sunglasses and books, and headed for the pool. We didn't move all day! We ate and drank the entire time, and will write it off as our first-day craziness. I felt like a rich Roman, having all my meals and alcohol fetched at my whim.
We had awakened early on Sunday morning in order to pack and cart items to the San Francisco Airport. We also considered that we'd have trouble with our solar panels even though we had been told that they could fly as excess baggage, and Conni and LaVerne had even rented a small van so that we could get all of our stuff to the airport. As it happened, the Alaska Airlines counter folk were as nice as they could have been and we had no trouble at all getting the two 6-foot long panels accepted for the flight. Our Alaska 49 card insured that that we were not charged anything for them: how cool is that?
We had non-stop flights from San Francisco to Cabo, so we boarded in one place and disembarked in another. The miracle of flight, indeed!
We did get something of a runaround from Cabo customs concerning our panels. We had arranged their import status ahead of time by paying the customs to a ship's agent in La Paz, and having all of that paperwork sent to the US so that we had it in-hand for Mexican customs. Never the less, they did try to claim that we needed yet another customs stamp from another office that was closed on Sunday: We declined. Finally, the customs lady relented and allowed us to pass through and we were done. The customs hoopla had cost us our original ride to the resort, but the transport company did allow us to take places on the next van and we were summarily delivered to Playa Grande without any other hitches. The two "panels solar", as they say in Spanish, are resting against our room wall. All in all, it was painless to get these two monstrosities into Mexico.
Wings is on the hard in La Paz, as you know, and we need high tides to get her back into the water. Unfortunately, these occur this week, mid-week, so we must spend Wednesday and Thursday getting to La Paz, completing some below-the-waterline work before splashing her, and get her into the water. We'll take a bus and, with some luck, also haul the two panels to La Paz with us. That will make the trip almost worthwhile since we can easily haul the rest with us on Sunday.
This week at Playa Granda is "floating" so we don't have a specified unit. They housed us in the "Ridge" section in which we've never stayed. We look toward the marina rather than the beach and sea, so it's quite different. There's an air of exclusivity to the Ridge units since one must take a keyed elevator to the ridge. Swanky! It's different by noisy and we don't' think that the room are one bit better. They have more "dos por uno" deals at the pool bar, but it's hardly worth the extra cost of buying here.
It is nice to return to Cabo and the resort. We know both very well and do feel a bit of home about them. As I sit here on our porch, facing the marina, the laptop can receive thiry Wifi networks, but can connect to none. I'm sure that I'll be able to post this tomorrow, but I'm sorry that we can't connect with people now.