Utah to Costa Rica Road Trip

Sacrament was two hours long because it was ward conference. The kids lasted for part of it, but we spent a lot of time out in the “hall” (which was only and outdoor corridor between the chapel and the building with classrooms). Of course everyone wanted to hold Aaliyah, and take pictures of her and all the kids with their camera phones. I spoke with two elders from Mexico City who told me there were four wards that went to that building, and two stakes in the city of Juchitan!

It was really neat to visit with the people and interact with them. I continue to understand that as human beings we are all the same, we are all children of God and branches on the same tree of humanity. My love for others is really growing- I love the people of Mexico.

After Sacrament we visited with a tall, handsome Elder Wesley from Orem, whose family moved to Hawaii while he was gone (his father teaches at BYU Hawaii). He will be going home in about a month (to Hawaii), then going to school at Utah State on a basketball scholarship. He has been trying to decide what to major in, but was very intrigued by what Greg is able to do (work on the stock market via the internet, and be able to do it anywhere in the world.)

He asked for some advice and we told him if he wants to be a doctor, lawyer, etc. study to do that. If he wants to make money, study people who have made money and do what they did. So we gave him a few recommendations of books to start reading, like anything by Robert Kiyosaki, Robert Allen and Mark Victor Hansen. We also told him to read The Secret- a must. It was neat to be able to share with him some of the “secrets” that have helped us to become successful.

Something I am passionate about is sharing with others ideas that can expand their realities and improve their lives. We emphasized to Elder Wesley the power of reading- when you read great books about great people and great ideas, it changes who you are. And when you change and grow and improve, success comes to you, in all aspects of life. I love reading, and I know that it is the one single thing that has made the biggest impact on my life and taken me from where I was to where I am today; where it will take me in the future is beyond what I can presently imagine.

After church, we went back to the hotel to get Parker’s beloved Pooh blankey, which he left there, and then set off for the Guatemalan border!

Livin’ the Dream, Baby!

We really enjoy this city. (Ixtapa (Eek-stop-a) is the newer, hotel and tourist zone, Zijatenejo (Zee-wah-tuh-nay-ho) is the neighboring, older and larger fishing town.) I worked on my tan some more; we had all the food and drinks we wanted, including pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris, sin alcohol, of course. They even had a pool bar, with stools underwater so we could sit at the counter and get drinks while we were swimming. The kids loved that. Greg played some beach volleyball, Kevin stayed in the room most of the time though, because his foot is still hurting.

Kyah learned how to swim while at Ixtapa! There was a little girl about 6 who was swimming with us in the pool at our hotel, and she would swim with her head underwater. Well, that was all Kyah needed. She decided that she wanted to do it too. So she did, and now she can swim up to 10 feet with her head underwater. She can dive down and get things off the bottom of the pool and jump off the side into the pool with no one catching her. It’s awesome.

We left Thursday the 26th from Ixtapa and drove through Zijatenejo to pick up our laundry from a Lavendria ($12 US dollars to have it all washed and folded). Then we stopped at the Bodega to get some snacks and drinks, and finally headed toward Acapulco (Ah-kuh-pool-co).

We drove into Acapulco from the north, poor side of town, and our first impression was—CRAZY! The roads were small, it was extremely crowded, and they had some of the worst driving that I have seen yet! We at length made it to the tourist district, where we stopped to talk to some people representing a travel agency to find out about hotels. Three people came up to us and started talking and talking. They were drunk (but very nice and helpful) and they wanted to ride with us to go help us find a hotel We didn’t have any room, so they hopped a taxi and we followed them to look at some hotels, and then to the travel agency where they worked. They got us a good deal on a nice hotel on the beach, the Calinda.

It was a very nice hotel that is built in a cylinder shape so that there is a view from every room. Greg was a little frustrated because they charged us for parking (we had to pay to park at their hotel!) then because our vehicle wouldn’t fit in their underground parking (because of all our stuff secured on top), they charged us more to park next door! Unfortunately many of the tourist destinations seem to take advantage of the “wealthy” visitors that come (like when we had to pay US $35 for two medium Domino’s pizzas in Puerto Vallarta! “Just because we can” is what they said about why it was so much.)

By then it was very late, so we walked next door for a quick dinner at a restaurant owned by Walmart called Vips, a Denny’s, Mexican style. Then we all went to bed. When I woke up at 2:30 am with Aaliyah, I heard (faintly) music from a discotheque across the street that was still thumping, and when I looked out the window, there was plenty of traffic on the road still- crazy town!

After breakfast at Vips the next morning, we took off. We had a little bit of a bad taste in our mouth for Acapulco because of the craziness and the parking fiasco. We were also anxious to progress in our journey because we are a little tired of living out of the car. You wouldn’t believe how filthy it is. The kids’ snacks and drinks are spilled all over in the back- smashed bananas, mushy crackers, sticky juice. I think there is mold growing- and yes, I do clean it out every morning before we leave. But then they eat and drink in it all day long. As soon as we get to Costa Rica I’m going to get it detailed!

We came into Acapulco on the poor side of town, and left on the wealthy side (near the airport), and it was quite a contrast. It is really a very beautiful city, built right into the hills around a beautiful bay. It is somewhere I would visit again, but next time I would fly in!

Our plan was to pass through Pinotepa Nacional and to stay at Puerto Escondido. As we neared Pinotepa Nacional we stopped to fill up at the Pemex gas station (they have the monopoly in gas in Mexico). We asked if they take credit cards, because we had no cash, dollars or pesos. They did accept cards, so we filled up and the total came to $599 (pesos, remember). We gave them our card and…it was rejected. We just used it for breakfast two hours earlier. Now what do we do?

I remembered an emergency credit card I had in my wallet, so I went to look for it in the car (while holding Aaliyah and sweating in the 94 degree humid heat, with Kyah screaming that she wanted to watch a movie—on the DVD player that is not working AGAIN!—and Parker saying that he needed to go poop). I soon began to worry because my wallet was nowhere to be found. Greg then reminded me that I took it into the Bodega in Ixtapa (two days ago) to buy snacks and drinks—and that was the last time we saw it.

So now what, no cash, no credit cards, nothing! With visions of my credit card being stolen and all the money in our bank gone (our bank puts a freeze on the card when large or suspicious purchases are made), and being stranded in Mexico, wondering how I would call my mother for help, we gave Greg’s cell phone to the gas station for collateral and told them we would drive into town to try and withdraw money from the ATM, and I wanted to get on our online banking to see if there was activity I didn’t recognize. We found an ATM in Pinotepa, and Kevin and I waited nervously in the car while Greg went to use it. He climbed back in the car and said, “Well, I claim this seat to sleep in. It reclines!”

He was just joking, he was able to pull cash out, go back and pay for our gas, and when we checked our account online at the Internet café, there was no unusual activity. I still don’t know where my wallet is though. Perhaps someone will mail it back to the states.

Livin’ the Dream, Baby!

We left as soon as we could then stopped at a gas station to ask for either an “Iglesia de Mormones” or an Internet Café. She didn’t know about the “Mormones”, but gave directions to an internet café instead, which led us down a paved road that turned into a dirt road that led right through a “neighborhood” which was way out of town, but no internet café. We found ourselves back on a paved road that was wide and in good condition. Deciding that we should just head toward Mazatlan, we set off going east on this paved road thinking (hoping) it would lead to the highway. Instead it led to…nothing. This great big paved road went out and stopped in the middle of nowhere. So what do you do? We returned the way we came…and we just passed a dead horse.

Well, we did make it to Mazatlan, and it is AMAZING! Gorgeous, stunning, magnificent, glorious, wonderful! We have been thoroughly enjoying our time here (now 3 days)- it is an absolute paradise. The resort we are staying at is called El Ranchos and it is beautiful!! It is located on Calle Sabalo Cerritos, which is right on Playa Cerritos (Cerritos Beach) www.elranchos.com They are rustic bungalow style villas. Ours is a two story with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, dining, and full kitchen. It is very quiet, quaint and cozy. Most of the time we have the pool or Jacuzzis to ourselves, and the private beach as well. They have an onsite restaurant, which is upstairs overlooking the restaurant, but today they served our lunch poolside.

The most wonderful part about El Ranchos is their spectacular gardens! They are amazing! I definitely feel in paradise being surrounded by them. I highly, highly recommend this place.

When listening to “How to Be a No Limit Person,” Wayne Dyer asks, “How long would you sleep if you had no clocks or calendars, no specific meal times or bed times?” He says some studies show that people only need 4.4 hours of sleep…so we got excited by that and have been staying up late and getting up at 4:30 am to go running on the beach. And do you know what? I feel great! The only “side effects” are that if I sit down for awhile I get really sleepy, and when I lay down (to go to bed or to put the kids to sleep) I crash almost immediately- which for me is great because I used to have trouble falling asleep.

We spend most of our time swimming, either in the pool or the ocean, and playing in the sand. My favorite thing is to collect the countless sea shells- there are so many of them and in a multiplicity of colors and varieties. I think I want to make some jewelry out of my favorites.

We did go to Walmart again. It’s so interesting because it is Walmart, but it is geared to this culture. Some of it is kind of like an open market- the seafood section, and the bakery, where they walk around with trays and pick out their breads. The eggs aren’t refrigerated, they play Mexican music (on a boom box), anyone serving food (behind the meat counter, etc) all wear face masks, and my favorite part, is all the women, and some of the men, can’t resist but pinching Aaliyah’s cheeks! They just love babies and they say, “Hermosa!” (beautiful).

We did have one adventure in Mazatlan. After Walmart, we got heading out of town back to Culiacan (North where we came from), so we tried to turn around, but got totally lost. We were WAY out of town, on some dirt roads, and then found out we were heading the wrong direction, and the ocean was on our right, instead of our left. Well, after much difficulty and asking multiple people for directions (getting directions in Latin America is…mmmm, difficult) we finally got headed back the right way. I can only say that it is the only time so far that I have felt scared while in Mexico. It makes me appreciate Utah roads a lot more- they make sense.

The only other adventure that we’ve had is when Parker walked over to the pool in his clothes, then decided that he wanted to go swimming, so he took them all off and ran back to our room butt naked to put on his swimsuit. That got a few laughs!

Livin’ the Dream, Baby!

It took us about an hour and a half to get to the border from Tucson. We were advised to take the Mariposa exit and cross the border that way. You might have thought we were in Mexico already, the road signs had already switched to kilometers, and when we went through the drive-thru at Jack in the Box for lunch, they took our order in Spanish- Greg had a difficult time because he doesn’t speak “Fast Food” Spanish, so he had to go in to make sure we ordered the right stuff. Then we stopped at Target to exchange the DVD player that we bought a few days ago, which was no longer working.

We finally got to the border where they stopped us to ask if we were carrying any weapons or ammunition. They asked Greg if he had more than $10,000 in cash, which he did---just kidding. Greg told them he only had about $500, and then they asked me how much I had. I just pointed to Greg and said, “He has all my money” to which he replied, “I know women always have a secret stash their husbands don’t know about.” I assured him I didn’t! So they let us pass.

Besides the huge border fence, border patrol and long line of semis heading into the U.S., you would hardly know you had left the states. The terrain was the same as Arizona or even some of Utah, and the roads were fantastic. The only noticeable difference was that there was no shoulder, but the roads themselves were in great shape. It wasn’t until we started passing some houses, restaurants, etc. that we then said- “Ahh, we are in Mexico”

Further down the road we had to go through customs, where you can go through the lane for Items to Declare, or Nothing to Declare (which is what we picked because everything we had were personal items, not to sell or give a way). It was really confusing, we didn’t know if or where we should stop, there was no one around. After sitting there for a while, finally some man who had been chatting casually with someone way ahead, waved us forward and to a pull off. He asked Greg some questions about what we had in all of our totes, where we were going (he told him Costa Rica), then he casually looked in the car at all of our stuff and every person inside, then let us go. That was it- easy!

We continued following the signs that pointed to Nogales, and then we had to stop at the Centro de Importacion e Internacion Temporal de Vehiculos to get a vehicle permit and our Visas stamped. First Greg went in to get the permit, then came and told us that Kevin and I needed to get our Visas stamped. The Mexican Consulate in Arizona had told Greg that we could include the children on our Visas, so I was supposed to ask them to do that on my Visa. When I got to the man, he told me they needed their own Visas and to bring them in. Problem! We have no birth certificate for Kimball. So I went back to the car to tell Greg. There was a little bit of worry, confusion, and maybe panic- so Greg went back in to clarify what we needed to do (since my Spanish is lacking). It turns out that children over two need their own Visas, so only the two oldest needed to go in. We were safe since Kimball was under two. Everything works out so perfectly!

After finally getting all the paperwork and everything paid for, we were off again. It was so exciting being in a foreign land. Except for Tijuana and Playa del Carmen (Cancun), I’ve never been out of the country. It is so interesting to see how differently things are done here, but also how much they are the same.

Our destination was through Nogales, then Hermosillo and on to Guaymas/San Carlos. We figured it would take us about 3 to 4 hours.

We enjoyed the countryside and the scenery. The roads were terrific, which we were surprised because we had heard they were so bad. It’s probably attributed to the fact that they were toll roads. Every few hundred kilometers we had to stop and pay, usually $48- $58 (that’s pesos, about $4-$5 dollars).

We passed through Hermosillo, which was a big town, and had lunch at KFC. We ran into the problem of Greg not speaking “Fast Food.” We wanted popcorn chicken and chicken strips. They couldn’t understand when he said “popcorn” in American (in Spanish, both the “o’s” are long, so like “pope-corn,” yes really) and he didn’t know how to say “strips,” so again he had to go inside. It took forever, and Greg came out flustered because they couldn’t figure out what he wanted and charged him for drinks and things he didn’t want- all because I wanted some chicken strips! What a good husband.

As we left Hermosillo for Guaymas/San Carlos, the sun was setting, so we were going to be breaking the first rule of “Don’t drive at night in Mexico,” but we wanted to wake up on the beach, and Hermosillo was way inland. Everything went smooth though, and we finally arrived in San Carlos where we had to stop at three hotels to find a vacancy at the MarinaTerra Hotel, a very nice resort with enclosed, guarded parking and lots of amenities. We checked into a suite that opened right out to the pool, so Kevin took a dip while the kids played on the playground adjacent. Then we put the kids to bed.

It was interesting trying to go to sleep. Our room, the master, was located right next to the hallway which led to the lobby, and since everything was tile floors throughout the hotel, we could hear every footstep, every door close, every child scream and every conversation, as well as the jumping marathon some little child was having in the room above us. We couldn’t complain too much, because our kids certainly added their share to the ruckus. My only disappointment was that I wanted to go dancing at the on-site discothèque which opened at 11:00 p.m. and taught salsa and mamba, but I fell asleep before the kids did, so we didn’t get that chance.