Tijuana to Zihautanejo

Christmas Eve to December 27

Our vacation began somewhat inauspiciously on Christmas Eve. I'd arranged for a shuttle to pick us up from my mother's house at 8:00pm to take us to the Tijuana airport. 8:00 came and went, but the shuttle didn't arrive. A call to the company revealed that they were confused about the time, and we were assured they'd send the driver right away. The shuttle, which turned out to be a limo, finally arrived at close to 9:00. We were a bit nervous about making it in time for our flight, mainly because we weren't sure how long it would take to get across the border, but figured we'd still make it with time to spare.

If you thought that would be the end of the adventure, but you'd be wrong. The limo barely ran. Well, the engine seemed okay, but the transmission was another story. As we were climbing the freeway ramp, the car barely picked up speed and made such horrible noises that we were all sure the transmission was going to drop out right there. Somehow, we did manage to get onto the freeway and the limo picked up speed.

Border crossing turned out to be a non-issue, but we discovered after crossing into Mexico that the driver had never even been to Mexico before, let alone the Tijuana airport. Fortunately, the signage is good and we found our way with relative ease.

Our flight left Tijuana at 11:50pm and, after a stopover in Guadalajara (which I'd originally tried to avoid by booking a non-stop flight that was later cancelled), arrived relatively uneventfully in Mexico City at 7am the next day. We had about a four-hour layover in the Mexico City airport before our flight to Zihuatanejo. That turned out to be the worst part of the trip, not just because we were tired, but because the waiting area we had to sit in was absolutely freezing cold and had very few comfortable seats. We ended up doing some sleeping on the floor with every loose piece of clothing we were carrying draped over us.

After what seemed an interminable (or perhaps terminal!) wait, our flight to Zihuatanejo was announced. A short while later, we touched down at the tiny Zihuatanejo airport and all our discomforts were soon forgotten in the balmy, tropical warmth (close to 90F, I'm sure). We walked across the tarmac, which is surrounded on every side by what seem to be miles of coconut palms, and into the tiny terminal where we were supposed to be met by a driver to take us to the Villa I'd rented for our stay.

And this is where things seemed, briefly, to fall apart again. After we'd collected our luggage, we started to look for someone to meet us, but there was no one. Oh, there were plenty of people from various resorts holding signs, but none of them were for us! I tried calling the cell number of the manager of the property, Eduardo, but got only his voice mail. I had directions to the villa, but no idea whether anyone would be there to let us in if we went on our own. Michael was starting to get annoyed with me, thinking I'd made some sort of huge mistake, and I believe the words "This is a disaster" were muttered. I went so far as to access the web site where the villa was advertised to get an office address and to double-check the phone number I'd used, and we were just about to get a cab to the office when a gentleman rushed up to me and asked, "Are you Barbara?"

It was, of course, Eduardo. I don't know when I've been so relieved! It turned out that Eduardo had flown the day before to Mexico City to spend Christmas (which is celebrated on Christmas Eve in Mexico) with his son. His flight was supposed to arrive back in Zihua before ours, but it was delayed. When he got off the plane, he listened to his messages on his cell phone and rushed off to find us in the airport. So everything worked splendidly in the end. (And Eduardo was a lifesaver. I left my purse in the taxi, but he called the taxi company and drove us back to the airport later on so that I could pick it up. I didn't lose anything. I'd never have known what to do without a local's help!)

The villa itself was quite comfortable and had with air conditioning in the bedrooms, which you definitely need there. Eduardo also provided the wonderful Juana, who came every day except Sunday to clean the place, really essential with all the sand we tracked in on a daily basis. The location was also excellent, within easy walking business of downtown restaurants and shopping, but also on a busy corner where it was easy to get a cab at any time if we didn't feel like walking at a cost of about $1.50.

Settled in at last, we got down to the business of relaxing!