Day 11 – Monday - 2-12-07

We packed our suitcases first thing this morning. Jack became a little concerned we might exceed the weight limit per bag! We certainly accumulated a lot of stuff!

Taking stock of our pesos we realized we did a good job of spending them down last night! We had enough time to spend the rest on breakfast and a few small last minute purchases. One of those items was jar of pure vanilla and the other was a quart of Kailua for Mom. I’d looked in every grocery store we came across for the kind of instant coffee Judy loves but all we found was Nescafe. So we compromised and got her the coffee additive she enjoys once in a while! We are planning to go to her house in Anderson, California and will take it to her then.

Casa Café is closed on Mondays so we headed to Café Marina for breakfast once we had everything ready to go in our room. Café Marina was packed so we decided to try another restaurant at the south end of the Paseo called Tata’s. French toast Mexican style is crunchy!

We dawdled over our coffee looking out across the beach and watching the tide roll in. The vast flock of pelicans seems to have left. We’d heard there were more than 1,000 of the ugly brown guys in the bay because a huge school of feeder fish were here. I guess the school has gone.

Most of the sailboats are almost all gone too. The vast number here earlier was due to SailFest – an annual charity drive to raise money for schools for the Indian children. Evidently the government has gotten involved and now wants to use the funds for the benefit of education for ALL the children in the state of Guermo which has the sailors a bit unhappy. The fund raisers started Sail Fest to help the Indian children specifically as they have the least opportunity and resources in the social structure in Mexico. They’ve all sailed on to other ports now.

A stop at Café Marina for a book for the trip home and to say farewell to Joe Wells – we found a write up about him in our Zihuatanejo book and know his name now! I got Dan Brown’s Deception Point for $2 from his book shelves. We continued to the north end of the Paseo and out on to the pier where a cool breeze was blowing. We sat on the bench and watched people board panga’s for the short trip to Los Gatos, watched the charter boats come in with their catches.

One charter boat came in with a blue marlin (looked like a swordfish) lay across the back of the boat because it was longer than the boat! The fish was huge. Jack estimates it weighed over 500 pounds. It took 5 men to haul it upon the dock and hoist it up with block and tackle for everyone to have a picture taken with it. It will be sold to the restaurants and be eaten today so I don’t feel bad about it being caught and kept.

At lunch time we returned to our favorite fish taco spot, La Mandarina and were joined shortly by Buck and Kathy whom we’d first met at that same spot. Buck told us the route to drive if we wanted to drive to Zihuatanejo like they did – it’s a 9 day drive from Sacramento, California. 2 days of that being from Puerto Vajarta to Zihuatanejo! Mountain roads full of switch backs! Jack has an army friend that has a place in Puerto Vajarta that had told Jack the same thing when Jack mentioned getting together while we were down there. The drive is pretty demanding. Jack passed on lunch but I enjoyed the fish taco special and a chocochino. Saying farewell we returned to our room to gather our luggage and head to the airport. Checking out consisted of giving the desk clerk our key. Hailing a cab we were at the airport within 15 minutes. The cab cost $27 from the airport to town and $10 to travel from town to the airport!


Since we were there at 1:45 PM (our flight leaves at 5 PM) we had plenty of time to print our e-tickets. The Alaska Airlines personnel did not arrive and start checking baggage until 2:30 PM. We were through that checkout point at 2:45 and sat for a few minutes outside the ticketed passenger’s only point. The ticket counter clerk had said to go in about 3:30 but since we were already there and didn’t intend to go elsewhere we checked in to the holding area at 3 PM. Finally Jack seemed at ease that we were not going to run in to any problems getting on the plane. We had until 4:30 before they would even begin boarding the plane. I sat down with my book and read. It is a good thing that it was a good book.

Jack took multiple tours of the holding area and spent the remaining pesos he had not spent – just in case – on candy bars and coconut cakes.

The 1 ½ hours passed and the attendants called for special needs passengers. A line formed that wrapped around the waiting room. I don’t ever like sitting on a plane any longer than necessary so I continued to read. Jack sat with me as long as he could stand it – which wasn’t long – and then joined the line. I agreed I’d join him when he got close to the attendant taking the boarding passes. It took about 15 minutes and we were climbing in to the plane.



The seating was two rows of seats – three across. Our seats were on opposite sides of the same row! We hoped there would be some one willing to switch seats or that there would be empty seats that would allow us to sit together but neither option played out.

I focused on reading until the plane took off. Closing my eyes and doing deep breathing until we reached altitude got me through. Deception Point is a very captivating book so time went pretty fast – interrupted only by the delivery of cheeseburgers that tasted extremely good!

At LAX the plane, being an international flight, was parked over a mile form the terminal and we were loaded on a bus to cover the distance. Already not happy about us not being seated together Jack was aggravated by the inconvenence and delay in getting to customs. He’d been told by “people” that customs is a long drawn out process and he was worried about us making our connecting flight in 2 hours. I tried to focus more on appreciating the precautions that were being taken to insure the safety of the airport. After reading Shadow War I am aware of how highly a prized target LAX is for terrorists.

When the bus arrived at the terminal we were through customs within 10 minutes. So much for what "people" say. Customs officers checked our passports – stamped them and we were done. The longest wait was for our baggage. There was a man who complained loudly about the delay and made a butt of himself among the 100+ people patiently waiting. I didn’t say anything but Jack knew I was feeling sorry for the wife of the man as she tried to quiet him.

When our bags were collected we were off to get them checked in for our connecting flight. It was good news was that Alaska Airlines had a station that collected our bags as we came to the top floor of the international terminal and took them off to be loaded on our plane. The walk to the Alaska Airlines terminal was short and the fresh air felt great. We got through security and to the gate with 20 minutes to spare before they began loading passengers. I gratefully dropped in to a seat and strove to relax for a few minutes before climbing on to another cramped airplane. The minute they called for the 1st passengers to load Jack was poised to get in line again. I spoke out against getting on the plane or even getting in line until absolutely necessary. Jack grudgingly sat down and waited – anxiously watching the line and looking at me for the go ahead. I see a distinct difference in our personalities here and wonder what our final solution will be after we’ve gone through this for a couple of years.

I waited until there were only a few people remaining in the line before I stood up. Jack let out a loud “Finally” and rushed for the line. We were seated in the plane within minutes and sat waiting until all the straggler passengers boarded and were seated. Twenty minutes later the plane took off.

I had catered to Jacks preference to be early to everything the entire day and he was still just as anxious as ever. I’d hoped he’d see that rushing to things just left us waiting for long periods of time. I’ve never known anyone so willing wait or to stand in line when it doesn’t make any difference in the outcome. We are confirmed for the flight, our seats are assigned, there is no added value or points for waiting in line. The irony is that he then gets impatient because he has waited so long (because he arrived so far in advance) that it seems like things aren’t happening fast enough when the time for things to occur arrives. It is exhausting to watch him and keep myself from either lashing out or get sucked in to the anxiety ridden attitude!

I am reasonably certain that my unwillingness to stand in lines and my tendency to arrive just before scheduled times is equally distressing for Jack. I pray God will give us both the patience to work towards compromise!

I practiced deep breathing. Medford Airport came quickly compared to the previous flight. It was 11 pm and the shortage of taxi’s delayed our getting to Days Inn until midnight! It had been an exhausting day. Stretching out on a bed felt wonderful after the long day of plastic chairs and crowded airline seats!

Jack and I kissed, said good night and fell asleep in each others arms back in the USA.