Odd, I was just here a few months ago. Back again though, and not a moment too soon. After breaking my lease, selling my car (thanks Timm!), tossing/donating a ton of crap I didn’t need and selling my broken down couch to a Guatemalan in a beat up old pickup truck, I’ve become a free man unencumbered by most of life’s trappings. Well, except for the Astro Manly-Van. And my laptop. And my Droid, which I swear I am using only for the camera.

As Kiel mentioned, he took off before me since I was a little slow in getting myself together. I guess I was more attached to San Diego than I thought. Either way, I was flying from Tijuana Airport (my second time, and no, its not just a strip of dirt in a barrio) and would be landing in Cabo Friday night with an elaborate plan for getting picked up. I was taking a taxi from the airport to Costco, where Kiel would meet me.  Upon arriving there, I was to call my friend Eric’s sister who lives in Cabo, who would then meet up with the two of us so we could follow her to her house and spend the next few nights. Not too many working parts there.

Well, first off, the taxi took forever so I was an hour late. Kiel was nowhere to be found when I got to Costco. I called both numbers Eric gave me and neither worked. So far, so good.

After waiting around for about an hour and getting a slice of Costco pizza, I realized I was going to have to do something, so I found an approximate address of where I was supposed to be staying, showed it to a cabbie and took off. Bad idea – he drove me in the wrong direction, to the wrong place and then dropped me off and left. My situation had not improved.

Running out of options, I asked the security guard where I was left for dead if he knew of La Vista and how I could get there. He told me he would make a phone call. After finishing with his call, he announced that he would take me there himself, even though he didn’t know where the place was. So he pulls up in what looks to be a beat up old Nissan Sentra with a homemade speaker box taking up the whole back seat. At least we’ll have good tunes for my conversion to a drug mule.  But he was a genuinely nice guy and proceeded to take me from community to community looking for La Vista until we found it.

The security guard for La Vista brought us up to the house and I ring the bell, relieved that I have a place to regroup, get my bearings and figure out how to find Kiel the next day. But the relief was short lived.  Her husband answered the door with that look that only Chris Hansen can arouse. Apparently, his wife has made no mention that I would be arriving, she is asleep and can’t be woken and I am clearly not welcome. I try to explain the situation, but it does no good.

So I confer with my Mexican buddy and he agrees to take me to a hotel in town. Since we’re smack dab in the middle of spring break, I’m not confident that I’ll find a room, and if I do, it will be painfully expensive. But, it’s good to know the locals and he takes me to Quinta del Sol right on the outskirts of town where I check in at about 11 pm for a cool 799 pesos ($66). I wanted an adventure and it looks like I got one.

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