Vacation Stories, Part Quatro

Okay, 2nd day in Mexico:

More friends and family had come in since the previous day, and my aunt graciously offered to keep the girls at the hotel and take them swimming (score!) so day two was a bit less stressful for me as I wasn't constantly asking, "Where's Molly? Where's Bridget?" and worrying about the rows of breakable merchandise in each store.

This time we all drove our own cars into Mexico instead of relying on the border taxis, as it had been a pain in the ass to get everyone into a cab to go home the day before.

(The US side going into Mexico)


(The Mexican side going into Mexico)




Right after we parked and started walking down the street, a man approached my sister-in-law and started telling her we had stolen his juice the day before. After a while, we figured out he was one of the cab drivers that had taken us home, but he kept going on and on about how we took his juice. I mean, hey - it was hot, but it wasn't that hot - eventually we left him with assurances that he was mistaken and we most certainly did not steal his juice..... (Remember this when you get to the end of the post)

We went about our business of shopping, more stores were open than the previous day, and we even ventured out into the less "touristy" spots in the area:

I love the street name! We stopped at a liquor store and the guys loaded up on their tequila and stuff...We bought chorros from a street vendor...

I'm a bit concerned about my son's schooling, however. One of the things they tell you is that you can buy the Cuban cigars here but you cannot bring them back across the border into the US (most of the guys bought them right at the beginning and smoked them while we did touristy stuff.) These two goofballs are all like, "Why, what did Cuba ever do to us?" OMG - WHAT??!!?? Um, they only threatened to nuke us to death - American History 101 kid!

After Mexico, we went to a local restaurant on the US side, then to the Church for the rehearsal. Molly slept through the rehearsal but woke up for a sweet picture with her daddy:


After the rehearsal, most of the participants stayed at the venue to have drinks, but I took the kids back to the hotel. Since it was already day 4 of our vacation, and we had been changing clothes twice a day, so I decided to do laundry. I couldn't find any mention of a guest laundry, so I decided to do it at the other hotel where family was staying. I drag the HUGE bag of dirty clothes over to the hotel only to find out their power is out! I drag the bag back to my hotel and talk to the clerk who says, yes, they do have a guest laundry and it's right downstairs from my room (grrrr!!!). So, while Molly sleeps in the room, I run down to the next floor, throw in a load, and run back - I'm paranoid she's going to burst into flames or wake up in the 5 minutes it takes me to hit the laundromat and get back.

So, while I'm waiting for the loads to cycle, I decide Jerrod will probably be a bit tipsy when he returns to the room and I should organize the bags of souvenirs (blankets, Mexican pottery, musical instruments) that are lined up on the floor on his side of the bed. As I am going through and rearranging, I come across a small pink bag that is knotted - it feels like a pair of shoes. I didn't notice any shoes for sale, and even if I did, my husband and son have HUGE feet - there is no way these shoes would fit them.....wait a minute, "juice"..."shoes".....oh crap- we have that cab driver's SHOES!!!!

I worried about those shoes all night - the next day is the wedding and then we're going home - we're not going back to Mexico! How am I going to get them back to him? I worried through my mani/pedi/makeup the next morning and we talked about it at the reception that night. In the end, we left the shoes with no way to get them back. Do I feel guilty? Yes. Was there anything I could do? Not that I could figure out. *sigh*

Next: The wedding that almost wasn't, winos, and getting lost in Mexico....

Vacation Stories Part Uno, Part Dos, Part Tres, Part Quatro, and Part Cinco