I Need a Vacation from my Vacation

Ty and I vacationed in La Cruz three years in a row before we (he) decided we were gonna move here permanently... It was a cold Seattle night on the couch and he had had a few beers when he saw his friend post a room for rent on Facebook in Nicaragua.  From that moment on, there was no changing his mind... "Life's too short, we're doing it wrong," became his mantra and within 7 months, everything we owned was sold and we were on the road headed south. 

Living in paradise and visiting paradise are two very different experiences.  Yes, I get to look at this view everyday... No, I never have to set an alarm clock.  Yes, it's awesome having my unstressed, always-happy husband back.  But... I miss the excitement of getting to plan a vacation somewhere so different from where I live.  I miss getting to research hotels and drool over photos of places I wanna visit.  I miss counting down the days until you get to ditch the dreary rain and head for warmer climates.  I miss falling in love with a tiny town (La Cruz) and being absolutely giddy to return the following year.  

But planning a vacation when you live in paradise, also feels kinda silly.  Like...where are we gonna go?  Let's go to Hawaii and pay triple what we do here?  Are we gonna shell out a bazillion dollars to visit Europe?  (The cheapest airfare I found from Vallarta to Paris would set us back $6,800.)  Since we live in a "special" place, are we gonna go on vacation to a "normal" place...like, Ohio?  I'm sure you feel really sorry for us, right??  

Another reason why I'm feeling mopey...is because as people who operate a beachfront hotel in the Bay, we don't get to celebrate the holidays.  High season here is from about November to April and the holidays are the busiest time, tourist-wise.  Jardin is 100% filled to capacity during Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.  So, that means we'll be super busy working instead of celebrating.  And to add insult to injury, we'll be working while watching all of our guests have the time of their lives.  That's a bittersweet feeling for yours truly.  I had thought before we moved here that we would for sure adopt some new holiday traditions, but I never thought the tradition would be to skip them entirely.  Wah, waaaaah.... 

Every time I talk to an excited guest about planning their vacation at the hotel, I'm happy for them...but a little bummed for myself.  I miss being the super excited guest!!  I miss having something to plan and look forward to.  I miss going shopping for cute vacation outfits and getting pre-vacay pedicures.  (I'm very aware of how whiney this whole post is, but I'm okay with it.)  

Sooooo, after my most recent stint of feeling super sorry for myself, I mighta convinced Ty that we should get outta here before all the hotel madness starts.  And it only took a minimal amount of threatening to cry over not getting to have Christmas for him to agree!  Haha.  So, we're officially going on vacation in between Thanksgiving and Christmas and calling it our holiday celebration!  (I also had to agree not to ask for a single thing until my birthday next summer, but we'll see about that.) 

Flying somewhere was going to be too expensive for an impromptu trip (we looked at going to Belize since it's not too far from here, but it would involve a 15-hour layover in Houston both ways and cost a thousand bucks per person.  So stupid.)  So, we decided to pick somewhere a little closer and to make the 11-hour drive down to Zihuatanejo (zee-whot-uh-nay-ho) simply because we've never been there (and Shawshank Redemption is one of my favorite movies.  Duh.)  We rented a fully-equipped Casita just a few blocks from famous Playa la Ropa for 7 glorious nights.  

(Google photo)

Technically, this will be our first true (relaxing) vacation since visiting Nicaragua almost two years ago.  Finally, we get to be the ones playing tourists again instead of hosts.  We get to sleep in an air-conditioned room without worrying about the electric bill.  We get to explore new restaurants instead of asking each other what boring thing we should make for dinner.  We get to relax on the beach instead of making yet another trip to Costco for toilet paper and laundry detergent.  I get to lounge by the pool and read a book instead of being glued to a computer all day.  Yippeeeee!!!

Okay, speaking of worky things... I gotta go finish painting the bathroom in Casa Palapa in the sweltering heat, so I'm off!!