All my friends back home are posting pictures of golden foliage and fall boots and talking about pumpkin-flavored coffee, while Ty and I are jumping in the pool naked and dragging Bloo in with us even though he hates it. We're still getting the occasional thunderstorm and when we do, it feels like (very brief) glorious relief. We're all miserable and ready for winter.
Speaking of thunder storms... Tropical Storm Pilar created a few hiccups in my travel plans coming back from San Miguel a couple weekends ago! Ty drove me to school, but I had booked a flight to get home because it was super cheap. But turns out Pilar planned to hit Puerto Vallarta the same night my flight was scheduled to land. I had been hearing the wind and flood warnings in the Bay and I got really nervous about my flight being cancelled because I would be stranded in the Leon airport alone overnight, or have to scramble to find a hotel or some other terrible adulty things I didn't wanna deal with in the middle of crisis mode. But more importantly, I was super homesick and just wanted to get home to my family.
My one-hour flight from BJX to PVR departed 20 minutes late and almost immediately after we were airborne the crew announced that the Vallarta airport was CLOSED. Um, say what meow? A few minutes later they announced that the airport had instructed them to remain in a "holding pattern" and not to approach the storm. Awesome. So we slowed down and killed time by swerving back and forth over inland Mexico for over an hour unsure if we were going to make it to Vallarta. Finally, we hear, "We've been cleared for landing" and I was immediately relieved only to hear, "Nevermind, we have to return to Leon," like 2 minutes later. I might have actually cried at that point, but you can't prove it.
Meanwhile, Ty was sitting in the airport parking lot for 90 minutes (with Bloo and Luna) in pouring rain and flooding waters waiting for me because my flight wasn't being updated online. He had no idea that my flight was delayed or where I was. It wasn't until my plane got sent BACK to Leon and we landed that I got his umpteen text messages and I was finally able to tell him I wasn't coming. I was a bit of a hot mess, to say the least. And to top it all off, my phone was nearly dead (and there were no outlets on the little commuter plane) so I wouldn't be able to update him (or my panicked mother) either. Double hot mess.
Not gonna lie, he's cute when he's worried. And yes, he really does call me "friend" as if it's my real name. Ha.
Long story, short... We sat on the runway for another 45 minutes waiting for new information and then they decided to reattempt the flight to Vallarta for the second time three hours after the original departure time. I've never been so happy for a plane to land. I was off the plane and out of the airport in 10 minutes (hooray for domestic flights!) and grabbed the first cab I saw... I didn't even haggle with him, I woulda payed double.
When we got near Mega in Bucerias the highway was totally and completed flooded for hundreds of yards (at least a foot of rushing water) and I started panicking when I realized Ty had to drive through the same flood to get home. But in true Mexican style, the taxi driver just put on his emergency flashers and drove right through the "river." I've also never been so happy for a taxi to arrive at my front door. I was finally home!!! Four hours late, but I made it. It was late and the gate was locked (Ty didn't think I was gonna make it back that night) and I rang the doorbell about 30 times and woke up all the neighborhood dogs, including ours. Sorry, not sorry.
Not much else is new with us... We've been busy working on maintenance and upgrades around the hotel to get ready for high season while the place is empty. I've given myself, Ty and the staff lists of to-dos to get done before guests start arriving next month, so everyone is busy working on crossing things off (apparently "go golfing 3-4 times per week" was on Ty's list though...hmm.) I've been super busy revamping all of our photos, website, booking profiles, social media, etc. I need to step away from the computer though, because it seems we ONLY get reservations when we're not working. Like, I've spent probably 50 hours on the computer this past week, and then as soon as we got to a sports bar yesterday to watch football, ding ding! New reservation for January. Go figure.
Looking ahead at our calendar kinda makes my head woozy though. It's gonna be a whirlwind. Since we reopened the hotel so late in the season last winter, it was really more like a "soft opening" and all of our reservations were kinda last-minute...so this upcoming winter will be our first full tourist season. There will be a lot of crazy days with all hands on deck...like, a family of 15 people checking out the same day 18 new guests are checking in. (Ty will probably try to convince me to let him go golfing that day.) Fun times!
Well, that's all the super-interesting updates I have for now... We're taking the dogs for a car ride so we can all sit in front of some air conditioning for a while. It's okay to be jealous.
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