Well, I just finished unpacking from yet another fabulous trip to Mexico. I arrived late last night and basically just went to sleep and got up and went to work. I'm finally settled in back at home. I wish I wasn't, though, the trip was absolutely amazing!!!

I decided to just stay up after the bowling party because there was really no point to going to sleep for a few hours and risk missing my flight. At 5AM the cab picked me up and whisked me off to the airport. The flight was long down to Guadalajara but I made it on time without any difficulty. Sofi and her dad picked me up at the airport and we drove an hour south to Ciudad Guzman, the town (town! of 160,000!) where Sofi and her family live. It was late so we just went to bed. In the morning me and the whole family piled into the SUV and headed west. We stopped in the town of Colima and had a great smorg breakfast. I got to have my favourite breakfast, chilaquiles, for the first time in almost a year!

After breakfast we went to the coastal resort town of Manzanillo, where we checked in at the AMAZING Las Hadas Hotel & Resort. It was easily one of the top five places I've ever been in my life. It was super classy and had it all, a private beach, luxurious rooms, a poolside bar, great restaurants, everything! It was my first time ever swimming in an ocean, and I have to say I've found a new favourite thing to do! I thought that only places like the Dead Sea with super-high salt content let you float, but there is enough salt in the ocean to let you float all you want! It was sooooo relaxing. I just swam out really far and just floated for what seemed like hours. I love it!

We stayed Sunday night and the morning on Monday before heading back to Guzman. We went to a great taco place for supper, visited Sofi's dad's office (where she works, too), checked me into the hotel, then hung out at home, where I took the opportunity to upload a photo to the website to show everybody how much more fun I was having than anyone else in the world. Sofi made me some awesome quesadillas before I walked back to the hotel (close-by, only three blocks!). I can't express to you how much I love real Mexican quesadillas!

On Tuesday me and Sofi had breakfast at a place called "Las peñas", where I had chilaquiles with chicken. We did some grocery shopping and then hung out at home. We went to Sofi's cousin Ceci's house, which was basically a mansion. It had a pool in the backyard, and the pool house had a kitchen and a pool table! We went home for lunch and then went shopping for Christmas presents. Afterwards, we came home and had some snacks that Sofi's mom was preparing for Christmas. I surfed the Internet for a bit and then we ordered pizza. It was then time to call it a night, so I headed back to the hotel.

Christmas Eve we went to Guadalajara to do some Christmas shopping, had lunch at BK and then came back to Guzman. That night, we all went to a place that Sofi's grandma owned to meet up with the rest of the family. Tons of Sofi's aunt, uncles, cousins, and other assorted family members were there. We did the traditional Joseph and Mary asking for shelter call-and-answer routine, which was pretty neat. There were lots of piñatas, and the kids had fun. For the last one pretty much everybody got a turn, which was fun. Here's a tip: when Mexicans are screaming "Ja!" at you (sounds like "Yeah!"), they mean stop! I didn't know and it was pretty funny how I kept swinging while everyone was screaming at me to stop :) All the kids put on a play about Christmas and Jesus and whatnot that I mostly couldn't understand because it was all in Spanish, which was especially funny since I played the part of Santa Claus. Everybody got a kick out of the play, especially Sofi's sister Connie's performance as an evil prostitute, complete with short dress and a huge fake ass. Hilarious! Little Andrea (Sofi's sister) was also very cute as a star. We had some great food ("Lomo relleno" - pork loin) after and enjoyed some of the fine wine I brought from Canada. Then, it was time for presents! Now, this is not what you think. Basically, everybody brought two $10 gifts, one a real gift, and one a joke gift. Everybody took turns rolling a die, and if you won you got to pick a present out of the pile. Then, there was a second round where if you won you got to steal a present from somebody else! It was all great fun. It was hilarious to see the kids choosing the biggest presents and then opening them up to find they are something silly like a toilet seat! At midnight we all wished everybody "Feliz Navidad" and continued having a great time. We called it a night shortly after 1AM - a great Christmas!

Christmas Day was pretty mellow. We went to Sofi's aunt's house in the morning just to see it - it was all white, huge, and absolutely gorgeous. It was just like a celebrity house you see on TV! We went for breakfast at Sofi's uncle's bowling alley, where they make a mean burrito! We rented a movie (Die Another Day), and then went to Christmas mass at a church. We spent the afternoon at Sofi's grandma's place having leftovers and just enjoying the sunny afternoon. At Sofi's aunt's house I noticed an un-opened bottle of Crown Royal on display as an ornament, and I guess my suggestion to open it went over well because they did and brought it for the afternoon fun.

That night, Sofi and I decided it was time for the big show - time to sit her parents down and talk about our future together. I talked about me, about Sofi, about our over two-year long courtship, and then took the big plunge - I told them we were planning to marry! There were lots of tears all around, and her parents weren't exactly happy, but in the end, even though they don't think that it's the best idea and certainly hate the idea of losing their daughter when Sofi moves to Canada, they gave us their support. They also gave us some great advice. The bottom line - we did it!!! Afterwards, it was present-time and I gave the whole family some small presents that I had brought as a token of my appreciation.

On Boxing Day morning (they don't celebrate Boxing Day there!) me and Sofi went for a long walk/jog out to the lagoon just outside of town. It felt great to get out and enjoy the +25C weather (which, by the way, was the case for the entire trip!). When we got back home Sofi made me pancakes and eggs with hot dogs. We toured around town and went to the office and the bank, then it was back home for lunch. Vero and Miguel (Sofi's sister and brother-in-law) joined us and we had tostadas with guacamole and chicken salad. Vero and Miguel also had some good advice for us. I had a few presents for the two of them as well so I gave them to them and then we watched some of the movie we rented. Just as we started Sofi's friend Flor called, so we went out for some coffee and cake with her. Flor spent time in Spain working as a model, and she was just as pretty on the inside. After coffee we dropped Flor off and then went to Miguel's mom's house for supper in honour of her birthday. Most of Miguel's family was there at her beautiful home. We had some good food and visited with the friends and family. I even met a girl who works for IBM in Mexico who gave me lots of info on what it's like to work for them in Mexico (the first thing I would have to do - take a pay cut! ;) It was a great evening and it was super cool of Miguel to invite us!

On Saturday morning we had pancakes at home and then got some fruit juice. We visited for a few minutes with Sofi's priest to introduce myself to him because we're going to need his help to marry us in the future! We then went to Sofi's other grandma's house to say goodbye. When we got home we got to finish the movie (classic Bond!) and then I diagnosed the problem Sofi was having with her computer and headset. We spent time choosing pictures and such as evidence of our relationship for Canadian Immigration. We went out to a restaurant for lunch where I had "pozole, flautas, y refresco" (trying to learn Spanish, here!). We then hopped in the car and went to a nearby town called Zapotiltic where we had some ice cream and bought some jicamas (like potato, but sweeter - one of my favourites!). When we got back to Guzman we walked around downtown and I did what every good Mexican does - bought some bootleg CDs on the black market. We made our way home and then just relaxed. Vero and Miguel came over and we had some food (quesadillas!) and chatted. It was late so it was time to head back to the hotel.

Yesterday was the worst part of the whole holiday, because it was time to say goodbye. Me, Sofi, her mom, Connie, and Andrea hit the road just after 8AM to Guadalajara to drop me off at the airport. We had a great breakfast in the airport (Molletes - another favourite of mine, basically bread with cheese and other toppings, kinda like pizza but the bread is much sweeter). Me and Sofi said a tearful goodbye and I went through the security barrier. I picked up some tequila at the duty-free and then got on the plane. Did I mention how much I hate flying? It's even worse when you are flying away from the one place you want to be. It's a lot worse when every single person in every plane and airport you are in is a fucking idiot. One bitch just basically let her toddler crawl around the plane! Hello?!? Anyways, I made all my flights on time which was good, and late last night I was finally back in Regina.

What a trip! I am so very thankful for every part of it. I would gladly endure plane rides for months just to spend another day there! Props to Sofi and her family for their as-always excellent hospitality - I can't wait to visit again!

Here are the pictures from the trip, in reverse chronological order. When I took the first picture I heard an awful grinding sound, so I'm just happy that the film developed, but as you can see I must have left it out in the cold or something too long, because most of the pictures have colour problems or smears. Still, it should give you a good synopsis of a great trip!

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I have some news on the work front, in that my contract in Vancouver won't last until the end of June, but will be over at the end of January instead, thanks to a re-scoping of the project as a result of losing a client. No big deal - on to bigger and better challenges!

Tonight my cell phone antenna broke for the third time in just over a year since I bought it. Word to the wise - never buy a Motorola v120! As always, though, everything bad that happens to me has an even better opposite - I fixed the very annoying rattle that was in my car! Bass is back again!

The plan for New Year's is to head to Brad and Stef's house, which promises to be a good time. I will bring tequila and various other duty-free treats to make sure!

...and I brought tequila!!!