If it seems like I've been in hiding lately, it's because I have been. Partly by design, partly not. Let me fill you in ...
A couple weeks ago, I found out that I had gotten extended here in the USA until June 18th, so instead of coming home for the May long weekend, I was out here instead. I did make one bargain, though: instead of them paying for me to take flights home, I checked and found out that the flights were anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of flying to Regina, so I arranged to have them fly me to Mexico instead!!!
The reason I kept most everyone in the dark about it was because I wanted to make my visit a surprise, and what a surprise it was! My flight was last Friday at about 6AM, so I got up super early and headed for the airport. My flight was cancelled so they put me on a couple other flights on different airlines, which worked out fine because I didn't arrive that much later (1PM) and the flights segments were a lot better. I got to watch a movie (Along Came Polly, pretty average but not a bad watch), which is normally a rarity for me. I arrived without incident, picked up my rental car, and headed for Ciudad Guzman. I made it there without getting lost once, which was a relief. I knocked loudly on the door and waited. At first, the door opened just a crack, so I said "Hola!" and it opened a little wider, and I could see that it was Sofi's mom. Once she realized who it was she opened the door with a huge shocked look on her face. A few seconds later Sofi came down the stairs with an even bigger look of shock on her face - there I was! It was a tearful reunion but it felt great!
Needless to say, I had a great weekend. We went shopping, we went to a movie (Van Helsing - a *great* popcorn movie, well done and a great watch!), went for a picnic at Sofi's parents' little hideout in the hills, went bowling - generally just enjoyed being together, and it was awesome. We hadn't seen each other for five months to the day so I really can't express how great it was to see her and spend time with her.
My flight left on Monday morning so it was a tearful goodbye, but I managed to handle the hour and a half drive back to the airport in Guadalajara. I even met up with Vanessa at the airpot to give her back the Pocket PC I got fixed for her in Canada. I didn't want to get on that plane but the rent's gotta get paid somehow!
Here are a few pics from the weekend, including one of Sofi's new neice, Isabel:
 capilla_adoratrices_016.jpg MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA 76.33 KB 640 x 480 6/1/2004 |
 capilla_adoratrices_017.jpg MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA 69.90 KB 640 x 480 6/1/2004 |
 capilla_adoratrices_019.jpg MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA 68.14 KB 640 x 480 6/1/2004 |
 capilla_adoratrices_020.jpg MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA 69.20 KB 640 x 480 6/1/2004 |
There were only two bad things about the weekend. The first was that they lost my luggage on the way down there, so I had to borrow clothes for the weekend and do a little supply shopping while I was there. As usual, when something bad happens something better happens to me, which was the $100 they gave me to compensate me, so that was good, I guess. The second bad thing was the awful flight home, that had delays upon delays, problems crossing the border, a late arrival, etc. It was brutal but I made it home safe so that's the important thing.
This week I haven't been feeling too well, with a bit of "Montezuma's Revenge" affecting my system that won't seem to go away. Work is going good - on Wednesday night we even went out for a bit of a social at Flanigan's Boathouse, which is a nice place - great for a party with multiple decks and lots of space.
In other news, I got extended for even longer, so I am going to be here in the USA until July 30th at least. The great news about that - they are going to fly me back to Mexico every few weekends, so that rocks! I am going to be back there from June 11th to 14th - talk about your fringe benefits!!!
Tomorrow I am going to D.C. to visit with Nick before his program starts up again in full-force. I'm looking forward to what might be our last visit together for a while, so we are hopefully going to tear the town up. Life is not good - life is great!