We have arrived!

Day One

Our journey to Todos Santos was almost without snags. We arrived at SeaTac Airport at 4:22 a.m. Jen and Jaime checked in without any problem. When I tried to check in, it became apparent that I did not have a ticket (!) despite ordering it, paying for it and confirming it online and over the phone! I remained calm while Jen stood by with tears in her eyes and Jaime excused herself as not to swear inadvertently at the (un)helpful airline employees. Anyway, it all worked out in the end $462.43 later and I'll deal with it when I return to the US. Lame. I can't help but feel like I paid for this ticket twice.

Fly, fly, fly to Dallas and then on to Los Cabos. We picked up our rental car, had to negotiate the price (lame, they wanted to charge us $220 extra for insurance?) I was like, "What? That's crazy!" But again, I remained calm, Jen had tears in her eyes and Jaime stood the hard ground and demanded the price we were quoted with minimal swearing...I think today we will have a lesson on Spanish swears so her tactics are more appropriate and fruitful. We won in the end and got an upgrade. Awesome.

---We have come to the conclusion that the 3 of us have awesome-ly different and complementary ways of dealing with conflicts, resolutions and getting our own way. It's the ultimate "Good cop/bad cop" Scenario. I remain calm, firm and understanding, Jaime is strong, demanding and to the point and Jen is empathetic, emotional and honest. With our powers combined, we can and will get what is fair and what we want. Watch out Baja!---

After filling the gas tank, getting coffee and chips and receiving cat calls from very young Mexican boys we were finally on our way to our Garden Casita. Along the way we stopped to check in with some friends I met the last time I was here: Jesus, Filomena and Sofia at the Carnitas Restaurant in Elias Calles and Benjamin and Margarita (who have a new daughter Gardenia) at their restuarant where we ate our first meal of Shrimp/beef tacos with a couple Tecate Lights...$7 meals are the best. Benjamin serenaded us with his accordian for a bit and then we were off to settle in at our perfect casita.

After a quick driving tour of sleepy Todos Santos, we bombed down the dirt roads to find the rental house. When we arrived we were greeted with a sign on the door that read, "The Garden Casita welcomes Jaime Keeling." So cute. The house has a kitchen, living room (with futon), bedroom and loft. All the basic ammenities under a palapa/thatched roof with a couple ceiling fans. It couldn't be any more perfect unless it were closer to the water. I think we area bout a mile from the water. We chatted with Janice (the owner), unpacked, rented some movies drank another Tecate Light and promptly fell asleep.

The weather is humid, very humid, wicked fricken humid...but it feels nice compared to the cool rain of Seattle. Everything is green, everything. In the past, the drive to Todos has been through dry, barren -vultures circling overhead- desert but now it is through lush, green desert--everything smells good, like fresh rain and flowers. There are clouds covering the mountains and in areas to the east it is definitely raining. We were graced with some thunder and heat lighting, nothing major just some sprinkles. We are hoping for some torrential downpours and dramatic storms at some point during our stay...no hurricanes though, please.

Tomorrow we will head to Cerritos to surf and swim and soak up the sun. We will double dutch and wow the crowds with our jumping prowess. Stay tuned.

Lots of love,
Aj