I'm trying to keep up, but we're a little busy this week

As you can see, Mom won the shopping contest in Ixtapa.

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It has been busy here the last few days. Sean and Ellie arrived on Friday, Mom and Camille arrived Saturday. We have been getting everyone settled in and moving forward with wedding plans. Sean and Ellie are up at La Escollera as I write this working on plans. They are meeting with the Judge that is performing the service for them, the manager of La Escollera who has done most of the arrangements, and a musician who will be playing pre wedding. Tomorrow they move up there for the rest of their time here this year. They have a couple of very nice rooms that they out rent up there. It has a beautiful view overlooking Zihuatanejo bay and La Ropa beach.

Today, Judy and I took Mom to Ixtapa for some shopping. I needed to pay for my Telcel wireless internet card for next month. More on that subject in a moment. Judy took Mom to her favorite clothing store for some retail therapy. All I can say is it is a good thing that I went to the ATM for Mom this morning.

I had to go to the Telcel office to pay my bill. This is where the fun started, sorta. I waited in line for one of the three customer service people out of the seven stations that were available. I had plenty of time to observe how some of this worked. Most of the people were dealing with cell phone issues. I waited in line for close to an hour. Then I went to the counter for my turn. He spoke pretty good English, so that wasn’t a problem. I soon found out that I should have brought the wireless gizmo with me so they could communicate with it and let it know that I am paid up. Then he sent me over to the cashier to pay the bill. While I was doing that he didn’t start waiting on anyone else. I could see that coming from my hour of observation in the line. I still need to make another trip to Ixtapa to handle the last part of the transaction. That office is the only place I can pay the bill, even though there are numerous locations around downtown Zihuatanejo. Oh well it’s Mexico! You should see the Banks on Friday afternoons and Saturdays. The locals are lined up out the door just to use the ATM, if it still has money in it. We Americans are spoiled when it comes to banking. I went to the bank the other day to try and pay some wedding bills with Celine the manager from La Escollera, and I counted 35 people waiting in the lobby of the bank for their turn. The businesses get some priority, but they have to request it. You come in the front door and swipe your card to get a number. Why do they have 7 windows but only 3 people working them? Mexico, you got to love it!

I must admit that our connection with the world has been much better this year with a more reliable internet connection and Skype. We have made many calls back to the States for no additional charge beyond the $36 dollars for three months of international calling. I wish that we had Skype a few years ago when I had some cell bills that looked like the National debt.

This is like the calm before the storm. I will be making trips to the airport for three days in a row starting on Wednesday mid day. There are 11 people on the Alaska flight on Thursday. Looks like the count is at about 65 people for the wedding. More on that subject to come.

Warren