A Weddings Adventure Part VI: Manhattan West Coast Style

We reluctantly left Mexico on Wednesday and made our way back to Los Estados Unidos.  This time we stayed at a Radison, which was a significant upgrade upon the Travellodge.  It even had a sleep number bed, which rectified my problem that hotel beds are always too hard.  From now on I'm going to have to try to always stay at a hotel that has one*.  Not feeling too adventurous, we ate dinner in the hotel restaurant, where I got steak which was easily better than any I had in Mexico. The meal reminded us both that we were back to American sized portions, and that we needed to carry wallets around again.

*Unless the hotel comes with a hammock.

Thursday was our one free day to roam the streets of Los Angeles.  Figuring out to spend a day in LA proved to be a bit of a logistical challenge.  Everything is spread out and expensive, and neither of us had any great interest in the trappings of Hollywood.  We ended up finding a $5 all day trolley that connected various hotels including ours to a few tourist destinations.

The first stop on the trolley was Manhattan beach, where at least some of the local rich and famous live.*     There was a pathway with various local shops along it.  Up a street on one side were colorful houses that cost more than we are likely to make in the next few decades.  On the other side was the boardwalk, beach and ocean. We ate lunch at a bakery that offered enormous sandwiches and delicious mini cupcakes for dessert.  There was also a cute independent bookstore whose kind is rarely seen anymore. We went down the boardwalk and watched the surfers for a while. This allowed me to explain the entertaining art of watching people fall to Becky.  There was a pier that led to a free aquarium, but it was closed.

 

*For example there dwells Nomar Garciaparra and Mia Hamm who Becky's grandmother asked us to stalk on her behalf.

Becky and Honey on the pier

Next up was the Manhattan village, which turned out to just be a fairly generic mall.   We wandered around for a while in the various chains that can be found in most similar places, We ate some barbeque for dinner, the good kind where they have paper towels on the tables.  Then we went to see the Muppet movie*, which seemed like a very LA thing to do. 

*The night did have a striking resemblance to what my friend Rich's idea of heaven must be.

A Weddings Adventure Part V: Wedding in Paradise

We weren't just in Mexico to rest and relax in the sun.  We had important business to attend to.  We had to go to a wedding*

*On the beach, where we could rest and relax in the sun.

As we were getting dressed we started hearing music coming from the beach.  This was unnerving as we were concerned we were going to miss the ceremony.  We finished up and rushed down the hundred or so steps to get down to the beach.  It turns out, Jason, a groomsman, was just warming up his guitar, and we were amongst the first to arrive.

Paddy, our flight companion, was standing by the canopy, with an iPad in toe.  You see an iPad is not merely a device for taking funny pictures, but it can also be used to store text, say for a wedding ceremony.  Yes, Paddy wasn't merely in the wedding, he was presiding over it.

There were about 45 people at wedding.  Most were people from Alaska or the pacific northwest who worked in fishing in some capacity.  We were part of the Boston gamers*contingent.

*That is how everyone in their families knew us.  The Boston people who played games.

The groom and his groomsmen lined up and waited for the bridesmaids to descend the steps.  The bridesmaids wore sage dresses along with necklaces and earrings that Becky had designed.  As they made their way across the straw mats and reached Bo, he gave each one a high five.  Then Lia came down, accompandied by her father, and wearing a dress* that both of her mother and grandmother had worn before when they walked down the aisle.  No high five for her though, guess she wasn't special enough.

*Altered by Becky and Ellen, who had to take apart some parts that were ripping earlier in the day.

Paddy's ceremony was closer to a best man's speech then a traditional ceremony.  He talked about how Bo was like a big brother and how Lia was always perfect for Bo. Lia's dad, Eric, handled the more spiritual part of the ceremony.  He, being more of a traditionalist, read off of a laptop. They also included some personal touches.  They took sand from their Alaskan home and combined in with the sand on the beach to symbolize how they are now forever twined.

Bo and Lia wrote their own vows and managed to do it without seeming hokey, an impressive feat.  Bo promised to get a dog and occasional go for a morning run or do yoga, along with the love and cherish parts.  When Lia was done she stuffed her cue cards into Bo's pocket.  They exchanged rings, the groom's ring having been found in Mexico for $10 at a flea market. "By the power vested in me by absolutely no one," Paddy pronounced them husband and wife.  They proceeded with a kiss that I'm not sure has ended yet.

The party took place later on a patio upstairs.   The resort chose the DJ, which resulted in some interesting entertainment selections.  For instance, they set up a screen which featured MTV style music videos.  But don't think it wasn't personal, as Bo's and Lia's names were plastered on the screen, superimposed on whichever video was being played*

*We spent much time trying to figure out which one was Lia and which was Bo.

The best man, Logan, gave a toast, followed by Lia's brother Micha and Lia's dad*, and  .. On 2nd thought it would probably just be quicker to name the people who didn't give toasts, as there were over a dozen toasts.

*Eric talked about the time where Bo didn't realize that he was in the car and accidentally mooned him.

We sat next to some friends of Lia's from Seattle who she thought we might get along with*  The food wasn't particularly memorable other than some delicious cheese filled rolls.  Some of items did reappear in the restaurant in later days as part of their waste not philosophy.


*What you just bought Through the Ages?  Yes I am familiar. 

Micha stole the dance floor.  His technique would best be described as a robot with rhythm.  There were also a group of locals partying with us as well.  While in Mexico, Lily, Lia's sister, had become smitten with a guy she met.  Bo and Lia ended up inviting him and three of his friends to partake in their festivities.  Not to be outdone, Paddy, changed into a speedo and returned to the dance floor.  He then proceeded to lift to his girlfriend*, Anna, up, carry her to the pool, and jump in.  Having done his adult duty for the day, he was free to reign wild.

*Now fiance as he proposed later in their Mexico stay.  After Anna didn't object to being thrown into a pool in a dress there was little chance she would say no. 

A Weddings Adventure Part IV: Punta Serena

We stayed at Punta Serena, a private resort on the Blue Bay off of the Pacific Ocean.  It was actually pretty far south, about as close to Guatemala as it is to any point in the USA

The first thing to note about the resort is that it really did look like the pictures.  There were exquisite views from everywhere, even the bathroom had an excellent view of the beach and ocean.  There was a full sized pool, two hot tubs, and a private beach.  The water was all a deep clear blue and the sky was clear enough to see the sunrises and sunsets, a full moon, stars, and even Venus.  We were told that you later in the year you could see dolphins, turtles, and other wild life from the pools and beach, but we apparently came a little too early in the year for that.  We did have the pleasure of a large iguana's company, who tended to hang out near one of the hot tubs.  On the down side, the place had stairs everywhere, and it was a significant workout just to get to the beach.   

The room itself was large but only moderately furnished.  It was as if they didn't expect you to spend much time in it,  It wasn't especially clean, or say adequately supplied with towels, but that seemed more of a cultural issue than a staff one.  The room had a balcony which featured a hammock, of which I made great use.

At one point we got a little visitor in the bathroom that Becky befriended.

The food wasn't really what one would think of as Mexican, but closer to American dishes, steak, chicken, pasta, and fish, with local touches.  The portions were small, which wasn't bad as it allowed for ordering of appetizers and desserts.  They did have interesting water juices though, which was water mixed with whatever they had on hand (papaya, pineapple, oatmeal...).  The menu was the same everyday, which could get tiring after a while, but weren't quite there long enough for it to be much of a problem.  One interesting quirk was that they would always take orders from females before males. The restaurant was open air with a new roof that was erected after the previous one was defeated by a hurricane.  It allowed for some nice views of sunsets at dinner, but did occasionally result in some insect competition for meals.  All in all the food was solid, but not a reason to go there for.

They had an open bar by the pools, which offered snacks and drinks.  They seemed to specialize in non-alcoholic fruit drinks, but had a pretty good supply of everything.  There best one was a self titled Punta Serena, a mixture of half of a dozen fruit juices that they offered to all new guests.*  They used the precise measuring system of a dollop of this and three splashes of that, which resulted in drinks tasting different each time.  They seemed to use a lot of alcohol, but the drinks never reflected much of it, so perhaps the drinks were a  bit watered down.  We did discover the Jose special, a drink with chocolate, coconut milk and Kahlua, which Jose greatly appreciated serving.  The staff were willing to deliver drinks and food to anywhere around the pool area, which was useful for maximizing laziness.


*We ordered it more once we figured out what it was called.

The staff spoke enough English to handle all common queries and were exceptionally accommodating of all requests.  We later learned from a common visitor that there was very little turnover in the staff and many of the employees had been their for decades.  We never really needed to speak Spanish, but we tried somewhat albeit mostly just with hola and gracious*  It has been over a decade since I've taken any Spanish and even when I knew a word, I'd instinctively say the English anyway.


*We said gracious so much that it was hard to stop once we got back to America.

We journeyed over to the sister resort, Los Angeles Locos, one night to mingle amongst the commoners and get dinner.  The way things are set up, we could visit Los Locos anytime we wanted, but they couldn't visit our resort.   I'm sure it would be a nice family vacation destination*, but after staying at Punta Serena it seemed just loud and crowded.  Dinner was good though other than the ant farm on the side of the table.  Afterwards we were happy to get back to our own private resort.Our American tourist smugness is coming along well.

The pool did have a swim up bar.

One other thing worth mentioning.  The resort was clothing optional.  For the first part of our stay this didn't matter, as the wedding party decreed that grandma didn't need to see too much skin.  After the wedding party cleared out and we started to get some new visitors, we got to see a few more exhibitionists.