What we did for our anniversary.
We took our one-full-week yearly vacation during our anniversary week for the second year in a row. We flew to Mazatlan this year and stayed at Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay. I took this picture out the airplane window as we were coming in for a landing in Mazatlan. The orange arrow points to Emerald Bay. As you can see the beach stretches to the north as far as the eye can see from Emerald Bay (we are flying south with the Sea of Cortez to the west.
You can see the "Hotel Zone" of Mazatlan which is that area with high-rises along the coast south of the point just south of Emerald Bay. We stayed away from that area. There is a shuttle that travels from where we were to the hustle and bustle of the "Hotel Zone," but this year we didn't use it.
Off the coast you can see Bird Island (the one to the right) and Deer Island (the one to the left). Mazatlan is from the Nahuatl language and means "place of deer."
We left our home one week before Thanksgiving at 2:40AM to drive to the Sacramento Airport. Our plane took us to Phoenix. We had to get off that plane to get onto a really small jet plane to Mazatlan. That plane was so small we had to check our carry-on bags (we only travel with carry-on bags). When taxiing from the Phoenix Airport I took a picture of this plane. Hummm, I wonder what football team uses this plane?
Now most people who stay at Emerald Bay get a lounge chair by the pool. Then they look at the pool all day. This makes little sense to us. We get chairs and then move them around and position them to look at the ocean (makes sense, huh?). We also walk on the beach and go into the ocean. You normally see no people in the ocean. One day we went into the ocean there was one guy trying to body surf and that was it. The ocean was quite warm as was the pool...so warm in fact you could literally stay in the water all day long if you wanted and not get cold. Here is what we looked at all day with the view to the left and right:
more after the Kitchen Table Kibitzing orange table doily
There are basically two different pay rates for those that work at Emerald Bay. Those that have the capacity to make tips get about $5 per day (approx. 60 pesos). Those that don't get tips make about $7.50 per day (approx. 100 pesos). Really! We always tip the maid even on days we let her know we don't need her to do anything but give us a couple new towels. Our tip is $2 each day which is 26 pesos. It's crazy to think our tipping alone equaled more than 40% of their daily wage. We also know nearly no one tips the maids, which is quite sad. They are extremely appreciative and show it. Here by way of making towel swans for us.
Here is what I got searching the internet for wages in Mexico:
For a waiter is approx. 50 pesos per day.
Construction worker average 250 pesos p day
Construction worker master 500 pesos p day
Shifts in Mexico are 12 hours p day and one day off per week. The highest minimum wage is around 58.00 pesos per day consisting of 12 hr. shifts and one rotating day off per week.
On the bright side, unemployment in Mexico is quite low now...less than in Europe and the USA. Mexican citizens get health care (more civilized in that regard than the USA) and if folks work for 30 years at a job they get to retire on 100% the money they made while working. This means they can continue to live the lifestyle they were used to in their old age...a nice deal.
Well that's all the pictures I'm going to include in this diary. Now I'm just gonna ramble for a while...
First off I want to say things have changed over the years that we've gone to Mexico... and we started doing that over 20 years ago. I know it sounds really cool to go to Mexico, but it really can be done for a modest amount if you desire. The biggest expense is the airfare followed by lodging costs. You can always get a cheap place to stay if you like, but those places are truly the flea-bitten type. We are too old for that anymore (yes we've been there done that).
Most of the time we've cooked the majority of our meals in our room since we always get a room with a kitchenette. Another thing is from Sacramento to Mazatlan is only 1383 miles which is a short flight...only as far as flying from San Francisco to Denver really (1,270 miles). If you were to drive there and could maintain an average speed of 60 mph, you'd get there in 23 hours. When I drive from San Francisco to Denver it takes me 24 hours of driving...just to put it in perspective.
The types of people who we run into have gradually shifted over the years. In years past we normally found a fair amount of folks we could relate to...you know middle class sorts who live their lives and take a vacation once a year. But things have changed. This has to do with the economy and the fact the middle class is disappearing. Middle class folks are disappearing from taking a Mexican vacation as well (which is much cheaper than taking an Hawaiian vacation). Increasingly we find ourselves surrounded by the 1% along with "1% attitudes."
Another thing that is obvious is how very suspicious Americans have become over the last 20+ years about other Americans! But this is a reflection of the 1%. They are scared...of what I'm not sure. It feels like they aren't comfortable with those that aren't of their ilk. It didn't really feel like this 20 years ago, but it sure does now.
It is also as obvious as can be that smileycreek and I are not of the 1%. You can tell by how we dress and more so by how we act. We dress in "normal" clothing = shorts and T-shirts. We don't dress to the 9's for dinner. We don't have designer clothes, shoes watches and all the rest. We are open, inviting and friendly, not haughty and dismissive. We don't look around and compare ourselves to others.
1%ers really aren't nice and calm. There is an uptight, self-centered and vain feel about them. If they do talk to you they want to know where you're from and what you do (common questions by all on vacation), but once they find that out they aren't really interested in you anymore because you clearly aren't in their league. It's as though they don't even really have any use even talking to you anymore. In the past there was a better mix of the rich and the middle class. That is vanishing. One thing for sure however is the folks that work at these places always like middle class people much more because we are nice and including and tip because we can totally relate in a way the rich just don't.
HEY, you want to get the cold shoulder by 1%ers? Easy peasy...just tell them you're from northern California (which we are) and the look on their face changes to "Oh, you're a commie DFH." You can just see it on their faces. It's like you come from the lair of the enemy. I'm kidding mostly, but not really. If you aren't part of their pretty damned elite strata of society you are basically just an "other than them." It didn't feel like this 20 years ago. Maybe they always had that attitude (I assume so) but they weren't out front with it in their looks and attitudes like they are now. And they seemed more engaging and at least cordial. I guess civility really is in decline.
Now before you think Americans have a stranglehold on being snobby, believe me, the locals who are rich treat the work like crap. They order them around and never tip. They have a worse privileged attitude than rich Americans...trust me on this.
Naturally the folks we ended up being "vacation buddies" with just happened to be from northern California. They were a man and his wife from El Sobrante, CA. He is a pipe fitter and in a union. She works for and has for the past 30 years, a mom-and-pop contact lens company which makes all those lenses you see in the movies when they have characters with cat's eyes or reptiles eyes or whatever. Cool! It's a small place with just a couple employees and the owners are always getting her into "spiritual stuff."
Being from northern California they also just happened to bring along some California vacation enhancement material. That was a nice and unexpected bonus.
The other people we talked to briefly the first day we were there were nice too. The man drank like a fish (beer after beer after beer in quick succession). He was covered in tattoos and married to a women who was one of eight children. They lived in Ogden, Utah and this was her second marriage (WTF?)...so she was the black sheep of her family to be sure. We were getting along just fine until he brought up politics (oops). He started going on about how the economy would have been so much better if Mitt Romney had gotten elected because "he would have run the country like a business and Mitt is an expert at business." I just looked up at the sky where a huge flock of frigate birds had merged tightly together after drifting apart earlier and said, "oh look they are clumping up again." That remark was to change the subject...but also a remark with a double entendre which was lost on him...though it was NOT lost on smileycreek.
We think we'll continue to take our one-full-week vacation in November from now on since the weather is better in Mexico than in late January and it isn't the high tourist season so it's mellower overall. We learned a lesson about traveling though. Do NOT travel internationally on Thanksgiving Day. We thought it would be easy due to low volume. We were right. The volume turned out to be so low that our flight back, which would have been a reversal of our flight there, got cancelled just before we left due to that very reason. We were stuck with what they gave us. We had to fly from Mazatlan to Phoenix...stay there for hours...fly to Seattle...only one hour there...then fly to Sacramento. This made our entire return adventure take 15 hours...not fun.
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate.
Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.