Cabo San Lucas

April 26-30, 2014

Wayne drove Karen, Me, Mom, Mardyne and Mrylynn to the SLC airport on a rainy day to fly to Los Cabos for 4 days of eating, swimming, relaxing and enjoying some girl time. This was a much anticipated trip planned totally by mom as a way to spend any inheritance we might have had in doing something together. She had bought travel insurance just in case she wouldn't be up for the trip but stayed positive. Her feet have been bandaged and in boots for weeks and she wasn't sure they would be healed enough to go. Everything went smoothly until we boarded the plane. Row 23 was near the back of the plane and mom had a claustrophobic panic attack. It was so hard on her. She felt so embarrassed but the panic was very real for her. Efforts to find her a seat closer failed. They to find a row she could have to herself but it was further back. Soon she began to cry and wanted to get off the plane but luckily we were too close to taking off.   At the last second I was able to find another seat and we moved her by the window so she couldn't keep looking up the long narrow aisle. She was able to take a little nerve pill and the rest of the trip went just fine. We landed in Cabo at 2:00 p.m. Since mom was in a wheelchair to help save her feet, she was able to get right through customs, but only 2 personas were allowed to go with her. That left me and Mrylynn to stand in the long line and at the end since it had taken them so long to decide what to do with all of us that we ended up in the back. It was so ridiculous. Once reunited a van from "Epic" travel whisked us away on a 40 minute van ride to our palace. We had two rooms on the 2nd floor of the luxurious 5 star Rui Palace. It was very beautiful and we truly felt like royalty. Everything was included in the price.....all the food we could eat 24 hours a day, activities, entertainment, all the drinks including those in our room fridges. We were also delivered bottles of wine and each room was given a chocolate birthday cake. I guess they weren't sure which room the birthday girl was really in. 

Almost there!

Arriving in Cabo

Big drinkers

Free drinks in the room!

We unpacked then headed straight for the food and pool. A group of young people dressed in red and white outfits were in charge of making sure all the guests had a good time. They conducted activites throughout the day like water exercise, stretching, ping pong, beach or pool volleyball, rifle shooting. The first activity we saw was "guess the pushups." One of the activity staff was chosen to do pushups and the guests had to guess how many she could do. She ended up doing 38 but was only lowering her arms part way. I could tell it was bugging Karen. Suddenly she got down and did 42 really truly men's pushups. I was so proud of her. I could tell mom was too.



We began calling mom "Reina" which means "Queen" in Spanish as we were truly treated like royalty. My biggest fear was not timing our meals just right so we could be sure to get 3 of them in. The buffets and food were heavenly. It was beautifully presented and available at any hour of the day. Breakfast included everything you could imagine with any kind of fresh juice combination your heart could conjure up. The cocoa must have been made with cream. We ate guacamole like a main entree and I ate raw smoked salmon and cheese to my heart's desire. All the employees were very kind and friendly. Even though we didn't drink any alcohol we sure drank a lot of beverages "sin" alcohol. Favorites were margaritas and cococabanas. You could even eat and drink in the pool! I've never seen so many bikinis and bodies hanging out of them in my life. Nobody looked like they should be wearing one. I think we were the only ones in one-piece suits but judging by all the sunburns, I was glad I didn't have more exposed skin to burn. The palace was right on the beach but we weren't allowed to swim in the ocean directly in front, although we could just a short walk up the beach. 

Mardyne's swollen bug bite eyes

 In the morning we would eat a buffet breakfast then play pickleball (Karen and Mardyne brought their rackets).Next we would spend the day by the pool (eating and drinking) then in the late afternoon get ready for dinner and the 8:30 show. The first night we ate dinner at the buffet then watched a "Broadway" show. During the night Mardyne was attacked by mosquitoes. She had 18 bites and her eyes were badly swollen. Ironically Mrylynn wasn't even bothered by them. The next night she only got 5 more bites. 

Sunday was mom's birthday. A little bird must have spread the word because it seemed like everybody knew. The staff sang to her in the pool and she got lots of birthday wishes. That night we ate in a fancy restaurant called the "Krystal." Mom didn't like her meal very much as she had a hard time cutting her meat but she was darling and the waitors sang to her and presented her with a 3rd chocolate cake. After dinner we found a room on the balcony and played cards. 

Mom used a wheelchair off and on depending on how her feet were feeling. I'm sure some people must have wondered if she had been miraculously healed. There was a lot of walking though so we were glad we had the chair available....plus the pouch in the back was a handy purse. She couldn't go down on the beach though because of the sores on her feet but one afternoon, Karen and I walked as far as we could along the beach and played in the waves.



Monday night we ate at the buffet. It was the fanciest I've ever experienced. There were dozens of tiny individual desserts, some on skewers and some in tiny dishes or glasses. It truly was like a food fantasy island. The show that night was "Las Vegas." I felt so bad for the lady dancers who must have been in such a hurry they looked like they had forgotten their pants. At least they had their bras. Of course anytime there was music with a beat we were all up dancing, especially Karen. I'm sure people must have thought we had had too much to drink. I can't imagine what we would be like if we added alcohol to our drinks!

Tuesday was another day of sun and fun by the pool. Dinner was at a Mexican restaurant. The menu was very fancy. We thought we had the choice between the buffet or menu but it was actually both. We got a kick out of the little birds who had free flight everywhere. They frequently landed on the plates for their own buffets tasting the food before it was served. One of them "frosted" Karen as it did a flyby. The show that night was 

"Michael Jackson." It was amazing! The performer was better than the real Jackson. Afterwards Karen and I stayed and danced for awhile.

Wednesday we got in breakfast and pickleball and a quick lunch before having to say goodbye to our resort. It has been such a wonderful trip. I only spent $2 and that was for a tip to the maid who made us some very creative towel creatures, including a birthday cake.


 Since we never made it into town mom even paid for us each a souvenir purchased from the beach vendors. They sat outside on the beach all day long trying to sell their wares. We emptied our fridges of all our drinks before we left and passed them out to the vendors. They devoured one of the cakes like vultures.



We had a good trip home. Mom did great on the plane. The only glitch was the luggage conveyor belt broke once in SLC causing us a delay in getting our luggage. Wayne was there to pick us up. I always hate going home from vacation and the reality of returning to work. It was so wonderful and precious to spend time with mom and my sisters. It was a trip of a lifetime and I'm so grateful to mom for making it all happen. She was just a blast to be with. She thinks this will be her last big trip but I have a hunch she has a lot more life left than she thinks. Too bad she's out of money now!