It was 5 O'clock Somewhere...

Jimmy Buffett has a song that says "it's 5 o'clock" somewhere. That may well be true but it was only 4 o'clock in Mazatlan (and 3 o'clock in Victoria) when we had to rouse ourselves from slumber to make our way to our 6am flight. Obedient Canadians that we are, we arrived at YYJ at about 04:20am, as was recommended by Horizon Air. So, while we cooled our jets for the next 40 minutes waiting for airport security to OPEN (at 5am!) Mark enjoyed his I Fly For Bing Cherry Pie. Since Tim's wasn't open yet, I consoled myself (and my caffeine addiction, as Mark calls it) with visions of an SEA Starbucks. It worked.

A delightfully uneventful hop over to Seattle, followed by breakfast at Starbucks and an obligatory stroll through the duty free shop rounded out our morning. Mark was quite impressed by this new offering...have tequila, will travel!

Daylight seeped in from the East, flooding the North terminal in light and the promise of a rain-free day. Too little, too late! We are outta here! And, to my great delight, I recognized a colleague and her young family, also traveling to Mazatlan for this week! There happened to be two empty seats on our plane, one of which was located in our row. You see Paul, you should've come with us!

Mt. Ranier emerged, an island in a sea of clouds.















Mark saw the Grand Canyon for the first time, impressive even from 40K feet. Time flew by (ha-ha), we touched down, our luggage appeared and we headed off to take our chances with the red/green customs and immigration light. Green light! Yipee!

Joanna and Harry and their trusty Plymouth Voyager, Wanda, were waiting for us. All three seem fully integrated into Mazatlan life. As you can see, Wanda's loonies for parking have been replace by pesos-for-people, handed out to the needy who congregate at major intersections, quietly accepting change from passersby.


Harry expertly negotiated our way into and through town, dropping us at our hotel exactly in time for Happy Hour! If only we weren't so desperate to check in and change our clothes - which we did and then wandered the block and half from the hotel to Harry and Joanna's darling vacation home.

We were greeted (and greeted and greeted!) at the gate by Geordie and Maggie, siblings to our grrls Maddie and Sophie. People who think that dogs have no emotions have never seen these dogs' reaction to visitors from home. We were pretty delighted to see them too.

Within minutes we were seated in Harry and Joanna's beautiful courtyard, a plate of fresh fruit and margaritas completing the scene. As Mark lifted his margarita to his lips, the strap of his watch gave way, broken.


The Aztec Gods have welcomed us, it seems. Let the relaxation begin!

We made it back to our hotel just in time to catch the sunset before getting dressed for dinner.


Life is beautiful.