As Mike mentioned, I was out of town this last weekend for work. It was one of the coolest assignments ever – I was at a resort complex in Los Cabos, Mexico, and it was my job to give them my impressions from a family vacation perspective. I also filmed some promotional videos for them. Despite growing up in Los Angeles I have only been to Mexico once previously, on a cruise ten years ago, so I didn’t know what to expect. It was beautiful there, and when I wasn’t in meetings or filming I did have to work in my office:

my office

But you don’t care about the work. You want to know the highlights of my trip.

~ I tricked the United States and Mexican governments into believing I am still Heather Buchanan. I swear I am going to get that passport updated…someday. The whole trip I was called Señora Buchanan, and it totally threw me for a loop.

~ One of the cool perks was getting to “try out” a spa treatment. Now, I am a simple girl. If I am lucky enough to be gifted with spa gift certificates from Mike, I get a massage. In this case, the hotel chose a service for me. It was a wrap. If you are like me, you have never had a wrap and didn’t realize that meant you were LITERALLY WRAPPED UP IN PLASTIC AND SHEETS. Like an adult in a baby swaddle. It was strange at first, but then my wrap artist Cecilia began rubbing my head and I started to relax and feel warm and secure. “Swaddling really works!” I thought. And then…you guys. I got my period while I was wrapped up like a Heather Burrito. I am like a walking Murphy’s Law, except with menstruation. I didn’t tell anyone, but I’m pretty sure Cecilia noticed. But besides that? OMG the spa was AMAZING. I want to live in it.

~ When looking for souvenirs to bring back for Mike and Annie, I came across a small guitar at a vendor stand. I liked it and asked how much it was. When I was told $25, I hesitated. I’d watched lots of people barter with the vendors and I decided to put on my big girl panties and try it myself, even though I am horrible at it. So I offered him $20. The vendor refused, sensing my fear and uncertainty. I then spent $35 on a doll for Annie. Negotiation. Fail.

~ I actually remembered some of the Spanish I learned over the eight semesters I studied the language. I also learned a lot more French than I realized during the half semester I studied that language, because I constantly said “merci beaucoup” to everyone, like some kind of dummy. I also said the following things in Spanish, with what I meant in parenthesis:

“Why are there bathrooms?” (where is the bathroom)
“You don’t speak Spanish good.” (I don’t speak Spanish well)
“You are a dumb American.” (I am a silly American)
and my personal favorite, “I want to be a dolphin.” (I want to see a dolphin)

~ The pool had a cool whale slide that constantly had a line of at least ten children waiting to ride it.

On the last night, one of my colleagues and I decided to go down the slide. It was a great idea because you see, there are no children in line for the slide at one am. It was fun! Then we got thrown out of the pool by security. Something about it “being closed.” We explained the no children thing, but clearly there was a language barrier because they didn’t see our brilliance.

~ I can survive away from Mike and Annabel for a few days. I cried cried cried when I left, but it was good for all of us. Mike and Annie got to bond, and I got to connect with myself again. And when I came home, I got huge smiles and kisses from all of them – Rigby, too!

But seriously, the resort (The Villa del Palmar) was amazing. We learned about vacation ownership, and it made so much sense that if I wasn’t DETERMINED to get out of debt this year I would have slapped down my credit card. The salesman in me was mentally moving the family to Cabo so I could sell them! I highly highly recommend the Villa Group – I can’t wait to take my family back there!

Here is the video footage I filmed, and it will give you a great feel for the resort.

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