White Point Beach Resort

It has been over 3 weeks since I posted on this blog. It has been a very busy time. Marilyn and Del, friends of Nancy as well as Kate & Jack, visited the latter for a week in early December. We were busy going to dinner, going to the spas in San Juan Cosala and Tlaquepaque. I was also marking and grading essays from my course. Then, we had to get ready to make the trip to Halifax.

Jack and Kate are looking after Bijou for us. On the 15th we took Bijou and stayed at their condo to see if Bijou would settle there. Early (5:30 a.m.) Jack got us up and drove us to the airport. That was early and we got there with almost 2 hours before flight time. However, I then noticed that I had forgotten our computers--necessary because it had my grades to be submitted in Halifax. We rushed back home to Ajijic, got the computers and got back to the airport with just a half hour before boarding (an hour before takeoff). On going in to get our boarding passes, we learned that we needed our FM3 visa documents. Barb had packed them in our carryon luggage. We searched, but were unable to find them immediately; under stress like that one does not perform well. The lady at the counter gave us some forms that had to be stamped by an immigration official, if he was willing. We rushed down to the office; fortunately, although a bit grumpy, he agreed to stamp the forms. Then we had to rush to security; after that, we had to run to another terminal at the far end of complex. When we got there, they had already started the boarding process; however, there was a long line which we could join. This was still not the end. For some reason, there was another security check before boarding the Continental Airlines flight; my suspicion is that Americans don’t trust the Mexican security. This check did not have x-ray machines so everything was being done by hand going through our carryon luggage. The guy in my line, opened the suitcase, took a quick look and examination and waved me through. However, Barb got a young woman, new to the job, and she examined everything thoroughly. Barb had wooden knitting needles (ok), but the young woman didn’t know and had to call someone higher up. She also kept going over Barb with the wand because it kept setting alarm, probably the snaps on her coat. Barb was the last to get on the bus and was holding everyone up. Needless to say, we were pretty frazzled by the time we got on board. Thankfully, because we had not had time to eat, there was a decent breakfast on the airplane.

Everything went well until we got to Newark, N.J. Although the temp. was just above freezing, it was snowing and planes were behind schedule. There was a huge backup of planes because they had to be de-iced. We had a car rental reservation, but I was worried that there would be no one at the desk. We were supposed to get in just before midnight and they were supposed to close at 12:30 a.m. I had been warned to call if we were going to be delayed. I did that and the woman said that she would wait. However, when we were over 3 hours late, I didn’t expect her to be there. However, there she was even though it was about 3:15. She was very cheery, with a wry sense of humour. I had given her the flight number so she had watched as the time kept getting later and later. We were exhausted when we finally got to Barb’s sister’s house in Bedford (about 4 a.m.).

We then had 3 busy days in Halifax, keeping appointments, changing addresses, picking up my exams to mark, etc. We did get to the Brunch Club party at Estelle’s condo on Friday night. It was great to see so many of our friends in the Brunch Club. Barb had her computer with lots of photos of Ajijic, not just hers but Nancy’s and Estelle’s. I expect our Brunch Club friends were getting a bit sick of hearing about Ajijic by the end.

We finally got to White Point Beach on Saturday, December 20th. The temperatures are certainly a shock after leaving Mexico. The night of the party, it was -12 C. Sunday night there was a big storm hitting the Maritimes. There was some snow, which turned to rain; the big problem was the wind which reached close to hurricane force. We lost power here for a short time in the night, but nothing very long. However, quite a number of people in Halifax area lost power. Barb’s son Jeff lost power for about 9 hours; it turned colder today (about -5 C) so it was getting quite cool. We heard that Point Pleasant Park in Halifax has been closed until the downed trees can be removed. That park was devastated by Hurrican Juan a few years ago. It apparently got zapped again.

The forecast is for the temperatures to get warmer and even perhaps rain on Christmas Day. I finished grading my exams and submitted the final grades this afternoon. Thus, I am now free to enjoy our time here. What ever comes, we are very cozy in our White Point cottage with a nice big fire in the fireplace. I’ll try to keep up to date better now that we have got our must-do tasks pretty well taken care of.