Chick Trip to Puerto Vallarta and the Bling Bling Cowgirl!
When I returned from my solo trip to Puerto
Vallarta to meet the guy from Match.com,
all the girls wanted to go back with me again. One in particular said she would
like to meet this guy from Match.com whom I found boring. I thought, “Why not?”
For some reason, if a guy liked me or her, they usually liked us both, and we
were nothing at all alike in looks, personality or background.
We made our plans to return to the same hotel
around the corner from Andale’s. I
emailed the guy and he said, "Why not?" So I made a date to introduce these two. This
trip included the two of us and our little Bling Bling cowgirl from Texas. It is an eight hour drive from San Miguel de Allende to Puerto Vallarta. So
after checking in and unpacking we all walked over to the beachfront bar where
we had arranged for them to meet. As soon as Bling Bling and I finished our first
drink, we left them alone and went to Andale’s.
She was her usual energizer self. I always said
she was like a balloon you had to hold onto tightly, or she would fly away.
When we were together, our energy was electric. As we walked into Andale’s, the first person who saw us
walk in said, “Girls take it down a notch; you're practically flying.” She went
straight to the bar and sat on it and ordered a big margarita and held court to
all the men who flocked around her. I had already met all these Canadian men
from my first trip to Puerto Vallarta, and they were the regulars.
Unexpectedly, the guy from Match.com who was supposed to be out with our friend
found us. This time he was not quite so boring and did dance with me. I noticed
he was interested in the Bling Bling cowgirl, who that night, as we all went in separate
directions, did not come home until the morning with another Canadian man she met that night. Her cell phone was in my purse.
Besides great music, Andale’s is known for their huge margaritas and the donkey that
comes into the bar to let people ride around on him. He also drinks beer for a
dollar, as all donkeys seem to do in Mexico.
I had met a really nice guy that first evening
at Andale’s. He was down from California on a golfing trip
with some of his male friends. He asked me out for dinner the following night.
Now I am the worst person for remembering names, so when Bling Bling came
home and was mum about her whereabouts, I told her about my date that night.
She asked what he did and what his name was. I
told her, "Remember I never ask what a man does, and I don’t remember his
name.” She asked how was I going to introduce him to her. I said, “You will
have to step in and be first to introduce yourself.” When he showed up, she did
so and asked his name and what he did. She repeated it looking at me and then
asked for his card to prove what he did and again read his name and occupation
while looking at me. As we left, she called out after him, saying his name and
to have a good time and to watch out as she was a fraud investigator. When I
came back to the hotel, she was awake and waiting up for me. She asked how my
date went, and I replied, “What is his name again?” She just shook her head and
laughed at me.
The next day she and I went for a walk on the
boardwalk as she wanted to shop while our other friend spent the day at the
beach. I have never seen Bling Bling speechless before, but two great-looking guys walked by us
carrying their surf boards and said, “Hey girls, looking good in the
neighborhood.”
Actually, we both were speechless and just
stood there staring at each other as they really were magnificent looking guys.
Suddenly, we turned around and they were gone. She hit me so hard on the arm
and said, “What is wrong with you? Why didn’t you say something? You always
have something to say.” After that she
had to walk around the same area at the same time every day hoping to see them
again. She said that surfers surf the
same time each day, but we never saw them again. So our days were spent walking
on the boardwalk, shopping while the other girl baked in the sun, eating out
nights at different places and then going back to Andale’s.
That was our only Mexico trip that Bling Bling and I
made together. All the other trips were to Texas to stay at her house in
Houston, or at my friend’s house in Austin, or to Dallas in hotels.
Wherever we traveled, she was great company and
you never knew what to expect from her. But it was always shopping all day,
dinner out and then to a club. She was an amazing shopper; if she liked
something she would buy it in every color.
She would also buy one for herself and one for me. She was so generous.
When shopping I was her mule and carried
everything. She wore me out so many times shopping that one time I actually sat
down on the curb and refused to shop anymore. She got her cell phone out and
called everyone in San Miguel de Allende to tell them, “can you believe this Bekka is worn out and refusing to move; I wore Bekka out."
The first time I met Bling Bling it was
Day of the Dead. I was having lunch with friends at the El Jardin café, and
there she was, this tiny little girl but bigger than life with a Chihuahua
dressed up like a crocodile for Halloween.
We went everywhere together immediately, and
she would argue with me. “I am your best friend.” I would say, "No, I have
many girlfriends."
She would hit me on my arm as hard as she could
and say again, “I am your best friend.”
When I think back, she used to hit me so hard
all the time on my arm to get my attention or to make a point that I was always
bruised when she was in town. One day we
were all at Tio Lucas. She walked in
and surprised us all by saying, “I have moved here to be with my girlfriends
because my husband is dead.” We all got up and hugged her and asked her how it
happened. She just laughed and said he was dead to her. She preferred the
sisterhood in San Miguel de Allende.
She and I had made many trips to Houston
together, but she made her last one alone because I was too busy to travel back
up to Texas again. For the life of me, I
cannot remember what I was so busy about. I will always feel guilty for not
going with her, because it was during this trip that her husband killed her. I know if I had been there I could have saved her. I also
regret never telling her, "Yes, you are my best friend."
Hotel in Puerto Vallarta we stayed
in:
http://www.playalosarcos.com/
These are three videos I made of her life in
Mexico, her Chihuahua’s life in Mexico, and her Memorial service the sisterhood
made to celebrate her life exactly as she had asked us to in a letter to her
mother:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZyWIKJvrc0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUiDvq0tbR4
