Waisting away in Margaritavillie

Well, Sher and I are in Los Cabos, Mexico. After 3 days of rain, it finally cleared up just in time for her and me to take a snorkeling cruise. As a matter of fact, we just returned to our temporary home base, Hotel Solaris, located at the top of the Sea of Cortez.

This is my first excursion into this great country and I can't help but wonder why it has taken me this long. Beautiful country, beautiful people.

I'm not nieve...I do realize that I happen to be in a posh area, and much of the country is not like this. This hotel is enormous, covering, I would guess, at least 10 acres and, (again my guess) probably employs at least 200 people. Many of them, I'm sure, having worked a full day at this posh resort, return to their homes that are, what we would consider, well below the poverty line.



Every day, as we head to the beach, we make our way through the miriade of vendors trying to get us to buy their various "treasures". They are not allowed onto the hotel property. It kinda reminds me of a game we used to play as kids where two teams were formed and each team joined hands to form a barrier, while facing the other team. The object was to pick one member of the opposing team to try to break through your line of defense. Anyway, I'm sure most of you remember the game. That is almost what it is like here, except, while definetly trying to get you to buy their wares, they, in no way constitute what I would consider harassment.

I said all of that to get to my point. It seems that one of the biggest commercial activities here is Time Shares. From the moment we stepped from the plane we have been bombarded by folks wanting to sell you a time share. Even the clerks at the local mall. Sher and I discoved just how extensive this is when we finally made it to the mall and while in one of the department stores, a sales lady asked if she could help us. She directed us to the proper area, and then asked if we were enjoying our stay. Mui Bueno, we replied...except for all the people trying to sell us time shares. "Oh, they are terrible" she replied, (watch out for them...there are many theives". Then she added, "But I have the best time shares that you could ever want and can give you such a deal on them".

One the many great things that has come out of this experience for me, personally, is I now realize I left a chunk out of my book House Hunting the Smart Way, and that is on Time Shares. So I'm actually going to allow myself to be swept up in this wave just to learn, first hand, what makes this industry so popular, in spite of it's horrific reputation.

However, right now the surf is up. Gary