Cabo, Mexico…a mini vacation

As I start this post my attitude is 360 degrees different from day one when we arrived. Then I was in a foul mood!

When we got to the entry point the one custom’s line was long an slow, ok not a big deal that is to be expected.

LZ went to check on the car but forgot the conformation number. After much hassle she finally found who she had rented from. We finally made it through customs and headed to find our car. That is when the real downer started. We got the sales pitch at least four times for something or another. Check out a new hotel, timeshare…  At first I was patience then, I figured out what was happening and grew less patience with each confrontation. I thought once we finally made it to the rental dealer it was over. Wrong ! There we were told about yet another deal that could get us the car insurance for 20.00 instead of paying the 200.00 plus money for full coverage  because the coverage we had was only a reimbursement coverage. Sigh ok I was tired by now and agreed to the 90 min presentation which included breakfast. It did not seem to bad. I thought I was done. Wrong ! When we got to the hotel and checked in I was told by some other person many of these people are not what they seem. If we cancelled she could coverage the insurance cost with 200.00 cash …
Now I’m really in a foul mood. I was told by the guy at the car rental that if I cancel because of the story the woman at the hotel would give me I would have to pay full price .

I decided to ride it out…

The room is nice, but LZ complained to the desk that it was not what she was told. They moved us to another floor with a better view. I just wanted to settle in, but the room was more airy.

The presentation was ok it was a very nice time share plan and if conditions were different for us I would have went for it.

The presentation went for longer than the 90 minutes but that was not a big deal because we had breakfast and LZ was enjoying dreaming. What ground on my nerves was the guy would not take no for an answer after over and hour of saying no I had finally calmly say. To the effect of my other job is teaching KungFu and you are really really trying my control and patience. That ended the talk.

My mood improved once that was over! That Evening we went out to dinner at some local place LZ want to try …she wanted to try the lobster. Here lobster is pretty common not expensive at all.

Dinner was good and we got to see some of what night life was like in downtown Cabo. For a small place it was pretty lively. Over all I was not impressed and saw no need to stop here again on the way to Japan .

Other than some things LZ wanted to see on the following day I planned on staying on the hotel grounds.

Day two

We slept In the next day and headed out late morning. There was a Tequila shop I wanted to stop in. We went there and LZ was delighted with the specialty store. We purchased some things for us and omeyage for Japan then went for a walk around a bit. I had seen a leather bag shop I wanted to visit. There I got a waist bag and a shoulder bag for my iPad for at a good price. I was feeling much better by this time. We picked up lunch local and had a good meal … Cheap.

Afterward we stopped at a couple of places LZ wanted to see before heading back to the hotel for the evening and relaxing with the jacuzzi. I am starting to get chilled now.

Day three

We had breakfast on the grounds an all you can eat special on a roof top diner.

As I write this we just finished lunch at happy hour. We had a light lunch and are kicking it on a couple of hammocks next to the beach.

Afterward I had a shower, checked emails , Facebook, read some, then a nap.

Other than a few folks stopping to ask if we want some jewelry or something here on the grounds in the hammock  it is peaceful, I have the vacation feeling program running on high now.

All in all other than the sales badgering it was a good inexpensive trip. All the natives we encountered were nice, aside from the husslers.
Would I go back hmmm questionable. Docking there is expensive, nothing to really see, so that would take some consideration. It would be nice to meet-up with Mari-chan but she will be a ways away in San Carlos. So we’ll see because nothing else has a draw for me there. Mexican food is Mexican food, Encinada or Cabo and I like a lot of greenery, being a tropical rainforest kind of guy. I hear that San Jose del Cabo is more laid back, cheaper marina fees, not too far from San Lucas.

That maybe a better stop over before making the big jump.

Do not let a piece of paper, disturb your spirit…

Another Monday practice at RSD. I guess it was productive but I was not pleased. I did get more hits, as in three , maybe 4 out of 20. I shot better two years ago. I’m not sure why. The problem with solo practice is you have to analyze yourself . Not an easy thing to do.

I guess at this level and with the target as a sounding board it can be done by trail and error. Not something one can do with shooting and doing tai hai, unless you tape yourself.

Yet even then useless you know what you are looking for you can not tell what is right or not. In this case it is about hitting the target. Which goes against what I was learning in the beginning with the Chikorin-ha school…in the beginning.

Even now it is said in the Kyhon it is not all about hitting…not all. Yet it is said in the test breakdown one should hit the target and it is better on the first shot. So now I’m thinking all about hitting…perhaps too much. I heard some have failed their test or lost points from being too focused on the hit and not the quality of the shot. There is that balance demon creeping. I supposed one should be more focused on the quality of the shot and let the hitting take care of itself but unless you hit at Yodan level and that is a must, you fail. I have heard at San -Dan some have missed yet still passed. In fact a guy I trained with was pissed at the Tokyo test because he missed hitting at the test before that one and failed. Yet in Tokyo some missed and still passed.

“Spirit and technique are one…Satake Mariko Sensei “The Queen”

Maybe their quality was better…or the judges were feeling generous that day because so many had traveled so far.

Side note just in: I was told I was the first to send in payment and lock in my place at the Summer seminar…Yosh!