Travel day(s)

I woke to a gentle rain on the last morning at Hacienda Casablanca. 

A few of the remaining pilots were sitting at the balcony overlooking the pool, sipping coffee as the rain slowed down a bit more and eventually stopped. The juice was good, not sure what it was.

Breakfast was served. We started with papaya, pineapple and cantaloupe. 

Jef was on hand and enjoyed a massage from Martha this morning. I think he was surprised at her strength. We all were.

Dave Turner and I helped each other repack our tandem reserves while we had the time.

It is rare to ever use a reserve on tandem, but Dave was going to do some tandem Acro when he got home, and admitted that it might be more likely in his near future, over the lake. 

The staff of the hotel seemed to appreciate that we posted their photos and names so we could learn them finally after several years of coming to stay and play.

We were invited to a complimentary lunch, "on the house" and it was delicious! We started with a lovely soup, then had avocado salad, steak and plantain. Fresh pineapple juice too. 

I especially liked the lime and cilantro salsa for the steak, and I added it to my salad as well. Dave was poised to slurp it all down thinking it was soup. Oops. 

Negro, the little back dog I call  Negrito, was on hand to check our work and get a little love from me.  His grey muzzle and relaxed demeanor makes him look and act like a little old man (which he is).

Flacko, his wife Karen, and Orisney (Boris) came by to pick up supplies that we will store with them until next year. We got to say our goodbyes and Flacko's sweet dog Kita was all kisses today. Spuds!?

I walked to town with Ran, Juho, Dave and Jef to do one last shopping spree.  We of course stopped for one last juice as well. Piña y banano For me today, as they were out of mango. No pasa nada.

The limes soaking in water are for good luck I was told. Not sure why.

We said our goodbyes to our favorite chicken stand too.  We sure gave them some business, and they cranked out muy buen pollo para nosotros. ¡Gracias!

The cleaning staff were all proudly wearing the eagle pins I brought down for everyone. I had just enough. Next year I'll be sure to bring extras!

We posed with the staff and said our goodbyes again and again. It was like the end of a family reuinion dejavu.

We stuffed our bus to the ceiling with our huge bags of gear. John was in the back and we laughed at the thought of what would happen to him if we had a sudden stop. Fortunately the bus was air-conditioned and though we left an hour late, had an easy trip to Cali.

Construction at the Cali airport forced us to hire some baggage men and shlep our gear across the unfinished sidewalks and lanes in front of the airport. It was a little chaotic, but Marité smoothed things over and Rob got us to the hotel upstairs inside the airport and checked into our rooms. 

We took turns entertaining Maya, or more accurately, she entertained us.  

We quickly dumped our things in our little rooms and headed downstairs to the Italian restaurant that was closing within the hour. We had to double up because of the shortage of rooms so I roomed with Ran. 

Dave, Rob and Marité helped us all pick just the right thing on the menu. Yum!

I got the spaghetti boloñesa (meat sauce) and a piña/coco smoothie to drink with my bottle of water.

Everything was tip top and though it was airport food, I think my meal cost $15 or so, and was heavenly good.

Ever helpful, Dave volunteered to collect our diminishing supply of Colombian pesos to cover the meal. Thanks Dave!

After dinner we all retreated to our rooms and prepped for various departure times the next morning. I finished the last flying day's blog well into the night so as to catch up and also make the 3 hour time change to LAX time. 

The next morning I woke a little tired but Ran and I made it in plenty of time to check in downstairs. The line moved very slowly and the temperature rose steadily until I was sweating while just standing still. Ugh. 

Juho showed up and tried to find a faster line. He ended up being told to go to the end and had to wait even longer. He was a good sport but had no time to eat like we did. 

We ate at the same subway sandwich shop that Brian and I did last year, and the year before, I believe too?

Eventually we ran into Juho near the gate munching happily on assorted coffee shop items. 

The flights were nice to Panama and finally LAX.  The in flight movies were pretty good so I got to watch the new Star Wars movie (again) and another one about Brian Wilson of the beach boys.

The views were lovely as usual.

The food on the flight was plentiful and free drinks meant rum and coke for Ran and I. Juho went for vodka. 

My first meal at LAX.

Plenty of time for Juho and I to catch out shuttle busses home and Ran went to rent a car. Yippee!

Cheers,

Marty