Arrived!
Well, it was a long time in coming, and now we, trusty kitty Rulla and I, are here. The last two nights were spent in a Extended Stay hotel in Winston, just behind Barnes and Noble, and let me start out by saying that it was the worst, though in an ironic sort of way. First of all, we were on the third floor...and there was no elevator. Three suitcases needing pruning down to two plus cat and catbox and cat little and food and...... It was awful. On top of that, whoever was the landscaper was definitely a form over function sort of person because it was almost impossible to get from car to room without having to walk over dirt and through plants. It was weird. Ridiculous. So just remember all that stuff I had to lug up three floors also had to be lugged through dirt and bushes. I mean, c'mon!To ice the cake, the washing room downstairs had four washers - three of which were out of order, and two of those seemed to be permanently out of order. Need change to use the only washer available? Well, the front desk doesn't have any.
Hey, but then there was at least "free breakfast." I asked where the breakfast was, and the guy at the front desk said, "here." Well, this was a tiny front desk sort of room, so I wasn't sure what to expect, and as it turned out I should not have expected much because little is all they had: two bins of prepacked muffins, grain bars, and coffee. That was it.
Well, enough of all that because come the second night, we were going to be leaving at 2:30AM anyway. Why so early? Because of Rulla. The airlines have a limit on the total number of pets that can travel in cabin, but pets can only be handled first-come, first serve, so if I wanted to make sure Rulla had a seat, or rather a floor space, then I had to get there early, and they recommended 4:00AM! Well, we got there at 4:20, and was just fine though I was pretty worn out. But after checking in my bags and paying the $125 cat fare, I went off to return the car, and then walked back into the terminal, and then to TSA-land.
There were already quite a number of people in line when I got there, but things were moving smoothly. When we got to the body scanning part of the show, I was told that I would have to take Rulla out of the case and carry her through the scanner with me, which made me a bit worried, but as it turned out, she was a good girl.
Now while most people were wondering if I was worried about this or that in regards to going to Mexico, the only thing I was really worried about was that Rulla was going to mew the whole way to Mexico, or maybe even go into cat hysterics, after which some irate fellow passenger would flip out and start wailing on a stewardess demanding that I get tossed off the plane. But, as it turns out, Rulla was a good traveler. All she did was look around, full of curiosity, never making a sound - well, save for the few moments when I had to go to the restroom in the airport and she had to be in the stall with me, but enough of that.
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| Rulla quietly examines the goings on at PTI airport. |
As for the flying, pets have to go under the seat in front of you, and so, because of that, and because I was buying only a one way ticket, I could afford business/first class, meaning that the suffering was not bad at all. She fit well under both seats, and I fit pretty well along with her.
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| Rulla's seating on the first flight. |
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| Rulla's seating on the second flight - very spacious due to her fitting under the wide arm rests in business class! |
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| Breakfast on the first flight (first class on small plane) |
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| On the 2nd plane, lunchy type snacks in business class on a big plane. |
The use of grapes as an in-flight class marker. ;)
Well, anyway, after all that flying, we got to the airport in Leon, well, technically in Silao, which is not far from Guanajuato. Passport control was quick because I was in business class and thus got out first. The passport control guy looked confused while looking at my visa though, so I got a little nervous, but then he did what he was supposed to do, so all went well.
Then I had to go through customs. They asked a few questions, and then they told me to push the button. If you push the button and it lights green, you are done and good to go. If it lights red, then you have to go through the luggage inspection ordeal. All random.
After customs I had to take Rulla to the Agricultural inspection station so she could get her clear bill of health. Her paperwork was all in order, and the physical check portion of it went well, so within a couple of minutes we were safe. It took, however, the fellow there another 15 minutes to enter all the info n the computer, but he was nice enough about it, so it was fine.
In the meanwhile, the owner of the AirBnB was there to pick us up. He is a youngish, sort of cool guy. Very nice, and very patient. When the car in front of us was holding up traffic because the driver didn't know how to pair his parking payment ticket with the exit gate machine, Manuel, the AirBnB guy, got of the car and showed him how to do it. No horns, and much quicker results than if he had sat there honking, which would only have made the old guy more nervous.
Anyway, we got into town, and Manuel parked in the nearby parking lot, but it was still a fairly long ways up hill from there, and since the roads is pedestrian only, we had to walk, and because most of the residential roads here are steep, I am really glad that Manuel was there to help with my luggage. I would otherwise probably have died from exhaustion somewhere on the road! LOL
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| Midway up the road to my AirBnB |
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| My AirBnB is the one in red. |
The AirBnB was pretty nice. I picked it specifically because of 1) good reviews, 2) good location (convenient), 3) airport pickup, and 4) it had screens (to keep Rulla inside). Well, although it had screens, it had weird doors - bay type doors that were held together by a chain, but when the wind would blow, the doors would swing open to the length of the chain, leaving a big enough gap for Rulla to get out and explore. I DID NOT BRING HER ALL THAT WAY TO GET LOST!
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| The downstairs (first) room at maximum closure |
Fortunately, Manuel said that I could swap with the fellow upstairs, David (a digital nomad type who lives around the general area doing house sittings with AirBnB stints in between) after he left a day later. Unfortunately, the cleaning lady couldn't come until Sunday, so I had to hang tight yet another night.
The other room was great. Great view, giant bed, all just nice. And then next day, a couple who had been staying there but took a three day trip to San Miguel came back. A nice enough couple consisting of a 72 year old American man from North Hollywood, CA, and his Filipino wife, 60, also from the southland. They were nice enough, and we were often in the kitchen together eating and cooking, or rather cooking and eating. There were also, during my 10 days there, two Japanese girls who came for three days of sightseeing, followed by one Japanese guy who came to work for Mazda. I only saw him when he arrived, and never again, which I found odd.
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| The second room was much nicer. . . and it had a real door! |
At any rate, my 10 days at that AirBnB left my heart is all the stronger, having had to walk up and down that rather steep alley to my front door. But now I am in another room, with fireplace, at school. A nice place and only $150 a month. It is only temporary, of course, until I either find a longer term apartment or decide to move to another town. I have time to decide! :)
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