Nice Day for a Windex Wedding

Just got back from Ensenada. Officiated over my bass player Bob’s Wedding. Yes, you may indeed call me “Reverend Chance.”

Apart from the wedding, it was the first time I have EVER gone to a vacation destination with my prime directive being to not do a damn thing. I can’t tell you how difficult that usually is for me (to not do anything) but this time I needed it. With the CD almost ready to go, I just needed a break.

Thursday: FSU 26, NC State 17

And wouldn’t you know it, not 30 minutes after arriving from a 4 hour drive from LA to Ensenada, I am sitting in a Papas n Beer watching my beloved Seminoles. We are the ONLY PEOPLE IN THE BAR. And they were so cool, they even turned off the irrelevant dance/hiphop banging the inner ear. I was as happy as could be.

Friday: Which Taco Stand?

I love Tacos Al Pastor, and I found a joint called Taco Trailero. Hit the spot: we ordered two tacos, a quesadilla, a plate of pinto beans, a coke, and a jicama juice? $6.  That was our biggest decision of this day.

Before lunch though, I opted to jump in to a rock filled, 60 degree ocean (see quickie slide show below). Dangerous, and I got cut up. Would I recommend it to anyone? no. Would I do it again? Probably not. Am I happy I did it?

muahahahahaha!

Later on that evening, I went to the rehearsal (you think I’m kidding? I was officiating the wedding!) That was fun. Tequila shots. Then a bunch of us carpooled back over to the hotel and played Left, Right, and Center (no, not politics, a dice game; google it, it’s a blast).

Saturday: The Wedding

The wedding was so very nice. Everything seemed to go as planned, but perhaps more perfectly is they never really always do. So, you end up with the things you remember the most. I completely forgot this one aspect, and whispered to Charissa (Bob’s wife) that “um, I forgot” to which she quietly whispered back “don’t worry; we’re not doing that part.” Yea! I predicted it all along!

 Saturday night: The Windex
After the reception:
So, the Windex…. Steve and his girlfriend Margaret headed up to their room. Thing is, everyone pitched in on this wedding, and Steve and the people around him worked the hardest cause they worked on the flowers. All good, no worries it was sort of everyone’s honor to help. Now, Steve’s room was a wreck after the ceremony preparation, so he was in no mood to clean, extremely exhausted and probably a bit enebriated (ok, ok, maybe more than a bit).

And yet, while this should never happen to an enemy, it happened to a friend: Steve gets to his room and grabs a water bottle with the Hotel’s logo on the cover. Those are the freebies. It’s Mexico and it’s all about bottled water. You can get an Arrowhead bottle for fricking $2.95 but who would think to do that?

He takes one swig. Immediately realizing it wasn’t water, he spit/coughed it up all over himself and his nearby surroundings. My wife and I were making our way to our room when we saw—at the front desk—Steve, shirtless discussing this event to the staff. Everyone had this look of shock and quiet.

Basically, you could smell the clear but oh so concentrated cleaning liquid that he almost drank. At least he didn’t swallow (funny, he usually does HAHAHAHA) but at this point, his mouth had started to numb. He was just so ready for bed, but he was just well, …you know how sometimes you are so blown away by something that just happened you’re not even ready to get angry yet? That’s where he was.

Sunday

Sunday, he woke up to tell us he threw up for a good 3 hours. And to throw margarita salt in the wound, the Owners of the hotel had no real interest in covering/comping his hotel room. “What would you like us to do?” they kept saying. Rather than out and out saying “hey, wow, what a F*ck up on our behalf. We’ll comp your room, give you a weekend for free anytime you want.

Anything like that and we would have been telling you how amazing this hotel was. The staff was truly kind. The accomodations were above average and the whole place was incredibly relaxing. But instead, we’re telling you about how they almost poisoned my guitar player. Not intentionally, but you know what I mean.

They ended up comping the room, well after Steve left the hotel. Not until the next day after MUCH arguing by the wedding party who nearly bought out the entire hotel with one fell swoop of guests.

So, yea, in case you’re wondering: Las Rosas Hotel & Spa.

Monday

Woke up. Caravaned to Puerto Nuevo where we had famously referred to fresh Lobsters. 1 hour wait at the border. Bob’s Dad had a 2.5 hour wait AND the Federales, just prior to the border, pulled him over for QUOTE UNQUOTE “speeding”. $150 later… So, Mexico presents a lot of possibilities and a lot of annoyance.

Overall though, Bob & Charissa were beaming nearly the entire time they were there. And all clear cleaning liquid posing as tap water bottles aside, I don’t think anyone of us could be happier about that.