I am here!

Jackson and I arrived safe and sound to Guadalajara (GDL) on Wed night. When I arrived in Mexico City to wait for my connecting flight, I felt so anxious and was worrying about Jackson. In Calgary, there was a problem printing my boarding pass, so I did not have one for my Mexico City-GDL flight which made for some difficulties when trying to pass through check points at the airport. They would ask me in Spanish - where is your boarding pas and I would try to explain in my Spanglish that they were not able to print one for me in Calgary. Eventually, I made it through to my next gate and went to the Mexicana gate to ask them to check on Jackson. THey phoned the holding area where he was and they said he was fine and they would feed him and give him water (yeah right). I had met another Canadian family on the plane and when I went to eat at a restuarant, I ran into them again and they asked me to join them to eat. That definitely helped take my mind off everything.

I was so nervous and anxious about Jackson so when I arrived in Guadalajara and was waiting for my luggage, my heart was beating a mile a minute. All of a sudden, I see the kennel come around on the baggage carousel. And there was Jackson looking out at everyone and looking for me. All the people waiting for their luggage were saying hola perrito, hola Jackson! I had his name on his kennel............the sign on his kennel said in big letters, Hello, my name is JAckson and this is my first time flying! He was so excited to see me. He started crying and kissing me all over when I got him out of the kennel. He was such a good boy - he did not even pee. He managed to hold it for over 13 hours! Amazing!

So there I was trying to load my 6 bags and totes onto two baggage carts along with Jackson´s kennel. What a sight that must have been! I could barely lift some of the heavier totes. Fortunately, two of the Mexican airport staff came to my assistance and helped load everything for me. WHen I went through customs, they asked to see the paperwork on Jackson and made me put him back in the kennel. He barely reviewed the paperwork and said, push the button. It flashed green which meant I did not have to have my luggage searched. Thank god - that would have taken forever with all my bags and totes and we had duck-taped the hell out of them. And Jackson was crying to go outside becuase he had to pee so bad. When I went outside, Arturo was not there. The two guys carrying my luggage said he might be at the other end of the terminal. So they hauled all my stuff down there and he was nowhere to be found. I tried phoning his cell several times but no answer. At this point, the two Mexican men helping me were saying ¨would you like us to call you a cab? I started to panic.........where the hell would I go? So i asked if we could go back to the other side of the airport to look again. Then I saw Arturo´s brother... I almost cried with relief when I saw him. He explained to me that there was a huge thunder and rain storm and the streets were flooded and it took them 3 times as long to get to the airport. Arturo was on his way and arrived in our car a few minutes later. It was a tearful reunion........ We loaded all of my luggage into two cars and we all drove to Manzanillo immediately. We stopped to get jackson some supper and did not get into Manzanillo until 2am. Since the roads were flooded, it took us forever to get out of Guadalajara.

Yesterday, we woke up and went to Marta´s with Jackson to say hello. Then we went to say hello to Christina and Umberto at Las Gaviotas - the condo where we usually stay when we came on vacation. Christina let us hang out at Las Gaviotas (even with Jackson - dogs are not allowed normally). We took Jackson down to the beach with a ball and threw it around for a long time. He loved it!

We still do not have our wireless connection hooked up so I will try to update every few days at an internet cafe. Thanks so much to everyone for all their well wishes.

I took many pictures at the beach yesterday and will try to post them in a few days.

A big thanks to everyone who came out on Tuesday night for a final farewell. I was so emotional after saying goodbye to all of you. I wonder what I will do without all of you on a daily basis. You are so very special to me and I have been thinking of you every day. Hugs and kisses my friends - I really hope to see you soon.