Family Cruise along the Mexican Riviera

The summer of 2009, the Chiu family embarked on a 7-day Royal Caribbean cruise – destinations: Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. They came back with tales of sliding down waterfalls, dancing with dolphins, and cuddling with lion cubs. I, on the other hand, could not afford to take a week off work if I wanted to pay my rent. I remember my grandmother’s pride and joy puppy, Tara, was in my care for three days when my boss sent my on a 15-hour work day journey around Los Angeles county, bring 700 DVDs here, pick up 1400 DVDs here, drop off 2000 DVDs here, and pick up 200 DVDs here – only to be chewed out the following day because the traffic that prolonged the tasks made it cheaper to have just had all these transactions carried out by mail. It was then I decided: I hated my job, hated being a dependent upon it to make rent, and it was time to move home.

A year later, my other side of the family celebrated our triumphant battle against cancer with the same cruise during the cheapest time of year to sail – January 2011. Despite the plethora of challenges to getting the Wong gang together, we set sail on a mission to experience all the stories we heard, first hand.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Of course, the excursions offered by the ship were ridiculously over priced and legitimate zip lining services cost arms and legs figuratively. We risked our arms and legs literally by negotiating with shady tour dealers on port securing the lowest bidder. Thus our day of gliding across canyons began on the set of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s film, Predator, supposedly.

We also saw a baby porcupine!

Mazatlan, Mexico

In Mazatlan, most of the family stuck together, sharing a tour van and seeking a cheap massage. For $18 an hour, I single-handedly ruined everyone’s tranquility with my AK-47 full of questions. I needed to learn more about my masseuse - twenty three and beautiful, how different our lives could be… She was actually born in Mazatlan but raised and attended public education in Texas, attained her diploma. Our lives diverge a bit at 18 when she gets married, divorced, then forced to move back home with her parents massaging tourist for $50 USD a week. Who am I to judge, living at home with my parents – I can only wonder why the United States public education system couldn’t prevent her from returning to a “cheap labor” life from which she was born into. She seemed happy though. I left a big(ger) tip, ate a street tamale at the flea market and boy did my stomach pay for it later.

Cabo San Lucas

I love to ride the waves aboard the ship’s tender, especially when entering such a beautifully developed port as Cabo San Lucas! I almost decided on a major career change when I cuddled up against the most adorable creature I’ve ever hugged. I would like to make a point, at some point in my adult life, to spend a week volunteering with baby lion cubs in Africa. This thought also follows a documentary I watched while aboard the ship of a team who cared for a rare species of tigers.

This final day of the cruise most successfully kept our group together. We, then, harassed some dolphins in the marine aquatic center, tapping hastily at the glass for their attention. Uncle Toby got a great shot, see below. The town was clean with tiled roads and clear street signs. We spent most of the day at Happy Endings Bar (great place!) before hunting up and down the main road for the cheapest massage.

Other notes

Before departure, I took some time to chat with our room attendant that I casually and politely said “Hi” and “Bye” to each day. I knew that this international business’s recruitment of crew and staff depends on the desperation of people from third world countries that would be happy to work below the United States standards for minimum wage – I just didn’t know exactly how it worked. I fired question after question to discover this Filipino man from the northern part of the country (like Edward’s family) spends 10 months out of the year at sea and away from his family, working 12 hour days for roughly a thousand dollars a month. They do venture onto land, every so often, but dine several decks below the rest of us because, apparently, some cruise-go-ers would be appalled to dine with the staff that serves them.

Another thing I kept noticing during this trip, the people expected tourist to give them money for every little task person helped us with - tasks that Americans would consider general courteousness or simply expect from most polite passersby. When our taxi pulled up at the Walmart (I know, who goes to Walmart while on vacation?) two young boys hurried to our door to open them, followed by open palms anxiously awaiting a tip. You couldn't so much as take a photo of something without being hounded for a tip: sand castles, rock divers, etc. The one that surprised me most was a man who owned a pet iguana, walking around with it on his shoulder in his shop, who then allowed us to take photographs with it. He said, "no charge, just tip!" This wasn't this man's livelihood, he had a shop selling knick-knacks, it was just an opportunity for him to see if we would give him money. Worst of all, we did.

Here's my dad's photo. It'll cost ya a tip to look at it.