Let’s Chat: Travelling is a story-telling adventure

By Linda Tooth on November 15, 2023.

Six of us just returned from Puerto Vallarta with many stories to share. I am struggling with which ones are worthy of being in print and which ones should just be left to our memories.

For this article and probably a few after, I am going to focus on the following: heat and humidity in Puerto Vallarta that made me sit on a curb, budgie smugglers, blue slushy drinks that caused someone to go slightly crazy, restaurant changes and closures due to COVID, and someone approaching me on behalf of their spouse who I worked with 25 years ago. I’m going to start with that story.

From 1993-2000, I lived and worked in Calgary as a travel agent. I have a very good memory of those I worked with but sometimes one slips by whom I do not remember.

Bringing this forward to the bar adjacent to the pool I was at last week, a gentleman approached me on behalf of his wife and asked if my name was Linda and had I worked as a travel agent in Calgary.

He then motioned to a table where his wife was sitting with friends and I must admit she did look familiar but I could not place her. She worked for the travel agency for one year in accounting (which is probably why I do not remember her).

The fact she remembered me was both flattering and a bit unnerving. What had I done, or more likely said that would cause her to remember me?

Anyway, those four became my friends at the resort and we chatted multiple times. This world is truly small and you never know when you will bump into someone somewhere (like a resort in Mexico) whom you have met before.

The heat and humidity we experienced during this week was something we were not expecting. Four of us in that group had travelled to Puerto Vallarta many times over the years and had never encountered the dripping perspiration and heat we did this time.

Going at the end of their rainy, hurricane season was something we did not think about when we booked our trip. I was struggling with it on our first day and when the group went shopping for toiletries I decided to sit on a curb and wait for them.

I saw an iguana cross the street and I was checking for Canadian licence plates as cars drove by. I did not see any that time. I guess the snowbirds had not arrived yet.

When the group finally finished their shopping, we went back down the hill and stopped at a bar playing the Stampeders-Lions semifinal game. Sadly, it did not go well for Calgary but we met an interesting couple from Calgary staying at our resort.

This middle-aged couple was eccentric and he was so comfortable in his skin that he shared his budgie smugglers with us everyday poolside. Visually appealing? I am sure it was for some.

Linda Tooth is a communications instructor at Medicine Hat College

14
-13