The weather in Phoenix has me thinking a lot about Puerto Penasco in Sonora. Last year my husband and I drove there from Phoenix for the first time, after hearing so many people talk about this beautiful and relaxing little beach town in Mexico. We stayed for three nights at the Penasco Del Sol hotel and had a wonderful time. The Penasco Del Sol is a family oriented resort hotel with pools and a restaurant, and balconies overlooking the ocean. After our stay, I reviewed our hotel experience at Tripadvisor, and to date it has had over 30,000 views! It can be read here:
So, today I wanted to share a funny story about our quest to find one simple item while we were there: a ladies hair band….
My intentions were to find a simple hairband to put my hair in a pony tail so it would be easier for spending time in the water and while riding recreational vehicles. Why I never thought to bring one with me is beyond me! So, my husband and I set off one morning to the drug store across the street. Did they have $17 sun screen? Yes. But no hair bands. There were very few options in the store, and nothing that we needed, so off we went to the other side of the cove. On our way we stopped at a gas station/convenience store. None of the cashiers spoke English, and I couldn’t speak Spanish, so our form of communication was a lot of gestures and pointing. Mostly, it was the cashier pointing to other store employees with whom she’d prefer I attempt communication. We ultimately spoke with a man at a liquor counter in the back of the store who had limited English skills. He drew a map for us. We were so grateful! Off we went, following the map…only to wind up at a beauty parlor that looked like someone’s run-down house. Not exactly what we had in mind, but impressed, nevertheless, with the man’s attempt at communicating with us. So onward we went, ultimately making our way to the lines of shops along the beach on the other side of the cove. We wandered into a tiny souvenir shop (which, in French, means “to remember”, by the way!) and in there was a young couple who was running the business. The lady was behind the counter and the young man was up in front. He wanted to sell us pharmaceuticals, and I’m pretty sure he was high. However, we actually were able to gesture what we were looking for, so he walks up to his wife, says something in Spanish we couldn’t understand, and voila!, she reaches under the counter and comes back up with a giant ball of rubber bands. She peeled one off and simply handed it to me for free. SUCCESS! To this day I have no idea how we got the idea across to him, but thankfully the guy was intelligent and figured it out for us.
susanmacalusospanish101.wordpress.com 