Working Out Vallarta Style!

Well I finally bought my gym membership this afternoon. I have already worked out at the gym twice since Saturday. No one really seemed to care whether I had a membership or not. I probably could have just continued to go there, pretending that I belonged, but I am an honest person so I paid the money, filled out the forms and got a membership number. So now I am official. The gym itself is very small and compact but it has everything including spa facilities. Free weights in 5 pound increments (so I will be missing my 8 pound dumbbells!) and only one set of each so if I meet someone else in the free weight section who is training at exactly the same time and we end up both needing the 10 pounds dumbbells at the time, I will just use the plates instead! They have all kinds of machines (I'll probably only use the ones for legs and back) plus a brand new Smith Rack which is a bonus! Two treadmills, two eliptical machines, two exercise bikes, two recumbent bikes and a small stretching area. There is also a "juice bar", beautiful change rooms, showers plus the aforementioned spa facilities. I will be showering at home but it is a nice feature for those people going straight to work. So this morning, I left the house shortly after 7AM. Unfortunately, it was still dark out so I had to take my flashlight with me! The walk over the top of the hill at Francisca Rodrigues was a little hairy since the steps are quite steep and it was still rather dark. The area is also a bit isolated so I think I will take the long way around in the mornings. Besides, who wants to climb 70 stairs after a hard leg workout? It took me about 10 minutes to walk briskly to the gym so I arrived around 7:15AM. The gym wasn't open. One of the employees arrived but she had forgot her keys. Alfredo, the trainer who usually takes the early morning shift, left for England yesterday for 2 weeks as his wife is having their baby there. Finally the manager/owner showed up at 7:30AM to unlock the doors. She assured us that this will not happen again but it's Mexico so who knows? We are allowed one small towel per workout, about the size of hand towel. If you want a shower, the bath size towels are 10 pesos each so by going home every day to shower, I am actually SAVING 120 pesos a week! Two towels per day (one for body, one for hair), six days a week would cost me that much. Besides, I have the time in the morning since I only start at 10AM and doing it this way adds another 30 minute walk to my day, every day. I should be svelte any minute now! :) Thank the Goddess we put the clocks back one hour this weekend. This means the sun will rise an hour earlier at 6:30AM and I won't need my flashlight in the mornings. However, I will probably need it to come home from work at night! LOL