It seems I’ve developed a reputation for chronicling my life in blog form.

I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but since returning from a one-week holiday in Mexico last week, many friends and colleagues have asked when they can read about our travels.

So without further ado, here is a lengthy IMDB-style synopsis of our trip.

The cast:

• Brenna (Leo’s younger sister)

• Andrew (friend, Brenna’s boyfriend)

• Aric (Leo’s younger brother)

• Kyle (friend)

• Amanda (Leo’s wife)

• Leo (me)

Scene:

Los Cabos, Mexico — a small tourist town at the southern-most point of Baja California peninsula.

Day 1

On Thursday, March 4th Amanda and I rose at 6:30 a.m. With our bags all packed, we picked up Aric and Kyle and headed for the Calgary Airport where me met up with Brenna and Andrew. Our WestJet flight departed at 11 a.m. and 4.5 hour later we touched down in sunny San José, Mexico — a city about 45 minutes north of Los Cabos.

The trip got off to an interesting start when we approached the rental desk and were offered some kind of shady under-the-table cash deal on a rental Jeep. However, it seemed to work in our favour as we scored a Jeep TJ for the week for just $290 and a promise not to tell anyone about the deal he gave us. You gotta love Mexico...

Somehow we managed to cram six people and six giant suitcases into the tiny Jeep, and the ride to the hotel set a great tone for the week to come.

Our hotel was the Tesoro resort right on the famous Los Cabos marina, and our rooms had spectacular views overlooking dozens of expensive yachts and sailboats.

Lucky for us, Andrew had been to Cabo many times before and was very familiar. So once we’d unpacked and settled in, he led us down the street for our first feeding of greasy Mexican tacos, which tasted almost as good as the bucket of ice-cold Coronas — a staple of every Mexican dining experience.

After getting our fill of tiny tacos and Corona, we wandered a few more blocks to a massive nightclub called El Squid Roe, which is essentially a three-story mini-stadium dedicated to wild partying seven nights a week. It’s quite possibly the most insane bar I’ve ever encountered.

We staked out a table and scrawled ‘Canada’ in crayon across the brown paper table cloth, which proved to be a mistake. It seems ‘Canada’ must be Spanish for ‘All weirdos come talk to us,’ as one after another strange drunk people approached our table to strike up bizarre conversations or hit on my wife and sister. With so many Canadian and American tourists around, the hot topic of conversation was the Canada vs USA gold-medal game.

All weirdos aside, we had a great time before sleepiness set in. Exhausted, we crawled into bed excited for the care-free week ahead.

The trip was off to a promising start.

Day 2

When we awoke on our first full day in Mexico, the weather seemed to reflect the group’s overall mood. It was an overcast day, with the sun just barely visible through a thin layer of clouds. We were all a bit sluggish from the previous evening’s festivities, but after a good breakfast we quickly recovered as the sun burned away the clouds, giving way to near-perfect vacation weather.

Naturally, we headed for the beach.

Aric and Kyle had put their mild hangovers behind them and were looking for a little excitement, so we pulled up some chairs in front of a busy beach-front bar called Billigan’s.

“Tarps optional!” Kyle declared, and with that we exposed out pasty Canadian flesh to the blazing Mexico sun — SPF 30 required.

Not long after we’d stretched out for a beach nap, Aric and Kyle got a little of that excitement when the Billigan’s staff asked them to represent Canada in a drinking contest.

The rules were simple:

1. Take a shot of warm tequila

2. Run 50 yards down the beach where a Billigan’s server was waiting with a beer

3. Chug the beer

4. Do 10 spins with your forehead touching a stick in the sand

5. Fight off extreme dizziness and run back to the stage. Whoever has the best time wins.

As you may have guessed, this contest was highly entertaining, especially when Kyle had his turn. He drank the beer and did his spins with ease, but when it came time to run back the stage he was so dizzy he stumbled 30 feet in the wrong direction before falling backwards into the surf.

Kyle’s official time: One minute and seven seconds.

A couple of American guys went next with similar hilarious results. One of them managed not to fall down and beat Kyle’s time by two seconds.

Aric was the last to go, and Canada’s last hope for the gold. He stunned the crowd with his speedy beer chugging, but the train came off the tracks during the spinning portion.

After stumbling and falling for a few moments, Aric made it back to the stage in one minute and two seconds — good enough for first place. The top prize was a bucket of ice-cold beers for Team Canada.

And with that, we’ll skip ahead to Day 3...

Check back soon for details from Days 3, 4, 5... and maybe 6.