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  In October 2003, all WCSX Workforce members had a chance to win a trip for 2 to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in January 2004. These pictures are the result of that trip and contributed by the various people who were there and On The Workforce with WCSX!
 Let's see; what went on in Puerto Vallarta? Lots, in fact! Couples celebrated their 23rd and 30th wedding anniversary and one couple got married with Ken standing in as a witness. Was it boring? NO!!! Besides swimming in the pool, sunning on the beach or swimming in the ocean, there was a TON of other things to do. Jorge and Rosario from Funjet Vacations® took care of signing us up for all kinds of extra excursions. They included  Parasailing around the bay,  Whale Watching,  Snorkeling, Deep Sea Fishing, Swinging on the Canopy cables high above the jungle floor, Horseback Riding, a night cruise on a Pirate Ship (called Pirates of the Bay), Bar Crawl, Tropical [City] Tour,   Swimming with the Dolphins,  and the Mexican Fiesta. Oh, and let's not forget the very few unfortunate souls who got  Montezuma's revenge or some kind of food poisoning that took them out of commission for a day and a half  or how about falling asleep with your room key draped on your chest!!! But wait! There's more...how about riding into Puerto Vallarta on the city bus and shopping at all the neat little shops featuring very reasonably priced Silver (don't forget to buy only silver stamped with "Mexico" and "925") and other wonderful things.  There was also a trip on the city bus by some very fortunate Workforce members  to PiPi's restaurant in downtown Puerto Vallarta where quite a few of us enjoyed fresh guacamole prepared at our tables,  giant margaritas and fresh Mexican food. There was even continuous performances at various tables by a very good Mariache band. After that, we all headed over to a Karioke bar where some of us showed our best side and voices.  There were also some great Mexican performers who sang songs in Spanish as well some folks singing some Country and Western songs. It took three taxis to bring us back to the Marival quite late in the evening. What else was going on at the resort? There were several restaurants including Casa Bella (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner), La PerGola (Mediterranean Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner), BellaVista (Italian), Las Palomas (Mexican Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner), and Steak House Bamba (Snacks and Dinner). One of the restaurants was a Buffet and then there was another snack bar that had two large brick ovens fired by wood where fresh pizza was made all the time. At night, you could enjoy various shows at the Theatre. The night of our arrival was the Bailes Internacionales (Dancing around the world) where two of the WCSX Workforce couples were chosen to sit at tables set up on the stage. Little did they know that they would be the stars of the show! The Marival staff would dress up in various costumes and perform dances from around the world and then one by one, the four couples tried to duplicate their dances. It was a total embarrassment for the couples but fun for the audience! All couples received a bottle of tequila after the show so all was not lost. On other nights they had a Magic Dreams show, a Bright Lights of BROADWAY show, a Grease is the Word show, an Ideal Couple election, a Marival Music TV Special show and a Fiesta Mexicana show.  What was there to do LATE at night? Why, the Disco, of course. Although it was NOT Rock and Roll by any means of the imagination, some of us did manage to have some fun dancing to Macho Man and YMCA among other disco songs like Ring My Bell! You know, back in the late 70's and early 80's, I'll bet some of us were card carrying members of D.R.E.A.D. and some of us probably still have our D.R.E.A.D. cards! I actually made a movie where that very song, "You Can Ring My Bell" was literally blown up! Ah, the memories! The disco also had some crazy things going on that included a Sexy Legs contest and a Macho Men contest.    On Tuesday evening, WCSX again hosted a farewell dinner. First we got to see arts and crafts created by some of the Mexican artists and then there was a steak dinner. One artist was a man who used his fingers to create oil paintings on flat black tiles or plates.  Many, many people scarfed them up for an unbelievably low price. After our welcome drink and during the beginning of our meal, many Mexican performers gave us a nice musical performance. After dinner, some of us went to the Theatre to see the Fiesta Mexicana, some to the disco and others to the ocean to take one last walk on the beach before going back to the room to pack.  All in all, we all had a great time and we all want to thank WCSX for choosing us to go to Puerto Vallarta and for putting up with all of us during the entire week. During Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday afternoon, Ken (the Casual Juan) broadcast on WCSX in Detroit from the 2nd floor balcony of the Club Marival.   Lots of us were given the chance to win Funjet Vacations® caps, T-Shirts, CD's and more. It was great munching on the appetizers while listening to the weather reports for Detroit! Little did we know that it would have a surprise for us when we returned on Wednesday, January 14, 2004 to the tune of around a foot of snow.  We also got a slightly extended plane ride...on final approach to Detroit, we were almost on the ground when the pilot went to full power and executed a go around because there was still a jet on the runway! We circled around for another try and finally landed safely on a very snow covered runway. After claiming our bags and clearing customs, we said our final farewells, exchanged phone numbers and departed for home...to shovel snow with our tan!   Copyright 2004 © Loose Data Research LLC |
The weather was COLD as we all met at the airport on January 7, 2003. We were all looking forward to the warm sunny weather waiting for us in Puerto Vallarta. While on the plane, Wendy from Funjet Vacations®, passed out tootsie pops and swizzlers. Meanwhile, Ken Calvert made announcements using the plane's intercom. It took 4.5 hours flight time on the plane but finally we were in the sun! 
After our arrival and going through customs, three buses took us to the Grand and Club Marival in Nuevo Vallarta, a short bus ride from the airport. Upon getting out of the bus, the "crew" of Club Marival met us on the steps and we were given a welcome drink. Check in was smooth and painless and we all headed to our rooms. Some got rooms overlooking the ocean, some overlooking the shuffleboard area and others overlooked one of the pools.