You HAVE to love Mexico! Some things could only happen here, and only because the people and the situations are so unique.

We recently decided that we’d try to spend at least ten days each month in our older trailer in a park by the Sea of Cortez in Puerto Peñasco. It’s a cozy place that we thought would be made cozier if we could trade out the 70s queen-sized water bed (did I mention it was an older trailer?) for a shorter queen-sized bed that we could angle differently so that we could walk around it. What a relief it would be to simply step out of a bed instead of crawling on hands and knees looking for the edge of the bed in the dark!

Online research showed us that Mexican queen beds are a full 8 inches shorter than the mammoth one we have. So, we went out in search of furniture stores in Rocky Point. Muebles Coloniales was easy to find – we have done very successful business with them before however, they only feature beds with larger American sizes. A Mexican-sized bed could possibly be ordered, but it would take at least three weeks.

While searching for more stores, we stopped at a light on Benito Juarez and, only in Mexico, would we be entertained during our wait by a trio of performers! One young man played a Conga drum, another had three barrel drums attached to a 2-wheel dolly, while a third juggled machetes to their beat! They had their routine down pat, timed exactly to the length of the red light. They performed with great enthusiasm, as if nothing else mattered and they cleared out of the intersection in perfect timing, collecting pesos and dollar bills from the impressed spectators moving on their way.

A second furniture store on our list proved to be padlocked and possibly closed forever. We never did find the one listed on Simon Morua, but we did find Imperial Furniture, where again, they only have American-sized mattresses. A bit discouraged, we were heading out the door when the owner asked us just what size mattress we wanted. He said he knew a guy and would call him up. A short call later, we were given vague directions on how to get to “the guy”.

We had an opportunity to discover a few more new areas of Rocky Point in our quest for “the guy”… Finally, sensing we were near, we stopped to ask directions where a man was working under the hood of a car, and another could be seen in a yard covered by large black tarps to keep out the gently falling rain.

THIS, it turned out, was the place where “the guy” worked! No fancy sign, no advertisement, only a smiling man who turned out to be an upholsterer. Actually, there were signs, but they were faded and mostly hidden by cars and other things. When we explained our need to the owner of Tapiceria Franky, for a shorter, queen-sized bed, he said no problem, he could make it custom-made out of foam. What size did we want? Did we want a zipper around it? Did we want a double layer of foam to make it a full 10” thick? It could be ready tomorrow! Only in Mexico!

When we said we’d have to think about it, he asked if the price was okay with us. Then he volunteered to take $30 off the quoted price. We said it sounded reasonable but that we had to figure out how to come up with a base for this new odd-shaped mattress.

Back at the trailer, we fantasized about just cutting down the box spring base we already had under the waterbed. Is there any chance our new friend could customize that too? Pictures and measurements taken, we made a return trip, much easier now that we knew where “the shop” was located. Of course, he could shorten the box spring, it would just take a nip here, a tuck there, and for $20 it would be perfect. Again, only in Mexico!

A price was agreed upon with a handshake. He was willing to follow us home to pick up the box spring, but we begged for a half hour to disassemble the bed. Because, of course, pick-up and delivery was included in this good man’s price.

The many layers and components of the waterbed were discovered, dismembered and removed from the base in record time! Good as his word, he showed up shortly with an abled-bodied helper to load up the box spring, take our deposit and promise us his return tomorrow with mattress and matching box spring.

Looking back on our day, we smiled in continued amazement at our Mexican experiences that reinforce just why we love to spend time here. The kindness of the people, their efforts to be helpful and accommodating, their sheer ingenuity when presented with a problem, and their delight at solving it all speak eloquently of these noble people.

We have now spent a few nights in our perfectly positioned new bed. It works just the way we had envisioned, thanks to Franky’s great skill. Next month, when we come back, we’ll have a leather car seat to take to him for repairs, because, of course, he can do that too!

What “a guy”!

What a country!

Thanks again!