Thursday, January 18, 2007

Mexico

So here I am, back at work, back on a schedule.  In my opinion, the vacation was just the right amount of time.   Any shorter would have felt rushed, any longer and I would have gotten bored.  I'm sure I could get used to the life of leisure, just reading and playing games with friends but with work hanging over all our heads I was glad to get back.  

 

The trip in review;

 

The Drama started when I realized I did not have a passport.  I technically have one, but it was in the hands of the Chinese embassy because I'm getting a visa for China in March.  I should have had it back but I didn't and I frantically called to try and get it back.  Luckily the mandatory passport rule does not come into effect until the 28 th so I just made it.  Instead of a passport, I needed to show I was a citizen with my birth certificate, license, voters registration card, and marriage license.   Luckily I had an old passport in my old name that helped a lot but Mom had held onto my birth certificates so I had to have her express mail it.  Drama #2 was the apparent inability of the post office to get the package to my house over night so we had to mail it to G2, apparently her house is a whole day closer while only being 20 min south of me.   Drama#3 was that I could not find my marriage license, I know I've seen it recently but I could not put my hands on it.  I have copies though and hoped for the best...   Crisis was averted, I went to G2 the night before we left and got the paperwork and visited for a while and with the documentation I could gather I got out of the US, into Mexico and back to the US with basically no problems.  I still need to keep an eye out for my marriage license but the drama of travel was much more minor then it could have been.   Ironically, today I got my real passport with a China Visa so next time, I'll leave more of a buffer for traveling.

 

The plane ride there was completely uneventful except for the fact that they don't even serve trail mix anymore so I was starving by the time we landed at 2:30.   We met the other two couples and got to the resort easily and the picture I posted was our view from the balcony.  We spent most of the time there talking and relaxing in or by the pool.   I burn like crazy so I spent most of my time in the shade but it was still pretty and warm.  It got a bit chilly at night when the wind picked up but it was still cool eating outside by the ocean, my sweater just got more of a workout then I thought it would.   Sunday K&H and Lars and I went on a bus trip to a Mayan attraction, it is a Mayan village and theme park, there was a bunch of animals and a 5 mile long underground river that you snorkel through.   I have a bit of a fear of getting my head underwater but I got used to it by the end and there were lots of pretty fish to see.  I'm glad the park was not that crowded because we got to take our time doing everything.   We also visited a butterfly enclosure, it was about 3 stories tall and full of trees and flowers and had a waterfall and tons of butterflies.  It is pretty hard to take pictures of them but I did try.  The end of the day there was a really cool show, it went through a bunch of Mayan history pre and post Spanish and it was a cool spectacle.   By the time we got back we were beat but we played a game and went to bed.  Lars stayed up super late every night soaking up all possible game time but I just could not keep my eyes open past about midnight.   Every morning though I was up at 7 all by myself so I had quiet relaxation on the balcony with my book and a coffee and my breakfast, not really social but very relaxing watching the waves and the pelican diving.  

 

Tuesday Lars and the guys went scuba diving and we ladies were left.  H and I went to the lobby to check e-mail and to webcam the beach back to work.   We had a cappuccino on the beach and then lunch and talked tons of girl talk and we noticed a little sunfish (being sailed very badly) at the beach near us.   H said she had never sailed and really wanted to so we decided to go get L and see what the boat cost.  Amazingly enough it was included in the resort, absolutely NOTHING else in the whole country was free so this was a nice surprise.   The boat was a sunfish that was at least 15 years old and didn't have any of the modern connivances I'm used to but since there was next to no wind and we had three people the age of the boat didn't really matter since we weren't going to be winning any races.   I'm glad my sailing skills came back to me quick since neither one of them had a clue but we spent a pleasant hour and a half sailing around.  We even managed to avoid the jet ski group, the parasailing boats, and get back to the little bit of beach we started from and nobody fell off the boat or lost any hats or sunglasses.  After the boat we made spa appointments for salt scrubs and I'm not sure it was quite worth the price but my skin does feel soft.  That night we ate dinner and then walked around the market and rounded out the night with another game.

 

Wednesday was the last day and we got up, packed up, and took a group picture with the timer, I'll post all pictures soon, I need to go through and crop/edit some.   We got to the airport in tons of time and walked through security.  Mexican airport security is not all that strict, we didn't even have to take our shoes off.   We had our final group lunch and then we all went to our separate gates.  By 7:30 pm Lars and I were home petting cats and opening the mail.   This time the cats didn't destroy anything but they did catch a mouse, I have no clue how a mouse got in the house but I'm sure it provided entertainment for the 2 mousers and the 1 apprentice hunter cat in the house.  

 

I overall enjoyed the trip but here are a few rather strange things about Mexico;

1. None (I mean zero) toilet seats match the toilet they are attached to.  Every time I sat down it would shift or slide.  

2. Everyone wants a tip always, probably a resort thing, but next time I'm bringing $50 in singles.

3. It takes at least 45 min to get food for 6 served, of the 10 or so meals we ate there we got a bug in the veggies once, a completely different steak then ordered 3 times,   cold food for someone every time, ordering the same soup two day in a row does not mean the soup will taste the same, and completely random side dishes apparently at the chiefs whim.  

4. Not as many people as we hoped spoke English but now I can speak much better Spanish then I thought

5. Everyone is selling something, sometimes it is easier to walk in the island in the highway then walk past the street vendors, they will even yell across the street at you

6. All equipment is old, I saw tons of ancient cars, lawnmowers and construction stuff and it all looks 15 years old.   They also have a way of repurposing things, the stones by the pool were washed daily using a floor waxer and a hose... very weird (and loud)

 

That's about it for the trip, I had fun and I think everyone else did too and we have tentative plans for another trip with the same group for sometime next year so we will see.

1 comment:

MPat said...

I like the new ocean picture as a page header. IMHO a good reminder of a happy vacation.