Mi Casa es Tu Casa

Today we swam with the dolphins... ok, just one of them and his name was Pablo (7 years old). We each got a kiss from him, shook his fins and went for a ride belly to belly while he pulled us along in the salt-water pool. We were able to touch him several times as he swam past our group in the water and we each got to give him a signal for a trick. He liked to have his tummy tickled and he was always the winner in the splash contest.

The trainer at one point said, “I'm going to show you something Pablo can do with my sunglasses” and he tossed them into the water. They immediately sunk, but Pablo wasn't paying attention. He was supposed to retrieve them as they were falling to the bottom of the pool, but Pablo wasn't cooperating. After several attempts at making Pablo go under to fetch them, the trainer gave up and dove down to get them himself. He tried again and this time Pablo brought them back. He carried them so nicely on his nose that it looked as if he were wearing the sunglasses.

Really fun to play with this animal... something I've always wanted to do. Would love to share the photos of our adventures, but cameras weren't allowed inside and the photos that they took were $29 a pop. As much of a sucker as I am for photos, we just weren't willing to plop down that kind of money for a printout. Some of the pictures were really great... you'll just have to imagine. :)

Here's a shot of another group getting to touch the dolphin as it swam past:



The dolphin swim was located inside the Cancun Wet-n-Wild park, so we stayed there for a few hours and both of us ended up a little bit fried by the sun. :( Here's Bartee on the slide:



It's the last night of our vacation and although we are looking forward to getting home and back to the kids, it'll be sad to say goodbye to the beaches and pools and free liquor of Cancun. Tonight we met a family from Mexico at the restaurant here at the hotel. They were so, so friendly. Their kids, who were with them, were about the same ages as Priya and Sanjay. We heard them joking around with the waiter, but didn't understand a word of their Spanish. At the beginning of the meal they toasted us as we were the only other guests seated at the table. By the end of the meal, we were exchanging phone numbers and addresses. “Mi Casa es Tu Casa” was what she said to us when she read us her address back from the paper. What a sweet ending to a fabulous vacation.

It's Hot Out There Today

These are not the words you want to hear from a local when you are in a resort town in the tropics. While eating breakfast, sweat was forming on our faces and this was while we were sitting in an air conditioned restaurant. When our waiter commented on the heat, we felt slightly better about being such hot weather wimps.

Although the weather demanded it, this morning's plans did not include water. We went to the Zip Line or as the natives call it, the Zeeeep Line. We sailed over trees and water to 9 different towers in the adventure park. We did a monkey walk crossing and also traversed a narrow, very wobbly bridge. Bartee swung upside-down on at least one stretch. I got that on video, but the internet has been really flaky here, so I don't think I'll be able to upload that until we get back home. The zip line was a first for both of us and we had a great time. Luckily it was only for a few hours in the morning, so during the real heat of the day we were back at the hotel for some pool lounging and water volleyball.

Golf and Spa Day

Today was golf and spa day. Bartee played a round of golf this morning while I lined up a couple of spa treatments. What a treat! And, both of these were actually included in the all-inclusive package. At least, we think they were. I suppose we'll find out on Friday when we check out, but from what we understand they fall within our budget of money to spend on extras here.

After the round, I went over to the Moon Palace resort to meet up with Bartee. We had decided to meet at the pool. I'd be there somewhere and he would find me after his round. Yeah... well, neither one of us realized that the Moon Palace is actually 3 resorts in one, resulting in multiple pools. And, the one where I was dropped off (consequently not the one where Bartee played golf) must hold the record for the world's largest pool and deck area. I walked out of there and all I could think about was how we'd never find each other today.

We were supposed to find each other between 12 and 12:30pm. I found a chair in the shade and waited. Watched and waited, watched and waited. The half hour passed by quickly and no sign of Bartee. At about 1pm, I spotted him walking out of the lobby onto the pool deck and flagged him down. It was only because of his orange cap that I found him. [Thank you Priya for letting Daddy take your cap on vacation!] In any case, the next few hours at the Moon Palace looked a little like this:



and this:

Sunny Cancun

The sun finally came out yesterday, so we whipped out the camera in full tourist style.





We're enjoying our time alone here, but at the same time we miss the kids. We love you both and can't wait to see you this weekend!

Welcome to Six Flags Mexico

That's something you don't want to hear while on a boat in a town that isn't known for their amusement parks. As of this morning, Alex (the tropical storm) has moved out of the way and the sun has returned to the beaches of Cancun. However, left in its wake were some really rough seas today. We were warned before heading on the boat tour to a nearby island that the ride would not be smooth. They even encouraged us to reschedule for later in the week, if seasickness was something familiar to you. Bartee and I decided to stick with the plan for going today because the rest of the week has been planned with other activities. I must say, the ride was a little crazy.

Here is a sample of what it was like...



After reaching the island, we opted for the snorkeling package. The snorkeling was a bit like the boat ride only we didn't have propellers for feet to fight the current. As soon as each one of us dropped in the water, we were immediately swept away from the boat. It was impossible for the whole group to stay together in those currents. A Mom was a little panicked with her 11 year old because there were some fairly large jutting rocks in the area and she was worried about slamming into them. Frankly, we were all worried about the same thing. Being a strong swimmer, I tried a few times to swim directly against the current and managed only to stay in place, if that. It was a little rough to be out there and when the tour operators realized that, they decided to load us back up and take us to shore.



The rest of the afternoon on the island we spent shopping. This was the first time since being here that we actually felt like we'd left the USA. It was fun to see the shops, the traffic, local beachside restaurants and the street vendors. We grabbed a Nestle ice cream bar (very Mexican, I know) and a wooden souvenir that we bargained for. In the end, we saved 75% of the original quoted price and probably still paid too much.







The boat ride back was on seas that were just as rough as the morning, if not rougher, so that was fun. The tour operators that work on the boat are very entertaining though, so it probably kept the minds of the seasick riders occupied enough not to get sick. I did see one lady in the front row riding with her eyes closed, holding on to the bench, and taking deep breaths the entire 40 minutes of the journey. Here's a sampling of what we did on the boat ride back. Keep an eye on the water level rising and falling out the boat windows while the guides are singing...

I Can't Even Believe This

These are words that you don't expect to hear from the captain of the airplane while you are sitting on the runway getting ready to take off, yet that's just what he announced. On Friday, we set out for our first kid-less vacation since, well, having children. We got off to a bit of a glitchy start. The plane had mechanical problems in the right engine and eventually, after loading and deplaning us twice, they decided to ditch that plane and borrow another aircraft on its way in from San Juan. Our flight that was to leave at 3:40pm out of Baltimore ended up leaving at 10pm that night.

We spent the night in Miami at an old Holiday Inn, which I prefer to call "The Shining". The bathtub had peeling paint and the toothbrushes lent to us by the front desk were only slightly stronger than cardboard. We left Miami this morning and arrived here in Cancun by mid-morning. Whenever a flight gets delayed or canceled it's always questionable as to when and if the luggage will arrive at your final destination. As we landed today, our back row seats afforded us this lovely view of the first pieces of luggage coming off the plane. Imagine our relief when Bartee's golf bag was clearly in view! A glimmer of hope.



We made it just in time for the first tropical storm of the season... Alex. :) Actually, he took a southerly route so today's weather was hit or miss, mostly hit, but we expect that he'll be gone tomorrow and we'll see a lot more of the sun. We're all set for this week's "excursions" and can't wait for the good weather to accompany them. Expect pictures of Zip Line swinging, Swimming with the Dolphins and Golf over at Moon Palace. That is, if I remember to drag my camera around.

Here are a couple that were taken at the hotel tonight.

Reunion With My Girls

I met up with some childhood, these girls go way back to elementary school, friends today at my parents place. We started last year and are hoping that it'll continue to be an annual event.

The day was filled with fun times reminiscing about things of the past. Kym reminded me of a time when we were swimming in the pool with our clothes on. Why we did this no one can remember. But in any case she went inside to use the bathroom and couldn't get her Jordache jeans off! Remember the days of the painted-on denim look? When you had to lie down on the bed to get them zipped up? Yes, those were the ones she had on that day and if you imagine how hard they were to get on dry, they must have been impossible to remove wet. Kathy remembers my house for HBO and other cable channels... I personally remember MTV. My Dad is a gadget guy and so we'd usually have newer things when they came out (like the microwave, the VCR player). She remembers watching horror movies on HBO at my house like "Cujo" and "The Shining". There were birthday slumber parties at Jane's house, middle school parties at Angie's house and a party at Kathy's where everyone was blindfolded, put into a "hearse" (the family station wagon) then carted off to the local haunted house. Fun times indeed.

We're all on the cusp of turning 40, still happy and healthy, with children who are about to develop their own childhood memories like us. You can't ask for much more than that.

Here are some pictures from the day...


Friends from long ago.


Jane drove down from Massachusetts so she missed the group shot taken earlier in the day, but no worries, the party lasted 'til the sun went down.


Everyone enjoying the pool.


We had a guest visit from a 3 week old baby lamb. Karen owns a nearby farm, so she always has some surprise in store for us. Last year she gave all the kids pony rides in the front yard.


Here's Skippy with Caboose. Skippy thinks he's a dog because he's been hand-raised and has spent a lot of time with the family dog, so when Caboose went inside to cool off, this little guy cried until we sent him back out.