Details, details . . .

*sigh*

Where to begin?

Okay, so we got up early last Wednesday morning to make our 7:54 a.m. flight out of Sac. We got to the airport probably an hour and a half early, plenty of time -- and then saw a TON of people inside the terminal. By some sheer luck that usually would not befall us, most of them were in line for United Airlines, and we were going on American. No line! Good sign. We checked our baggage and began the process of getting through security. Cumbersome, but not too bad. We went to our gate and were lucky enough to be across from some little bar/grill that serves breakfast. While other people were enjoying their 7:00 a.m. Bloody Marys and beers, the husband and I ordered bacon, egg & cheese croissants. They came with little potatoes -- perfect start to the morning, something to hold us over for a good part of the day so we weren't relying in the "snack boxes" the planes sell now. As soon as I had my fill, it was time to pull out the cameras. Let the games begin! Would you like to see my half-eaten breakfast? Sure you would:











We boarded the plane not long after breakfast and scored seats toward the front of the plane -- right behind business class. It was an MD 80 so there were 2 seats on one side, 3 seats on the other. We were on the 2 side. So, no middle seat, and no random neighbor. Our stopover was in Dallas, where the husband's sister just happened to move a few months ago, so she came out to the airport to say hi and hang out w/us during our layover. Pretty nice, considering she apparently lives about 45 minutes from the airport and our layover was only an hour and a half. Unfortunately, since people can't go to the gates anymore, we had to go out to the terminal to see her -- which meant we had to go through the security checkpoint again to get back in! Kinda cut it close.











Our next plane took us to Cancun, where we touched down around 5:20 Mexico time (same as Texas time -- Central?). The airport looked like it was abandoned. It seemed like our plane load of people were the only ones there! No one said anything about where we needed to go or whatever, so everyone getting off the plane just followed the guy in front of him -- we made our way to Immigration and got our tourist cards stamped, then Jason pressed the little button and got the coveted green "PASS" light. Since we're married, I didn't have to press the button and got to skate on his coattails.

We tried to head out to our transportation but got herded to a counter to talk to someone that looked like he worked for the airport but obviously was trying to push time shares (or, "vacation clubs," as they like to call them). F! Well, he was very nice and we let him run his spiel and all that then fended off hordes of cab drivers and tour companies to get to the one we knew was taking us to our hotel. It was about a 20 minute drive, I guess. One-way roads going in and out of that place, since it's on a fairly narrow peninsula. I never saw so many hotels in my life -- maybe in Vegas, but I think Cancun gave Vegas a run for its money.

We got to our hotel (Dreams Resort & Spa), which looked nice, but -- at least in the common areas -- the air conditioning seemed to be non-existent. It was hot and humid as HELL in Cancun! Beautiful -- but hot. We checked in quickly and learned the walk to our room was rather long. This property is pretty spread out. Not necessarily a bad thing, once you get to know it. Plus, we got to see most of the grounds on our way there. It was pretty. Unfortunately, when we got to our floor in the Club Tower, the elevator doors opened and we were overwhelmed with this musty smell. All we could think was "oh NO!" We proceeded to our room, and -- same smell. I was so upset! It looked just like it did on the internet, but since there's still no "Smell-O-Vision," you just couldn't know that was coming. Thank God the floors were made of marble -- I can't imagine what carpeting would have smelled like!

The view was fantastic, ocean front just like we expected. The in-room refrigerator was stocked with Coronas, bottled water, Coke, Diet Coke (or, Coke Light, as they call it), Sprite, orange Fanta, some Mexican orange juice and some mineral water. They stock that thing twice a day, I think. So that was good. But the musty smell -- not so much. Then, we find out the bed is rock @#$%! hard. Much like the marble floor! We wondered if Fred Flintstone had designed the bed. We said to ourselves, "well, we won't be spending much time in the room anyway -- we'll be out at the beach -- let's make the best of it." But I didn't want to make the best of it. We'd spent a lot of money and it was supposedly a 4-star resort!






We didn't do anything about it the first night. We wandered around the hotel a bit, checked out the beach, dipped our toes in the sea and had a beer. We went to one of their restaurants that serves everything buffet style to see what was available. Jason stuck with whatever seemed most American. I tried a little of this, that and the other. Had some good fish. When we got back to our room, the bed had been turned down and they'd left us a couple of little chocolates, along with a newsletter detailing the events at the resort the following day and a little card telling us what the weather was supposed to be like. That was nice. But that rock-hard bed (see above)! We even called to find out if they had some kind of mattress topper or could give us some more pillows. After about an hour (Mexican time, you know), they brought up this sad looking egg-crate thing. They put it on -- it didn't really help. And the room just felt damp. You're supposed to leave the A/C on all the time or the marble floors get condensation on 'em and then you eat it. So we left the A/C on and flung the sliding door to the sea open to get some fresh air. We even brought some candles with us, from Illuminations -- if you know the place, you know they are heavily scented candles. Didn't even make a dent in the must! Anyway, we lived with it for a night. The next morning, we went to look at another hotel just to see if mustiness was everyone's problem. Nope. So we went to the front desk of our hotel so we could have a little chat w/them about our accommodations. At first he tried to say that it was because of the weather in Cancun -- yes, I get that, but we were just at another hotel and they didn't seem to have that problem. Suddenly he says they have one other room available in the tower and we can check it out if we like. Don't mind if we do! We knew as soon as the elevator doors opened that we were moving. MUCH better. Checked out the room -- not only not musty, but an extra window with another ocean view in it! SCORE! AND the decor was better. Whatever! The upgraded accomodations:










Oh! And another thing! The bed? MUCH softer! Pillow top at that. No wonder there were so many different opinions on TripAdvisor when I was researching this place. One person says "hell-hole," the next says "heaven." Turns out they were both right. Caveat Emptor! The moral of the story is, if it ain't right, get them to make it right. Our vacation improved a thousand times the 2nd day. But still, Cancun was HOT AS HELL. The humidity was off the charts, I swear. My fault, though -- if you go to Cancun, try it from December through March (after hurricane season, before spring break). The weather is supposed to be much milder. Luckily, I am perfectly comfortable w/o makeup and letting my hair air dry. I wasn't gonna fight that! Funny thing, though -- at the beach, it never felt humid or even super hot . . . breeze or no breeze. It was just perfect.

The Caribbean Sea is the best swimming pool EVER. Clear as day, warm as a bath, beautiful as my birth stone (blue topaz). Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. We'd never seen sand that white or powdery. It really was gorgeous. We spent a considerable amount of time in this area -- they bring you drinks right out on the beach, so no need to get your lazy ass up!








We walked out on the lagoon side of the hotel and out on a pier that stretched into the sea that was also on that side. I loved these pictures, even though they're not necessarily the clearest shots:








On Friday, we had to get up early for our trip to Chichen Itza. The bus picked us up at 7 a.m.! We had no idea how far away it was -- turned out to be about a 2+ hour drive (one way). Yup, it was long. But how could we travel all that way not go see it? Had to. The bus driver had a sidekick, who let us know what was going on for the day and relayed everything in English, then in Spanish. He was pretty funny. He told us it was a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long drive. He was right! We hit a rest stop on the way -- horrible. No toilet seats on the toilets! But strangely clean. Yup, be ready to flex your leg muscles as you squat over the bowl. Oh, well -- sometimes that's Mexico. A long while later, we had another stop -- this one was to a little place that sells souvenirs out in the middle of the Yucatan, on the way to Chichen Itza. There was lots to choose from, but it was too damned hot to get into it. Plus, being Mexico, smokers smoke everywhere. So, being in a hot, humid, smoky, thatched-roof building was not my ideal shopping environment. That little place must love people pulling up by the bus load throwing money at them . . . we were more interested in this poor little dog out there that was probably someone's pet but was obviously hungry, hot, and tired. Pobrecito! We stayed outside and petted him. He seemed to like that.

We got back on the road and finished the trek to the Mayan ruins. The area right before the ruins was a very depressed, run-down spot. We found ourselves being very thankful for our homes, our jobs, our -- well, everything. It was a real eye-opener. We finally made it to the pyramid about 15 minutes before noon, and spent an hour and a half with a tour guide. After that, we had an hour and a half to explore on our own (and fend off the vendors!). The ruins are impressive. We got some great pics:




















After the ruins, we headed out for lunch (at 3 p.m.!) at some place in the middle of nowhere called La Fiesta. We were a little nervous because the area it was in was the same depressed area we saw on our way in -- we hadn't seen anyplace that looked like a functioning restaurant, much less a place we would choose to eat. It was a weird little place, with a pool in the middle of it (an old hotel maybe?) and they served food buffet style. It was actually pretty good! So, I guess we can say we had some authentic Mexican food. Their rice was the best we had the whole time we were down there. A funky little spot:








With lunch behind us, we had one more mini-adventure ahead: a freshwater "Cenote" (pron: se-NOH-tay) -- basically an underground swimming hole. A definition I found on line says, "A water-filled limestone sinkhole of the Yucatán." It was pretty cool:












We didn't stay long, just long enough for the people who wanted to jump in to do that, and for the rest of us to take pictures. Then, the long bus ride back. A 12 hour tour, a 12 hour tour! That night we had a fabulous dinner at the hotel (ribeye for me, baby back ribs for the husband, and some churros w/ice cream from HEAVEN), got obliterated (me on champagne, as our photo will attest), then the husband took advantage of me. Okay, I admit I helped. But I was f****d up!






On Saturday we slept in a little. We had breakfast, then went down to the beach. Jason wanted to go snorkeling, but the hotel wouldn't let guests take the snorkeling gear to the sea side we were on. They wanted you to use it in the lagoon or on the other beach where there wasn't as much to look at. Jason found that the gift shop sold snorkeling gear, though, so we bought some and took it wherever we wanted. We saw anemones, angelfish, tangs, hermit crabs, brittle stars, sea urchins, corals, sponges -- and we were in a small, shallow area. It was great. Our first time snorkeling. It was great for finding little shells and rocks, too. We brought back little collections of them to put in our small aquarium (the husband cleaned them all off so they are all bright white right now, but will take on the characteristics of the aquarium over time) and put the stuff I found in a little bowl with some sand right from the beach:










Saturday night I think we had dinner through room service. Jason, after drinking a whole lot and then eating a cheeseburger & fries (pretty damned good from the hotel's little "snack shack" out by their main pool, by the way), decided to try out the bungee trampoline at the hotel -- flippin' and floppin' all over the place -- and ended up not feeling too well for the rest of the evening. Oops. Oh, we also finally decided to try some mixed drinks -- ice and all. I was getting tired of Corona! I had a strawberry daquiri (very sweet) and then a drink called a Miami Vice. Maybe you've heard of it. We hadn't. It was a strawberry daquiri with a pina colada poured into the middle of it. It was like buttah! Actually, it was like ice cream but if you channel Linda Richman a la Mike Meyers, you'll understand while I chose to say buttah. I don't know if they use filtered water for their ice, but I never got sick, so draw your own conclusions. I forgot to take a picture of the drink! Dang it! I guess that's what Google is for. I found one. The hotel's presentation was nicer, but you'll get the idea:






Later that night there was this amazing thunder & lightning storm (not much rain) that just lit up the sea. It was amazing, if a little scary. Couldn't get any good pics of that. Well, at least not digital photos. It remains to be seen if we got any on the 35 mm.

Sunday was overcast, but still beautiful and actually gave us some relief from the heat. Spent a good part of the morning snorkeling, and all afternoon at an outdoor bar called "Bar-racuda." We met a cool couple from Minnesota and, once again, got rather stinking drunk after about 8 hours of drinking! I loved it because it seems like every time we're on vacation and don't have to answer to anyone, we can't buy a buzz (always on a Wednesday night when you have to be at work the next day!). That was the afternoon that I took my favorite picture of the scenery from the trip:






I am SO going to fix that one up and get a big print of it, frame it and put it on the wall! We bought a small ceramic Mayan calendar and colorful ceramic iguana to put in the mix with whatever pics we end up framing & hanging.

Another cool thing about the hotel we stayed in was the fact that they have a turtle in the lagoon, as well as a very large angelfish. The pics don't do the angelfish justice at all. He was over a foot long and almost as tall. Big, big tropical fish. We were able to feed the turtle and some other fish in the lagoon, and there were also iguanas running around, especially near this one Japanese (yes, Japanese) restaurant they had there -- they like the rocks. And, as it turns out, they like bananas, plums, and grapes. They all came running once they smelled that stuff!












So with the beachcombing, snorkeling, eating, drinking, and our day trip to Chichen Itza, the 4+ days we were there flew by. With most of our time spent on the beach, it was kind of like we were in the middle of our own Corona commercial. It was a very lazy vacation, besides the day in the Yucatan and our little jaunt to the Hard Rock Cafe and some souvenir shops. We never went out to check out any night life 1) because of the heat and 2) we were content milling about the grounds of the hotel and walking up to any of the handful of bars there for whatever drinks we wanted -- what the hell, they were already paid for! I went down to the beach on our last morning while the husband slept in and enjoyed some time by myself. Really by myself. I was the only one down there! I took a few last photos, then drew "CANCUN" in the sand and snapped a pic before the water could get it.






With that, I got our stuff packed, we took our showers, had breakfast, checked out, and we were gone. Off to the airport, where they searched our bags by hand before they were checked. We didn't know if they were gonna let us take the rocks & shells -- can't take animal or vegetable, but thought maybe this stuff counted as mineral -- but they did. We flew on a monster 757 and hit a bit of turbulence -- not too pleasant. Especially since the husband wound up with a little Montezuma's revenge that morning and throughout our flights back. I don't know what hit him, but obviously I didn't get it 'cuz I was fine. He was hating. We did not enjoy that stretch of the trip, being in row 34 of the flight. We made it to Dallas, then walked such a long stretch from the plane to Immigration that someone in the crowd surmised we were "walking back to Mexico." That still makes me laugh. We got through immigration in a snap, then had to reclaim our bags and take them to customs, where we just dropped them off and they searched them later w/o us actually seeing them do it (man, did our suitcases get hammered on this trip -- I think they take them out back and kick the shit out of them and then run them over with the planes). Then, through security again. We did all of that in less than half an hour, so we were pleasantly surprised. I had to stifle a laugh when I saw some poor guy running to the bathroom with what appeared to be a leaking bottle of Maalox or something similar. The husband made many a visit to the restrooms and said everyone in there was illin'. I was not envious!

At the Dallas airport (DFW), Jason wanted to get himself some comfort food, so we found ourselves at a McDonald's. I didn't put up a fight, though McDonald's would not be my first -- or second -- or third -- choice; I just got a quarter pounder w/cheese & some fries, but had to skip over to the Hebrew National booth for my first Pepsi in a week. And it was GOOD.

We switched planes, back to an MD 80 -- but again, further back than we hoped. That is, until we realized we were in one of the exit rows. We had mad leg room, yo! Sorry, I'll restrain myself. It was a much more comfortable (and much less bumpy) flight. We got in about 15-20 minutes early and all our luggage showed up. We got home in one piece, w/all our stuff, and nothing broken or lost. It was a good trip. I would definitely go back to Cancun, but I'm iffy on the hotel. The 2nd room was, as I said, much better than the first, but for the prices we were paying I'm not sure I would do that place again. The food at the hotel was just okay. We didn't get to try the one restaurant I really wanted to try, though, Oceana, which was the steak/seafood place. But the Seaside Grill was really good for dinner, and our drinks were never empty. The service was great. Well, the restaurant service, anyway. The guest services folks took forever to do anything, if they ever did it at all! The all-inclusive thing is good because you're not pulling out your wallet every 5 minutes and because the husband can just have whatever he wants, whenever he wants w/o any hassle or having to go looking for something. The hotel's location, and amenities, made up for a lot. The hotel was actually pretty nice . . . it just didn't have that "wow" factor in the rooms or the restaurants. But it was a great vacation, we had a great time, and we got some great photos. Most importantly, we got to RELAX. And that's really all that matters, right?