If you have ever traveled to a foreign country, you soon learn you never know what to expect...and you learn to just deal with it...it's part of the adventure. This was the sixth year of our annual "Sister's Vacation". Five to Mexico and once we went to Punta Cana in the Dominique Republic. Each trip is unique and some are almost perfect, like last year when we stayed at Dreams Resort (5 gold apples) in Cancun. We were greeted with glasses of champagne when we checked in and upgraded to a nice, big ocean front room...but that's another blog for another day. Then there are trips like this one where all just seems to go sideways...so much that it caused my sister Jane and myself to fall into fits of uncontrollable laughter several times a day. Welcome to Mexico!
It started as soon as we arrived at our resort (4 red apples) in Cozumel, Mexico. Cozumel is an island just off the coast of Mexico and every year we would talk about taking the ferry over and spending a day on the island, but we never did. This year we had the chance to stay there for an entire week. It's a little more expensive than the mainland because everything has to be shipped over, but we figured it would be worth it for the experience. As we were getting checked in, I was watching a flat screen TV on the wall behind the check in counter advertising: "You are now in Paradise", I wondered about that as I noticed the paint peeling above the TV. Then the bellhop took us and our luggage to our room. The room wound around the resort to the back part and I wondered if we would be able to find our way out. Our room was to have a garden/jungle view. Well, we did have a balcony and if you stood on the end of the balcony and leaned out to the left you could see some palm trees and flowers. Other than that, we had a view of the wall of the room next to us and a view of their front door and a huge red fire extinguisher. This was an older resort with no smoke alarms. Probably no law about that in Mexico. We were also suppose to have a coffeemaker and a minibar. Neither was in this tiny room. After two calls to the front desk and we also mentioned it to our Apple Representative, we did get the coffee maker....never did see the mini bar. They did provide two small waste baskets in our room which was a good thing because the air conditioner which was over the door to the bathroom leaked a lot, so we used one to catch the water. It made a puddle in the floor that I stepped in the first night at 2am when I got up to use the bathroom. It was raining outside so I really thought the roof was leaking!! Oh, by the way, it rained every afternoon for the first 3 days we were there. Next was the shower. It came blasting out like a high pressure wash. It must have had some sort of water saver on it and no way to adjust it. Only our backs and heads were able to tolerate it. You just had to sort of splash yourself with it and the temperature constantly changed from cold to hot the whole time we showered. Welcome to Mexico.
Then there was the TV in our room. It got about 10 channels and only a few in English and by the end of the week most of those had stopped working or just faded in and out. A couple on the beach one day ask if our TV was working because theirs wasn't. I said "Welcome to Mexico".
Then their was the night we had some sort of a reptile/lizard in the room. We watched it as it darted around the wall and ended up behind the headboard of my bed. It was fast. We were pretty sure it was harmless, but I didn't want to wake up with it's little suction cup feet on my face, so we called the front desk for help. It took three calls, but they finally sent a guy in with a rag and broom. He took down the headboard, caught it in the rag and took it outside and shook it in the bushes. I hope it didn't end up in someone else's room.
Now of course, our Apple Representative ask us everyday if everything was alright. We could have complained and maybe gotten a better room, but we figured for the price they were probably all about the same unless you were in the exclusive part of the resort, but then we wouldn't have had anything to provoke fits of laughter.
Then we decide one day to go snorkeling. My sister gets her flippers and mask on and takes off and I am in waist deep water with my flippers and struggling to get my mask on when the strap broke. Jane comes swimming back into help me and we finally get me all prepared to go. I am snorkeling along looking at the ocean floor when water started seeping into my mask. Since I was only in chest deep water I decide to flip myself around and stand up to fix my mask. When I did my hand hit some coral which is really sharp and poked a now bleeding hole in my finger. A piece of coral lodged under my finger nail I just got it out today...a week later. We finally decide to end snorkeling for the day. We decided to try it again a few days later and all went well with the snorkeling. We saw lots of fish and a lobster under a rock. The problem came when we went back to the pool and Jane's towel was gone. When you check into these resorts some give you a towel card that is used to get a beach towel. Most people use the towel to lay claim to a chair and leave their things. In all of the years no one has ever bothered anything when we were gone. She went over to the area where you get clean towels and tried to get another towel, but they told her she couldn't have another one without a card. She explained that someone took her towel while we were snorkeling, but it did no good. Now I could understand it if this place was crowded and they didn't have enough towels or if the towels were made of gold. We figured someone ask for two towels and couldn't get them so when we left, decided to take one of ours. My sister went to the front desk and let them know what happened and to try to get another towel card...they informed her she was suppose to take her towel with her and keep it with her...really?....into the ocean while snorkeling?? The little Mexican woman working behind the desk didn't find this amusing and refused to give her another towel card. Jane spent the last couple of days using a towel from the room....more fits of laughter.
Toward the end of the week I broke out in small bumps and realized I had sun poisoning. I figured the next day was a good day to stay in the shade and nap. Jane decided while I was napping she would scuba dive with a group off the pier. An hour or so later she is back, limping over to my chair. She had struggled getting out to the deeper waters. The instructor had to keep adding weights to keep her down with her air tank and then coming out she cut her foot on the sharp coral. We decide to go see the medic at the resort and get some antiseptic on it. He didn't speak English very well, but I did see a degree for something in Spanish on the wall. He put something on her foot that looked like green alcohol and covered it with a bandage. When we ask him if he saw a lot of this he replied that he mostly treated diarrhea and vomiting....just what we wanted to hear...so far on all of our trips we have never had any food problems, well, except for a trip to a coffee plantation in the Dominique Republic where we sampled the coffee...after that the food ran through us for days!!....another blog for another day. In the meantime, during my nap in the shade, my ankles got bitten several times by mosquitoes and so she was limping back to the room and I was bent over scratching...no wonder people looked at us weird.
Then there was Thanksgiving. Every place we have ever stayed always has something for this American holiday... probably because there are always more of us at these places than anyone. There was a sign up in front of one of the restaurants advertising a nice Thanksgiving dinner with a picture of Abraham Lincoln and the story of how he made it into a national holiday. To help celebrate the occasion the resort brought in two live turkeys, a male and female and had them in a make shift pen in the open lobby near the pool. Each had one leg tied to a part of the pen with a long string...I guess they thought they would fly away. They were well fed and taken care of, but they were always getting their strings tangled up with each other and the male would hiss at us when we walked by. For several days out by the pool, all we heard above the Latin music was gobble, gobble, gobble!! ...which invoked fits of laughter! The dinner itself is their version of ours . The turkey was good and no they didn't serve the two in the pen. The pumpkin pie was not as sweet as what we are used to but I like it. I'm not real sure what the rest of it was, but it was all good. Welcome to Mexico.
The resort really didn't have anything to do in the evenings except a few sad shows that didn't start unit 9pm. We went to a couple of them and saw maybe ten people in the whole theater. Unlike Cancun, we couldn't walk downtown. The only city in the island, San Miguel de Cozumel population of 77,236, was about 14k away and so that meant renting a car, scooter or getting a taxi. We decide to go there and do a little shopping at the shops and back street flee markets. We opted for the taxi and only went once since it cost us $13.00 each way not including the tip. The trip was really uneventful and not much to see other than the cruise ship port and some really big cruise ships. We found one place with really good prices. We bought some gifts and we each got new beach bags...both for $10.00.
This resort had two swimming pools one was in the center of the resort surrounded by all the places to eat, the lobby and the outdoor stage. We chose that one. Mostly because it was close the food. The other pool was around on the side close our room . It had a swim up bar and topless was optional. We had to pass this pool every day to and from our room. There were always several thirty something women who chose this option.... ;)
Not all was to keep us in fits of laughter... some just a nice experience...like the day we rented a scooter and explored the island ourselves...wonderful!! There is only one main road which takes you around the island. The traffic was all but non existent other than in the city of San Minguel and it really wasn't bad. Although once, we did find ourselves going the wrong way down a one way street. I love motorcycle riding so this was such a freeing experience and the coast of the island is breathtaking! It is dotted with the usual beach shacks and people selling their wares, offering free shots of tequila and even a Brahma bull ride...we couldn't resist that one, although the ride was really just sitting on this huge animal. We shopped and stopped for water and just walked on the beach, enjoying the beauty of the place.
Back at the resort, as usual with every place we have stayed, the food was wonderful! This resort wasn't crowded, (can't image why) so getting a table outside everyday over looking the beach for breakfast and lunch was not a problem. I had some of the best salads and seafood I have ever eaten. We had dinner in an Italian restaurant one evening and the food was great there also!! The staff are very friendly and attentive... well, except for the towel card lady.
One interesting thing about the snack grill by the pool- we ate lunch there a few times, ordered the same thing each time...it was delicious but never prepared the same way...Welcome to Mexico!
Well, my suntan is fading and there are places where my skin is peeling, my sun poisoning is gone but my mosquito bites are still itching....I am back in the cold weather and it is snowing....I am already looking forward to next year and to see what that brings....
Today I would give anything to be back there in the heat with my sister, in our view less room, having fits of laughter about all the things 'wrong' with our vacation in this beautiful place. Welcome to Mexico!
