Mexico, Jan 2009 breakdown
The trip started out on a demi-sour note- the night before we were crashing at my parents’ house- they live 10 min from the airport, and we needed to be at the airport by 4 AM. They were going to babysit Motoko for us- we’d had a playdate with the two cats before, and were pretty sure they were gonna be fine together. That evening they got into a huge catfight- in the process of checking Mo for injuries (she was moving oddly) the little booger bit me several times on the left hand. So I got to go to Urgent Care for a tetanus booster and a script for augmentin. While Mom and I were at the clinic, Ethan and Bubba took Mo back to the apartment. The next day they went back to the apartment and got her again- she behaved better for them after that, I’m told, with the notable exception of jumping onto the mantel and knocking down all the Christmas decorations (nothing broke, thankfully).
Trip down was very quiet- it was an early flight, so everyone was sleeping, mostly. The first two days we just hung out at the house- we got in mid-day Saturday and took a shuttle down to the house. We stopped at a local superstore on the way (think Kmart knockoff but smelling worse) to pick up baby supplies like diapers- Erin freaked out a bit when she realized that the baby food labels were all in Spanish (duh) and she could not find the brands/types of food she was comfortable with. She’s a very careful mom- Alice is an easy baby to travel with, not fussy and very easy-going, but Erin was a bit nervous.
When we got to the house, we got the tour and picked out bedrooms- Ethan and I took the one main-floor bedroom. It had an open-air shower (high privacy wall, natch) and french doors onto the patio area. So we unpacked and explored the house and grounds, settling in. We bummed around, swam in the pool and ocean, Jessie and Jill sunbathed. Everyone in our group were heavy readers- over the week we collectively finished nine books- and I spent most of my down time knitting in the palapa (thatched roof patio area thingie- I think of it as my happy place now).
Saturday night we had Jose-the-rent-a-cook fix fajitas, beans, rice and nachos for us. Sunday was very similar- we figured out how to use the satellite TV so we could watch the Vikings lose the wildcard playoff spot, and Nancy cooked dinner for us- chicken and rice.
Monday we’d arranged for a half-day deep-sea fishing trip; Dave, Ethan, Jessie, Jill and I were picked up by the Akumal Dive Shop shuttle and we headed out. Erin and Dane stayed back to help Alice adjust to the new location, and Nancy stayed at the house too. It was a relatively calm day- 3-6 foot swells for the most part- which was good as we were in a little goofy flat-bottomed boat that would have been perfectly on home on a lake but looked a bit underpowered in the ocean. It was an unfortunately dead day- all the captains were reporting that nothing was biting anywhere- but it was a great boat ride. Ethan and I were the only two to catch fish- he got a good-sized kingfish and I caught a barracuda. (Man, those be ugly fish!) We saw flying fish, which were really freaking cool, and a lot of different sea birds. The afternoon was spent back at the house, lazy-like, and Jose came and cooked the fish we caught for us.
Tuesday we were going to visit the Mayan ruins at Coba. Coba was the Mayan capital city during the classic period (pre-human sacrifice, as everyone repeatedly pointed out- that didn’t start until there was cultural cross-pollination with the Aztecs.) We nearly ran out of gas on the way there, but stumbled across a local lady who sold gas out of her garage in the nick of time. Coba’s not as well-restored as a lot of the other cities, like Chitchen Itza, but it was still really cool- Ethan and I decided to climb the big temple at the end, which was a hell of a climb. By the time I got to the top I could barely breathe, and my legs were extremely stiff for the next three days.
We saw the sacred ball game courts, and two temples, and a lot of the sacbeeb- the white roads the Mayans built. They’re 10 feet across, level for their entire length (miles), and paved with crushed coral and shells so they glowed in the moonlight (mostly traveled at night to avoid the heat), and still in decent enough shape today to be used. I wish they worked for Minnesota’s DOT.
After the ruins, we visited a cenote- one of the deep caves with freshwater wells at the bottom- we opted to not swim in them, but the water was very cool/cold and the caves were nice and cool and damp (after being on top of the pyramid in the 90-degree heat, felt amazing).
Wednesday was the spa day- Nancy has hired four masseuses and a manicurist to come to the house, and we all got massages in the beachside palapa. That felt really good, although everyone later reported (don’t ask how the subject arose) that they all had large bowel movements in the hour or two after getting the massages- very odd, that! That afternoon, Jill and Jessie and I went into Tulum (closest big town) to do some shopping. A lot of it was typically touristy, but I did score some nice jewelry as presents for the girls and my sister, and a huge lace tablecloth to give my parents (thank-you gift for watching the cat while we were gone). I also picked up a darling white embroidered sundress for Alice. Shopping with Jill was an experience- she flits from one item to the next, squeeing the entire time. On one hand it made secretly shopping for her birthday present easy- but as she continued to do it over unlikely articles I started to doubt my earlier choice/purchase. We walked the main drag, then sat down and had a snack and drinks while waiting on the others to join us for dinner. Dinner was fun and noisy- there are a lot of strolling musicians in Tulum at night of varying quality. The place we ate had decent food and nuclear margaritas, so it ended up being a good time overall.
Thursday we packed up early and went snorkeling. We rented equipment at the Akumal Dive Center (not to be confused with the Akumal Dive Shop we did the fishing through… different end of the beach) and did a little practice snorkeling at the crowded beach at Akumal. Saw some cool fish, and three tired-looking sea turtles, then went up onto the beach to wait for Ethan to finish his practice run. He went out a lot deeper than the rest of us and got caught up in chasing a school of fish, I think. After we finally dragged him out we went up the coast a bit to a small secluded tidal lagoon surrounded by private estates. After paying the admission fee (which we’d not been told about) and washing off our sunscreen at their insistence (picture me cringing here… it’s 11 am and I’m about to fry) we got to dive in. The fishwatching was incredible here- I stopped counting after 20 species, and every color of the rainbow. One fish that particularly intrigued me was orange and green and the size of my cat. J I chased it around for about ten minutes. We snorkeled there for an hour and a half before my back turned lobster-red. Yes, I did fry, but the snorkeling was so worth it. We had lunch at a small taco stand before heading back to the house. The afternoon was lazy- more swimming in the pool, reading, etc, then Jessie cooked dinner for us that night. She’d been a line chef at D’Amico and Sons, so she pulled together a fabulous meal, chicken and rice and veggies.
Friday was a lazy day- we’d talked about going to a highly recommended cenote-adventure-park-tourist-trap but opted not to; most of us went into Tulum to do more shopping, with Nancy and me staying back with Alice. We tried to get her new sundress onto her, but discovered her noggin was a bit too large- so I pulled out my knitting toolkit and did a few alterations on the neckline, adding a keyhole, so it fit her. I was sewing with dental floss and an embroidery needle! Any port in a storm, and she looked darling in it.
Friday night Ethan and I cooked- we did herbed potatoes, garlic-rubbed steaks on the grill with a side of sautéed onions/mushrooms, garlic bread and salad. This was the night we celebrated Jill’s birthday; it was a lot of fun. Dave had bought a birthday cake on the morning grocery run, so we had cake. He’d looked for the ingredients to make his fabulous chocolate cake but the Spanish labels defeated him. The store cake was pretty good though- a sponge cake with strawberry filling and whipped-cream frosting. Most of us had picked up little presents for her during the week- Ethan and I gave her a turquoise pendant on a cord (this was one of the things she’d squeed over on Wednesday). At the end of the night almost everyone went up to the rooftop lounge and smoked Cuban cigars; as the allergic-to-smoke person I went to bed early and slept like the dead.
The flight home was uneventful, and it was really good to see Mo. She spent the rest of the weekend glued to our feet, so I think she missed us. Saturday afternoon and Sunday were full of WoW, laundry, and takeout food.
Trip down was very quiet- it was an early flight, so everyone was sleeping, mostly. The first two days we just hung out at the house- we got in mid-day Saturday and took a shuttle down to the house. We stopped at a local superstore on the way (think Kmart knockoff but smelling worse) to pick up baby supplies like diapers- Erin freaked out a bit when she realized that the baby food labels were all in Spanish (duh) and she could not find the brands/types of food she was comfortable with. She’s a very careful mom- Alice is an easy baby to travel with, not fussy and very easy-going, but Erin was a bit nervous.
When we got to the house, we got the tour and picked out bedrooms- Ethan and I took the one main-floor bedroom. It had an open-air shower (high privacy wall, natch) and french doors onto the patio area. So we unpacked and explored the house and grounds, settling in. We bummed around, swam in the pool and ocean, Jessie and Jill sunbathed. Everyone in our group were heavy readers- over the week we collectively finished nine books- and I spent most of my down time knitting in the palapa (thatched roof patio area thingie- I think of it as my happy place now).
Saturday night we had Jose-the-rent-a-cook fix fajitas, beans, rice and nachos for us. Sunday was very similar- we figured out how to use the satellite TV so we could watch the Vikings lose the wildcard playoff spot, and Nancy cooked dinner for us- chicken and rice.
Monday we’d arranged for a half-day deep-sea fishing trip; Dave, Ethan, Jessie, Jill and I were picked up by the Akumal Dive Shop shuttle and we headed out. Erin and Dane stayed back to help Alice adjust to the new location, and Nancy stayed at the house too. It was a relatively calm day- 3-6 foot swells for the most part- which was good as we were in a little goofy flat-bottomed boat that would have been perfectly on home on a lake but looked a bit underpowered in the ocean. It was an unfortunately dead day- all the captains were reporting that nothing was biting anywhere- but it was a great boat ride. Ethan and I were the only two to catch fish- he got a good-sized kingfish and I caught a barracuda. (Man, those be ugly fish!) We saw flying fish, which were really freaking cool, and a lot of different sea birds. The afternoon was spent back at the house, lazy-like, and Jose came and cooked the fish we caught for us.
Tuesday we were going to visit the Mayan ruins at Coba. Coba was the Mayan capital city during the classic period (pre-human sacrifice, as everyone repeatedly pointed out- that didn’t start until there was cultural cross-pollination with the Aztecs.) We nearly ran out of gas on the way there, but stumbled across a local lady who sold gas out of her garage in the nick of time. Coba’s not as well-restored as a lot of the other cities, like Chitchen Itza, but it was still really cool- Ethan and I decided to climb the big temple at the end, which was a hell of a climb. By the time I got to the top I could barely breathe, and my legs were extremely stiff for the next three days.
We saw the sacred ball game courts, and two temples, and a lot of the sacbeeb- the white roads the Mayans built. They’re 10 feet across, level for their entire length (miles), and paved with crushed coral and shells so they glowed in the moonlight (mostly traveled at night to avoid the heat), and still in decent enough shape today to be used. I wish they worked for Minnesota’s DOT.
After the ruins, we visited a cenote- one of the deep caves with freshwater wells at the bottom- we opted to not swim in them, but the water was very cool/cold and the caves were nice and cool and damp (after being on top of the pyramid in the 90-degree heat, felt amazing).
Wednesday was the spa day- Nancy has hired four masseuses and a manicurist to come to the house, and we all got massages in the beachside palapa. That felt really good, although everyone later reported (don’t ask how the subject arose) that they all had large bowel movements in the hour or two after getting the massages- very odd, that! That afternoon, Jill and Jessie and I went into Tulum (closest big town) to do some shopping. A lot of it was typically touristy, but I did score some nice jewelry as presents for the girls and my sister, and a huge lace tablecloth to give my parents (thank-you gift for watching the cat while we were gone). I also picked up a darling white embroidered sundress for Alice. Shopping with Jill was an experience- she flits from one item to the next, squeeing the entire time. On one hand it made secretly shopping for her birthday present easy- but as she continued to do it over unlikely articles I started to doubt my earlier choice/purchase. We walked the main drag, then sat down and had a snack and drinks while waiting on the others to join us for dinner. Dinner was fun and noisy- there are a lot of strolling musicians in Tulum at night of varying quality. The place we ate had decent food and nuclear margaritas, so it ended up being a good time overall.
Thursday we packed up early and went snorkeling. We rented equipment at the Akumal Dive Center (not to be confused with the Akumal Dive Shop we did the fishing through… different end of the beach) and did a little practice snorkeling at the crowded beach at Akumal. Saw some cool fish, and three tired-looking sea turtles, then went up onto the beach to wait for Ethan to finish his practice run. He went out a lot deeper than the rest of us and got caught up in chasing a school of fish, I think. After we finally dragged him out we went up the coast a bit to a small secluded tidal lagoon surrounded by private estates. After paying the admission fee (which we’d not been told about) and washing off our sunscreen at their insistence (picture me cringing here… it’s 11 am and I’m about to fry) we got to dive in. The fishwatching was incredible here- I stopped counting after 20 species, and every color of the rainbow. One fish that particularly intrigued me was orange and green and the size of my cat. J I chased it around for about ten minutes. We snorkeled there for an hour and a half before my back turned lobster-red. Yes, I did fry, but the snorkeling was so worth it. We had lunch at a small taco stand before heading back to the house. The afternoon was lazy- more swimming in the pool, reading, etc, then Jessie cooked dinner for us that night. She’d been a line chef at D’Amico and Sons, so she pulled together a fabulous meal, chicken and rice and veggies.
Friday was a lazy day- we’d talked about going to a highly recommended cenote-adventure-park-tourist-trap but opted not to; most of us went into Tulum to do more shopping, with Nancy and me staying back with Alice. We tried to get her new sundress onto her, but discovered her noggin was a bit too large- so I pulled out my knitting toolkit and did a few alterations on the neckline, adding a keyhole, so it fit her. I was sewing with dental floss and an embroidery needle! Any port in a storm, and she looked darling in it.
Friday night Ethan and I cooked- we did herbed potatoes, garlic-rubbed steaks on the grill with a side of sautéed onions/mushrooms, garlic bread and salad. This was the night we celebrated Jill’s birthday; it was a lot of fun. Dave had bought a birthday cake on the morning grocery run, so we had cake. He’d looked for the ingredients to make his fabulous chocolate cake but the Spanish labels defeated him. The store cake was pretty good though- a sponge cake with strawberry filling and whipped-cream frosting. Most of us had picked up little presents for her during the week- Ethan and I gave her a turquoise pendant on a cord (this was one of the things she’d squeed over on Wednesday). At the end of the night almost everyone went up to the rooftop lounge and smoked Cuban cigars; as the allergic-to-smoke person I went to bed early and slept like the dead.
The flight home was uneventful, and it was really good to see Mo. She spent the rest of the weekend glued to our feet, so I think she missed us. Saturday afternoon and Sunday were full of WoW, laundry, and takeout food.