Cancun!
Sam and I are back from Cancun and back to the old grind, I am even at work today as I was asked to work by my mom when I called her on vacation. These days I don't dislike work as much since the money is so nice to have, I don't even complain.
Having now gone to Cancun, which btw is the first time I've ever been to Mexico, I now have learned a few things about Mexican culture.
1) If everything is bigger in Texas, everything is smaller in Mexico. We went into many touristy shops one or two days down there and a trend I found was that it was nearly impossible to find a T-shirt larger than large. Large isn't really that large in my opinion. Even my cousin, who I consider thin and a very healthy weight needs a XL to be comfortable.
2) By some combination of german engineering, small size and ability to withstand tropic climates the VW Beetle is alive and well down south. To the point that while playing punch buggy driving down town Sam and I got bored after seeing near 50 of them up and running on the road. This trend continued the entire trip whenever off the resort and my last sight of Mexico as we took off was a white VW bug driving down a stretch of highway.
3) Mexicans have an odd idea of what a highway should be though they do efficiently cut straight through the country with almost no turns giving you the feeling you are traveling the fastest route possible. The highways we went on while there had many oddities to me, the first of which was speed bumps. These occasionally made sense as they would be around a police station where a bored officer would wave each car by looking for something suspicious, but many times there would be a row of speed bumps for seemingly no reason at all. Though there were a few times there were also military posted by the speed bumps so I guess they don't have a building, they just show up sometime and it's easier to leave the speed bumps there. Another strange thing is the fluctuating speed limit which ranges from 40 - 100 kph. I saw at one point the speed limit change 3 times in less than 5 miles, I guessed this was to prepare people for the speed bumps, but that time there were none so the limit went from 80 to 40 to 100 and nothing that I could tell changed in the landscape.
So being in Mexico for a week at an all inclusive resort is pretty nice. Everything was free pretty much, free drinks, 7 resturants to eat at, all free some buffet some not, free room service, and even free stuff to rent by the beach like snorkle equipment. It was Sam's parent's gift to her and I. They were down there too, they stayed the week beforehand as well. The resort even gave us a free massage, I'd never had a professional one. I can say now that it's nice, but I'm glad I didn't pay for it. Sam and her dad on the other hand are addicts. Her parents actually went for three days strait while we were there, I think they had 5 the two weeks they were there.
One day we went down to the city and walked around to different shops, many sold the same things though. Later we went to downtown Cancun and met with some of the staff her parents had met last year and kept in touch with. The were a nice couple and the man spoke a lot of english, but the didn't work at the same resort anymore so that's why we had to go see them.
Another day we went to a park where they had lots of sea life and we got to swim with dolphins. It was pretty neat, we got pictures and a video they made. I also liked the sea turtles which were pretty cool. In Mexico the parks and stuff are very different, where you walk to see the turtles you're basically walking around a pool and there isn't anything to stop you from jumping in other than common sense. This park also had a big show that did a history of Mexico from the Mayans to the Conquistidors to modern day.
The rest of the week we mostly relaxed, hung out by the pool and did some of the tours the resort offered. On New Year's Eve there was a big party at their convention center which was fun. New year's day they had lobster for lunch and shrimp for dinner.
Having now gone to Cancun, which btw is the first time I've ever been to Mexico, I now have learned a few things about Mexican culture.
1) If everything is bigger in Texas, everything is smaller in Mexico. We went into many touristy shops one or two days down there and a trend I found was that it was nearly impossible to find a T-shirt larger than large. Large isn't really that large in my opinion. Even my cousin, who I consider thin and a very healthy weight needs a XL to be comfortable.
2) By some combination of german engineering, small size and ability to withstand tropic climates the VW Beetle is alive and well down south. To the point that while playing punch buggy driving down town Sam and I got bored after seeing near 50 of them up and running on the road. This trend continued the entire trip whenever off the resort and my last sight of Mexico as we took off was a white VW bug driving down a stretch of highway.
3) Mexicans have an odd idea of what a highway should be though they do efficiently cut straight through the country with almost no turns giving you the feeling you are traveling the fastest route possible. The highways we went on while there had many oddities to me, the first of which was speed bumps. These occasionally made sense as they would be around a police station where a bored officer would wave each car by looking for something suspicious, but many times there would be a row of speed bumps for seemingly no reason at all. Though there were a few times there were also military posted by the speed bumps so I guess they don't have a building, they just show up sometime and it's easier to leave the speed bumps there. Another strange thing is the fluctuating speed limit which ranges from 40 - 100 kph. I saw at one point the speed limit change 3 times in less than 5 miles, I guessed this was to prepare people for the speed bumps, but that time there were none so the limit went from 80 to 40 to 100 and nothing that I could tell changed in the landscape.
So being in Mexico for a week at an all inclusive resort is pretty nice. Everything was free pretty much, free drinks, 7 resturants to eat at, all free some buffet some not, free room service, and even free stuff to rent by the beach like snorkle equipment. It was Sam's parent's gift to her and I. They were down there too, they stayed the week beforehand as well. The resort even gave us a free massage, I'd never had a professional one. I can say now that it's nice, but I'm glad I didn't pay for it. Sam and her dad on the other hand are addicts. Her parents actually went for three days strait while we were there, I think they had 5 the two weeks they were there.
One day we went down to the city and walked around to different shops, many sold the same things though. Later we went to downtown Cancun and met with some of the staff her parents had met last year and kept in touch with. The were a nice couple and the man spoke a lot of english, but the didn't work at the same resort anymore so that's why we had to go see them.
Another day we went to a park where they had lots of sea life and we got to swim with dolphins. It was pretty neat, we got pictures and a video they made. I also liked the sea turtles which were pretty cool. In Mexico the parks and stuff are very different, where you walk to see the turtles you're basically walking around a pool and there isn't anything to stop you from jumping in other than common sense. This park also had a big show that did a history of Mexico from the Mayans to the Conquistidors to modern day.
The rest of the week we mostly relaxed, hung out by the pool and did some of the tours the resort offered. On New Year's Eve there was a big party at their convention center which was fun. New year's day they had lobster for lunch and shrimp for dinner.