We had a rather interesting trip this time with tropical storm/hurricane Dolly! We made it through the storm and had a few sunny days. Here are some of the highlights below...
Sunday:We arrived in sunny Mexico around 12:30 and we checked into the hotel. We first had to be harassed for several minutes by our vacation representative Omar who insisted on calling 
Jared "Yarrod". He gave us all of our info and then made us promise that we would come down the next morning for our "welcome breakfast" (which of course we knew was going to be a pitch for timeshares). Aparrently, they overbooked because we did not get a room in the main part of the hotel, but in an older part that was a separate tower. We couldn't check into the room until 3 so we walked down to the beach (with a rather ominous looking sky), where after about 5 minutes a huge storm suddenly blew in. Strong winds, blowing sand, and rain. The entire beach got up and ran into the resort. By this time, we were able to check in, but we could not find our room! It took us several minutes to figure out that we had to walk a path to the tower (not all of it covered from the rain, mind you). We called for our bags, which then took an hour to show up. I got tired of waiting after about 30 minutes and decided to go ahead and shower and hope the bags would be there when I was done. Well, let me tell you, the shower was an adventure all by itself! I turned the faucet on and then pulled up on the lever that makes it come out of the shower head and the thing came off in my hand! Water then proceeds to shoot out of the hole where I had pulled it out. I stick it back in and have to turn the water pressure up very high in order to get it to come out of the shower head. Well, it only partially works. With the shower head and the faucet both going full blast it was filling up the tub. I had to keep turning the water off to let it drain. It was nuts! The bags arrived while I was in the shower and Jared pulls out the bathroom bag to find that one of the sunscreens has exploded! He was not a happy camper! I got out and we called the front desk to come fix it. I figure it will be quite awhile so I continue to get ready, and Jared goes down to get a beer after the sunscreen incident. Well, here I am still in my towel and the guy shows up to fix the tub! Luckily, he was able to fix it and we had normal showers the rest of the week. We then go down for dinner to a restaurant called Marco Polo for their NY Strip night. I don't know why we thought that a strip steak in Mexico would be good, but let me tell you-it was not. It was more like salisbury steak, covered in some weird gravy and served with the most gelatinous mashed potatoes I have ever seen! I didn't eat much so I had high hopes for the apple pie dessert (you can't mess that up too bad right-wrong!). It was like fruticake pie. Not impressed with the food so far! That night we were lucky enough to have some "lovely" latina singing in the room next door to us to lull us to sleep-ha! That along with the very noisy storm did not make for the best night's sleep.
Jared "Yarrod". He gave us all of our info and then made us promise that we would come down the next morning for our "welcome breakfast" (which of course we knew was going to be a pitch for timeshares). Aparrently, they overbooked because we did not get a room in the main part of the hotel, but in an older part that was a separate tower. We couldn't check into the room until 3 so we walked down to the beach (with a rather ominous looking sky), where after about 5 minutes a huge storm suddenly blew in. Strong winds, blowing sand, and rain. The entire beach got up and ran into the resort. By this time, we were able to check in, but we could not find our room! It took us several minutes to figure out that we had to walk a path to the tower (not all of it covered from the rain, mind you). We called for our bags, which then took an hour to show up. I got tired of waiting after about 30 minutes and decided to go ahead and shower and hope the bags would be there when I was done. Well, let me tell you, the shower was an adventure all by itself! I turned the faucet on and then pulled up on the lever that makes it come out of the shower head and the thing came off in my hand! Water then proceeds to shoot out of the hole where I had pulled it out. I stick it back in and have to turn the water pressure up very high in order to get it to come out of the shower head. Well, it only partially works. With the shower head and the faucet both going full blast it was filling up the tub. I had to keep turning the water off to let it drain. It was nuts! The bags arrived while I was in the shower and Jared pulls out the bathroom bag to find that one of the sunscreens has exploded! He was not a happy camper! I got out and we called the front desk to come fix it. I figure it will be quite awhile so I continue to get ready, and Jared goes down to get a beer after the sunscreen incident. Well, here I am still in my towel and the guy shows up to fix the tub! Luckily, he was able to fix it and we had normal showers the rest of the week. We then go down for dinner to a restaurant called Marco Polo for their NY Strip night. I don't know why we thought that a strip steak in Mexico would be good, but let me tell you-it was not. It was more like salisbury steak, covered in some weird gravy and served with the most gelatinous mashed potatoes I have ever seen! I didn't eat much so I had high hopes for the apple pie dessert (you can't mess that up too bad right-wrong!). It was like fruticake pie. Not impressed with the food so far! That night we were lucky enough to have some "lovely" latina singing in the room next door to us to lull us to sleep-ha! That along with the very noisy storm did not make for the best night's sleep.
Monday:This morning we woke up to the loudest bird in the history of birds. We had that as our alarm every morning. Along with that, we had two notes slid under our door. One was a reminder from Omar about our breakfast and the other was a note saying that there is a tropical storm/hurricane in the area, but not too worry?! Not looking too promising for a beach day. I 
joked to Jared that we would probably get a wake-up phone call from Omar, and I kid you not, not 5 minutes later the phone rang. Needless to say, we did not answer, but the message told us that I had been right. It was not raining at the time so we decided to walk on the beach for a bit. It is very sad because so much of the beach was lost in the hurricane a few years back. At least half of the beach is now washed out to sea, and many of the resorts still have lots of damage. We didn't walk long before the rain started. The thing about Mexico is that you go for the beach, and if you can't go to the beach there just isn't much else to do. It rained the entire day! And let me tell you that we took our lives in our hands walking across the wet tile floors. I can't tell you how many times I almost fell, and Jared did take a tumble once. We decided to brave the weather and ride the bus down to the mall (which was unairconditioned and under construction last time we were there, but now is nicer than Cool Springs). Bus rides in Cancun are very exciting! You pay 6.5 pesos or 65 cents to go anywhere 
you want to. Those buses fly about 80mph down the strip and then jerk to a stop at the bus stops. It is quite exciting! We decided to buy playing cards while we were at the mall. I had a normal set in my hand, and as we got to the checkout Jared saw a set he liked better and grabbed those instead. We get back to resort after a rain-soaked wait at the bus stop, and discover while we are trying to play cards in the lobby that we do not have regular playing cards. So we buy another set-we spent about $15 on playing cards on this trip, because the set we bought at the resort were $10! I think they jacked up the price because people were stuck inside.
joked to Jared that we would probably get a wake-up phone call from Omar, and I kid you not, not 5 minutes later the phone rang. Needless to say, we did not answer, but the message told us that I had been right. It was not raining at the time so we decided to walk on the beach for a bit. It is very sad because so much of the beach was lost in the hurricane a few years back. At least half of the beach is now washed out to sea, and many of the resorts still have lots of damage. We didn't walk long before the rain started. The thing about Mexico is that you go for the beach, and if you can't go to the beach there just isn't much else to do. It rained the entire day! And let me tell you that we took our lives in our hands walking across the wet tile floors. I can't tell you how many times I almost fell, and Jared did take a tumble once. We decided to brave the weather and ride the bus down to the mall (which was unairconditioned and under construction last time we were there, but now is nicer than Cool Springs). Bus rides in Cancun are very exciting! You pay 6.5 pesos or 65 cents to go anywhere 
you want to. Those buses fly about 80mph down the strip and then jerk to a stop at the bus stops. It is quite exciting! We decided to buy playing cards while we were at the mall. I had a normal set in my hand, and as we got to the checkout Jared saw a set he liked better and grabbed those instead. We get back to resort after a rain-soaked wait at the bus stop, and discover while we are trying to play cards in the lobby that we do not have regular playing cards. So we buy another set-we spent about $15 on playing cards on this trip, because the set we bought at the resort were $10! I think they jacked up the price because people were stuck inside. Tuesday: Yeah a sunny day! We were on the beach from 8 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon, and carefully applying sunscreen every hour. We played in the rather scary waves. I did not venture out past the shoreline, but Jared swam out a little. The flags posted were red for no swimming but the lifeguards would let you swim if you didn't go too far our or swim in front of the dangerous rocks. The salt in the water was insane. It burns your eyes, and you get out looking like a baked potato covered in kosher salt. Here are some pics....
Wednesday: We had another beautiful day and I was braver getting into the ocean. I did get slammed by a few waves and lost my favorite Guess sunglasses :o( We hunted for seashells that morning on the beach and found some really cool ones. We ate at the outdoor restaurant for lunch and then went to a very good restaurant off the resort for dinner. We bought some souvenirs at the outside mall, and we had a bus driver run off the bus to chase away away a huge crab in the road so that it wouldn't get run over!
Thursday:We walked on the beach one last time and left the hotel at 10am. Fourteen hours later and multiple delays, we finally made it home! All in all, a exciting, fun, exhausting trip. I now need a vacation from my vacation!
2 comments:
SO glad the sun did come out for some of your vacation. We'll have to get together sometime and trade stories of the resorts in Mexico. Jason and I have a few ourselves from our arrival last year. :)
Glad you are home and hope you get some rest!
WOW Bri, what an eventful vacation you all had & it does sound like you are in need of another vacation:) I'm so glad you all finally got a few days of sun, I know you all soaked it all up! Glad you were able to getaway for a while.
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