Mexico Log, Part 1
What follows for the next several posts will be my account of the recent trip I took to Akumal, Mexico with Tess, her parents (Bruce & Sue), and her sister & sister's fiancé (Amanda & Joel). Enjoy.
Saturday, 12/30/06
Spent last night at Amanda & Joel's in Ann Arbor, since that's much closer to Detroit Metro than we are up north of Lansing. Slept poorly, fearing we'd oversleep both alarms. Awoke at 4:00am to a cold house, cold hard-boiled eggs, and hot coffee. Took a foggy drive to the airport; everyone is in good spirits and excited for the trip.
Our check-in was easy (despite practically having to strip at the security gate; honestly, who makes a bomb out of hand sanitizer?!?), but we sat on the plane for 40 minutes due to a bad storm to our south. Once we were airborn the flight was smooth. We landed at Houston only 2 minutes before our connection to Cancun was due to leave! Surprise surprise, our connecting flight was late to arrive, so we basically stepped off one plane and onto the next. And...proceeded to sit THERE for 40 minutes while mechanics changed a tire. (Better that than a wing, I suppose.)
We arrived at Cancun around 3:30 local time, and it was freakin' HOT!! I deplaned wearing long pants, a black thermal shirt under a brown t-shirt, and warm hiking socks. Yikes! We checked in through customs & got our baggage, then needed to get our rental car. There was a brief moment of panic when a tiny yellow subcompact shot up to the curb...oh no! This CAN'T be our car, can it?!?
No, luckily we took a shuttle over to the Avis counter, wherein I proceeded to unzip my long pantlegs & strip off my socks & thermal long-sleeve while Bruce haggled with the woman at the counter. Seems she wanted to have us watch an hour-long video or something that dealt with real estate investments, the trade-off being we'd get a car larger than our Dodge Stratus. Despite everyone being hungry & wiped-out, maybe we should have listened, as we spent the next 6 days shoe-horned into a silver 4-door.
The car itself was nice, but there are a lot of speed bumps on Mexican roads, and we hit bottom & scraped muffler on every one. Every. Single. One. (Note to self: be sure to distract Avis employees upon return of car so that they fail to check this undercarriage damage.)
We shot off south of Cancun & finally arrived at Puerto Morelos, where we ate dinner. The menu was about 1/2-&-1/2 English & Spanish, but we made do. Early warnings to avoid ice were dismissed as almost everyone ordered a margarita. We walked around the town square after dinner, which was overrun by throngs of children & packs of roving dogs. Joel & I hit an ATM for a few thousand pesos (running 10 to the dollar, that's not as much money as it sounds) and bought tequila & Cuban cigars. There was a LONG car ride to Akumal, and our condo, La Sirena, was practically the last of a long line of rentals surrounding the twin Turtle and Half Moon Bays. The road leading past all these properties was a mix of nicely paved road and ruts only slightly smaller than your average canyon.
The condo was lovely & clean, with large bedrooms & a pool directly out the front door.
The parents, Tess & Amanda collapsed from exhaustion; Joel & I scavenged up a couple of beers & investigated the Carribbean Sea which lay just the other side of our condo...the water was warm & inviting. We ended up on the front porch, drinking margaritas (made with bottled-water ice, thank you) and smoking Cohibas. Life is good.
Saturday, 12/30/06
Spent last night at Amanda & Joel's in Ann Arbor, since that's much closer to Detroit Metro than we are up north of Lansing. Slept poorly, fearing we'd oversleep both alarms. Awoke at 4:00am to a cold house, cold hard-boiled eggs, and hot coffee. Took a foggy drive to the airport; everyone is in good spirits and excited for the trip.
Our check-in was easy (despite practically having to strip at the security gate; honestly, who makes a bomb out of hand sanitizer?!?), but we sat on the plane for 40 minutes due to a bad storm to our south. Once we were airborn the flight was smooth. We landed at Houston only 2 minutes before our connection to Cancun was due to leave! Surprise surprise, our connecting flight was late to arrive, so we basically stepped off one plane and onto the next. And...proceeded to sit THERE for 40 minutes while mechanics changed a tire. (Better that than a wing, I suppose.)
We arrived at Cancun around 3:30 local time, and it was freakin' HOT!! I deplaned wearing long pants, a black thermal shirt under a brown t-shirt, and warm hiking socks. Yikes! We checked in through customs & got our baggage, then needed to get our rental car. There was a brief moment of panic when a tiny yellow subcompact shot up to the curb...oh no! This CAN'T be our car, can it?!?
No, luckily we took a shuttle over to the Avis counter, wherein I proceeded to unzip my long pantlegs & strip off my socks & thermal long-sleeve while Bruce haggled with the woman at the counter. Seems she wanted to have us watch an hour-long video or something that dealt with real estate investments, the trade-off being we'd get a car larger than our Dodge Stratus. Despite everyone being hungry & wiped-out, maybe we should have listened, as we spent the next 6 days shoe-horned into a silver 4-door.
The car itself was nice, but there are a lot of speed bumps on Mexican roads, and we hit bottom & scraped muffler on every one. Every. Single. One. (Note to self: be sure to distract Avis employees upon return of car so that they fail to check this undercarriage damage.)
We shot off south of Cancun & finally arrived at Puerto Morelos, where we ate dinner. The menu was about 1/2-&-1/2 English & Spanish, but we made do. Early warnings to avoid ice were dismissed as almost everyone ordered a margarita. We walked around the town square after dinner, which was overrun by throngs of children & packs of roving dogs. Joel & I hit an ATM for a few thousand pesos (running 10 to the dollar, that's not as much money as it sounds) and bought tequila & Cuban cigars. There was a LONG car ride to Akumal, and our condo, La Sirena, was practically the last of a long line of rentals surrounding the twin Turtle and Half Moon Bays. The road leading past all these properties was a mix of nicely paved road and ruts only slightly smaller than your average canyon.
The condo was lovely & clean, with large bedrooms & a pool directly out the front door.
The parents, Tess & Amanda collapsed from exhaustion; Joel & I scavenged up a couple of beers & investigated the Carribbean Sea which lay just the other side of our condo...the water was warm & inviting. We ended up on the front porch, drinking margaritas (made with bottled-water ice, thank you) and smoking Cohibas. Life is good.
posted by Animal at 6:43 PM
1 Comments:
Nothing like a good Cohiba!
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