So, it's a week late but it was way too much fun not to tell you all about it.
Wednesday morning Mom and I woke up way to early and went to the airport. We hung out for a couple of hours, we're early, it's what we do. We walked around the airport a while. I took mom to see the slide show (aka the picture collection you watch as you stand on the moving sidewalks.) We had a bit of breakfast and boarded the plane. The flight was perfectly uneventful. We got to DFW and only had to get about 3 gates to quickly meet our connection. The connection flight had a bit of electrical problems. It wasn't serious, but it was enough to make us about 40 minutes late.
We landed in Cancun and got through Customs with out a search :) When the doors opened to the rest of the airport we got our first taste of Mexican culture. There had to be 50 guys waiting to try and take us to our destination. We had been warned to just keep walking, but that is easier said than done. Fortunately it is pretty easy to say no when your transportation has been prearranged and prepaid. We met our representative and caught our transfer. The people sharing our van were seasoned Cancun visitors, they told us what to expect and kept talking about how much the area had changed since they started coming just a few years ago. They couldn't seem to understand why we didn't want a beer.
The Hotel - OH MY GOODNESS. The hotel was beautiful. The lobby is very open and there are parrots who live in the trees. The desk people were trying to crack jokes, but the accent made it hard to get on the first time around. Because of the delayed flight, we got checked in with just enough time to find our room, freshen up and head down to the first "mandatory" activity. We did miss the memo on the location change, but the hotel sent people to find us on the beach and take us to the rest of our group. It was fun to finally put some faces with voices. I also laughed a little to see that we are all creatures of habit. The sites all kind of stayed in their own groups. I laughed because, I didn't really have that option. If I stayed with the SLC people, I would have been all alone, so it was fun to move from group to group and talk to people I don't normally get a chance to hear from. After the cocktail part was dinner. The buffet was a buffet, but I think if I ever run away to Mexico, I want to get a job as the person who carves the melon rinds.
Thursday morning we had breakfast at the same buffet. At first I thought it was strange to see some of the things at breakfast, but then I realized it truly was paradise. Why I hadn't thought of having fresh tortilla chips with every meal before??? After breakfast we found the business meeting. It might be the best business meeting I have ever been to. I mean really - they gave us monster chocolates that had been personalized for our trip mmmmmmm. It was also good to hear what these top performers are doing to get the results they are getting. It really wasn't ALL about the chocolate ;)
A few of us got together after the meeting and took a van down to see the ruins. We took a detour at Tulum to do a bit of shopping. We talked the guy down to $25 for the "Tree of Life" plaques we had stopped for. Warren told him he only had $24 so he got it a buck cheaper... At this point I think we all realized just how much haggling can be done, and that it never really stops.
My favorite part of this stop was the restroom. Not one of the toilets had seats and the paper was on the walls outside of the stalls. Add this to the list of reasons that girls go to the bathroom together.
Back on the road, we journeyed on to Coba. The ruins were amazing. We decided we would walk the trail rather than hire a bike taxi. We got most of the way ;) The ruins were amazing. Coba is one of the less developed historical sites. Much of the ruins are still covered in jungle. We saw two ball courts, a watch tower, and another area we decided was a Waffle House. Coba also is home to the tallest Mayan pyramid. It is not the biggest, but it is the highest. I did not climb it, but many of our party did. They said the 420 steps weren't bad going up, but they were a bugger coming back down.
After Coba we went to a monkey reserve called Punta Laguna. We wandered through the jungle to see the spider monkeys. They were pretty easy to find and there were many of them. After the spider monkeys we hiked across the rest of the jungle to find the 3 howler monkeys that live on the reserve. The ironic part of this is that there were more than 3 howler monkeys that live AT our hotel. But the hike was still fun ;)
After dinner we went down to the beach. It was dark by now and the beach was empty. It was a very different kind of beautiful than I am used to seeing in my landlocked, mountain filled world. We just kind of sat and listened to the ocean and watched the clouds move across the sky. The stars are different that far south. It was awesome.
Friday morning we were awakened by the weirdest howl. When we finally figured out that it was just the monkeys, we went to breakfast. It is no wonder to me know why people imagine Sasquatch to sound like they present them. If those little monkeys can make that loud and low of a growl, the other is a natural assumption ;) After breakfast, we got on our bus to go to Maroma Paradise Bay. This was the day I had been most excited about. Today we were going snorkeling. The view from the boat was breathtaking, but the view off the boat was more amazing than I could have thought. I took pictures, but they do not do justice the amount of life and beauty that live in this turquoise world. A couple of times I found myself too close to where the guide was throwing the fish food, schools of fish bouncing in and out of the water around my face was kind of weird to get used to. We saw lots of yellow and striped fish, a sting ray, barracuda, and a water spider. My favorite fish were 2 that I didn't get pictures of. There was one that was yellow with a magenta pink stripe and one that looked black except the line of neon blue around the edge.
The other cool part about snorkeling is that MY MOM GOT IN THE WATER. Some of you are thinking, whatever, why is that so cool? Well, if you had any idea how little my mom likes water, you'd know that she has every reason to be proud of herself for not letting her fear stop her from trying something that seems very hard. Yay mom :)
That night we joined Warren and Darlene for dinner at the hotel's Japanese restaurant, The Bonsai. It was most excellent. Mom tried the sushi roll appetizers (her first sushi) and then we got a rather interesting show while they grilled our meat on one side of the table, and transformed our rice on the other side. The chefs were as much artists with the look and act of the grilling as they were with the taste of the food.
Saturday morning we had monkeys join us for breakfast. There were 3 adults and a baby monkey that were hanging out in the trees around the buffet. It was fun to watch them while we ate. Today was to be shopping day. We split a cab with Warren and Darlene and went down to 5th avenue. It was everything we were warned it would be. I think I only bought one thing I didn't know if I wanted, but it has turned out to be one of the things I like the best - so maybe the shop keeper was right ;) We bough dresses, jewelry, hammocks, souvenirs, Cannon's seashell, I got a tattoo (henna- DUH :P) and blankets. We stayed completely within our budget. I was super pleased with our excursion. The haggling was interesting. I am not sure I am very good at it, but I never paid more than 60% of what they originally asked. I felt pretty good about it.
That afternoon, we decided we should probably hang out at the pool. Sooooo, we did. The pool was great; we kind of found a shady spot and just enjoyed the company. Not only is it great to put names and faces together, but to get to know how people act outside of work can help you make them real. I really enjoyed it. We also discovered the tastiest little concoction. It is called a "banana mama" - virgin, of course. I am pretty sure it was pina colada, banana, orange juice and grenadine. It is probably good we didn't try them sooner. I would have had a lot more explaining to do at weight watchers the next week. I don't normally like bananas, but mmmmmmm. I'm thinking of suggesting it to Jamba.
After the pool, we went to dinner at the steakhouse. Leah had arranged for the group to be the only group in the restaurant. The food was again, absolutely amazing. The french onion soup was the best I had ever tried. Hands down. The steak simply melted in my mouth. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Leah and Nathan also had awards made for the group. Normally I think they are pretty cheesy, but it is nice to have something kind of classy I can keep on my desk to remind me on the not so good days.
Sunday was goodbyes all around. We were in the last group to leave the hotel, so we went down to the lobby to talk to everyone else before they left. It was so peaceful and beautiful that I truly did not want to leave. As with most things, however, this good thing did have to end. We got to the airport and through security and on our flight and back thru customs and on our connection with no issues or events. While I know some of you live for the stories you can tell, I was rather pleased that the actual moving parts of our trip went very smoothly.
Ok so... That was the trip according to Nicole. I'll publish the pictures.... probably... when I get around to putting them on the computer ;)
