In February my brother and his girlfriend made a trip through Mexico. Being so close, how could I resist the chance to join them for a long weekend?
I flew over on a Thursday morning to meet K and J in Cancun. On arrival I started to get an idea of the Americanized feel of my destination when a loud American announced to the immigration officer "I'm drunk already!"
Oh boy.
My brother later told me that within five minutes of arriving at his last Mexican Island there were American's off the boat and onto jet skis running laps around the island - hey, I guess if you only have a weekend abroad you might as well make the most of it!
Once I cleared customs I extracted some pesos... I thought I was rich, but was later informed I only had the equivalent of $20 US. I then started the search for my brother. His phone was not working, and while I had told him my flight time, we hadn't made sold plans to meet. I wandered around the arrival area, lost, when I heard a Mexican man shout out to me "Hey! Hey!" I must have heard wrong. How could this guy know my name?
A little concerned and frazzled, I quickly headed in the other direction where I found my brother. "Oh don't worry about that guy, we've been chatting. He is my new friend Old Mate. I told him to call for you." I know my brother is the friendliest guy, but I was still impressed that he made best of friends with the airport porter in under fifteen minutes. Bravo!
I joined him and J at a table where they were eating their first meal in a week. Apparently Mexico had not agreed with their stomachs up to that point. My brother was drinking a Mexican beer which was highly recommended by the locals - "Old Mate told me I had to try it - he was raised on it... literally - he drunk it instead of breast milk."
Our waitress was a middle aged, thick wasted woman with high arched eyebrows tattooed on and sky high wedged heels. When my brother questioned how much to tip J urged him to be generous "You have to tip well - she really made and effort, and look how short her skirt is!"
So, after tipping heavily, we headed to the hotel. Old Mate organized our cab (so perhaps their was a ulterior motive to his friendship) and we were on our way. On check in and were informed of the rate and it was higher than I remembered, but J confessed - "When we booked there was an option to upgrade for only $20 per night... so we took it. Then there was an option to upgrade again for only $20 per night... so we took it... and then there was an option to upgrade again for only $20 per night... so we took it... Good value, no?"
When we got to the room we immediately saw what our upgrades got us - a spectacular view. It was hard to believe that this place was real, and yet there it was in front of us.
So, after tipping heavily, we headed to the hotel. Old Mate organized our cab (so perhaps their was a ulterior motive to his friendship) and we were on our way. On check in and were informed of the rate and it was higher than I remembered, but J confessed - "When we booked there was an option to upgrade for only $20 per night... so we took it. Then there was an option to upgrade again for only $20 per night... so we took it... and then there was an option to upgrade again for only $20 per night... so we took it... Good value, no?"
When we got to the room we immediately saw what our upgrades got us - a spectacular view. It was hard to believe that this place was real, and yet there it was in front of us.
And of course in the distance an advertisement for Coco Bongo - a touristy and trashy night club that (unfortunately) we never made it to. Shameful of us really...
We went down to the beach to explore and were impressed. It was absolutely beautiful. Of course, the magic of the place was somewhat spoiled for a moment when I slipped and fell. My brother and J were laughing hysterically - "Only you could manage to fall over the caution slippery when wet sign!"
The pool area was amazing. It was fun too - they played very loud music all day. We spent our first day enjoying the sun and watching the other tourists make the most of the all inclusive drinks. One shy, red headed guy became more and more confident as he downed his bottle of Moet. After we returned to the room we looked out of the window and saw him on the beach dancing up a storm - "Oh wow! I think he just did the splits!"
Of course, the three of us were more subdued... I think it was the floating band aids and hairballs in the pool that calmed us down. It was fun lying by the pool watching people trying to avoid them.
Actually we were a bit of an odd trio and attracted some peculiar looks from the other guests at the hotel. People would literally turn their heads to watch us pass. My brother suspected it was because people were confused trying to figure out our back story - why was there a young man here with two girls? J and I were convinced this was not the reason - rather people were purely perplexed by our coolness.
Of course our "coolness" was brought into question by our odd sleeping pattern. By odd I mean to say we were in bed by midnight every night. One night on our way back to the room we saw an elderly couple heading out for the evening... how very lame of us.
Blame our sleepiness on the jet lag... or the fact that I refused to set my watch to Cancun time. This wasn't received so well by my travel buddies - "If you tell me the time in New York once more I will slap you!"
On our second day it was time to leave the resort. We headed by ferry to Isla Mujeres, a nearby Island which is just as touristy as the mainland but with way more culture and color.
When we arrived on the Island, as we walked down the dock we were accosted by a short plump man - "Snorkeling? See the Island underwater! Under water museum.. Swim with Dolphins.. come, come! Only $50 per person! Tour leaves now."
We wanted to snorkel, but no way we were stopping with the first person to approach us. We turned him down and headed on our way, congratulating each other on our business savvy. As we headed off we heard the guy running up behind us "Ok, ok, what if I take you on a private boat." Hmm a chance to go on a snorkeling trip without having to associate with other people? We had to take it.
So perhaps we weren't as good at bartering as we thought...
Our tour guide warned us: "Before you embark you should buy something to drink from my friend over there." Seemed like a con, but he was right. We would needed water for the trip. Perhaps, we should not have been surprised when two bottles of water and two bottles of coke gave us hardly any change from $20.
Never mind! We were about to go snorkeling - we'd been promised the best snorkeling on the Island, to swim with Dolphins, to pet a shark and to visit the under water museum.
As we boarded the boat we were introduced to the driver - an elderly, non English speaking Mexican man with a few missing teeth. My brother was suddenly started. He turned to our tour guide - "You're coming to right?"
Guide Yes, of course
Brother: Ok, so you get on the boat first
Guide: No, no, you first. The driver is very good, he will look after you
Brother: This is a tour and he doesn't speak English!
Guide: No he does, he speaks good English
Brother: Do you?
Driver: Si
Concerned that we had truly been fooled we got on the boat without our guide. Just as we started to pull away he jumped onboard laughing. "Got you!"
This was going to be an interesting tour. Stop one was snorkeling. It was amazing. I love to snorkel and there were many different fish and corals to enjoy.
Next was swimming with the Dolphins.. as our boat drove past the Dolphin park our tour guide asked us "Want to stop, only $100 more?" Huh? Wasn't that included in our original price?
So, we made it to stop three quickly... petting the shark. We stopped at a guy's house on the side of the water. He had captured and enclosed a large shark in the shallow area by his restaurant. The idea was tourists came for the shark and stayed for the food. J and I enjoyed the sun while my brother ventured into the shark enclosure. Afterwards he announced "Did you see me pet the shark?" Whoops.. we had been too busy gossiping to catch it... Girls!
The under water museum was equally disappointing - simply few statues under water. "Can we go back to the Island now?" We could only laugh.
We disembarked and as we headed back to the Island along the beach we realized we had left the water and coke on the boat. I wonder if they re sold it...
Isla Mujeres itself is gorgeous and we spent the afternoon wandering the small streets, exploring the interesting shops and listening to the music blasting out from the many cafes.
J and I couldn't help but air pump to Enrique Iglesias as we walked past one shop... sometimes it's impossible to not get wrapped up in the atmosphere! We stopped for lunch around 3pm at an Argentinian themed cafe where they were playing pop music. There was no one else at the restaurant at that time, so my brother asked the waiter "Can we have some local music please?" The man was very obliging and hurried off to change the track... Ok, so a bad Spanish cover of Adele's Rolling in the Deep wasn't quite what we were after... but we made it work.
After lunch we headed to the beach for a long walk before taking the last ferry back to the mainland. It was beautiful.
That night we forced ourselves to stay up and enjoy the festivities. It was certainly worth it - we saw a sixty year old woman dancing on a table. How can you beat that? We struggled to stay out to twelve and then headed up to bed... where the room clock read 11pm... huh? "Oh no! We were using Zubi's clock - New York time!"
Whoops.. my fault. At least we can laugh about it... right guys??
All in all it was a wonderful trip - made special because I was spending time with K and J, who I love dearly. We laughed a lot and bonded over our shared distaste for Coco Bongo. I wish we could do it monthly.
Of course our "coolness" was brought into question by our odd sleeping pattern. By odd I mean to say we were in bed by midnight every night. One night on our way back to the room we saw an elderly couple heading out for the evening... how very lame of us.
Blame our sleepiness on the jet lag... or the fact that I refused to set my watch to Cancun time. This wasn't received so well by my travel buddies - "If you tell me the time in New York once more I will slap you!"
In an effort to stay up later we attempted a coffee from the hotel's Nespresso bar. J and I were excited when we ordered our macchiatos... but were disappointed when we were given two tall cups of foamy milk - shame on you George Clooney. A couple nearby ordered cappuccinos and were similarly delivered tall cups of milk foaming to the brim. We were shocked when the lady asked, "Can I have a shot of baileys in this?" There was no way a shot was going to fit into that cup. Nevertheless the barista poured it in... and up, up, up went the foam. The coffee drinker was delighted. Only in Cancun....
On our second day it was time to leave the resort. We headed by ferry to Isla Mujeres, a nearby Island which is just as touristy as the mainland but with way more culture and color.
When we arrived on the Island, as we walked down the dock we were accosted by a short plump man - "Snorkeling? See the Island underwater! Under water museum.. Swim with Dolphins.. come, come! Only $50 per person! Tour leaves now."
We wanted to snorkel, but no way we were stopping with the first person to approach us. We turned him down and headed on our way, congratulating each other on our business savvy. As we headed off we heard the guy running up behind us "Ok, ok, what if I take you on a private boat." Hmm a chance to go on a snorkeling trip without having to associate with other people? We had to take it.
So perhaps we weren't as good at bartering as we thought...
Our tour guide warned us: "Before you embark you should buy something to drink from my friend over there." Seemed like a con, but he was right. We would needed water for the trip. Perhaps, we should not have been surprised when two bottles of water and two bottles of coke gave us hardly any change from $20.
Never mind! We were about to go snorkeling - we'd been promised the best snorkeling on the Island, to swim with Dolphins, to pet a shark and to visit the under water museum.
As we boarded the boat we were introduced to the driver - an elderly, non English speaking Mexican man with a few missing teeth. My brother was suddenly started. He turned to our tour guide - "You're coming to right?"
Guide Yes, of course
Brother: Ok, so you get on the boat first
Guide: No, no, you first. The driver is very good, he will look after you
Brother: This is a tour and he doesn't speak English!
Guide: No he does, he speaks good English
Brother: Do you?
Driver: Si
Concerned that we had truly been fooled we got on the boat without our guide. Just as we started to pull away he jumped onboard laughing. "Got you!"
This was going to be an interesting tour. Stop one was snorkeling. It was amazing. I love to snorkel and there were many different fish and corals to enjoy.
Next was swimming with the Dolphins.. as our boat drove past the Dolphin park our tour guide asked us "Want to stop, only $100 more?" Huh? Wasn't that included in our original price?
So, we made it to stop three quickly... petting the shark. We stopped at a guy's house on the side of the water. He had captured and enclosed a large shark in the shallow area by his restaurant. The idea was tourists came for the shark and stayed for the food. J and I enjoyed the sun while my brother ventured into the shark enclosure. Afterwards he announced "Did you see me pet the shark?" Whoops.. we had been too busy gossiping to catch it... Girls!
The under water museum was equally disappointing - simply few statues under water. "Can we go back to the Island now?" We could only laugh.
We disembarked and as we headed back to the Island along the beach we realized we had left the water and coke on the boat. I wonder if they re sold it...
Isla Mujeres itself is gorgeous and we spent the afternoon wandering the small streets, exploring the interesting shops and listening to the music blasting out from the many cafes.
J and I couldn't help but air pump to Enrique Iglesias as we walked past one shop... sometimes it's impossible to not get wrapped up in the atmosphere! We stopped for lunch around 3pm at an Argentinian themed cafe where they were playing pop music. There was no one else at the restaurant at that time, so my brother asked the waiter "Can we have some local music please?" The man was very obliging and hurried off to change the track... Ok, so a bad Spanish cover of Adele's Rolling in the Deep wasn't quite what we were after... but we made it work.
After lunch we headed to the beach for a long walk before taking the last ferry back to the mainland. It was beautiful.
That night we forced ourselves to stay up and enjoy the festivities. It was certainly worth it - we saw a sixty year old woman dancing on a table. How can you beat that? We struggled to stay out to twelve and then headed up to bed... where the room clock read 11pm... huh? "Oh no! We were using Zubi's clock - New York time!"
Whoops.. my fault. At least we can laugh about it... right guys??
All in all it was a wonderful trip - made special because I was spending time with K and J, who I love dearly. We laughed a lot and bonded over our shared distaste for Coco Bongo. I wish we could do it monthly.
