twodoebs

Greetings to the world from sunny Playa del Carmen. Sweet Kati and I arrived here on Monday afternoon and have been enjoying everything so far.

The flight down here was fine, with one minor exception. That exception is that airlines from the United States s-u-c-k, SUCK! Because we wanted to pamper ourselves, we decided to spring for first class airfare. What we got for our first class rates, though, was a wider seat and free booze. That's IT! This was a 2.5 hour flight that went from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM--right during lunch. And do you know what these Delta d-holes fed us? . . . they had the AUDACITY to walk around with that jerkey, little basket that has granola bars, cookies, and cheese crackers and tell us that we could take TWO if we wanted 'cause we were in first class. The drinks were served in plastic cups, and when it came time to fill our customs paperwork, the stewardess looked at me as if I was a raging lunatic when I asked her if she could help me find a pen.

Then, there was ONE other sorta-kinda-you-could-call-it-a-disappointment . . . when we first LANDED in Cancun, we were accosted by people trying sell us everything under the sun. From timeshares to excursions . . . it was crazy. But these people were GOOD . . . they had the APPEARANCE of airport employees, and made it SEEM as if they were just trying to give you travel information. But then all of a sudden, they're asking you for a non-refundable deposit--in American dollars, please--and you're feelin' kinda exploited.

BUT, all that changed the MINUTE we set foot in the resort. This place is rockin'! The service is top notch, everything is GEOR-gous, and when they say "all inclusive," they MEAN all inclusive.

The resort is broken into roughly eight villas, and each villa is centered around a fountain where a personal concierge sits and attends to your EVERY desire. So we get up in the morning, Julio knows what we're gonna be doing that day ('cause HE, after all, MADE the reservations for whatever we're gonna be doing); we need more water bottles in our room's fridge, Julio goes running for it--it's LIVIN'! If interested, the resort's website is excellent (I'm sure nobody is surprised that it's one of the things that originally attracted us here!) and can give a PRETTY good impression of how we're spendin' our days.

Yesterday, we went snorkeling. The water was especially rough, so it wasn't necessarily the RELAXING excursion I've come to expect, but it was STILL supa-fly fun. We saw all sortsa fish, lobsters, and even squids! Our favorite, though, was the family of Jewel Damselfish that Kati and I found and played with. These little suckers--the biggest one we saw was about three inches long--have a black body accentuated by blue dots that glow . . . they really look as if they have a battery inside them.

Yesterday, we also had the opportunity to walk into the town of Playa del Carmen. It's pretty cool, as touristy little Mexican towns go. Lotsa bars, lotsa Mexicans trying to sell stuff to tourists (for some reason, they're really hot on the phrase "how can I rip you off today?"), and lotsa restaurants. Cute.

What WAS funny, though, was that I needed sunscreen and we needed a coupla CDs. So where did they send us?--Wal Mart. That's right--travel as far from home as we have, and we STILL end up back at the place we try to avoid the most.

The highlight of the trip so far (at least for me . . . I guess I shouldn't speak for Sweet Kati, though) was our beach-front massages this morning. How cool is THIS?--Kati and I go out to this little tent on the beach, get served Champaign, and then get eighty minutes worth of the most relaxing, indulgent massage I can imagine. All with the sound of the waves in the background. SO awesome!

Tomorrow, we have a trip to the ruins planed. We got another excursion of some-sort-or-another planned for one-day-or-another, too . . . I really leave those details to Sweet Kati and Julio. I AM excited about our SCUBA trip, which is lookin' to be on Saturday afternoon.

So far no . . . um . . . *digestive* problems to speak of. We also haven't really been trying to avoid anything. The water in the resort is filtered, so as long as we don't stray too far from home, we don't have any problem with ice or anything like THAT. To boot, though, the meals in the resort have been EXCELLENT and varied, so there's been no desire to eat anything at an off-resort establishment.

I wish I could pass along equally favorable reports with regard to sun burn, though. Given my sunscreen-is-for-loosebags attitude, the first three days of Mexican sun have tourched me like a chimichanga in boiling oil. Oh well, in the immortal words of Uncle Bob, "the true sign of an expensive vacation is a good sunburn!"