Cancun trip

Nov 10-19, 2007

10th Drove to Lawton - of course, I pushed it and barely made it on time, so they wouldn't have to wait for me. We drove to Dallas in the old Taurus - Kevin been able to it going between his mom's & grandma's vehicles. Stayed in a motel that didn't free internet -- so I started being disconnected :-)
11th My first time to use my passport experience. I just "love" filling out forms... It was cloudy, so couldn't see too much. Cancun is in the same time zone as KS. When we registered we had to wait several hours to check into the rooms. So everyone who saw us knew we were new because we were fully clothed and dragging or carrying around our carry-ons. I could've have been connected to the internet for $5 for 30 minutes - I'm too cheap to do that... We got to wear a black band the entire week :-)

My elevator experiences started with the first day. When I got on, I wondered what was going to happen today. I only had one flight of stairs to navigate, but it still hurts. There were rude passengers, a dominant male who wouldn't admit to his gal partner that he got off on the wrong floor and made her also walk the stairs in uncomfortable shoes, 2 giggling party girls (Hilton and Spears type), some upset when I got on interferring with their mood, but probably most trips were good.
12th Tried Fuzzy Navel and Strawberry Daiquiri for breakfast drinks :-)

Some of eating places - we tried most of them. Our biggest decision was deciding which restraunt :-)
  • Tatish - International cuisine
  • Trattoria Tatish - Italian a la carte;
  • Sarape - Mexican a la carte
  • Sports Bar Tatish
  • Tunkul International - Buffet
  • Dos Lunas - Mediterranean
  • Careyes - Mexican gourmet a la carte - had to make reservations - ate there a couple of times
  • Akeru - Asian specialties - had a reaction with sesame seed cross over...
  • Ibiza - Gourmet buffet;
  • Las Palmas - A la carte lunch, sea.
  • Cocoa - Seafood and sushi a la carte
  • Sushi Beach Bar - (didn't try, but thought of Jeff & Deb since they like sushi)
I ate several flans (including for breakfast)- yum, yum - it's a rough life!
13th
  • Shopping Mall - Plaza Caracol
  • El Folklore de Mexico Performance
14th
  • First time I road a catamaran (Sea Passion), snorkeled, and visited the Isla Mujeres (Island of Women). Also, used an "opened door" restroom... Decided not to have any "special drinks" that morning because I didn't want to feel dizzy...
  • Dreams performance
15th My day of rest...
16th
  • Piste, Mexico - bought some cartouche pendants (Mayan alphabet) some swam in a cenotes, underground pool and were told not to pull on any of the hanging roots (which one brilliant tourist who happened to be in our bus didn't listen)! Couldn't view too much from the road, all one could see were trees & since I don't know that much about trees I couldn't identify them.
  • Chichen Itza our guide was Willy (Wilbur), he spoke several languages and understandable English. Kim stayed at the resort to relax. Paul & Kim had previously been there at the equinox in Sept which wasn't the best time to visit there because of the raining season.
  • Part 2: Stopped at Valladolid, Mexico to see to an unique city which was built atop a Mayan town
  • Performance
17th Catch up day

Did go back to Plaza to purchase necklaces for the cartouche pendants I purchased yesterday and also to fight my way through the shirts so I could have one. Also bought good Tequila there.
18th
  • I thought I was going to have to rescue the "kids" because I already picked up my duty free "liquor" (Scotch) and put away my carry-on and they still weren't on board. They had an incident with their carry-on bottles... but they had the receipts. If they would have stopped me, I wouldn't have had mine - thank goodness they must've thought this old woman wouldn't cause problems... Too bad it ended with a sour taste in our mouth because the one worker said that he didn't want them visiting there and the U.S. was the paranoid ones...
  • I called my cuz, Linda, while waiting for my luggage
  • Ate at Olive Garden (heard from Tina that Wassill, their dog, became a "champion")
  • Left Lawton for Hays, but only made to Wichita.
19th Stayed in a motel north of Wichita because I was just too tired to push myself -- first time I ever checked into a motel by myself. The next day I saw part of Psycho, but this motel wasn't anything like the Bates Motel :-)

work Used Photoshop Web Photo Gallery (Flash - Gallery 1)
roll over the tiny thumbnails to select desired pictures
to view autormatically, click the arrow icon in the lower right

They were continually mopping and washing windows. They had to even water the plants and grass; we only had moisture when we went the temple, which was a blessing because it helped cool the day.
animals Used Photoshop Web Photo Gallery (Flash - Gallery 2)

We saw more animals than these pictures, I just didn't think of taking a picture - duh!
project A "folk art" vase made using some of items brought back from the trip
weather Before I left, I check the weather forecast and asked Kollman's expertise and was expecting it to rain off and on most of the time or to have short rain showers; luckily the only time there was any moisture was when we went Chichen Itza which was a blessing. We never did get wet because the moisture came when we were on Bus 84, but it was cloudy while there most of the time. When the sun did come out, it was rather warm and humid.

Even paradise has wind! Glad we didn't receive the tickets for the 13th for the catamaran because it was full because it so windy that day. It was calm the day we went.

The tour person from "Worry Free" told us that there was going to be a "cold" front coming in on Wed., but their cold front must be different than ours.

I also found out that Mexico is very paranoid about torn money - the hotel or the Plaza wouldn't take my tiny piece torn off of a $50. It was just a tiny corner missing of the border of the bill.
 
judi 11/11/07 (04/18/08)