After that, I'll be honest, Mexico was kind of a big blur (and I'm very thankful for March goal of writing in a journal, it's what helped me remember)! Here's some our highlights:
Our shuttle bus ride from the airport to the resort was a really big eyeopener. I hadn't really known what to expect from Mexico, I knew it wasn't going to be like here, or The States either for that matter. I was surprised at just how run-down the buildings are.
At check in at the resort, Linda brought us delicious glasses of beer. Mine was a quarter done by the time Justin's was empty.
With our "all-inclusive" bracelets on, Justin got himself another beer, we sunk into relaxation mode and ventured up to our room.
I think this is the first time that we have ever gotten the room that we requested when we arrived at our destination. The girl that checked us in joked that all the king-sized-bed rooms were taken, but I thought she was telling the truth. When I asked her to clarify I was exstatic to realize we had a room with a king-sized bed. Ahh: such luxury!
There were only a couple days (Wednesday - the day of the wedding, and Saturday - the day we left) that we didn't enjoy either the beach or the pool. Mostly it was the beach, then into the pool to wash off the salt on our skin! And I loved that it looked like the sand had tiny bits of gold dust scattered into it.
And the other thing we did constantly was drink. Drink at the bar, drink at the beach, drink while walking in the ocean, drink at the swim up bar, drink at the club, walk around and drink, drink with supper. Drink. Drink. Drink. And the drink menu at the bar made it easier to pick a drink. And when we ran out of options there, we'd add vodka to the kids drinks! When that got to be too much, you'd ask Manual to give you a different kind of drink and end up with a Blue Lagoon. Or when you wanted to kick off your night with a bang you'd ask for a Long Island Iced Tea. I discovered Friday night, while at the Martini Bar, that I really like cosmos, and they can be made into a nice drink with ice and a couple limes too!
One of the things I really noticed, and loved about the resort was the size of it. Apparently it's on the smaller side, as far as resorts go. But, having the servers actually get to know you (and actually making friends with our server Manual) was a nice feeling. And how clean it was. Tile everywhere makes it feel immaculately clean.
Going down Justin and I didn't really know anyone more than Nicole, Corey, Megan, Jay, Yvonne, Bailee and Ty. I had met Linda, and Sandra. Of course I knew Jack. Justin didn't know them (he did know Jack a bit). By the end of the trip, I'd consider us to be part of the family. Everyone got along great; of course there were a few little bumps throughout the trip, but that's just to be expected. What was nice though, with having gone down with 21 people, was always having someone to hang out with; with so many different people around, you never really got tired of hanging out with the same old person. If Justin was off hanging out with Jay and Corey, I had so many friends around to hang out with. At one point on Friday night, I remember I was hanging out with Mike, Tyson, Taylor and Lee. And let me tell you, Lee might just be my new best friend!
And of course we hung out with each other, Justin and I, a few times too!
We had amazing food for the duration of the trip, and we had a varity of locations to choice from for meals. Between the buffet, a breakfast/lunch cafe, the bars that had their own buffets, and the a la carte restaraunts we were never hungry.
And it was always a treat to get dressed up for our dinners. The Italian a la carte Saturday night, the Mexican night at the main buffet Tuesday night, the Mexican a la carte Thursday night and the Italian a la carte again on Friday night.
We met new friends. Karen (a welder) and her friend Jody (a hairdresser) from outside of Edmonton; Luke from Minnesotal; Nicki and her family also from Minnesota; and my favorite - Garfield the stray cat that made himself a home at the resort. Friday night I ended up hand feeding him pork, onions and green peppers. When he ate all the food on my plate, I asked Lee to get more for Garfield; Lee brought back a pork chop that Garfield also ate up!
At night, the resort brings in a rotating varity of vendors selling their goods. Sunday night there was a guy painting on tiles with his finger. We watched him in amazement, and made a request for him to paint a teal (of course) verticle tile. It's so beautiful, and just needs a home in our house now!
Monday morning, Justin, Rob, Jay, Corey, Taylor, Mike, Tyson and Ty all woke up early to go on a deep-sea fishing excursion. They saw shark fish and dolphins swimming in the ocean. And five of the eight of them caught fish. Justin was proud of his catch, the red snapper.
Wednesday was when Nicole and Corey got married!! It was a long day, lots of me running back and forth between the "boys" room and the "girls" room; making sure everything was done right. And of course, true to wedding form, not everything went according to plan: Corey didn't end up wearing his boutonnière - but we all agreed that it wouldn't have looked as relaxed and casual if he had been wearing it; it would have looked out of place. The ceremony was really nice, Megan read a scripture, there was tears, it was the perfect setting, and Nicole's dress was gorgeous! Justin and I are very happy to be a part of their special days (don't forget about Vegas); other members of their bridal party are: Jay (Corey's old roommate), Taylor (Nicole's brother), Megan (Nicole's sister), and Bailee (Corey's sister).
We had supper at one of the a la carte restaraunts: La Bamba. It was such a yummy meal, with a really amazing seafood soup that I stole Taylors after eating my own! The steak was really tender and tasty, and they actually brought out gravy for us - a perfect meal.
After dinner, we got dressed back into normal clothes (there's a reception back at home on March 26th, and our clothes still need to be wearable then!), and headed to the tennis courts. Danielle and I nominated ourselves for being "ball girls," and we giggled everytime we ran to collect a dead ball.
Nicole and I stopped off at their room at somepoint that night and saw what the hotel had made them on their bed:
Thursday a group of us (Nicole, Corey, Sandra, Jack, Danielle, Shane, Lee, Jay, Yvonne, Bailee, Ty, Justin and I) went into town for a little shopping. It was nice to get off the resort, have a change of scenary, see different people, and eat something different. First we went to a little marketplace, then we walked along the road (with the boardwalk on the other side of the road from the shops), stopped at Senor Frogs for lunch, then hit up a few liquor stores. A perfect daytrip.
Thursday night after we got to bed late, I was watching the TV and tried to find English channels to watch. I came upon CNN, and watched as the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan unfolded in front of my eyes. I was so worried, seeing a map that included the entire west coast of both North and South America being an area of watch for the aftermath. I was scared that maybe a Tsunami would happen there in Mexico, would the government let us know and evacuate us to higher ground? Would our plane flight be cancelled due to disaster, bad winds, threatening weather? When we woke up in the morning, we watched the updates for a couple hours before going down to the pool/beach area. Corey had called our room and said that all the lounge chairs had been moved off of the beach, and it was not advised to be down there.
Corey, Nicole, Justin and I headed down to see what the beach looked like after getting ready. Nothing really looked any different with the beach, except for the lack of chairs. On Wednesday, Corey and Nicole walked about an hour down the beach and found another of the shops with guys selling stuff, so since the ocean didn't look ominous, the four of us headed down there. During our walk, Justin would ask me what it looked like the tide was doing: whether it was coming in or going out. I had one answer the first time, then he asked me again fifteen minutes later and I'd answer the opposite. It seemed like the tide just didn't know what direction it was to be heading in. When we made it back to our resort again, I heard one of the employees saying that what the tide was doing wasn't normal and he'd never seen it do that before. And he reiterated what I had said: the tide just didn't know what it was doing.
After a couple hours in the pool, the tide had changed from what it had been doing on our walk. Normally the tide takes about 45 minutes to recide or rise and then seven hours of that change in tide. Instead it would take 15 minutes to recide or rise and immediately change directions. It was eerie standing there watching it, but thankfully that is all that happened to where we were.
One of the times that the tide was out, I felt a clam under my foot. I picked it up, and everyone wondered how I had found it. Then, of course you could see them as the water receded, and Lee, Ty and Justin started a collection as they were digging up the clams. I spotted a sand dollar being carried by the current, but I wasn't fast enough to catch it. When I felt a different feeling than that of the clam under my right foot, I asked Justin to quickly grab what was in my hands (sandles and my camera) and I reached down and grabbed it. If I had to pick a day that stands out the most of that week, it's this day: from the unknowing and uncertainty that the Tsunami brought, to the exhilaration of clam digging!
We watched the sun set while at dinner Friday night, then all hung out drinking at "our" bar with Manual. It was bitter-sweet the last night. I was ready to come home, I wanted to see family/friends and I really missed Lowie. But I was not ready to leave the sunshine and warm weather.
We left the resort late, and thankfully didn't have too much of a wait at the airport. The next thing I knew we were in the air, heading back towards Calgary. It was sad to see the snow on the ground the closer we got to home. Wearing a tank-top and shorts was a cold walk in the airport. When we found our bags, I put on my hoodie and coat, but couldn't find my jeans without digging everything out of the suitcase, so there I was waiting for the shuttle for a couple minutes in -2!
Because we had never had a vacation like this (complete relaxation), we would have never booked one unless pushed in that direction (being part of the wedding party was that push). Now, I know we will do a trip like this at least once a year; it's kind of like camping, without the cooking, making drinks, and clean up. We're already planning our next trip!
(And a big thanks to Lee and Yvonne for letting me borrow some of their photos to add to this post - mostly that of the wedding. There was no room for a camera in that bridesmaid dress!)
