This very promising weekend started last Thursday with Dan and I taking a 1 o'clock flight out of the bustling Puebla airport. My solo seating strategy paid off once again on the flight in the form of a wonderful chica named Lucia who informed me as the plane touched down at the Cancun airport she was a full 17 years old...whoops (unfortunately not pictured here).
After a car ride where our driver was able to recommend all the best museums, tea houses, and other historical and cultural centers of Playa del Carmen we arrived at the hotel and after a bit of a wild goose chase found our room complete with a great view and fully stocked fridge and bar.
We immediately headed out to the pool to survey the land and amazingly enough received a big wave from Dad and Andy (on crutches for the duration of the weekend due to a torn quad)who were comfortably situated at the pool side bar (bar stools surrounding the bar surrounded by about 8 tables and booths).
After quenching our thirst we went for a bite to eat at the outdoor restaurant called Chilis which as luck would have it offered a monstrous free buffet.
Following a swim we returned to the room to prepare for dinner. During this time I ordered some chicken nachos as a pre game snack and nearly fell over the balcony when the man asked if we would like a complimentary bottle of champagne to accompany it.
Dinner started out in the hotel's sports bar where we were being updated on the UNC thursday night football game. After getting a promising 13 to 3 score (or something like that) and feeling comfortable that everything would be taken care of (false) we headed down to the outdoor restaurant which was now a steakhouse for dinner.
Everyone was a bit indecisive until discovering the surf and turf lobster tail and steak option and then everything became much clearer (and even more so when we finished the first round and were able to order a second).
From there we retreated to an upscale bar and cabaret type of lounge where the hotel was putting on its nightly show for mojitos before mom and dad went to bed and the now legal but still crippled Andy received a brief tour of the night life scene (at a sort of club at another one of the 5 resorts that we had access to) with Dan and I.
Friday we jumped out of bed at the crack of dawn, kind of and headed down to the pool for a magnificent breakfast. From there Dad, Dan, and I went to the beach and signed up for an hour long pool scuba lesson and open ocean 10 meter reef dive.
After cruising around our pool with Gustav (very Reuben like from Along came Polly) completely decked out in our scuba gear we hopped out, grabbed a burger from the grill on the beach, and took a 10 minute boat ride to the reef for the dive.
The first 39 minutes and 30 seconds of our 40 minute dive were absolutely awesome with tons of fish, coral, vegetation, a moray eel, and white sands and crystal clear water. Unfortunately Dad apparently missed the relax and breath easily part of our lesson and decided to bring his water buffalo lungs down with him resulting in an oxygen depletion just before we were about to finish.
Fortunately Gustav was very calm and had instructed us well in how to cope with this emergency. Dad was able to get his spare oxygen tank and we all ascended to the surface with minimal stress (though Dad might dispute that right about the time he tried taking his last couple breaths from his empty tank though he was able to recuperate back at the beachside bar with his new best friend Marvin).
The rest of the afternoon was passed at our second home in one of the pool booths with piña coladas as we waited for the sun to go down.
Dinner that night was at a Brazilian steak house where we had 6 different types of delicious meats brought to our table on skewers.
Fortunately this restaurant had a dessert bar with self serve ice cream so that I could consume my 56th, 57th, and 58th scoops of the trip before another round of mojitos.
After dinner Mom begged us to go out for a big night to 5th Avenue in downtown Playa with her (Mexican equivalent of Bourbon St. with countless bars and restaurants that seemingly never close and packed streets everywhere you look) and then dragged Dan and I out there and made us stay up all night or something like that.
During this we spent quite a bit of time at one outdoor bar where Dan managed to find love with a Mexican actress while I managed to speak to literally every girl in the place without finding much of anything (despite the presence of 3 different bridal parties).
Saturday came rather early, but after another great breakfast at a different hotel restaurant we rallied and we all grabbed a taxi for a day trip to Fifth Avenue to do a little exploring.
We had ambitions of a ferry trip to neighboring Cozumel island, but they didn't quite pan out and after a very entertaining walk around town where some really thoughtful purchases were made, we wound up as luck would have it at Señor Frogs.
Here we were treated to quite the show as the place was empty and the wait staff had a field day with us including making Mom literally jump out of her seat with a long straw that they were pretending was a large rat and making me squeal like a girl when they brought us "complimentary nachos" which turned out to be a black wig which was thrown at me when the dish was removed from the plate.
From here we headed back for an afternoon of catamaran sailing and then wouldn't you know it, some time all together at the poolside bar (after a human bridge was constructed to keep the ever fragile mother dry).
From here a game of monkey in the middle with a volley ball ensued, but that was quickly terminated after an errant throw from some tall American kid with a funny name that starts with a G mis threw one right into one of the booths and in a brilliant stroke of misfortune hit an older lady in the head (she would be fine as the ball was very light, but stormed out of the pool.
After this Dad decided to get artsy with pictures and jumps from the infinity pool into the regular pool.
After the photo shoot I redonned my electric pants and we headed down for dinner this time at a Japanese restaurant with sushi and great entrees. After dinner I managed to convince the waiters of the Brazilian steak house they wanted to let me re-attack the ice cream bar and after stuffing myself we went for after dinner drinks complimented by a strange outdoor show including these guys replicating Mayan dance ceremonies.
After my 76 strike outs with girls the night before Dad decided to amend the situation with Darlene here who was mid 30's, traveling with her mother, and the self proclaimed most interesting girl in the world. Not sure she can rival my hero from the Dos Equis commercials but the 7 of us did have quite a conversation together.
From there Dan and I wished the family good bye and big thank yous for an awesome time as they would be leaving at the first rooster's crow the next day while we had a bit later of a flight.
We concluded the trip that night with a visit to Playa del Carmen's most famous establishment, Coco Bongo where there was an absolutely packed enormous bar and crazy show with dancers, singers, bands, people doing tricks from the ceiling, and much more. After covering every inch of the bar, and speaking to varying degrees of success with seemingly everyone we headed back content with a good night.
Sunday we got up and after our last breakfast took a walk down the beach to a secluded part beyond all the hotels where there was nothing but beaches, rocks, and a splendid forest.
After packing up we headed to the airport, realized in the car that neither one of us actually knew what time our flight was, discovered everything was okay, and grabbed a burger.
As we got back to Puebla that afternoon we were exhausted and sad that our tropical excursions were over for the time being, but content with two awesome weekends, and looking forward to a fun last 6 weeks of our semester (including Halloween and Day of the Dead, a huge deal in Mexico coming up this weekend).
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