blue artichoke

I'm home from vacation, even though my luggage isn't.

Two weeks at a resort in Mexico is perfect. It takes a day or two in the beginning to unwind and get comfortable with the casual, laid-back, worry-free attitude, even for someone as casual, laid-back and worry-free as I am. Then it is just day after day of relaxation, until that starts to get boring and predictable; then we go adventuring!

Last year, GC and I went on a jungle adventure tour that included biking through a Mayan village, swimming in an underground cave called a cenote (see-no-tay) and a zip-line across the jungle. This year, we went to Xcaret (esh-ka-ret), an ecological theme part. Though very touristy, it was also very cool. The paths through the park were dirt paths through the jungle, with surprising sights along the way. Stumble through some branches into a clearing with Mayan ruins, or turn the corner and discover a tank of baby sea turtles. Peer over a fence and find yourself face-to-face with a lonely tapir seeking a bellyrub. We saw a lion, jaguar and leopard, all languishing in the shade inside their fenced-in jungle environment. GC’s favorite activity was snorkeling through the underground river; I liked it too, but got scared in the dark parts and swam just as fast as I could until I reached a light area, where I would linger and enjoy the brightly colored fish sharing the water with me. I did have a close encounter with a fish who made a beeline from the bottom of the river to my face, then suddenly changed course and headed toward my crotch. I yelped and kneed the poor guy in the face. My favorite activity was getting out of the chilly underground river and heading straight for the hammock island. I wish I could recreate the scene in my backyard: the sound of the ocean lapping against the shore, the light breeze rustling the palm trees, the quiet laughing of children playing at a nearby hammock and the sun warming my face and drying my bathing suit. GC went off to get a couple of beers while I swung lazily and dozed in my hammock. Refreshed, we headed to the Sea-Trek adventure, which is a strange experience. We climbed down a ladder into a lagoon while someone put pressurized oxygen helmets on our heads. We looked like underwater astronauts. Once underwater, we walked along a railing through schools of fish and a sea turtle. There was a man with a feed-bottle coaxing the fish and turtle to pose with us for pictures. The sea turtle was close enough for us to touch; I on the belly, GC on the flipper. Sea turtles feel like what you’d expect them to feel like. Though we had already had a long day, we stayed for the night show, a Disneyfied history of Mexico told in two hours through song, dance and games. The games were cool: One involved passing a ball through a waist-level hoop attached to the wall, using only your hips to pass and shoot the ball. The other was similar to hockey, except that the ball was on fire. Neat! Unfortunately, the games were the best part of the show and lasted only about 15 minutes; the rest of the show was not very interesting to two thirty-year-olds who had been in the sun for eight hours and drunk several refreshing beers.

After our day of adventure, we were ready for several more relaxing days spent lounging by the pool. After GC left Mexico to return to work (poor guy!), my mom and I fell into a pleasant daily routine: breakfast on the porch followed by a few hours spent sunning by the pool, lunch on the porch watching the ocean, then a late afternoon excursion: to a jewelry factory, then Playa del Carmen (about an hour south of Cancun) for shopping and dinner; to Market 23, a huge flea market where the locals shop (my favorite store there was a candy store; one room with narrow aisles with boxes and bags of candy stacked almost to the ceiling. A kid/candy lover’s dream come true. There were several people with shopping baskets piled high with bags of candy. It was all too overwhelming for me; I left empty-handed.); to a mall in search of some bedazzling shiny silver sandals (for my cousins) and a stop by the casino to watch my cousins try to outwit the video slot machines (they didn’t). These days spent lounging in the morning and shopping or sight-seeing in the afternoons, while pleasant, couldn’t entertain me forever. Which is why it is good that my vacation was two weeks long; any shorter and it would be hard to leave, any longer and I would get bored. As is, I started getting antsy the day or two before it was time to leave, but had time to do all the things I wanted to do while in Mexico. My mom left the day before I did, so I had one day all by myself. I thought it would be great: I had never spent a day alone at a tropical resort. It wasn’t as great as I had hoped. It was too quiet and lonely, and I didn’t know what to do with myself. Getting drunk and heckling people by the pool is entertaining for only a short while. Next year, I’ll try to arrange my departure so I’m not the last one to leave.

Long blog post summary: Great vacation. Glad to be home.

Getting to Know All About You: Where did you go for your last vacation?