Cancun, Part 3

August 28, Wednesday

Emily woke up this morning at 9:15 AM and I woke up about an hour later. We kept hearing some really loud noises upstairs like furniture was being moved. I thought it could've been on the balcony but there's no balcony above us and nothing was going on next to us so it must've been upstairs. I eventually called the front desk to tell them about it and it stopped eventually. We got up and got ready for the day so we could go hang out on the beach. Unfortunately, around 11 AM the power went out. It was really frustrating for Emily because she needed to dry her hair. So did I but my hair wasn't bad. She ended up just using my round brush and going out on the balcony and that worked for her just fine. We think the power came back on around 1 PM based on what the clock said when we got back later. We left to get food at around noon. We tried the Isla Convoy restaurant because I knew they had seafood but they didn't have shrimp tacos and nothing looked good to me so we went to different restaurant called Nah K'aax. The seating for that restaurant is on the beach so that was perfect. We first looked at the menu for the bar but he told us that the one downstairs had a different menu so we tried that one because we wanted to sit on the beach. 

No one was there when we went down there and they gave us the choice of any table. Shortly after we sat down and ordered, a big family of seven people sat at the table next to us. At first, I thought we might be OK but then they let their kids start playing games and watching videos so I asked the waiter if we could switch tables and he said it was fine so we did. We ended up sitting over by a nice little sitting area which was the cabana they tried to sell me when I rejected the pool beds. There were a lot of seating areas that we could've sat on for free so that was nice to know. Anyway, we loved eating on the beach. Emily had shrimp tacos and I had a beef quesadilla with French fries, which I gave to Emily. She got a brownie and I got a tiny cheesecake for dessert. 

When we were done eating, we found some loungers next to where we had lunch. Emily had fun playing in the water. I said it looks like she had fun frolicking and she said she definitely did. 

I laid on the chair and relaxed. 

Eventually, it started raining so I gathered all of our things. I needed a bathroom break anyway and Emily wanted to wash off the sand so we went to the bathrooms and she got cleaned up. By the time we came out, it had stopped raining. We moved to a new location that was down farther and under one of those little huts that I love. Emily still had a little bit of sand so she decided to go to the pool for a little while and then she went back into the ocean a little bit later. I had fun relaxing but there was an annoying guy to us who was playing loud Greek music on his phone. I was tempted multiple times to ask him to use headphones but I decided not to. Emily came and sat with me and we ordered Coke Zero for her and a water for me and ice cream for both of us. By about 4 PM, Emily decided she wanted to go back to the room. I stayed for another hour and read my book. Before I went up to the room, I walked up and down the beach a little bit and took a bunch of pictures from the water. 

As I walked back to the lobby, I thought it would be fun to take a picture of Emily on the balcony so I sent her a text and she went out there and I got some pictures and video. 

I grabbed some treats for us and went upstairs. Emily had already showered and then I took a shower and got dressed for dinner. Our dinner reservation was for 6 PM but it was my fault that we ran a few minutes late but it was fine. The restaurant was beautiful! It was the Steakhouse Havanna. Emily got the sliced salmon as an appetizer and she didn't like it at all. I got the crabcake and it was tiny but pretty good. For the main course, I had the 13-ounce ribeye. It was really good but it was a really thin steak and it had a lot of fat. I got the garlic mashed potatoes as my side and they were amazing. Oh, they also had brought us some bread and some cauliflower purée which was delicious. Emily got the baby back ribs for her entrée but they were boneless and it came with corn on the cob and French fries. We had fun sitting and talking. Emily got a couple Coke Zeros and I asked for a virgin strawberry daiquiri which was absolutely delicious. For dessert, I got the macarons and there were four of them but they were tiny. Emily got the caramel fudge brownie and it came with a little scoop of ice cream and some caramel corn pieces and she enjoyed that. 

After dinner, we did some exploring. I got a little cookie from the café. We went outside to see what was going on. There was a Latin party going on. I'm glad they were still able to do it because it had started raining when we were getting ready for dinner. We went back inside and I wanted to check out the gift shop. They had some cute magnets but I thought it would be nice if I got one from some of the vendors outside. I knew it was a risk that they would pressure me into buying something but it worked out OK. We also stepped at the spa to check that out but everything there cost money and nothing is included. We went back to the room and relaxed for a little while. We watched part of the movie Life of the Party with Melissa McCarthy. It's funny but also not that great so we didn't finish it. We decided to go back downstairs to karaoke. There was also another band playing in the lobby but this time it was a violinist. We had fun at karaoke. There was a group of kids who did song after song for a very long time. I think we sat there listening to them for about an hour. I told Emily she should add us to the list but there were already seven before us. I told her she could choose anything she wanted but if she wanted my opinion I'd like to do 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton. That's what we ended up doing. We had so much fun! Emily says one of the moms was singing along with us. Those kids started leaving finally. We were laughing because it seemed like it should be their bedtime because it was around 10:30 PM. Emily signed us up to do Taylor Swift a little bit later and we sang You Belong with Me and by then it was 11 PM so we left. We went upstairs and read scriptures and watched TV. Emily doesn't feel well and her tummy hurts and my throat is starting to get scratchy so I hope we're OK in the morning.

 

August 29, Thursday

Emily and I decided we should get up this morning at 10 AM so that's what we did. I don't know what time it was, but there were children screaming in the hallway and echoing and it was loud and that was very annoying. I can definitely see the appeal of an adult-only all-inclusive and that's probably what I'll choose next time. We spent the next two hours getting ready for the day and getting all packed up and we left our room right before noon. 

I was so excited to go to the Vina Del Mar restaurant to have our buffet lunch. We turned in our keys and told them we were just going to eat lunch and then leave and they watched our suitcases for us and told us we needed to come back to have them cut off our wristbands and get our luggage. We walked over to the restaurant only to find out it doesn't open until 1 PM, which is the time that our ride was coming to pick us up. There was nothing to be done so we had to go to the Isla Contoy for lunch. It was confusing because they had a buffet set up and I asked the lady at the hostess station if we could have the buffet and she said that's only for salads but we could order from the menu and they said it would take 20 to 30 minutes and it was already almost 12:20 PM by the time we ordered so we took a chance and ordered appetizers. We asked if we could have food from the buffet and he said we could. They had some great protein choices and we filled plates and even found the children's station that had cheese pizza and French fries and had some of that. By the time we finished our food, they brought our appetizers. My fish tacos were absolutely delicious. The breading was really delicate and it was so tasty and tender. Emily had a shrimp kebab that she was happy with. 

We stopped at the bathroom and I got one last thing of banana split gelato from the café and we went to have them cut off our bands and get our bags. At first it seemed like they didn't know where our bags were but thankfully, they found they were in a back room being watched so that was good. It was a few minutes before 1 PM and we didn't see our ride so we sat and waited. She got there a few minutes after 1 PM and we got loaded in her Toyota minivan and said goodbye to the resort. It was a quick drive to the airport. The lady’s driving scared me a bit because she was going 60 km/h and you could barely fit a car between her and the next person, but thankfully we arrived safely. We quickly got through security so that was nice. We didn't know what gate we were at yet because they hadn't published it yet so we just found a gate with some empty chairs and hung out there for a while. I think we sat there for about an hour. When it was getting close to 3 PM, I told Emily we should head to our gate. We went to the bathroom and stopped at the convenience store and by the time we got to our gate they were already loading everybody. As we walked up, they were calling groups six, seven, eight, and nine. Well, I've learned my lesson with American Airlines. I need to stop assuming that I have time because I don't. Then they fussed about the size of our suitcases and we had to take some things out of the front pockets so it would fit in their little example holder thing. They offered to check our bags and I said no and we pulled some things out and got it small enough that it was acceptable. We shoved our things in our backpacks and got on the plane. There were people in our seats. Emily was ahead of me and she asked them to move and they did. Anyway, the flight was fine and I got a bunch of phone chores done and even got to read some of my book so that was nice. I told Emily that our customs guy looks like Glen Powell. It was so nice to have Michael pick us up at the airport. We picked up Chick-fil-A on the way home and got some for Jonny, too. Daniel was having dinner with friends and going to the gym. We ate our food and I started downloading the pictures from our cenotes tour. We watched an episode of The 1% Club and then we got ready for bed.

It was a wonderful trip, but it's nice to be home. 

Cancun, Part 2

August 27, Tuesday

Emily and I got up at 7:30 AM to get ready. Our meeting time was 9:05 AM but they asked us to be 10 to 15 minutes early. We were running a little behind and came down to get some food at about 8:45 AM. I told the porters if our ride comes to let them know we just went to get a bite to eat, and he informed us that we're supposed to meet them down the driveway and that started making me nervous. We walked over to the café to get a quick bite and thankfully they had a lot of nice things available just sitting out in the middle so we could easily grab a plate and have a few things. Emily wasn't very hungry and just had some fruit but I had some potatoes, eggs, and sausage. We ate quickly and then we left. It was 8:56 AM by the time we walked to the shuttle and they were already there waiting for us. We found out at the end of the day that they had waited for us for 10 minutes so I'm embarrassed about that but we did what they asked so it's not our fault.  We were the last ones to be picked up so we headed straight for the cenotes. They are in Puerto Morelos. The drive wasn't super relaxing because he drives really fast and it's pretty bumpy. 

The guy's name was Ader and he played some terrible music. Once we got to the jungle area, we lost phone service. I decided not to worry about my phone for the rest of the day. I had a waterproof holder for it but I didn't use it. All I took with me each time was my goggles. Emily and I left our valuables on the bus in my locked bag. Emily didn't take anything. Our first cenote was called fire. The first thing we did was shower off the chemicals off of our body and get life vests. We had to use a life vest all the time we were in the water which was good. 

We took a short waterslide into the first cenote. I was glad I brought my goggles because my face got wet immediately. I had thought maybe I could spend the day and not get my hair and face wet but that was out the window already. The water wasn't as cold as we feared it was going to be.  It wasn't warm, but it was bearable. 

We swam around some stairs and went up the stairs and got on a zip line with monkey bars. I was the last one to go. I was so afraid I was going to slip because my hands were wet and I couldn't get them dry. The lifeguard let us use his arm to try to dry off our hands but that still didn't help. They insisted it would be OK because there were grippers on it but I still didn't trust it. Thankfully, I did fine and got as far as I needed to then dropped in the water. Emily was afraid of slipping too but she did great. She went right before me. It was nice to have a cheering section already in the water waiting for me. There was a photographer with us all day and she got some good pictures of all the different things we did. 

Once we all landed in the water from the zip line, we had to swim 200 m. I kept thinking, that's two football fields which is kind of far. It was exhausting but we made it. 

We ended at a cave and got out on some stairs and went to a place where we could jump off. We watched everybody else jump off but Emily and I felt like it was too high and we didn't want to. After that, they had a little picnic break for us with fruit and pastries and drinks. Then it was time to go to the next one. The second cenote was called earth. This is the one where we repelled way down into the cenote. It was pretty scary and I tried not to look down but I did glance. It wasn't exactly like repelling because you didn't have to use your feet on the side of the hole or anything like that, you just rode the thing down in a sitting position so it wasn't too bad. I also didn't have to jump in, thankfully. 

However, that was the coldest water we were in all day. We assume it's because it was in a cave where no sun gets to it. There was also a place there that we could jump off that wasn't quite as high. I had no interest in doing that but Emily braved it and did it. She said it wasn't that high up but it was just that the water was so cold. 

Then Ader gave us a lesson about the formation of cenote. He said it was caused by a meteorite and he showed us where there was proof that the heat had burned the coral reef and we were underneath the coral. He also showed us the beginning of a stalactite. At one point, when we were riding to the next cenote, he played Welcome to the Jungle and Emily and I chuckled and I said loudly, "We're literally in the jungle," and people laughed. The third cenote was water. The first thing we did was kayak. Emily and I did great! I think everybody else was holding their paddles upside down. We passed one person and we could've passed the other but we were afraid to bump into them so we just stayed where we were. We had to kayak around a little island and then go back. 

After that, we went snorkeling. We had to go through this tunnel that had bats so he told us to be quiet. That was kind of freaky. We actually saw the bats. Then we got in to snorkel under the cave with stalactites and we got into a really deep pool. We swam around a bunch of lily pads. They had it closed off with ropes so we couldn't get close, but we were able to go underneath the water and see them pretty well because of the sun shining in. 

After that, it was time for lunch. They had a little buffet to make sandwiches and lots of lunch meat and vegetables and salads and things. we sat at a picnic table across from a couple in our group from Illinois and chatted with them for a bit. They were staying at Secrets: The Vine resort. The fourth cenote was wind. It had long zip lines going both directions. Once again, I was last. Emily decided to do wrecking ball style, where she put her foot in the swing and leaned back. 

He said the most boring kind was queen style in the swing but that's what I chose. I told him "aburrido" and he chuckled. That was fun and this time the water stopped me and I didn't have to jump in so that was nice.

From the other side, you could do the same zip line methods or you could also jump in. I wasn't interested in either of those options. Emily decided to do the zip line again and this time she did swing. 

After that, it was time to get ready and head back. Thankfully, they gave us time to go back to the van and get our things and get changed into some dry clothes. I had debated maybe staying in my regular clothes but it was nice to be fresh and dry on the ride back. They made a stop to drop off some of the people in our group because they were going a different direction. They were a nice family from Gibraltar. It was the parents and two teenage children, a boy and a girl. I had spoken to her on the shuttle bus earlier and she was talking about how they were there for like 10 days and she had something planned for every day practically. At that point, we were able to buy the pictures that the photographer had taken throughout the day and she let me pay cash so that was perfect. The ride back seemed shorter than the ride there. It was getting close to 5 PM by the time we got back to our room. I decided to take a shower and wash my hair and get ready to go to dinner.

Our reservation was for La Joya which was the Mexican restaurant that had a mariachi band. It was a beautiful restaurant! It was on the side of the hotel toward the street so they probably have people coming there that aren't staying at the hotel as well. People always look at me funny when they offer me a wine list or offer drinks and all I want is water. I know I'm wasting some of the value from what I paid but oh well. There's no way around it. 

They played Coco on the wall

They brought us chips and salsa and bread. Emily ordered barbacoa tacos for an appetizer and I ordered the al pastor ones. I got short ribs for my main dish and Emily got the fish. She was already pretty full and couldn't eat it all. Mine was delicious and I ate every bit. 

Mariachi

Emily didn't want dessert but I got one that said puff pastry with guava. It was OK.

Once again, I felt like I could do better on dessert. We stopped at the café and Emily got a brownie and I got an opera cake, which had a chocolate ganache topping and multiple thin layers, and we took it to our room. We sat on the balcony for a while again. 

There was a party going on right outside the lobby near the pool. Everybody was wearing white and we could see the screen said All White Silent Party. We thought it looked cool and wish we had known about it. We asked about it later, and they said it's for anybody at the resort. You have to get headphones and then you listen to the music so that's why it's a silent party. By then, we weren't that interested and we didn't bring white clothes. Emily turned on the TV and watched a little bit of Across the Spiderverse. Then Michael called and we talked to him for a little bit. We thought about getting room service but I also thought it would be nice to go to the buffet and see what they have for desserts, but really they seat you and it's a full meal and we weren't sure if they would let us do that since we already had dinner so we stopped at the café and I tried some banana split gelato and we went back up to the room and ordered room service. By about 10 PM, we turned on the TV and it was at the beginning of Live Die Repeat on HBO. We left it there and ended up watching the entire thing. For room service, we ordered two orders of French fries, chocolate ice cream and apple pie with vanilla ice cream, and two Coke Zeros for Emily. She's been spoiled with Coke Zeros this whole time. He came in and fully set the table for us, including a little flower, salt and pepper, ketchups, nice silverware and a cloth napkin, the whole works. He chatted with us for a little bit and I gave him a tip and we were pretty excited about our fancy little room service order. 

It was a perfect snack for the end of the day. I don't know what they put in that vanilla ice cream, but I think it's the best ice cream I've ever had in my life. We relaxed in our beds and played on our phones and watched the whole movie. We both said we don't know why we like that movie so much because we don't normally like those kinds of movies but that one is awesome. Another movie called Voyagers came on and we almost watched it but we looked at the bad reviews and read the synopsis and called it good and got ready for bed.