It's not that I hate Thanksgiving. It is an appropriate holiday to contemplate one's undeserved privileges. I just find that Thanksgiving comes around the worse time of year: brown grass, leaf free trees, chilly air yet snowless mountains. And since I detest "in between", I like to go south where the trees are always crazy green, the ocean is always vibrant blue and the air is predictably body temperature.
This year I finagled a timeshare in Playa del Carmen which turned out to be so luxurious that I felt downright uncomfortable. The "over the top" amenities and surroundings were so overwhelming that I walked around in utter disbelief. Luckily most of my plans involved activities outside the resort ( I tend to be more at home in the lower scale accommodations). And since I tend to have a "to do list" for my vacations, I spent most of the time twenty minutes south where all the action is.
Lucky for me I had some great travel companions who did everything I planned for them. Brother Jason, his boy Ryland, sister Jen and my daughter Hailey accompanied me on all my adventures which included diving, driving and fooding.
Included in this most excellent vacation was: Seeing the Mayan Ruins of Coba while riding crappy, squeaky, awesome bicycles, Diving an extensive, fresh water cave system, Diving reefs off Cozumel and Eating Good Food. As a bonus we stayed in the lap of luxury. It was absolutely perfect except.....
Of course every trip has it's funny stories (funny afterwards): While in the city we parked our rent-a-van in a "deliveries only" spot (sign is spanish), only to return with a parking ticket. Bummer. Except in Mexico, a ticket is more than a "mail in a check" kind of thing. We had to hunt down the courthouse in suburban Playa del Carmen, arrive in person and pay a fine. Incidentally, Jason noticed that our front license plate was missing and had the suspicion that Mexico was holding it for ransom. The address printed on the ticket was; let's say, a bit ambiguous, so we set out on a quest to find this place of mystery. As we drove further into the suburbs, english speaking Mexicans became nonexistent. Finally, I saw a police officer, with flashing lights, issueing a ticket to some poor citizen. I walked over to him, showed him my ticket and tried to ask him where the courthouse was located. Puzzled, the officer then sought assistance from the unfortunate guy he just gave a speeding ticket to. Eventually, two hours later, we found the place, payed the twelve dollar ticket and got our license plate back.
Still we had a most excellent time with each other negotiating the insane driving habits of the locals, eating fish with the head still attached, parking, overzealous salesmen, and uncertain intestinal situations. I love the uncertain! (not really).
Hailey and I at the beach in front of The Grand Mayan Resort
white sand, blue water, green trees, Yup
At the top of the highest Mayan pyramid in Mexico
This is what heaven looks like underwater
Chac Mool Cenote cave system, Yucatan Mexico
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