As I wrote the last time, the power was off and we were contemplating what to do. Apparently they have significant back up generation capacity here. The power was indeed off in the rooms, but all the computers (where they take your money) and the grocery store were still operational. Also the elevators still had power. Oh yea, and the sound system at the welcome meeting and then later party worked just fine. We attended the welcome meeting and found out all the stuff about the resort. Royal Resorts has some of the highest rated time-shares in Cancun, but they are really in love with themselves. They think they are better than the best thing since sliced bread. All I know so far is they have the meanest mosquitoes.
We later went to the Welcome Party out on the deck by the pool. Since the power was off, they added a special treat to the normal welcome party refreshments. Instead of just beer and soft drinks, they added rum and Coke to the offerings. What a busy bar that was, made us forget about the power being off. I tipped the bartender nicely early on, so he took care of Miss Vickie and I. We elected to let the younger folks handle the limbo, water balloon tossing, balloon stomping, and various other semi athletic events. With the free libations flowing and a crowd of easily 100-125, the Welcome Party really took off. They were selling food, and that was going pretty well. Jerry won a free hamburger combo plate, but since he wasn’t here Vickie and I ate it for him. Sadly it looks like Jerry and Brenda aren’t going to make it back here. We really miss them. Brenda’s sister is back at the nursing home and resting comfortably. With the help of her friend Francis, a sitter, and Brenda someone is with June around the clock.
After the welcome party, we hung out in the pool for the afternoon, and enjoyed meeting a diverse group of folks during happy hour at the pool bar. We retreated to the Villa prior to the dreaded bloodsuckers arrival. We contemplated what to do for dinner and decided a pizza from the in-house carry out would suffice and possibly a nice bottle of Shiraz from the grocery store. Vickie volunteered to cover up with insect repellent, and go for the grub. In hindsight I realized we should have let the room delivery folks handle it all. Vickie returned with bites all over her face and back and arms. She is quite allergic to the vampire saliva, and had bumps all over. We ate our meal, and watched some often entertaining Mexican television. Southpark in Spanish is a hoot, and the Mexican commercials are amazingly over the top compared to the US. Soon it was read a little and hit the sack.
Monday turned out to be a pretty day with a nice breeze going, and the bloodsuckers back to their lairs for the day. Early morning our maid arrived. She’s young, looks real good bending over cleaning our out door hot tub, and makes really cool towel flowers and animals as well as fancy toilet paper and tissue foldings. She also keeps our room organized and spotless. Oh yes, she speaks between 0 and 1% English. I have decided that I want her to come home to America, live with us, and work for us full time. Haven’t discussed this with Vickie quite yet but I’m sure she’ll agree. I now plan to be at my computer (which is beside the sliding glass door to the deck) when the hot tub cleaning takes place each day.
Mid morning I decided to get my gear and do some snorkeling in the ocean. We hauled everything down to the beach and I geared up. I even managed to get my fins on with about waist deep water. No one could tell me exactly where to go, it was all pretty much “oh yes Senior, out there”. So I just worked my way out and eventually found they do have an off shore reef here. The water was pretty rough, and if I turned my head to the left too far, the waves would break over my snorkel. Had to keep clearing that. The reef here has a lot of fish, and if I’d have had tongs and a bag we could have had Sea Urchins for dinner---there were hundreds of them. Interestingly though, this reef does not appear very healthy. Rather than having bright colors and bright colored fish, it is sort of a monotone sepia. In fact most of the fish have adapted to blend in with the brownish background. I’m hoping that the development and pollution are not poisoning the reef, but it appears so. Vickie found pool colored chips of ceramic impersonating sea shells on the beach. When you consider the proximity to so much construction, Cozumel, and the bazillion tourists the cruise ships bring there every year, they are probably factors. I’m going to try again a little further south down the beach, I’ve seen folks going in down there.
Yesterday afternoon was pretty much a repeat of the day before—chatting at the pool bar, swimming, sunning. However, I decided I would make a run to the in-house store and find something to make for dinner. We headed there prior to bloodsucker arrival and picked up some fixings for what has now become Mosquito Siege Casserole, along with another nice bottle of wine. Vickie was quite impressed as I presented hors d'oeuvres of spicy refritos, and then made a casserole out of canned chicken, frozen Mexican mixed vegetables, double crema queso blanco, cooked bow tie pasta, milk, salt and pepper, and topped it with 2 pieces of crumbled dry toast. After baking for 30 minutes or so, it turned out to be sort of a light fresh chicken pot pie with no crust. Necessity was certainly the mother of invention.
Tuesday we had our “Taco Party” so they could try and sell us something. Unlike the Taco party at the Club International, the food here was somewhat lackluster, and did not agree with me too well. We sat after the food and talked to our Concierge, Lucas, at some length. We pretty much told him they had blown any chance of selling us anything: 1. because everything Royal sells is finite in duration (you can’t leave it to the family) and 2. because the guys who did the presentation to us last week were idiots. After the party, we did the usual hang around the pool happy hour stuff and retreated to the room for leftovers and “Dancing With the Stars”.
Wednesday overnight it rained, and the morning was clear and cooler. We decided to brave the restaurant for breakfast. Good news, the mosquitoes pretty much left us alone and the food was great. After breakfast I got a notion that I wanted to see Playa del Carmen, so we caught the shuttle bus from the hotel. While we were there it poured rain, and we spent some time standing under an awning just watching the rain. After the rain with water lying in the streets, the humidity went to 400% and it was first cousin to sitting in a steam room. We walked around for a while enjoying the hawkers at the various shops. One of my favorite ones was “come in and see what we have just for the hell of it” to which I replied---Halibut, oh I love fish especially Halibut. That really got me the crazy gringo stare. After looking at some of the stores, it was pretty obvious they only sold clothes for young skinny folks, jewelry, or really stupid T-shirts, nothing much in between. Finally when I couldn’t hike any more, we camped at a corner bistro, and had some nice cold Dos Equis XX, and watched the sights. Low season here in tourist land brings out more of the locals and Europeans. A much more interesting crowd, except for the obviously American woman in black jeans and long sleeves when it was like a sauna on the streets. With the sweat running off us like a fountain, even under a ceiling fan, we decided even the street entertainment was not that good, and caught a cab back to The Haciendas. The cab driver commented on the way home, “I have a 2 year old and one on the way in November. My baby company is now closed”
Probably a little snorkeling on tap for this afternoon if the water isn’t too rough.
more later,
wes
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