Day 8
Today was the Fat Cat! We also had to change hotels as the Luna blue was full for this night. That’s what happens when you book last-minute! So we had to move next door to the Coco Rio, so we packed everything up and put it in our in-laws room until after the
Fat Cat. We all went for breakfast at La Vegabundo again. It was close, and good.
We returned to the Luna Blue and used the washroom, then made our way up to the mall and the meeting place for the Cat. A lot of people were already there. We waited a little bit, then all started loading into the vans. We ended up in a van with Kimba, who had too many beans the night before…blech! (or, maybe it was James who was riding shotgun??).
We got to Puerto Aventuras, and I suggested we all take part in a discussion about the dolphins, but didn’t have any takers. Prolly better anyways.
Within a few minutes we were all loading onto the Cat. We got our t-shirts (there were even LADIES ones this time!). Soon we had our Jez Safety Talk, and we were on our way. While Jez gave the safety chat, Carole helped him out with the pointing and hand gestures, like an Airline Stewardess. It was very funny.
The day was great, we sailed for awhile and stopped at Xaac for some beach time and snorkeling. The water clarity here was very, very poor so snorkeling wasn’t good. We tried for a bit, and then decided to return to the cat.
We were then served chips with salsa and guac (very good guac!) and then it was time for the boomnetting. I did it last time, so didn’t bother this time. John’s shorts were quite loose, so he decided to pass also.
Here’s Bob:
Sails:
Trying for some fish:
Next thing was the cove bobbing in the beer diapers, which is the funnest part of the trip, I think.
We got back to PA at about 3:30, early I think. We loaded in the vans and headed back to Playa. Since most of us in our van were going to the Luna Blue, James had the driver drop Don & Deb close to the Playa Maya, then whip us up to the Luna Blue. Great, we didn’t have to walk back! (like it’s such a long walk….)
John and I grabbed our bags, and Cheri went to check that everything was a go with the Coco Rio. Some of the peeps were sitting around, and we joked that John and I were voted off the island. We said our tearful goodbyes, and went next door. As we walked into the Coco Rio courtyard I leaned over the fence to see the Luna peeps again and said “Hi there!!!” we laughed, and David joked that Cheri needed to fix that fence.
Some final pics of our hosts and with Cheri (wearing the Canadian do-rag I gave her!):
The Coco Rio was okay, but not as nice as the Luna Blue. It didn’t have a fridge, but the rooms were okay. It faced the street though, which was a little noisy. Especially at 4am or whatever time the Bumpers warned us about that the garbage truck goes by at. Yeesh! What a wake up call!
I loved the wall sconces in the room. The kids would have had nightmares from these things if they were here.
We got changed, and while I was getting ready for dinner and the Blue Parrot Bash tonight, John went back next door to have a beer with his friend Adam and the other Lunites.
When I was ready I went to fetch John and the in-laws, and we went for dinner at La Parilla. The food was okay, but not as good as it used to be. SIL ordered a glass of wine, and they brought it in this little glass that looked like it was from a child’s play set! She started laughing, and asked the waiter if he was joking…it was funny, because he tried to put it down on the table real fast and make an exit…like he KNEW it was ridiculous. After dinner, SIL asked for the other half of her glass of wine…*guffaw*. And they brought her another one, no charge! We were pleasantly surprised at this.
The mariachi’s at La Parilla were driving us up the wall in a fast car, so we had to get out of there. John HATES mariachi’s. I mean, he liked the first one or two, but now they just totally annoy him. It’s a standing joke for us now, that I try to tip all the mariachi’s to come play for him.
We did some browsing along 5th, then went to the Blue Parrot bash. The music is awful, and just annoyed us (especially John. He didn’t know if he’d rather listen to this music or mariachi bands all night). And drinks were friggin’ expensive! It was nice to see everyone here though, and meet everyone again or for the first time. We had fun chatting with Adam as usual
We stayed for a few drinks, and then decided to call it a night.
Day 9
Today at about 7am, we heard a loud banging in the hallway, and some yelling, “Jahn! Jahn!”
John went out to the hall, and it was David…knocking on the hotel room next to ours! He wanted to see if John wanted to go on the guy’s fishing trip, since Mike was not feeling well and wouldn’t be going. John thought about it, but decided he just wanted to relax today instead.
Today we were changing hotels (again!) along with the in-laws to the All Riviera Resort on the beach. As I said previously, I had booked a 1st floor room by the pool, and a third floor room.
We decided to try La Cueva Del Chango for breakfast since we’d heard so much about it. It WAS all it was cracked up to be. The ambiance of this place is amazing…the foliage, the fountains and streams everywhere…there is even a fountain I the restroom! I took a bunch of pictures while waiting for my fruit and yogurt with granola.
The area outside:
The area inside:
The tree through the roof:
The fountain:
Some pretty flowers:
A cute fence out back:
I liked the trough where they kept the fresh fruit:
After a terrific breakfast, we headed back to our hotels to pack up for our move. We said more goodbye’s to Tony & Cheri, and grabbed a cab over to the hotel, so we wouldn’t have to carry all these heavy bags across town.
We got to the All Riviera around 10:30, and they checked us in but told us our room wouldn’t be ready until about 2pm. They gave us some towels, stored our luggage, and we headed out to lounge on the beach. I watched a guy fish with a net off the beach, which was interesting to say the least.
He was successful in catching some smaller fish, and quite a few of them. I took some other photos of the beach as we lounged there, such as to the right – the ferry dock:
The infamous lighthouse:
a sailboat:
At around noon we decided to go for a short walk down to the Playa Maya and have some snacks. We had the same as last time, coconut shrimp, nachos, and guacamole. The service today was not so great…very unusual as the service at the Playa Maya is usually excellent. It got cloudy and rained for a minute, and the waiter was just too intent on trying to get more tables in, but not concentrating on ours. I had to get the attention of our usually waiter (can’t remember his name, but he’s been there for years) a couple of times to get our guac that wasn’t brought until the very end (wanted it with the nachos), more pico de gallo, and more drinks. It was hard to get our waiter to remember. Very weird.
The food was excellent as always, though. And afterward we returned to our beach. I decided to go check on our rooms at this point. At this point the front desk clerk told me that our room was going to be a different one. But I had reserved that specific room, I told him. He said that some people came after me and rented it, then decided to stay another night, so we could have this other room tonight, and then tomorrow we’d have to move down to that room. No way! I said that THOSE people should have to move rooms, since I had made the reservation five days ago. He called a senior guy over, and they conversed in Spanish for a bit. Then they told me that if I took the second floor room for both nights they would give us one night free. SOLD! That was very good of them to do this, and it will ensure that I will stay there again.
We were taken to our room, and the in-laws were taken to theirs. Our room turned out to be great, with a fridge, TV with cable (but fuzzy) and a GREAT view!
The view from the balcony:
as you can see, the hotel had a small pool too, which would be great next time we returned with the kids.
John went back down to the beach while I searched out my magazines and suntan oil. I also wanted to change into another bathing suit. About a half hour later I made my way down. As I rounded the corner towards the restaurant and beach, I heard a loud ruckus. I looked over as I walked up and who do I see?? All the Naughty Chicas at the tail end of their bar crawl! (and a few bodyguards as well…Tommy, Kathy’s hubby and Karen’s David). I couldn’t believe my eyes…I yelled out to them:
“what, is this some kind of NIGHTMARE or what???!!! Can’t I get RID of you folk?” They all laughed and thought it was funny that I was staying there. They didn’t know we were staying there, but Tommy and Donna knew all the guys that worked here (the bar/restaurant is called Coco Fizz) and they were all good guys.
So I hung out a chatted for a bit, then returned to my lawn chair. Soon they were coming to snatch up John to come do tequila shots with them.
After a full day on the beach, we got ready for dinner. We were meeting Luis at Babes this night (or so we thought!). We had become good friends with Luis and his wife Lucy when we were living here, and our kids had become friends with their kids. Our kids had made care packages for their kids as well that we had to deliver (books, magazines, hair do-dads, gum, candy (the kind without chili in it!) etc. etc.)
We got to Babes and grabbed a table outside. We waited a half hour, and nothing. So we decided to order an appy while we waited, some chicken spring rolls. They were very good. As we were sitting there, this truck goes by with a big pipe on top, spraying out what we were told was bug spray for the mosquitos. In other words, DDT. Just what we want sprayed all over us, our drinks, and our food!! Yeesh.
We waited another half hour and decided to order dinner. I guess they weren’t coming. We later figured out that we had the wrong day, and it was supposed to be TOMORROW.
After dinner we went to drop the packages back off at the hotel. The in-laws were now gone out to dinner as well. On the way I spotted this cute kitty:
We then made our way over to the Tequila Barrel where there was another peep meet. The usual suspects were there, and Mikey was doing a webcast of the event for all the peeps back home. We visited with all the usual suspects for awhile, and I snapped a couple of photos:
Adam, Rick and John:
Tommy reading the forum and discreetly giving me the finger:
Tommy and Sharky (owner of the Beer Bucket)
We stayed out until about midnight, and then went home to bed. John had started not feeling very well….