The Saturday 7 AKA Cancun Recap

It's time for the big, long Cancun recap. I like to record all the little details so I can go back and look at them years later. This is very very long. Feel free to skim.

I have always wanted to do a tropical, all-inclusive vacation, but we have never been able to afford it. A couple years ago, though, we started to talk about saving up for a big trip in honor of a big year in our lives. This year, Justin and I both turned 40 and celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. If ever there was a time for celebration, it's now. I agonized over where to go for months - torn between the safety of a vacation in the U.S. versus my desire to do an all-inclusive. I considered cruises, and Hawaii, and every Caribbean island that Southwest flies to. At first, I avoided looking at anything in Mexico, because it has a bit of a criminal reputation. But I just couldn't deny the short flight times and reasonable prices. I had narrowed it down to Jamaica or Cancun. The flights were more direct to Cancun, so that cinched it for me . . . and boy was I glad God led me that direction! A week before we left on our vacation, Jamaica was devastated by a massive hurricane! I was still very anxious about leaving the country - going somewhere where English is not the official language, flying internationally, dealing with passports and customs, etc. We signed up for passports 8 weeks before our trip and I was anxious about them arriving in time. (They came in like two weeks!) I was extremely anxious about my already sensitive stomach and the infamous Mexican parasites. Plus, this was the longest we'd ever be away from our kids. We finally finalized/printed/signed our wills and tried not to think about them being put to use. Haha. 

Of course, Lena was also a hot mess about the whole thing. She cried for days before we left, begging me not to go, laying on the guilt thicker than bread on butter, and tirelessly feeding my anxiety. It was also ill-timed on my part, because I was completely consumed with the school's auction for the weeks before our vacation, and had no time to prepare. I literally packed the night before we left, which is so unlike me! 

Wednesday
Our flight was at 7:10 a.m., so we got up at 4:45 to make it to the airport by 5:30. I took a Xanax as soon as I got up, because I was already feeling very anxious. Lena slept on the floor next to my bed and woke with my alarm. At first she did ok, but by the time I was trying to walk out the door she was clinging to me, sobbing, begging me to stay. I peeled her off and left with a pit in my stomach. Justin's dad doesn't mind rising early, so he drove us to the airport. (He actually got a phone call on the way there. Who calls someone at 5:00 in the morning??) Our local airport is small, so we zipped through security. Justin got a $13 breakfast sandwich while I popped another Xanax. 

Our first flight was easy - just a quick hop over the lake to Chicago. I always laugh when I see the flight times to Chicago. Because of the time change, we left at 7:10 and arrived at 7:15. I was nervous about making our next flight in time because we didn't have long between them, but the gate we needed to get to was literally two gates down from where we disembarked.

The flight from Chicago to Cancun was 3.5 hours, and it wasn't bad at all. Sometimes I get terrible claustrophobia on planes, but Justin let me have the window seat, so I didn't feel crammed in the middle, and the time went pretty quickly. It helped that we had Wi-fi and Lena was texting me the whole time. (My mom took her to school, but she got a call before 9 that Lena wasn't going to make it, so she went back to get her.) I also really love the flight tracker, and knowing how close we're getting.

Leaving the snow behind!

I had to send Lena a pic of myself in the tiny airplane bathroom. 

First look at Cancun! 

Getting through customs in the Cancun airport was a piece of cake - we didn't even have to wait in line. It took a while for our luggage to arrive, and I was nervous about missing the shuttle I'd pre-arranged to the hotel. And then of course I was nervous about actually finding the driver. But he was holding a sign with my name (I forgot to take a picture!) and it didn't take us long to find him. It wasn't super warm, but sure better than what we left behind!

We finally made it to the resort right at 3:00 - in time to check in. A concierge met us at the door, brought us pina coladas and sat us down to give us the lowdown on the resort. I was very thankful for that, as well, since all-inclusive was all new to me. She explained how to make dinner reservations, how to get pool towels, where to sign up for excursions, how housekeeping works, and how to use their app. Finally we made it up to our room. I immediately made a beeline for the balcony and took my first deep breath of the day.

We explored for a while, then found a restaurant that didn't require reservations. It took us a couple meals to get used to the idea of all-inclusive. That first night, we ordered one appetizer and one meal each. By the end of the week, we were ordering multiple appetizers, entrees, soups, salads, and desserts so we could get a taste of everything! Haha.

The temps were in the 70s and it was cloudy and windy, so this was our first view of the beach:

That night, we decided to go down to the lobby for the nightly entertainment and drinks. They had a menu of special drinks, and I chose the only one I thought sounded good (something with blackberry jam in it - I don't remember what it was called). I am not a cocktail drinker. If I ever drink alcohol, it's grocery store Smirnoff. But I wanted to try lots of different stuff while it was all "free!" 

I think Justin got a margarita that night. It was gross. Why would you want salt on your drink? The entertainment was three ladies singing, and it wasn't overly entertaining, so we went back up to our room to watch a movie, facetime Lena and assure her we survived the flight, and go to sleep after a long day! (That was just day one. Lol. You still with me?)

Thursday

I set my alarm for 9:00, per the concierge's recommendation that we make dinner reservations as soon as they opened. Then I went back out to the balcony to take in the gorgeous ocean view. (We had a corner room - ocean view on one side, and lagoon view on the other.) It was still in the 70s. Cool enough that I wore jeans to breakfast. 

We ate at the same breakfast buffet every morning. I think there was another breakfast restaurant, but the menu looked way too fancy for us. Justin loved the made-to-order omelets at the buffet, and I was surprised to realize how much I like plantains. I also had french toast and fried potatoes every morning, while Justin drank weird healthy green smoothies. 

Breakfast overlooking the pool.

At that first breakfast, I realized I was going to have a problem . . . the coffee was nasty. I couldn't figure out how to order a frou-frou drink, so tried just cream and sugar, but it was not how I like my coffee. Throughout the week I tried lattes, espresso, and cappuccino, but they all tasted the same: bitter. There was even a coffee shop on the resort that couldn't make me what I wanted. I choked down enough each morning to avoid a caffeine headache, but was happy to find a coffee shop in Chicago on our way home! Haha.

As we were leaving breakfast, a saleslady caught us with a deal on an excursion. We hadn't booked anything in advance because I was nervous about leaving the resort, but she offered us a deal on a tour of Isla Mujeres that included a ferry ride with unlimited drinks, lunch on the island, snorkeling, shopping, and beaching - all for $50. We decided that was worth it, so we sat through a 90 minute sales pitch for the resort's vacation club. That was quite an experience. Haha. We got handed off to a suave sales guy who took us around the resort showing us all the perks that members enjoy. He plied me with mimosas and spent half an hour getting to know us - asking about our lives and vacation habits. Of course he was aghast that we've been married for 20 years and have 3 kids ("So young! Such a big family!"). He assured us that he wasn't going to be upset if we said no to the vacation club, but I really wanted to tell him, "There is almost nothing you can say that would sell me on this. Please don't waste 90 minutes of your time on us." When it came down to the numbers, he was stumped by our low annual vacation budget. And when he asked what we'd be comfortable putting down today to secure our membership, the number I gave him was underwhelming to say the least. 😂 He literally paused for a long time, then said, "I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do much with that." He called over his manager and really tried to wheel and deal us, but I was completely unmoved. He kept appealing to our kids, saying, "This would set them up for such great vacation habits." And I wanted to say, "That is absolutely not a priority for us. Vacations are fun bonuses. They are not worth a down payment and monthly payments to 'set our kids up.'" During the "get to know you" time, he made a big deal about our last name, asking us about our Dutch ancestors. I should've told him then, "I don't know if you know the stereotype about Dutch people being tight-fisted, but in our case, it is 100% true." I also wanted to say, "I'm willing to sit through a 90 minute sales pitch because I want a deal on an excursion. Do you really think I'm the kind of person who has money for a vacation club??" Lol. We left him disappointed, but got our coupon! 

We walked around the resort a little more and were shocked to see these huge iguanas all over the place!

Then we headed down to the beach even though the sky looked like this:

It was then that we realized we were in for a lot of butts all week. Oy vey. Why even bother wearing a swimsuit?? And how is that piece of dental floss possibly comfortable?? I went outside my comfort zone by not wearing shorts over my tankini. Lol. But I was one of about 4 people I saw all week who wasn't baring 98% of my booty at the beach.

The sun came out for little spurts here and there. 

We tried to swim in the ocean, but the waves were really rough and the current made me way too nervous. So we moved up to the pool, where I got the first of many strawberry daquiris. I have no shame about liking a white-girl drink. It was delicious.

That night we ate at the steakhouse on the resort. 

By that evening, I realized there was going to be another problem . . . no Dr Pepper at the resort! I finally went to the bar and asked for a coke with grenadine. The bartender told me they call that a Mickey Mouse. 😂 

Friday

On Friday, the sun came out in the morning, so we hurried down to the pool after breakfast to soak up some sun!

I put sunscreen on every morning, but didn't re-apply and I only burned the tiniest bit one day! 

Then it was on to another first for both of us: a couples massage. Neither of us had ever had a massage, so we didn't know what to expect. But it was delightful. I was worried 50 minutes would seem really long, but it didn't at all. 

Then it was an Americanized lunch by the pool . . .

Followed by more "sun"bathing.

Found my first piece of beach glass!

Justin went for a long walk on the beach. I stayed in my lounge chair. 😂

That night we had dinner at the beachfront Mexican restaurant. 

That drink was called a chi-chi: a pina colada with grenadine!

This ended up being our favorite meal of the trip. We went back on our last night and ordered the exact same thing. The meat was soooo tender and flavorful. I have never heard Justin rave about a meal like he did this one.

That night we tried out the hot tub, but it wasn't very hot, it wasn't bubbling, and there were a couple scantily clad lesbians canoodling next to us, making it very awkward. Lol. We stayed long enough to snap a pic, then left. 

Saturday

On Saturday, we went on our first real adventure. Justin really wanted to leave the resort and do some shopping, even though I was very hesitant. We asked the concierge what the best way to do it was, and he told us to take the public bus. It's $1 a person and would take us directly to the shopping district. He assured us that the bus runs on a loop, so it'd be easy to make it back to the hotel when we were done. So despite my reservations, we took off down the hill to the main road. I had to get a picture of the pay phone we saw!

When the bus pulled up to the curb, I turned to Justin and said, "Are we literally getting on that thing?" Lol. It was very rickety and janky looking. But he pushed me on board, I handed the Mexican driver two dollars, and then fell into the first seat I saw because we quickly learned that the driver waits for no one.

Eventually, we found the shopping area, hopped off the bus as the driver peeled away, and entered the very overwhelming market. All the salesmen shouted at us, immediately pegging us as clueless tourists. I'd been assured I didn't need to change my money into pesos, but most of the merchandise was unmarked, and when it had prices it was in pesos. I didn't understand the exchange rate at all, and didn't have the courage to barter with anyone. Justin wanted some flip-flops, so we just grabbed a pair thinking they couldn't be that expensive. When the cashier gave us our total in US dollars, it was $30! Pretty sure they high fived as we walked out of that place, delighted to have pulled the wool over the stupid Americans' eyes. We walked through the flea market avoiding the gazes of the salesmen, then found something that resembled a mall. But it was very decrepit and creepy. I had wanted to get some souvenirs for the kids, but decided to just buy them from the resort store where the prices were in US dollars. Haha. So we hopped on a bus to head back to the hotel. Apparently I misunderstood the concierge when he said the buses ran on a loop, because this one just kept going and going in the opposite direction of the hotel. All the other tourists got off, and we ended up outside the hotel/shopping zone and started picking up all the locals. Eventually even the locals disembarked and the driver finally barked, "Donde?!" at us. We tried to explain that we wanted to go back to our hotel, but he did not understand English. Thankfully, there was one lady left on the bus who spoke a little English. She explained that this bus only runs downtown, and we had to get off, walk two blocks, and get on a different bus. I was so flustered I didn't even properly thank her. We booked it through the Mexican ghetto as I tried not to think about cartels and ransom demands, eventually found another bus (and breathed a sigh of relief as we saw more tourists boarding it). I thrust our last two dollars at the driver and sat tight knowing we had a way to go. We hadn't brought a lot of cash with us, and if this was the wrong bus, we were literally going to have to walk back to the hotel. Lol. Fortunately, this bus did take us all the way to the hotel. And just down the street from the bus stop was a 7-11 where I found this glorious treat to soothe my frazzled nerves. 

By the time we made it back to our room, the sun was shining and I was stressing about missing out on a prime tanning opportunity. So we headed back down to the beach. We tried the swim-up bar and I had my first shot of tequila. 0 stars. Do not recommend. Lol. Despite all the alcohol we drank all week, I never felt drunk, and only felt a little buzzed by the two back to back mimosas I had during the sales pitch. They obviously don't give the non-vacation-club-members the good alcohol, and they water down the cocktails. But that's exactly how I like it. I don't want to taste the alcohol. Just give me the sugary, slushy goodness! 😁

I made this my phone background until we got home and Lucy said, "Oh my word. You have got to change that." 😂

When I started to feel like I was getting a little too much sun, I moved up to the pool to read my book. I read 4 books over 6 days. It was the life!

That night we ate at the Italian restaurant. It was nothing special. Except for the creme brulee. That was amazing.

Sunset over the lagoon from our balcony.

Ok, I'm going to have to save the last few days for another entry. This is already ridiculously long, and the story of our island visit isn't short. 😂 Thanks if you read this far! Stay tuned for part two soon!