Mexico

For vacation this year my hubby booked a trip to Cancun, Mexico. Ahhhh! the beach....i love it! Anywho...instead of breaking things up over several days I am just going to do a big post and cross my fingers that it all comes out! So here it goes....

Day 1:
We stayed the previous night with my parents so we could fly out of the Nashville Airport because it was MUCH cheaper than flying out of Knoxville. We got to the airport 2 1/2hrs early and went to check in. We have to check in at the ticket counter because we are an international flight and have to show our passports and everything. So we get to the counter and the guy looks at us and tells us we have to have a letter from Austin's biological father to be able to take him out of the country. WHAT?!?!?!?! I very bluntly told him that I did not because Austin has no father listed on his birth certificate and that I am SOLE legal guardian of him. He then says that we will need to provide a copy of his birth certificate to be able to go. ACK! We live in Knoxville...we can't just run home and get it. So he gets on the phone with immigration in Nashville, Miami, and Mexico and talks to them. They all say that it shouldn't be a problem, BUT no one would give us a name to call back in case we did have a problem. So being really frustrated we ask if he will take a faxed copy of the birth certificate...he agrees and we try and get in touch with neighbors. He decides to give us the tickets and go down to the gate...woo hoo! We are going to get to go. He then proceeds to tell us that we might not get our luggage once we get to Cancun because we don't have a 90min layover in Miami. WHAT?!?!?!?!?! This day just keeps getting better. So in front of everyone in the ticketing line we have to open suitcases and get the essential clothes for the next day in case our stuff doesn't make it. So I grab swimsuits and a change of clothes. Of course, we couldn't bring any tolietries because of the regulations, but we decide we will be okay with what we have. Once we get to the gate one of our neighbors calls us back...comes to our house...gets Austin's birth certificate and faxes it to the number the agent gave us. So BJ runs back through security to the ticket counter and they begin boarding our plane. At the final call BJ comes RUNNING back to the gate with his shoes in his hand and NO birth certificate...the number the agent gave us was good but the machine was not...so it faxed to someone's office and that person was going to deliver it to the plane. She finally arrived after we were seated and handed us 2 copies (our neighbor faxed 2 just to be sure) and then left. Then the agent came to look at the birth certificate and said well it doesn't say there is no father. So, I tell him that is correct it does not list a father at all because that section was blank!!!!! So finally, we are on our way to Mexico. The rest of the trip was good and we got all the immigration papers and things filled out. We got to Cancun and of course our luggage didn't make it which made it easy to get through customs...hahaha! We had nothing to check! We finally made it to our BEAUTIFUL hotel and we went and ate and CRASHED!!!!!
Here are a few pics of the hotel:
This is a pic of the entry hall in our hotel....they had huge chandeliers and marble...it was GORGEOUS

This is the little bar area they have in the central part...it over looks the pool and ocean.

The hotel had two identical wings. You go through sliding glass doors into the open outside air to get to your room....We were on the third floor to the right at the end overlooking the ocean.

Here is the view from our balcony...ahhhhhhhh!

Left

Right


Day 2:
This was our first full day in Mexico. We woke up and got into our swim suits and went down to the gift shop to buy sunscreen so we could spend the day at the pool and ocean. (because of course ours was in our luggage). We went out to the pool...staked out a nice place with two umbrellas and settled in. The pool was really nice...

it even had a poolside bar and then a bigger bar off to the side. So I had a nice fruity drink...read....swam.....RELAXED!
We ate lunch from the bar to the side of the pool and then decided to head out to the beach. The beach was a little small and had lots of rocks (stationary and mobile ones)...so when you got in the loose ones would hit your feet and it really hurt. So we didn't stay long, but the water itself was GORGEOUS! It was the prettiest blue I have ever seen and was SOOOOO clear. You would never see the ocean that clear anywhere in the states.....just BEAUTIFUL!
The Rocks

The boys then decided that they wanted to go parasailing! Fun! Fun!


We went back to the room about 4:30pm because I could see that Austin was getting a little pink. So we went back and realized we were all burned. But no one complained of it hurting because it didn't, but it was REALLY itchy! We then showered and changed (our bags had made it to the hotel and were waiting in our room!) And went to eat at the Japanese place in the hotel. Afterwards we walked down the street and stopped at a convienience store to buy water and coke and snacks to keep in the room and then went back to CRASH!

Day 3:
This was my FAVORITE day! We had a tour planned to Chichen Itza (the Mayan Ruins). We loaded the bus early and made the 3 hour trek out there and let me tell you it was HOT!!!!! I have never been that hot in my whole life! We were given a guided tour of part of the facility and then we could break off on our own or follow the guide a little longer. We chose to stay with the guide. It is amazing! The city...the technology....EVERYTHING! I won't bore you with too many pics, but I will show you a few. Please keep in mind that there were THOUSANDS of people there and that it was very hard to get pics without people in them, but I tried my best (so I wouldn't have to photoshop all of them when I got home).
The main Temple

The Ball Court...they played with a rubber ball and the goal was to get the ball into the hoop. The person that did that had the honor of being sacrificed to the god's in the altar at the back of the field!

The carvings on the rocks that show the different warriors and tell the story of the ball court.

The Jaguar Temple

The Observatory...the story with this is very interesting.

Austin had to have a drum that the people were selling so I got a pic of him playing with it while we were sitting in the shade a moment trying to cool off.

We then left Chichen Itza and went to the lunch buffet. I am not a big buffet eater so I nibbled on a couple of things. We then left there and went to the Cenote. This is a naturally occuring well that they used for water. However, the ones at Chichen Itza had lost its canopy so they were kind of dirty so they took us to one that was about 10 minutes away that has been maintained as it would have back then. It was GORGEOUS my only problem was that they only gave us 40minutes there and that did not give BJ and I time to change, jump in, and change back before we left so we changed Austin quickly and let him jump in a couple of times. The water is crystal clear and there are fish in there (they are blind and don't bother people). The water also stays at a cool 68 degrees year round!
Austin walking down to the Cenote....

Austin swimming (we rented him a life jacket because these things are like 150ft deep!

The Cenote itself....isn't it GORGEOUS!

We then left and made the 3hr journey back. When we got back to the hotel we were tired and hungry and after a lunch buffet I wanted some good old American food. I know tacky huh? So we got a taxi to take us the 4km down the road and then found out that the short ride cost us $10. SERIOUSLY! Ouch...we decided we would figure out how the take the bus the next day....hehe! We ate at Margaritaville which was an experience. We ate at one in Myrtle Beach and loved it. They had people on stilts making balloons things...coloring sheets....and a really great atmosphere. Well, this one was aimed at college kids. There was LOUD music and the people were singing all the "added" parts to the Buffet songs, there was a conga line that had people going to the stage where someone was pouring a shot of tequila in their mouths from a bottle, and then they had a beer drinking contest. Wow...I was trying to get my check and run....I so did not want my son to see all that stuff. YIKES! We then took another $10 cab ride back to the hotel and crashed!

Day 4:
This was our snorkeling day. We got to take our own "speedboat" (they really weren't fast) out to the snorkeling grounds and swam around a little. At this place they make you wear a life jacket all the time which kind of stinks, but I can see why after seeing some of the people out there. I am serious when I say there were girls shrieking because a fish came near them.....HELLO....you are snorkeling what did you expect? After that we went and ate a quick lunch at the Mexican McDonald's right next door and then headed back to the hotel for a shower and change. We then went shopping at Market 28. This is a flea market that has a good variety of stuff. We bought a few things, but were overwhelmed by the people pressuring you to buy something. You just couldn't look at stuff. SO obviously no pics from there as we didn't stay long. We then headed back toward the hotel and went swimming until about 9pm and decided we were tired so we went back to our room took showers and ordered room service.

Day 5:
We got up and went swimming in the morning and then by lunch time a storm had started to brew and we decided that we were going to back to our room and eat. We then showered and changed and realized that the sunscreen we bought back in the states had turned us green...yep green. So we tried to scrub it off without any luck and decided to go out shopping anyway. We took a bus down the street and went to another market. After the same type of experience we wandered further down and found a mall! NO PRESSURE shopping. My idea of a good time! So I was able to look around and buy a few souvieniers and then we left the mall and headed back down the strip to eat. Austin wanted to eat at Senor Frogs so we stopped in and grabbed some dinner. We then hopped the bus back to our hotel and laid around and watched movies while we packed.
Here is Austin and BJ in one of those stop and take your picture kind of deals...



Day 6:
We slept in and then went downstairs for breakfast. We then went back to the room to get our luggage together and take it downstairs so we could check out. We then roamed around the hotel and did a few things waiting on the shuttle to come and pick us up. We stayed at the hotel because it was raining that day.Austin found a new game to play where he threw a rock at the back of the chair and let it bounce back at him and then just did that over and over again.

The storms stopped and I headed out to get a couple of last minute pics, but it was so cloudy and gloomy that they didn't turn out very well. But I did get this picture of the HUGE waves we had that day!

The rest of the day was a blur of travel. We arrived at the Nashville airport around midnight and my dad came and picked us up. So we headed to my parents house to stay the night. We then got up early to come home because Austin's team had baseball tournaments that weekend. They played 5 games in over 10hrs at the ballfield on a very hot weekend, but they did come out the champions and they were very excited. We also took BJ out to a nice dinner and to see Indiana Jones for his birthday which was the Saturday we came back! All in all it was a great trip! The people were very friendly and the places were very nice.