We're up and out to breakfast by 8:30. It's not exactly the 'traditional fare' I was hoping for, but it was certainly Mexican. I was careful to avoid any and all food that I could get at home (imlette, french toast, pancakes, etc) and stuck to stuff I've never had before. Hey, when in Rome, right? Becides - it was all delicious!
We had an orientation meeting at 9:15 - they warned us not to book any excursions without going through our tour representitive first (loads of scams out there) but fortunately the two trips we booked last night turned out to be legit... phew! Plus, we actually got out two excursions for a few bucks cheaper that what we were told to expect, so that's kewl.... well, aside from that fact that it cost me over $300 for two day trips - but, hey, it's a vacation... spend money... that's what ya do.
After orientation we cross the street and check out the marina on the lagoon side of the strip... lagoon... or should I say swamp? Naw, most of it's pretty nice, but just where we happened to see first - well, that reminded me of the everglades. Didn't see any aligators, but LOTS of iguanas! They're everywhere!
We decided to head north, on foot, up the highway 1.5 KM to the Ruinas El Rey. It was 30 pesos each ($3 US) to walk unescorted through 1/2 a KM of 700 year old ruins. Totally cool! Carole took lots of pictures, Mostly of iguannas though...
Carole has blisters already (day one? ugh!) so we walk back along the beach. This way was MUCH more refreshing, plus we got to walk through a topless beach - quite a bonus!
At 1PM we clean up (we're sweaty... it's like 34 degrees...), lather up, go to lunch, then lounge on the beach. (very good Mexican lunch - mui caliente!)
We're off the beach by 4, and I discover one small spot that I must've forgot to put lotion on - right between my nechlace and upper back, on the back of my neck - so I've got a crimson crecent above my shoulders now. Kewl. It's burned, but very small. The rest is great. I'd call this a pretty successful day in the sun, considering my Irish genes...
Carole, on the other hand (oh, sweet irony) is pretty burned - ha! That'll teach her not to make fun O' the Irish! I went out to the ocean to try to catch some waves but didn't have much luxk - only got dragged down once, ate some sand and snorted some salt, but came up okay... exhausted, but okay. So we're going to chillax in the A/C for an hour, shower, go have some drinks, then it's out for dinner. I've had 8 glasses of Dos Equis (Can I just call it 'XX' from now on?) since noon - a very slow drinking day so far - gotta catch up!
Back in from having drinks by 6:50 PM. I dunno, maybe I had 8, 10, 12 cups of XX? Feels like a sixpack, so it's probably about twelve. We met Barbie and Ken from Calgary. That was interesting. Dinner is pretty quick - we chill in the room for 15, but some soothe-o-caine on da burnz then head back out to dinner.
There's a "nice" restaurant at the hotel, bu it requires reservations. We make reservations for 8PM on Thursday - hopefully we're back from Isla Mujeres on time!
Another phrase to remember when sitting at the bar drinking your face off is "Otra de lo mismo" which means 'same again, please!'.
After dinner we got to see the "Welcome Show" in the open air auditorium. I have another 13 XX (yes, I'm keeping track, and so's da wife) by the end of it - certainly enough - I'm glad I'm not driving anywhere, but I sure slept well! The live band was like a caricature of a Mexican band - they played Santana covers, Tequilla, La Bamba, and every other typical mariachi staple you could think of. I really wanted to go up on stage and grab the guitar, and just wail, but luckily I was just one or two beers short of making a fool out of myself. Anyway, that was our first full day in Mexico!