A Mexican Adventure (Part One)

This summer, we met up with our friends, the Sparks, for an afternoon of fun and food. We met them years ago when we all lived in California (aka a lifetime ago) but they moved to the east coast right around the same time as we did (more than 6 years ago now!). We live about two hours apart, but don't get to see each other nearly as often as we'd like to now that we have kids and serious jobs and such. Anyway, during our wonderful day together, Jennifer mentioned that they were going to the Mayan Riviera in Mexico in December and we should join them. Her mother has a timeshare at a resort that is near all sorts of amazing things - including one of the 7 wonders of the new world. We smiled politely and nodded a lot but I don't think that Marty and I seriously considered going at that point.

Of course the idea of going to a resort in Mexico was appealing, but it would mean 1) Going through the process of getting passports for everyone, as Marty and the kids didn't have passports and mine was about to expire and had my maiden name 2) Taking our children to Mexico, which has been in the news practically every day for the absurd violence and crazy kidnappings 3) Spending lots of money - which we generally don't do 4) Taking a 2 year old and a 4 year old on a 4-5 hour plane ride to a country where we don't speak the language, aren't familiar with and aren't comfortable in.

We, as a family, are not really risk takers. We don't do things like take vacations in Mexico...or do we? A few days after our meet up with the Sparks, Marty and I started talking about how stressed out we were at work and how nice it would be to take a relaxing vacation. We could really use a vacation. But in Mexico? I approached this - like I do with everything - with caution and lots and lots of research. Through my endless researching, I discovered that 1) Getting passports is annoying but can be done relatively quickly and painlessly. 2) There's very little violence in the Cancun and Mayan Riviera areas of Mexico - it's really more the border towns that we keep hearing about with the crazy gun violence and kidnappings. 3) I found plane tickets for absurdly cheap ($200 round trip! You can't get a flight to Florida for that price!) 4) Other people take their kids all over the place, why can't we? Plus the Sparks are very experienced world travelers that speak Spanish.
Lucas with his great grandfather the day before the trip
So the decision was made. We got passports, booked our plane tickets (the cheap flight was out of an airport about 2 hours away but at HALF the cost per person - $800 total - it was worth being slightly inconvenienced) and began talking to our kids about Mexico.

Finally "game day" arrived, and Lauren generously drove us to a hotel next to the airport (so we could just roll out of bed and get to the airport for our 7:30am flight instead of driving the two hours to the airport at 3am). We've traveled plenty of times before, but have never stayed in a one room hotel. Now I can see why. The kids were WILD. They were excited about the vacation, excited about all of us sleeping in the same room, excited about sharing beds (Marty and Luke in one bed, me and Ellie in the other), excited that they could jump from bed to bed...it was just exciting. For everyone this is, except me and Marty. To add to all of the excitement, we all also had colds. After more than an hour of trying to settle down all of the excitement, the coughing began. Lucas fell asleep but coughed every five seconds and it was keeping me and Marty up. We tried all sorts of tricks to get him to stop - Vicks, laying with him upright to let his nose drain, saline solution, steam from the shower...Eventually Marty was patting him on the back and he threw up (on Marty). Marty handed him over to me to get him cleaned up and Lucas threw up again (on me). In the end, we finally got him to sleep and the coughing stopped, but Marty and I probably got a collective two hours of sleep between the coughing and kicking children we were sleeping with. 5:00am came waaaaay too early.

This vacation was not starting off quite the way in envisioned. LESSON LEARNED: Do not stay in a tiny one room hotel with your children right before a vacation (or possibly ever). We got to the airport, checked in, breezed through security, grabbed some breakfast and before we knew it, it was time to board the plane. That part was much easier than anticipated... kids were great in line, good listeners and the full-body-scan-groping-security was not even a part of it. Actually, the kids loved being able to take their shoes off at security. Hey, maybe that's why they do it... 'it's for the kids!'

Our first flight was a quick 20 minute flight to a nearby city with a short layover, and then we'd board a different plane to Cancun. Because it was such a quick flight, the plane was one of those tiny puddle jumper planes and we got to walk out onto the runway and climb the stairs to the plane. What an exciting first ever flight for Lucas! To add to the excitement, it was rainy and fairly turbulent. It wasn't scary turbulence, just not a smooth ride. Right after we landed, Marty look over at Luke, who was sitting there starring at the back of the seat. Marty said "You ok, buddy?" and Luke responded by throwing up all over himself. And it turned out that while we had lots of carry on bags, all of Luke's clothes were packed in the checked baggage. LESSON LEARNED: Always pack a change of clothes in your carry on bags, especially when flying with children.

So, we went into a gift shop at the airport and got a clearance t-shirt (about 3 sizes too big) for Luke to throw on for the final leg of the journey. The flight to Cancun was good - the kids were fairly patient and well behaved considering that it was about 4 hours and they typically don't sit still for more than 15 minutes at a time. Lauren had given them both backpacks filled with activities, which kept them entertained, we brought out the DVD player, which helped, and we also took many, many trips to the bathroom (I think they just liked having an excuse to get up!).

We arrived and went through customs and met up with the Sparks, whose plane got in about 30 minutes after ours. Elise and Vienna (who is 6) began holding hands and acting like best friends within about 45 seconds! When we all stepped out of the airport, it was a shock to the system - in a good way. It was at least 40-50 degrees warmer than it had been when we left for the airport that morning. Of course we were all dressed in long sleeves and long pants (except for Lucas who was sporting his airport t-shirt) and Elise immediately began complaining that it was hot. As we made our way over to the Taxi's, I looked over at Ellie and realized she didn't have her shirt on! I immediately grabbed her shirt, which was in her hand, and began putting it back on asking her what on earth she was doing? She simply relied "I'm HOT!" LESSON LEARNED: Elise will never travel to Cancun for Spring Break when she is a teenager, as this area apparently makes her randomly take her shirt off in public.

Turns out that we arrived in Mexico on The Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which is a festive occasion where Mexicans celebrate the day that Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared on Tepeyac hill to Juan Diego. Once we got to the resort and settled into our room, it was decided that Marty and William were going to head into a nearby town to catch some of the celebration, and Jennifer and I would hang back at the hotel with the kids, who were exhausted and probably not up for an adventure like that on the first night. Once the guys left, Jennifer, the kids and I headed out to walk around the grounds of the resort to get a lay of the land and find something to eat for dinner. About 10 minutes into the walk, we realized this was a mistake. The grounds were HUGE, slightly confusing, relatively dark and not great lighting. We walked for what felt like miles and both Elise and Lucas were seriously melting down. They were so hungry and so exhausted (Elise hadn't napped and Lucas only napped for about an hour and we'd gotten up that morning at 5am and hadn't slept well the night before) I felt bad that I'd even attempted to take them out in the first place. LESSON LEARNED: On the first night of a vacation that requires lots of travel, order room service and turn in early. We finally found a little grocery store, headed back to the room, through together a quick dinner and we all went to bed, completely exhausted! (Marty and William enjoyed getting the flavor of a local Mexican custom, but really, I need to stress, the lesson is, first night... No one leaves, Room Service.)

On Monday morning, Lucas woke up at his usual time, which unfortunately is an hour earlier in the Mayan Riveria. 4:45am! We were definitely thinking this was a bad sign, but he was in a very chipper and happy mood, so we rolled with it and hoped that his body would quickly adjust to the time change. Once everyone else was up (much later!) we got ready for the day and headed to the nearest big town, Playa del Carmen, to do some grocery shopping so that we'd have food handy at our place and not always have to eat out. The taxi dropped us off about a block from the beach, so we decided since we hadn't seen the water yet, that we'd run over to the beach to check it out before getting our groceries.

The beach was GORGEOUS and just what you'd think of when you think of Mexican beach - fine, white sand and crystal clear water. We hadn't planned for a beach trip and didn't have bathing suits, but of course we couldn't resist the temptation to dip our feet in the water, which led to the adults soaking in the gorgeous view and gorgeous day and the kids playing at the ocean line, which eventually led to the kids getting a little wet, which eventually led to the kids getting drenched and covered in fine white sand. Reminding us that we were, indeed, in a different country though, at one point a bunch of police dune buggies pulled up to the lifeguard station near where we were sitting and the adults were slightly surprised by the bullet proof vests and machine guns that all of the police were armed with. We weren't sure whether to feel incredibly safe or incredibly worried. Go figure...there is something about heavily armed paramilitary that makes one feel unsafe. The kids didn't even notice though, so luckily there was no explaining that needed to be done about firearms on the beach!

All the the fun came to an abrupt stop when Lucas rubbed one of his wet, sandy hands in his eye and began to freak out. We tried to find somewhere to wash them off, and eventually ended up using one of the beach hotel's outdoor shower while William distracted the hotel security guard who definitely did not want us using it. Once everyone was soaked but sand-free, I realized that I did not have a change of clothes for anyone. LESSON LEARNED: Do not ever leave the hotel room while on vacation without a change of clothes for everyone. This one complements the never go on an airplane without clothes... basically keep a change of clothes with you at all times. We quickly walked up to the shops with our soaked children and bought a bunch of Playa del Carmen clothes at a very expensive price (because we'd lost our bargaining power dragging in our wet half naked children!)

Once everyone was dry and decked out in their new clothes, we went back to the beach to a restaurant on the sand for lunch. We had a wonderful lunch on the beach with great food - and we were even serenaded by a two-man band! After lunch we went to the grocery store, which turned out to be way more of a process than we imagined. Knowing very little Spanish was definitely to our disadvantage, as we had to rely almost solely on pictures to figure out what stuff was, and the warning to avoid fresh fruits and such made things limiting (considering that our kids practically live on fresh fruit.) Also, because it was right around nap time, Lucas essentially passed out on Marty's shoulder and the two of us took turned carrying him around the store (sleeping kids are heavy to carry around!). We finally got all loaded up, got in a taxi and headed back to the resort. It was later in the afternoon and a little cool (mid 70's) by the time we got back, but we took a quick trip to the pool anyway! The pools in the resort were amazing, and most of them were very shallow, which gave the kids lots of freedom and independence (which they loved)! We all crashed that night ridiculously early but completely content.

Our first full day in Mexico was such an adventure. And we had so much more in store for the week...and many, many more LESSONS LEARNED.