Riviera Maya Mexico 2007

10 March 2007 - Grandma Maxine Kienert decided in the fall that it was time for another family vacation. The last (and first) one we went on was the Disney Cruise in 2000. She made plans for everyone who was available to go to an all-inclusive resort in the Cancun area, her treat. The week of March 11th was the week that worked best for everyone. And thus, Nick & I, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Dave, Kathy Josh, Ben, Cheryl, Steven, Erik, Rob, Stacey, Alissa, Tyler, Brian and finally Cassie met up in Milwaukee on a Saturday afternoon. A bunch of us watched the Badgers in the Big Ten semi-final tournament game in the afternoon, then ordered out for pizza in the evening. Spirits were high but little sleep was to be had that evening.

Mom & Nick kicking off the trip in style

11 Mar - The day started off at 2:45 am (1:45 am thanks to daylight savings time ending starting). After a round of jaegerbombs in the lobby (I did not partake), we were on the shuttle to the airport to being waiting in a series of lines. I was one of the lucky ones to be selected for extra screening when going through security. Oh well. We got on the plane around 6, and after a fairly uneventful charter flight, we landed in Cancun around 8:15 am local time. We got our baggage, made it through customs, assembled everyone, and we were finally on our way to our resort. The sky was partly cloudy, but it was already in the 80s when we landed. It felt so nice! Once we got to the hotel and got rooms (preceded by a complimentary glass of champagne), Nick, Cassie, and I took Grandma down to the beach and went swimming in the ocean. A little chilly to begin with, but it warmed up pretty quickly. It was a bit breezy, so there were some nice waves. We met up with some of the others going to eat lunch. This yummy buffet is going to do my figure no favors. After lunch, we managed to find the Badger-Buckeye Big Ten tournament championship game on our TV (kind of surreal - watching that here in Mexico), only to have the Badgers lose. I took a brief nap. A bunch of us met up later after Cassie and I got Grandma's room assignment and helped her to it via a wheelchair (her artificial knee's life is at an end). We had the buffet dinner again before heading up to Mom & Dad's room for one last beer. After that, Nick and I headed back to our room for a bit of reading before bed.

Pre-trip jaegerbombs (hard pass!)

12 Mar - This morning, I got up early and read for a bit outside. We met up with the others for breakfast, and then Mom, Cassie, Kathy, Josh & I took a cab up to Playa del Carmen. We walked up the main shopping strip, finding souvenirs. I ended up getting a silver necklace with an opal slider for $111, some painted bowls for for friends, and a little painted trinket box to add to my collection. We stopped for a drink at a bar that had swings, then went to Senor Frog's for a snack. That place was a lot of fun. Our table ended up winning a theme song contest and a free bottle of champagne. We took the long way back - getting detoured and ended up walking along the beach, and then back along the road. Not long after that, I took a walk with Brian so he could call home. We sat at the hotel bar with almost everyone else, got two shots of tequila in me (bad idea)  and had dinner at the buffet place. Some minor unpleasantness followed, but that was resolved. {Mom got mad that I (specifically me) hadn't called their room to let them know everyone else had gathered. Some unfortunate, knee-jerk things were said by both of us, but we eventually calmed down and talked through it.} Discussed some of our wedding plans with Stacey before going to bed.

Beach view

Hotel courtyard view

Josh & Cassie

Playa del Carmen

Swinging & drinking

Answer a question, get a shot!

Winning champagne!

Trees! Just in the middle of the road!

Grandma doing shots

Enjoying tequila just a bit too much...

13 Mar - I woke up this morning feeling terrible. I really didn't have a lot to drink yesterday, but the combination of what I had, being dehydrated and a bit upset the evening before probably caused my inability to keep any food in my stomach. It wasn't until mid-afternoon that I felt well enough to leave the room. I went down to the beach with Nick and swam in the ocean before getting some food to eat back in the room. Mom and I went to take care of some room and travel arrangements, then I came back to the room to relax with Nick. We met everybody before having dinner at the Mediterranean restaurant. It took a long time to get our food there, but we finally got it. It wasn't the greatest fish I had ever eaten. After dinner, Nick and Tyler played chess with a giant chessboard. I was still feeling a bit under the weather, so we went to bed early.

Tyler, Josh, Nick

14 Mar - We got up early this morning because we were going on our excursion today. Nick, Cassie, Braden, Josh, Ben, Brian and I decided to go on an adventure tour. We got picked up this morning at 7:30, then after picking up 6 other people, we were on our way with our tour guide Carlos and our van driver to Tulum, post-classical Mayan ruins along the sea. That was pretty cool to see. Lots of ruins, lots of lizards, and as we left, lots of people. The day started off cloudy, but it cleared up a bit and warmed up. We had some time after a tour and went down onto the beach. When we got back to where the van was parked, there were five guys dressed in traditional Mayan costume (voladores), who climbed up to the top of the pole in the middle of a clearing and lowered themselves upsides down from the top. Pretty cool. After some water and regrouping, we were back on the road (scary Mexican roads! They're perfectly okay with trees in the middle of city streets!) towards our adventure stop. We turned into a road by a sign that said "Hidden Worlds" and then had the bumpiest 20 minute ride I've ever experienced. It was like being on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. Only much longer. I'm really glad we hadn't eaten lunch. Our first adventure when we stopped was snorkeling in an underwater cave. It was so cool. We got snorkels, life vests, and a bit chilled in the water before snorkeling through the cavern. We didn't see a lot of fish, but it was really cool to see all the stalactites and -mites around us. Carlos led us into a tiny cavern and turned our only light off at one point. We didn't snorkel for much longer. Our next adventure was going on the dry zip line through the jungle. we climbed up a two- or three-story  tower and then zipped through for about 100 meters. We didn't go very fast, but it was still fun. The next adventure was rappeling into the cave. I tried to go upside down, but I couldn't hold myself that way for long. After we had all pretty much dried off, we went on our final adventure - zip-lining into the cave. That might have been freakin' cold, but awesome! We got to do it again, only backwards this time. That was pretty intense - not being able to see where we were going to land. We ate lunch after that (Carlos' adventure #5). It was a simple taco spread, but it was so good. We drove back after that (and buying a CD of all of the pictures that were taken of us while we were there). Pretty uneventful drive back (but still mildly unnerving). Once we got back to the hotel, we changed our suits and headed out to the beach for a dip and an attempt to rived the waves that were coming in. Cassie, Braden and Josh came over to our room before dinner and relaxed a bit with beers. Mom and Dad joined us after a bit, then we met the rest of the family for a late (8 pm) dinner at the Mexican restaurant at the hotel. Since we were such a big group, they only offered us a few entree choices. I think everyone opted for the fajitas. Between the soup and the appetizer, I was stuffed before the meal came. We spent more time back in our room with the others and Kathy too, before they decided to call it a night around 11:30.

At Tulum

Josh, Cassie, Brian, Braden, Nick, Cara, Ben

Down we go!

Ah, so young!

Chillin'

Enjoying a nice Italian meal?

15 Mar - We got up later this morning, met with Mom, Dad, Grandma and Braden for breakfast. Cassie joined us, and then we decided that us older "kids" would go into Playa del Carmen so Braden and Nick would have a chance to buy some souvenirs. Braden, Cassie, Josh, Nick and I set off from the hotel on foot at around 10 am. The distance between the hotel and the shopping area didn't seem that far when we took a cab the other day, but with the sunshine and high temps (high 80s all week), we immediately regretted the decision. We walked for about 40 minutes before we got there, feeling all sweaty and gross. It was nice when we finally got into an air-conditioned shop. We looked around at some goodies, then walked up to the bar with the swings. Got a drink, then walked back towards Senor Frog's. We sat right by the rail and took advantage of a little shower. Mom, Dad and Kathy were going to take Grandma on the ferry to Cozumel and we saw them before they boarded. We ate lunch at Senor Frog's before walking back to one of the souvenir markets. I picked up four hand-blown glasses with cobalt blue swirls on them. Very pretty. Nick got gifts, too. We did the smart thing and took a cab back to the hotel. Once we got back, Nick and I rested before going out to the beach. we swam in the sea for a while before getting dressed for dinner. we had reservations for the Italian restaurant at 6:30. These restaurants had a big problem with handling a group of our size, which was annoying. They only offered one meal choice (filet mignon) at the restaurant, which Cassie and I don't eat, and it was like pulling teeth to get something we could (we ended up with chicken parmesan that tasted like baked cheese). Moral of the story - stick with the cuisine of the country you're in. After dinner, Mom & Dad, Braden & Cassie, Dave, Kathy & Josh, and Nick & I ended up at a table near the pool, having a few Dos Equises (yeah, I probably didn't spell that right), shots of tequila and a few Cuban cigars that Nick and Braden bought today. We played Apples to Apples and drank until around 1 am. After Tuesday, I made it a point to drink a lot of water. I think I downed about 3 L.

Sunrise or sunset?

16 Mar - After breakfast, Nick and I took one last swim in the ocean, and then took advantage of having some quiet time before we had to check out at noon. I took a brief nap because it was going to be a long day. We met up with everyone else in the lobby and managed to take a family picture. Braden's flight left earlier than ours, so his airport transportation left at 1:15. After Braden left, eight of us (Mom, Dad, Cassie, Grandma, Rob, Tyler, Nick and I) took taxis down to Playa to see if we could find a place to watch the Badger's first NCAA tournament game. We found one off the main shopping drag, when ate some lunch while watching (as much as we could) the Badgers be down by 15 at the half to winning by 13 against Texas A&M Corpus Christi. A storm blew in as we were about to leave and stayed overcast and cool for the rest of the day. After the game, Nick, Mom, Cassie and I picked up a few last-minute souvenirs (I got another silver and opal slider for my necklace). We took a cab back, and then waited in the lobby until our shuttle came at 5:40. We all got loaded, no problem. We had another couple to pick up at another resort, but they were late and we left without them. The bus ride to the airport seemed to take forever. We finally got there, got our seats, got through security, then waited for the plane. It was one of the most uncomfortable flights I'd ever been on. We sat in an exit row, so our seats didn't recline. I tried to sleep, but between the frat boys two rows behind me and a woman who would not stop talking behind us, sleep eluded me. Cassie, Nick and I drove back to Madison after getting my car back at the hotel. Nick drove and I slept in the back. After dropping Cassie off, Nick and I got home around 5 am. The kitties were very happy to see us and didn't let us have any decent sleep. Oh well. At least we've got a few days to recover.

Stormy day

Hint of a rainbow

Mom looking at the stormy skies

Assembled family

I'm not really sure why she picked Cancun, but I am very happy Grandma took us all on this vacation. Nick and I had a great time overall. There are always minor (and major) annoyances traveling with so many people, but I think it was worth it overall. Thanks, Grandma! Let us know how we can make it up to you!

{transcribed 1/28/2020}