Tulum – Day 8

OK, at long last and only one month late, the final installment of our Tulum adventure (and what an adventure our last day was!)

It started out completely normal: yoga, breakfast, beach.  I then headed back to the room first to finish packing, shower and change.  Eleni & Shelby made their way back too, and once we had all of our stuff, we went to the lobby to meet our driver, Marco Polo.  Yep, his real name.  We checked out, filled out comment cards for our favorite staff members and loaded into Marco Polo’s town car, me in the front, Eleni & Shelby in back.  It’s about 90 minutes from Tulum to Cancun.  Marco Polo didn’t speak much English, so we made a small attempt at chit-chat here and there with my bad Spanish.  About 30 minutes into the ride, I noticed our speed getting a little irregular and some slight swerves here and there.  As I look over, I notice Marco Polo’s eyes struggling to stay open. yep, that’s right, our driver was falling asleep at the wheel.  I tried to up the small talk to keep him engaged but it was tough.  Luckily he also figured out he was struggling and rambled something about stopping for a drink.  Yes! Great!  We pulled over at a small store, he got himself a Coke (which I had to open) and we were back in business.  Our speed picked right back up and we made it to the Cancun airport in one piece.

The terminal we flew out of was pretty new and sparkly.  After checking in we spent the rest of our pesos on guacamole, beers and fajitas before our looonnnggg flight home.  We were flying straight into the jet stream so it was a slow 6 and half hour trek back, and bumpy along the way.  It was especially bumpy landing in Seattle amongst 50 mph winds.  I was very happy to land.  Immigration took forever despite our efforts to jump lines and find a quick way through.  Finally got home around 10:00pm.

Now that its a month later, i really want to be back there – I haven’t been warm since coming home – Seattle seems to be stuck hovering around 36 degrees and I’m tired of it!  But at least we have one thing to look forward to:  April 3rd, 2009, a new Fast & Furious will be released.  For those of you following the saga, this new movie is a sequel to #1 and #2, but a prequel to #3, Tokyo Drift.  For some reason though, it’s just called Fast & Furious, like the original.  Therefore, I would like to share Eleni’s suggestions for the new installment:

Fast & Furious: Vin Again

Fast & Furious: Vin Some, Lose Some

Fast & Furious: Vin and Cheese

Fast & Furious: Vinners Take All

Fast & Furious: Vinner’s Circle

Fast & Furious: Drift King Mattress

 

Now I just have to make sure I see #2 before then! 

Tulum – Day 7

Today we really broke out of our routine.  Ok, not really:  Yoga, breakfast, beach, stretching, beach, lunch, beach, snack, spa, room, dinner, lobby bar, movie.  Another good day!

One of the beach excursions finally featured the infamous ocean trampoline though.  All week we watched as folks swam out to lay around on it, but rarely was anyone really jumping on it.  Today we ventured out and discovered the reason why – it’s pretty much a death trap.  First, it’s really hard to get on it – I felt like a beached whale trying to flop up.  Then, all the chains are totally rusted out from the saltwater and some aren’t covered well.  And then when you do jump, you don’t go far and it’s a pretty small space.  So, sadly, ocean trampoline did not live up to our expectations.

Spa time also had some unexpected twists – Eleni and I had ordered different massage but ended up in an adjoining room, kinda like a couples massage.  It was fine, just funny.

We went back to the Italian place for dinner, but had to wait about an hour before getting seated, so we spent that time at the Sugar Reef bar first.  We had had a wait that long the whole week so it was surprising, also because it was Monday night.  We had thought we might have the place to ourselves that day since it was the Monday after the holidays, but all these new people showed up.  Who were they?  Don’t they have work and school?

After a final drink at the lobby bar (where they were out of Baileys.  I apparently drank through the bottle during the week and they didn’t restock), we headed back to the room and were thrilled to find the original Fast & Furious on the TV.  It was as awesomely bad as #3.  Of course, now we have rent #2 back in Seattle…

Tulum – Day 6

No yoga on Sundays, so we slept ‘til 8:30am then made plans to visit the Tulum Ruins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulum).  Breakfast at our usual, then a cab to the Ruins, had us ready to tour at 10:00am.  We hired a guide, Nelsy, who gave us a 45 minute tour and history lesson which was great.  She definitely pointed out many nuances we would have missed just wandering on our own.

From the Ruins we taxied over to Zamas, the hotel in Tulum where Eleni stayed before.  They have  a great restaurant, so we wanted to eat lunch there.  Imagine our shock when the waiter said they were out of guacamole.  I got fantastic fish tacos, and we happily ended up with some guacamole to boot.  Across the street was a great craft shop, and we also walked through Tulum a bit for some shopping. 

Back at the hotel, we quickly hit the pool to cool off.  It was HOT at the Ruins and HOT at lunch, so we were ready to swim, especially up to the Swim-up bar.  We lounged pool-side until abs class, and then longed some more until the sun started to set.

I forgot to mention earlier that this trip is essentially a cruise on land.  Therefore there is an entertainment staff that puts on all the abs classes, etc.  For some unknown reason, they call us the Spice Girls which we think is funny.

Back at the room as we got ready for dinner a small gecko ran into the room as Eleni was putting her suit out to dry.  He quickly ran under the bed as we all jumped up on chairs.  We sat around stunned for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do.  Eventually we had to start moving and then perfect timing occurred.  As we left for dinner, the guy was arriving for turn-down service.  Eleni explained the situation and we think he was gonna get it.  Of course, for all we know, he could still be in here.  For dinner we tried out the asian restaurant, Himitsu.  It wasn’t very Asian, but still good.  We finished off the night watch the Bourne Identity.

Slogan of the Day:  Dreams:  Wear what you want

Drink of the Day: Miami Vice

Tulum – Day 5

Yoga on Saturdays is apparently focused on breathing, so we were ambivalent about going.  Instead we took life easy ‘cause Eleni had an upset tummy.  We grabbed breakfast at the World café, and then I hit the beach for stretching class in lieu of yoga while Eleni & Shelby found us some chairs under a shady thatched roof umbrella.  We napped and read until lunch, though Shelby escaped for a quick work-out at the gym.  Eleni kept napping while we went to El Patio for lunch (chicken fajitas), and she eventually went back to the room to nap in the hammock.  Looking for shade ourselves after lunch, we of course went to the Lobby bar to read for awhile, until it was spa time.

Spa time!  We bought a package of six massages to split between the three of us, one today and one Monday.  Today I got a hot stone massage which was nice and relaxing, but started late an didn’t use the stones to their full potential.  The other girls enjoyed their massages too, and we met backup in the Jacuzzi afterwards to continue spa time until we were too hot and had to escape.

Eleni still wasn’t feeling great, so she stayed in while Shelby & I tried out the French restaurant, Bordeaux.  I usually don’t like French food but I had French onion soup, stuffed chicken, and apple tart that were all really good.  Afterwards we came back in to grab Eleni and go to the Lobby bar, but we got sucked into Sleepless in Seattle instead….

Slogan of the Day:  Dreams makes everything better.

Tulum – Day 4

Like the days before, we started with yoga, then breakfast, then changing into beach wear sand scouting out our seats for the day.  It’s amazing how early people get out there to claim beach chairs, but we got a good set today.  Before lounging though, Shelby & I joined the kayak tour, which was short and sweet.  We had a two-person plastic kayak, with 4 others in our group and a guide.  He took us out from the beach towards one of the reefs, but the water was murky today and we couldn’t see much.  Some of the waves coming in were big, but fun to ride over.  I wasn’t concerned about sharks until Shelby brought the topic up, then I got a little nervous one would come throw our plastic boat over and devour us.  But, we survived, and surfed our way back into the beach, found Eleni, and assumed our regular positions in the sun, books in hand.

We camped out there all afternoon except for a lunch break and abs class at 4:30pm.  The afternoon wind and clouds moved in so we hit the lobby bar and then our room to get ready for the Caribbean fiesta.  The Caribbean fiesta featured a band, contests, big seafood spread and a craft show.  Essentially being at Dreams is like being on a cruise, only we never leave port.

Dinner was yummy, my favorites being the roasted corn and lobster tacos.  But the silly contests were too much for us, so we quickly exited after a quick glance at the craft fair (nothing we could live without) over to our home away from home, the Lobby Bar.  Desserts at the Caribbean fiesta had been a bust, so we were thrilled that our favorite chocolate chip cookies would be arriving in 20 minutes.  Our fantastic waitress brought us plate of 4, to which we quickly added 5 more so we each got 3!  Mmmm…

To help us fall asleep we checked Slap Shot out of the DVD library.  It was touted as one of the top ten sports movies of all-time (84% on Rotten Tomatoes per Shelby M), but we barely made it 1/3 of the way through.  We should have gotten Goonies instead…

Slogan of the Day:  Anything is possible at Dreams

Tulum – Day 3

Happy New Year!  Up again at 7:40am for 8:00am yoga.   Gabriel let us know he was thankful to make it to work that day because apparently a bunch of the staff couldn’t get here from Playa del Carmen because transportation wasn’t running on the holiday.  We spent the next hour practicing or inhalations through our nostrils, relaxing our internal organs and saluting the various corners of the earth.  Like yesterday, we followed that up with breakfast and then assuming our beach attire.  Today’s plan was to read and nap until lunch, grab lunch, and then attend Bingo at 2:00pm.  Reading and napping went very well, and lunch was good at the Seaside Grill (fish tacos and coconut ice-cream).  BTW, I’m reading a book that is hilarious, The Ridiculous Race, about two friends who set from LA in opposite directions to race each other around the world without using planes.

Bingo was interesting – at first we were the only ones there but the activities guys rounded up a few more folks too.  Prizes were t-shirts, water bottles and bags.  They had one of those round containers you roll the balls around in and then one drops out, but our guy announced he was just going to choose the numbers.  So, he would spin the balls, grab one, but then choose whatever number he wanted.  This would cause mass confusion at times when he occasionally called the number actually on the ball, but that number would be one he had already yelled out randomly.  The guys were funny, but this version of Mexican Bingo leaves much to be desired – sad, considering Shelby & I were excited about going to Bingo whenever they had it.

After Bingo, Eleni went to the pool while Shelby & I investigated playing tennis.  The courts were booked ‘til Saturday afternoon so we reserved one for then.  We also stopped by the spa and made massage appointments for Friday and Monday.  Shelby went back to the room for a bit and I went to the pool to find Eleni, where we jumped in to try the Swim-Up bar.  Exciting concept, but it wasn’t in the sun, so once we got our mango tangos we swam our drinks to the other side the pool and watched the paper airplane contest that was about to begin.  Shelby found us poolside where we stayed until the afternoon rain cloud came sweeping by.  We packed up and hit our favorite spot, the Lobby Bar, for tea, coffee and cookies while the clouds went away.  The wind whipped up though, so as the sun began to fall we came back to the room to shower and rest before dinner (because it had been an exhausting day so far, all that reading and napping).

For dinner we tried the Italian restaurant, Portofino which was pretty good.  Once inside you would have no idea we were still in Mexico.  I had Grissini with prosciutto and onion marmalade, then chicken stuffed with spinach and prosciutto.  For dessert we all had chocolate cannoli, but they were neither chocolate-y nor cannoli-y.

We capped off the night with drinks at our favorite the spot, the Lobby Bar, and then checked out the Fast & Furious 3:  Tokyo Drift, to (aka Rapido y Furioso Tres: Reto Tokyo) watch back in our room.  It was as horrible as one would expect, but the racing scenes were fun, so we fast-forwarded through the dramatic emotional scenes and just watched the car crashes.  It ended with a cameo by the original star of fast & furious, Vin Diesel – priceless!

Slogan of the Day:  You can do anything you want at Dreams