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

Tulum – Day 2

We got a wake-up call at 7:30am and briefly debated going back to sleep, but in the end got our boots up and out the door for yoga on the beach. It was a good way to start the trip and our teacher, Gabriel, was especially entertaining. He was very concerned about “inhalation” and making sure we were all using our nostrils. After yoga we grabbed breakfast then got changed to hang at the beach. We got three chairs and sat staring at the ocean as we soaked up some warm sun.

After an hour, Shelby & I hit the pool for water aerobics, but it was not very aerobic. Just lots of lame arm motions – though there was a live DJ. But we called it quits after about 15 minutes and went back to our chairs. But what about the rental car you may be asking? Ahh yes, the adventure continued. I went the concierge, who at that moment was Juan and he looked like he was about 12 years old. I told Juan my story and gave him the numbers for Hertz so he could call around. After a few calls, we determined they couldn’t find my reservation, but there was one car in Playa del Carmen. An hour away? Uh no. Another phone call later, Juan got me a new reservation and Fiat on hold in Tulum. I went back to tell the girls, and we planned to go get it after lunch (which was lime soup and chicken quesadilla btw).

We taxied to the Hertz office and were once again greeted with “we have no cars.” Excuse me? I just called two hours ago, here’s my reservation. Still, “no cars.” Unbelievable – we thanked them for nothing and exited the shop. Next door was a supermarket so that brightened my spirits briefly (I love foreign grocery stores) but there’s was nothing exciting to be bought. We taxied back to Dreams with new plans of staying put which was fine, given the jam-packed schedule of activities available each day. The valet was surprised to see us return without a car since we had asked him where to park when we returned

I got on the phone to Hotwire to get my refund in process since I was never gonna get a car, while Eleni headed to the pool. Unsurprisingly, Hotwire had difficulty reaching anyone at Hertz Mexico to speak with and verify my story, so it may take a few days to process.

Shelby & I then went to the gym to work out, but it was much smaller than expected and the few cardio machines were all in use. Instead, we hit the 4:30pm Buns & Thighs class on the beach which was great. The instructor, Andreas, was pretty funny and the setting couldn’t be beat as the sun was starting to set. Several kicks and squats later, we celebrated with the drink of the trip, the mango tango, and met Eleni back at the room. We hung out on our little patio and took turns showering in preparation for the New Years Eve festivities.

Normally you can go to whatever restaurant you want at the resort with no reservations, but for this special night you had to make a choice and were assigned a seating time. Rather than paying an extra $29 for a dinner at the fancy restaurants which got you a bottle wine, we got an 8:00pm reservation at the “free” option and planned to just order wine. Just as we were about to leave our phone rang. “Are we expecting a call?” asked Eleni. Nope, but we should answer it. Guess who – Hertz! They had a car for us if we came to pick it up right now. Seriously? At 8:00pm on New Year’s Eve – Umm no, we have plans. They let us know that they may not have it in the morning and also that they were closed the next day – since we were fairly certain they may not have it even if we sprinted out the door that minute, we told them no thanks and walked to dinner.

Normally the World Café, where we were eating, is buffet central, but for tonight it was seated dining with a set menu. However, the staff at this restaurant was not used to having to seat folks and serve individuals, so the whole evening was a slow string of comedic errors. Luckily we got there a couple minutes before the majority of our other 8:00pm diners but it still took a few minutes to get seated. Once there, we got some wine and our first dish, a lobster mousse on a pastry puff spoon. But after that things started to derail – this staff was not as fluent in English yet as, and as more guests arrived they had trouble keeping track of who had been served what so far, etc. Eventually we got our second course, a nutty soup of pistachios and almonds which I really liked, but it was a long wait for our main entrée and our wine glasses had not been refilled. We finally tagged one of the other waiters, a young girl who spoke pretty well and got her to fill our wine glasses, and then finally our waiter took our dinner choices. This is where the language issue became a problem because Shelby is pescatarian and both entrée options had meat on them. She tried to ask for just the veggie crepe side dish listed on one of the options and we thought it got through. We waited some more, and managed to get some bread from the girl, but still no main food. A different waiter then came by and took our order again, and a few minutes later we ended up with two rack of lambs with scallops and one beef/tuna/shrimp entrée. We did a bunch of swapping around the plates and end everyone ended up with something to eat. For dessert we were supposed to get crème brulee and we waited and waited. Our waiter came over and said “ OK, Happy New Year!” thinking we should be leaving and we said, where’s our dessert? Ohhh, no more crème brulee. What? What is there? Chocolate mousse. Great, bring three please. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Where’s our chocolate mousse? No more desserts left – maybe cookies? Great, bring us anything. At the same time, we see brulees and mousses going by elsewhere. We manage to snag one lemon mousse and someone else brings us two frozen flans. The mousse wasn’t bad, but the flans were horrible. Not a good way to end a 2 hour 20 minute marathon dinner.

Earlier in the day we had discovered some yummy chocolate chip cookies at the Lobby Bar, so we made our way over there to see if there were any left. There weren’t, nor were there any ice creams, so we settled for three glasses of champagne and some pretzels. At 11:30 we hit the beach for the rock & roll concert and New Year countdown. It was warm and breezy and a nice spot to clink glasses with two good friends. The band was playing oldies but we didn’t stick around for long. We still needed dessert, so we went back to our room and ordered room service – a cheese quesadilla with guacamole, a piece of chocolate cake and piece of cheesecake. Now that was a fitting end to New Years Eve.

Slogan of the Day: You can have whatever you want at Dreams (except dessert)

SEA-CUN-PDC-TUL – Day 1

About a month ago, Shelby M asked if I was interested in going to Mexico some time.  I said sure and we casually started looking.  As we thought more about it, we decided New Years would be good to go and spent an afternoon finalizing plans.  Eleni wanted to go too, so we got ourselves booked at a 4-star all-inclusive resort for 30% off at Orbitz and we all had Alaska miles to use so tickets were only $60 for taxes.  Sunday we decided to get a car too, so we booked that and were set.

We left Tuesday morning on a great direct flight to Cancun  – departs Seattle at 9:00am and lands in Cancun at 5:00pm, just in time for happy hour.  We worked some magic with the gate agent to get us seated together and the flight wasn’t too bad – we spent a lot of time on the crossword puzzle at the back of the Alaska Airlines magazine.  Landed in Cancun a little early, got through immigration and even got three green lights going through Customs.  Now all we had to do was pick-up our car and we would be off to meet our friend Daphne for happy hour at the Ritz in Cancun.

This sadly, is where our story begins to falter.  Despite having a pre-paid reservation, we were informed there were no cars available and they didn’t know when one would turn up.  How do we get to Tulum then, 90 minutes south of Cancun?  By bus apparently, and then call hertz to see if Tulum Hertz has any cars.  No other agencies seemed to have cars either, so bus was our only option at that point.  Luckily it was leaving in 5 minutes, but not straight to Tulum of course – first we had to stop in Playa del Carmen.

We texted Daphne the bad news we wouldn’t be coming to see her and boarded our coach.  The bus was full and the ride lasted just over an hour – we were entertained on the way down with a showing of Daddy Daycare in espanol.  Once in Playa del Carmen, we had 75 minutes to kill before the bus to Tulum, so we wandered down the Pedestrian Mall in search of food.  Playa del Carmen seems very touristy, so I’m glad we’re not based there.  We quickly scarfed down a plate of guacamole & chips, then I had chicken fajitas.  It was nearing 8:30pm, so we paid up and trudged a block back to the bus station for our next bus.

There were a few buses already lined up, so Shelby went to ask which one was ours.  We were shocked and concerned to hear the woman announce the bus had already left.  Knowing this could not truly be possible (running late yes, but leaving early?  c’mon)  So Shelby next inquired with a driver who said it would be here in 10 minutes.  About 45 minutes later we were finally on our bus to Tulum.  This bus seemed to be more local than express, so we carefully looked at each stop to make sure we didn’t miss Tulum.  This ride also took about an hour, and we spotted our resort as we neared the town.  Once off the bus we grabbed a taxi and 5 hours later arrived at Dreams.

It’s a beautiful spot, big and airy as you would expect.  We have a garden room which Eleni gleefully discovered today is on the Oaxaca courtyard.  (as some of you know, I love the word Oaxaca).  It was nearly 11:00pm but we wanted to explore a bit so we unpacked quickly, read through the program of events, and then wandered to the Sugar Reef bar for our first included drink (btw, they are all included!).  We saw the pools, ocean and beach, the giant chess board and ping-pong tables.  We ducked briefly into the disco then up the stairs to the Rendezvous bar for drink #2 (super sweet, like a watermelon jolly rancher).  But with yoga looming at 8:00am, we called it a night shortly thereafter.