[BeachBumpkin]

Hola Gang, I promised myself I would finish this today

On Tulum, I would suggest going in the morning before <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:time Minute="0" Hour="10">10AM</st1:time> because it gets pretty hot. Take you swim suit to enjoy the beach following your tour. It is a breathtaking stretch of beach that must have been a very special place to the Mayans who built the structures there. $21USD gets you a taxi each way. Admission to Tulum is $3.80 p/p and 2 or 3 dollars p/p for the tram from the taxi stand area if you don’t want to walk the mile or so to get to the ruins. Once inside you can go on an escorted tour or stroll around at your leisure.<O:p</O:p

After the visit to the ruins we took the tram up to the entrance area and watched the “Mayan Flyers” do their ceremonial dance and aerobatic demonstration. It was a good time. The only downer was that one of our group needed to use the facilities at the shopping “strip mall” area. She was told it would be $2.50 to go to the washroom. Needless to say that didn’t fly and we left, looking for a taxi to shouts of “Happy Byacashun Meezes Wet Panz”! We laughed all the way back to the hotel.<O:p</O:p

The hotel offers a free shuttle service into Playa del Carmen so we scheduled a trip for the day. The shuttles, on that day at least, were running twice a day. One departing <st1:time Minute="0" Hour="9">9AM</st1:time> / returning <st1:time Minute="0" Hour="17">5PM</st1:time> and a second departing <st1:time Minute="0" Hour="18">6PM</st1:time> / returning <st1:time Minute="0" Hour="23">11PM</st1:time>. They leave from the <st1:State><ST1:pCatalonia</ST1:p</st1:State> lobby area and Drop off/Pick up at the intersection of 5<SUP>th</SUP> and Constituyentes.<O:p</O:p

We had a great time exploring the shops and practicing our Spanish. Even the timeshare guys were happy to see us. We walked south on 5<SUP>th</SUP> from the drop off point and made the obligatory stop at Carlos & Charlie’s by the ferry ship terminal. Then we turned around heading back stopping at La Tarraya, Captain Tutix and Palapa Hemingway for food and drinks. La Tarraya was my favorite. It seems like we had stepped back in time. Sitting on the patio, looking out trough the palms at the azure sea while being gently serenaded. Did I mention they had $1.30 beer? Man, I love that place. Good food and prices.<O:p</O:p

We made our way back up 5<SUP>th</SUP> to Constituyentes and had a few more cervezas at a rooftop bar near the pick up area where we could watch for the bus. The bus never showed up but we didn’t care. We decided we would get a cab and present the bill to the hotel, (since it was them that got us into this mess to begin with), we managed to find a really nice cabbie who said he would be happy to give us a ride back to the hotel and provide us with a receipt to present to the hotel. We had to make a stop by the taxi company office to secure a receipt, a seemingly scarce request in an all cash business.<O:p</O:p

As we left the taxi office we rounded a corner wide and met the grill of a rather large Dodge pickup truck. The strangest thing was that the truck was already crushed from the roof down to the door handles-Wow! I had never seen a vehicle with such extensive damage still being driven around. We pulled along side the crushed truck and laughed as the taxi driver and got an explanation of what had happened out of the other driver. It turns out that they are friends and we all had a big laugh before heading back to the hotel as the driver, pen in hand, tries to complete the receipt while driving at a high rate of speed through traffic, topas and other obstacles. At one point I asked him “Do you want me to drive?” we all get another good laugh.<O:p</O:p

When we get back to the hotel we find out that the bus is still broken so we give them the receipt for the taxi. The lady in guest services gives us our money and apologizes for the inconvenience. The Catalonia Riviera Maya impressed me here by showing “Guest Services” is not just a departmental title but a way of doing business. We went to the bar to recount the day’s experiences. Life is good.<O:p</O:p

Saturday arrived and we decided that we should work on our tans some more since it was our last day. We were all a bit quieter that day, looking out over the water, knowing that we would be leaving in the morning. Sunday came and we had breakfast then packed. We were sad and didn’t want to leave. Oftentimes I’m ready to come home after 3 or 4 days but this wasn’t the case. We gathered in the lobby for our bus back to the <ST1:pCancun</ST1:p airport and took a few last minute pictures with our new friends, shared e-mail addresses and said farewell.<O:p</O:p

The ride back to the airport was quite a bit longer as we on a tour bus rather than the van that brought us in. I think we left the hotel at <st1:time Minute="50" Hour="9">9:50</st1:time> and arrived at the airport about <st1:time Minute="10" Hour="12">12:10</st1:time>. We made check in with USA3000; located all the way down on your right as you enter the airport ticketing area. I only mentioned this because there were no Apple Rep.s to be found after we tipped them and got off the bus. The lobby area was a circus and I could tell for my wife at least that our vacation was over.<O:p</O:p

We went through security and made our way out to the gate area. I stopped in duty free and picked up a couple bottles of Herradura Reposado; 1 for me and 1 for the probation officer who stayed with our kids while we were gone. Had one last <st1:country-region><ST1:pLeon </ST1:p</st1:country-region>cerveza and got in line to board the plane. Our flight was pretty good, leaving only twenty minutes or so behind schedule. The pilot wasted no time in getting us home; we looked out the windows and talked about our next trip, wondering if it could be as much fun as this was.<O:p</O:p

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I think it will be,<O:p</O:p
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BB<O:p</O:p