12-26-2005
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#1 (permalink) |
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añejo
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 4,609
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Playa del Karma- the misadventures of caramba & fruitfly
As I sit down to type this report with one hand (mostly), due to a run-in between a long serrated knife and my left thumb minutes ago, I have to laugh as it just goes so perfectly with the events of our latest visit to Playa del Carmen.
Now as you have all heard by now, Playa has bounced back from Hurricane Wilma incredibly well and incredibly fast, to which we can attest. The foliage is coming back and while there are certainly signs of damage about, if you'd never been there before you probably wouldn't realize that a storm had wreaked such havoc there. We are so glad that we didn't postpone our trip. Playa is as wonderful as ever. Getting there proved to be a bit of a challenge though. The pre-trip details of our vacation plans have been well documented already on this forum so I won't go into detail except for a brief recap- Our timeshare at Fisherman's was postponed due to quite a bit of damage to the pool and the (very) beachfront studios taking a hard hit. Okay, well the flight's still on, and we still want to go to Playa so we rebook into a condo at Xaman Ha. When we were just about to book a one bedroom unit we were offered a three bedroom at a 50% post Wilma discount. We jumped on it, of course, and put the word out to some friends and family with offers to join us. Then, after a big run-around with US Air, our nonstop flight was from Boston cancelled and no other flights available within a several-day window. We ended up rebooking with American, connecting through Miami on Mexicana airlines. At last, we were off! After all of the hassles we'd endured in planning our vacation, nothing could go wrong now.... Saturday, December 3rd I can never seem to get to bed at a reasonable hour the night before a trip. So, after maybe 2 1/2 hours of fitful sleep we were up at 3 a.m. The day started off in a very cool, surreal way. Half asleep, I wandered into the living room where I saw Caramba (the cat) sitting on the top of the couch peering out the window. Thinking it odd that she was up so early too I approached her and she let out a low growl. I looked out the window to see three deer just munching away at the birdfeeder, just a few yards away. Brian had to just about tear me away from my vantage point in order to be ready for our housesitter/driver Misty's arrival at 4:00. Misty whisked us away toward Logan airport. About a mile from our exit on Route 93 we found the next stretch of highway was closed (gotta love that Big Dig) and so we meandered through the back streets of Boston for awhile, managing to end up at Logan just on schedule. All was well. Check in was breeze. Flight was on time and the weather was perfect for flying. (I hate all that de-icing stuff we usually have to go through.) We board the plane, get settled in and the plane ambles over to the runway. We sit for a short time then the pilot announces that we'll be heading back to the gate to....charge a battery. Uh oh, that doesn't sound too cool....so back we go and someone actually boards the plane and heads into the cockpit with a portable battery charger. Feeling a little less than confident about all this I settle in to read and try not to think about it. About 45 minutes later the mysterious battery fully charged, at least we hope so, we take off. No worries, we had originally had a 2 hour layover in Miami so we'll still have plenty of time to make our connection. Man, I'd forgotten how big the airport in Miami is. We find our gate for our Mexicana flight in record time though and still had enough time to find the closest bar for one last Sam Adams before the flight. Grabbed a sandwich for the flight as well since we knew we wouldn't be fed (American had these pitiful little "meals for purchase" that we'd passed on). What a surprise. Not only did Mexicana have more legroom and free beer but passed out sandwiches as well. We loved Mexicana. At least, right now we did... Arrival in Cancun was great. Quick. Short, fast-moving lines through Immigration. Baggage coming right through on the carousel, we'll be out of here in a flash. Hmmm.......hmmmm......? Well......we've been through this before. We know that we must have a complete change of clothes, toiletries, etc. in our carry-ons for situations like this. After all, it's happened before. But nooooo, our carry-ons are loaded with far more important things like Cointreau and champagne and porter and who knows what else. Luckily at the last minute we'd each thrown a pair of shorts in them so that was a little consolation. After filling out a detailed report and being assured that we could contact Ms. Rodriguez at the following number right up until midnight should our bags not be delivered by then and we wanted an update, we jumped into the shortest line til we realized it was for Canadian arrivals only. Ooops. So we got into the right line, got the red light, of course, and a few quizzical looks as to why our bags were filled with booze and no clothing. ahh, well, nevermind....just let us out of here and into that sunshine! Check-in at Enterprise was painless, and after marking damages off on just about every square inch of our VW Pointer wagon we were off and headed down 307. Yep, hurricane's been here, judging from the lack of billboards and sparser than normal foliage. It still looked beautiful and we were so happy to be there. Not too much later and we there we were. First things first! We grabbed a bottle of Gran Centanario Reposado at Covi in anticipation of our first margaritas, then thought we'd better grab a few other important things at Chedraui next, like limes, and, oh yeah, maybe a couple of toothbrushes and some deoderant! A half hour later and fully stocked with beer and coconut yogurt and snacks and a roasted chicken we were off to check in at Xaman Ha. On the way we noticed the HC Monterrey butcher shop we'd heard so many raves about and vowed that we'd be back soon for some arrachera. (We said that the next time after we leaving Chedraui too and never did get there. Oh well, that what "next times" are for.) Xaman Ha # 7004. Newly remodelled, beautiful condo. New appliances, roomy, fully equipped kitchen, great verandah and beautiful sea view....oh yeah, forgot about the washer/dryer! We didn't realize just how handy that would be over the next few days, in particular! Didn't take too long to unpack and change, naturally, and so we went down to put our feet in the water. We'll just wait and go swimming in the morning after our bathing suits arrive... I then set about checking out every nook and cranny and drawer in the condo and made the first batch of margaritas. And the second.  We spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening sitting on the verandah enjoying the warmth and the seabreeze and eating roasted chicken and drinking. We watched little geckos climbing the walls and the resident baby agouti and it's mother hopping about on the lawn and eating grass, which reminded me of the deer out at the birdfeeder that now seemed like a dream, so long ago and so far away.   Now a little later that night Brian is almost asleep on the couch watching Zorro, and I'm feeling just a bit antsy about our luggage. So off I go off to use the phones up by the office, where I realize that I must have a Telmex card to use them. Along comes Frank, a condo owner who graciously sends me off down the hall to tell Suter that it's okay for me to use the pbone to call the airport. Okay, feeling rather trusting, and a bit drunk, I call out to Suter over the music wafting from the condo and he lets me in. In comes Frank a minute later and even though I am praying that I didn't just get myself into a hairy situation with a couple of axe murderers I keep my cool and keep trying the airport. A bit frustrated by the alternating busy signals and no answers I accept the offer of a shot of Don Julio Anejo that Frank has pulled out of the freezer and chat with him and Suter for a short while, all the time Frank is insisting that Suter is down in Playa doing business with him and they are NOT gay. (It's okay, I assure him, really, and dial again, to no avail....) I thank Frank and slip out, chastising myself and feeling very lucky to have escaped the clutches of the axe murderers and uh, oh, the light is too dim and maybe I'm just a little too tipsy to punch in the code on the lock box to get back in to the condo. So I knock. And knock. Finally I walk around the buildng and climb up onto the verandah. Sure enough my dear husband is snoring on the couch while I'm out doing shots with the axe murderers, great. I rapped on the slider and Brian woke up to let me in. And that is how we began our vacation. To be continued, and hopefully not as long-winded in the next installment! Last edited by caramba; 12-26-2005 at 04:52 PM.. |
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12-26-2005
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#5 (permalink) |
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Kitty Mama & Proud of It!
   Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 20,769
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Oh, Anne!! The scenario of you doing shots with the axe murderers while Brian was snoring away on the couch..... had me cracking up and damn near shooting egg nog out of my nose!
Can't wait for more!!! (and hey.... be more careful with that knife next time, ya hear??!! Yowwwch!) |
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12-26-2005
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#6 (permalink) | |
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añejo
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: burbs north of Wilmington, Delaware
Posts: 3,206
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Quote:
Please keep it coming Caramba, it's a fun read. |
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