Halloween '09 in Playa: The good, the bad and the ugly - Page 2

Linds_ATL · 03-22-2010

After Alux (pronounced Al-oosh) we headed to Yaxche for my one and only superior order of the trip. This was going to be our big night out and while I understand the garden is magical, we were so overheated from Alux that we had to eat inside with the air conditioner. I couldn't even order alcohol I was so overheated! I had the steak arracher (I am so sorry, I know I butchered the name) and Greg had something with about 10 kinds of fresh cheese. Finally I win the ordering award and Greg has to beg for some of my food!

So still a little on the hot side we take the long walk down 5th, taking in the art and stores as people offer us "honeymooners" all kinds of deals and options. We have been married for 3 years at this point, but I still feel like I am on my honeymoon and plan to feel that way for many years to come. So I smile.

Finally we head back to the hotel and call it a night again.

Linds_ATL · 03-22-2010

So we wake up and head out to monkey breakfast place again and guess what I am getting...crepes! Again with the quick learning

Well I order the banana and nutella crepes:

Dang it, Greg orders savory crepes again and they are once again the winners.

(Note: The above picture is not the crepes, he is an innocent turtle. At this point I am a little testy over Greg's superior ordering skills and I think I neglected to get a photo of whatever awesomeness he ordered. No turtles were harmed in the making of this photographic tantrum.)

Linds_ATL · 03-22-2010

After breakfast we find that it is raining and according to the hotel, the rain is here to stay. Of course they say it in such a happy way...

Lindz - "Do you think it will clear up"
Hotel Man - "It could clear up....of course the news said it was going to rain all day and not clear up...but it could"
Lindz - "OK then...what do you do when it rains in playa?"

It is our last day in paradise so waiting it out is not an option and I am not spending my last day in paradise at the movies. I mention Rio Secreto as being completely underground and Mr. Hotel Man promptly books us on the next tour and we have to book it in a cab to get there in time. We plan on taking the collectivo home. Our "team" was awesome and made up of a couple from Michigan, a couple from California and their mom and Greg and I. We were a small group and the tour guide was amazing. The respect for nature was clear as we donned our wet suits and were told repeatedly not to touch anything and to be careful of the cave. The tour was about 2 hours, which quite frankly was long enough (they have a 4 hour version but I think that would be too much) and included a lunch which was ham sandwiches and salad.

The water was cold, but you got used to it after a couple minutes, and it was definately not for the faint of heart! You clambered over rocks and sometimes were swimming and sometimes you were walking in dry caves. Apparently the cave routes can change weekly depending on the water levels, so the tour guides scout out a route at the begining of the week. There is very little unnatural light so even though the pictures look all green and yellow that is done mostly with flashlights and a very powerful camera flash.

We spent the money on the pictures which were WAY overpriced (I think they were $80!!!!), but honestly you get to do these types of things only a few times in your life and it was worth having it documented in my opinion. Plus that yellow helmet was so attractive...

As we are about to walk to the collectivo station when the couple from California offer to give us a ride back to the city center and yet again we are so impressed with how kind everyone in town is...from the tourists to the residents.

This is when we learn that Xel-Ha is apparently THE place to be on the day of the dead, and since this is October 31st we can catch some of the festivities early. Well considering we have just been underground for a couple hours we are pretty exhausted and realize that it isn't in the cards. We are sorry day of the dead!!!

angelhouston819 · 03-22-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linds_ATL

Thanks Angel! Photos officially added!

no problem. you are most welcome.

A'

Linds_ATL · 03-22-2010

Dun-dun-dun...the bad begins and well...it leads to the ugly...as it so often can

.

So I pull my jewelry out of the safe having put the pile in there after returning from breakfast and find the ring missing...blah...blah...I was stupid and won't bore you with the details.

I head out to the bar and tell the bartender what had happened (obviously after discussing it with the owners...etc. etc. I am just leaving that part out), he gives my little red eyes two free shots of tequilia...and then I order myself one more, and a drink, and order my husband a couple as well. So we wander down 5th, going into bars, visited tequila barrel to get a couple more shots, and decide to find some food. At this point I am not quite in my right mind, we stop at a restaurant near the clubs and eat pizza at a place I cannot recall

and then head home to get ready for the Halloween party at the Luna Blue. Greg had planned on being a bloody zombie, and almost dressed up his clothes in the states and I reminded him "do you really want to be detained at the airport explaining to them that the bloody clothes in your bag is a costume?"

Then I get into my costume. Yet another life lesson: dressing up as an obscure American television character from HBO is not going to be super interesting in another country. Can you guess who I am?

Well, after Greg takes second at the Luna Blue costume party in the "scariest" category (granted, there were only two of them) we head back to the tequila barrel to take in some Saturday night football (UT vs. USC...we are Southerners....after all) and I tell my sob story a couple more times which equals several free drinks. We meet a lovely couple from New York and we decide to do some clubbing!

He make look silly in the picture, but try ordering your 5th shot of tequila from him!

So I don't know what club we went to, or if we drank there, but we definitely danced!

So we stumble back to the hotel for the last night and I fall into a rough sleep.

Linds_ATL · 03-22-2010

So at this point...the happy PDC story ends.

You may want to turn and run now. Maybe read the drinkumentary again...because that was way more fun

.

I wake up feeling like I drank a bottle of tequila and we learned something very important about day light savings time. While our iPhone/clock assumed we were still stateside and oh so conveniently adjusted itself, helping us gain an hour of much needed sleep, Mexico does not have the same policy and neither do flights leaving Mexico. We realize this about 10 minutes into the cab ride, and while I focus on not losing my tequila in the cab, Greg stresses about how we are going to miss the flight. We do in fact miss our flight and spend 4 hours arguing with Air Tran about how to get us on the next flight out. We spend a lot of time waiting for a mysterious manager to present himself (who we later find out doesn't exist) and eventually pay the increased ticket price to get home. Now the Cancun ticketing terminal does not have any place to sit, so my tequila soaked bum spent 4 hours trying to sleep/die on my luggage.

Well, we make it on the plane, and get back to the ATL and had to take the bad and the good. Air Tran did refund us the difference, and that was very kind of them and the hotel helped us by stating what had happened with the ring so we could get a discount on its beautiful replacement and all is well that ends well.

So we plan to return to Mexico for a 3rd time this spring, and spend 9 nights in PDC, getting spoiled rotten and basically eating and drinking our way to relaxation.

I can't say that I wish we hadn't gone, but at the same time it was a very expensive trip that only lasted 4 days and I can't say that we got our money's worth either.

But that is life, and quite frankly if that is the worst thing that ever happens on a vacation than I consider myself very lucky. I hope you didn't find the whiney parts too whiney and I hope that the funny parts made you laugh.

If I hadn't spent so much time with all of you on this forum I would never have known about El Fogon, or Yaxche and the ADO and basically the all the little gems of playa and mexico that we got to experience on our too short trip.

Thanks for all the great tips, and the great trip reports and quite frankly for giving my all the fuel I need to make playa 2010 an awesome trip to come.

Special thanks to angel for helping me with the pics and of course thank you to Greg for:
a) Being so understanding about my mistake
b) Not being angry with me about the post mistake behavior that occured on 5th
c) Letting us give playa a second chance in 2010
d) Generally being the most awesome person on the planet...IMO

caramba · 03-22-2010

Great report and great attitude. Glad you're going back.

lindalou61 · 03-23-2010

Thanks for the trip report! So sorry about your ring.

Linds_ATL · 03-23-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by MChance

Enjoying your report. Sorry about the ring. Glad to see it's not keeping you from returning.

We're heading back to Playa in a little less than 3 weeks.

Don't you love Atlanta weather?......75 degrees on Saturday, and snowflakes today....back to the 70's on Wednesday.

Can't wait to see that beautiful Caribbean Sea again. The color is just fantastic.

Mike

No kidding! I was driving through the snow looking at our dogwoods and cherry blossoms in full bloom and decided that we needed to make that illegal!

Have fun in 3 weeks!!

Yucatanned · 03-23-2010

Great Report! Gracias!!!

sunstarved · 03-23-2010

Loved it!! Thanks for the pictures (they are fantastic).

Just think, now that you have been to PdC once.... you don't have to go through the "what the hell do we do now?" or the "where the f**k are we?" and you can hit the ground running right from the airport. That is exactly why we are hitting Playa on our perpetual honeymoon... no time wasted getting the lay of the land and figuring the cultural dos and don't s... it's just romance the whole time.
What are your dates exactly for your next trip down? We'll be there from June 7-20... I am trying out for the tequila olympics and love having training parties.

queencityfan · 03-23-2010

Great report!

Oh, and you were Sookie Stackhouse of course!

I was the aging blond cheerleader at the LB that night.

LucyE · 03-24-2010

Great Trip Report.
We just love Cueva Del Chango and El Fogon too!

So sorry about your ring. What we do is we buy a ring (band) whenever we go somewhere new. So far I have one from Chichen-Itza (to represent the Riviera Maya); one from Puerto Vallarta and one from Hawaii. When we travel, we wear one of the "travelling bands" that we bought and leave or wedding rings at home. Last year hubby dropped his band in the condo we were staying at... but luckily we found out right away so we sent an e-mail to the condo-owner and the property manager. They found the ring and one of the condo's visitors actually brought it back to the states and shipped it to us! We were so happy to get it back.... even though it was not the real wedding ring, it still holds a sentimental value.
This maybe something you might want to do on your next trip... that way you are not worried about losing your wedding rings.

Linds_ATL · 03-25-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by LucyE

So sorry about your ring. What we do is we buy a ring (band) whenever we go somewhere new. So far I have one from Chichen-Itza (to represent the Riviera Maya); one from Puerto Vallarta and one from Hawaii. When we travel, we wear one of the "travelling bands" that we bought and leave or wedding rings at home. Last year hubby dropped his band in the condo we were staying at... but luckily we found out right away so we sent an e-mail to the condo-owner and the property manager. They found the ring and one of the condo's visitors actually brought it back to the states and shipped it to us! We were so happy to get it back.... even though it was not the real wedding ring, it still holds a sentimental value.
This maybe something you might want to do on your next trip... that way you are not worried about losing your wedding rings.

LucyE - that is a great idea. Obviously I have been forbidden from bringing this one with me and I was a little sad about it. This is a really cool way to do it!

bigdogmom · 03-25-2010

That was a fabulous TR, Linds!! So sorry about the ring, but your attitude was fabulous... You certainly didn't let it totally ruin the trip (although some whining was definitely appropriate)!

Our favorite place to eat was El Fogon, and we never managed not to order too much food (there or anywhere else), LOL!!

03-22-2010	#16 (permalink)
Linds_ATL toe in water Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 54	Halloween '09 in Playa: The good, the bad and the ugly After Alux (pronounced Al-oosh) we headed to Yaxche for my one and only superior order of the trip. This was going to be our big night out and while I understand the garden is magical, we were so overheated from Alux that we had to eat inside with the air conditioner. I couldn't even order alcohol I was so overheated! I had the steak arracher (I am so sorry, I know I butchered the name) and Greg had something with about 10 kinds of fresh cheese. Finally I win the ordering award and Greg has to beg for some of my food! So still a little on the hot side we take the long walk down 5th, taking in the art and stores as people offer us "honeymooners" all kinds of deals and options. We have been married for 3 years at this point, but I still feel like I am on my honeymoon and plan to feel that way for many years to come. So I smile. Finally we head back to the hotel and call it a night again.

03-22-2010	#17 (permalink)
Linds_ATL toe in water Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 54	Halloween '09 in Playa: The good, the bad and the ugly So we wake up and head out to monkey breakfast place again and guess what I am getting...crepes! Again with the quick learning Well I order the banana and nutella crepes: Dang it, Greg orders savory crepes again and they are once again the winners. (Note: The above picture is not the crepes, he is an innocent turtle. At this point I am a little testy over Greg's superior ordering skills and I think I neglected to get a photo of whatever awesomeness he ordered. No turtles were harmed in the making of this photographic tantrum.) Last edited by Linds_ATL; 03-22-2010 at 10:17 PM..

03-22-2010	#18 (permalink)
Linds_ATL toe in water Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 54	Halloween '09 in Playa: The good, the bad and the ugly After breakfast we find that it is raining and according to the hotel, the rain is here to stay. Of course they say it in such a happy way... Lindz - "Do you think it will clear up" Hotel Man - "It could clear up....of course the news said it was going to rain all day and not clear up...but it could" Lindz - "OK then...what do you do when it rains in playa?" It is our last day in paradise so waiting it out is not an option and I am not spending my last day in paradise at the movies. I mention Rio Secreto as being completely underground and Mr. Hotel Man promptly books us on the next tour and we have to book it in a cab to get there in time. We plan on taking the collectivo home. Our "team" was awesome and made up of a couple from Michigan, a couple from California and their mom and Greg and I. We were a small group and the tour guide was amazing. The respect for nature was clear as we donned our wet suits and were told repeatedly not to touch anything and to be careful of the cave. The tour was about 2 hours, which quite frankly was long enough (they have a 4 hour version but I think that would be too much) and included a lunch which was ham sandwiches and salad. The water was cold, but you got used to it after a couple minutes, and it was definately not for the faint of heart! You clambered over rocks and sometimes were swimming and sometimes you were walking in dry caves. Apparently the cave routes can change weekly depending on the water levels, so the tour guides scout out a route at the begining of the week. There is very little unnatural light so even though the pictures look all green and yellow that is done mostly with flashlights and a very powerful camera flash. We spent the money on the pictures which were WAY overpriced (I think they were $80!!!!), but honestly you get to do these types of things only a few times in your life and it was worth having it documented in my opinion. Plus that yellow helmet was so attractive... As we are about to walk to the collectivo station when the couple from California offer to give us a ride back to the city center and yet again we are so impressed with how kind everyone in town is...from the tourists to the residents. This is when we learn that Xel-Ha is apparently THE place to be on the day of the dead, and since this is October 31st we can catch some of the festivities early. Well considering we have just been underground for a couple hours we are pretty exhausted and realize that it isn't in the cards. We are sorry day of the dead!!! __________________ Playa 2.0: Arena Blanca!!! 2009 - Playa Del Carmen 2007 - Akumal: Half Moon Bay Lindsay Last edited by Linds_ATL; 03-22-2010 at 10:23 PM..

03-22-2010	#20 (permalink)
Linds_ATL toe in water Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 54	Halloween '09 in Playa: The good, the bad and the ugly Dun-dun-dun...the bad begins and well...it leads to the ugly...as it so often can . So I pull my jewelry out of the safe having put the pile in there after returning from breakfast and find the ring missing...blah...blah...I was stupid and won't bore you with the details. I head out to the bar and tell the bartender what had happened (obviously after discussing it with the owners...etc. etc. I am just leaving that part out), he gives my little red eyes two free shots of tequilia...and then I order myself one more, and a drink, and order my husband a couple as well. So we wander down 5th, going into bars, visited tequila barrel to get a couple more shots, and decide to find some food. At this point I am not quite in my right mind, we stop at a restaurant near the clubs and eat pizza at a place I cannot recall and then head home to get ready for the Halloween party at the Luna Blue. Greg had planned on being a bloody zombie, and almost dressed up his clothes in the states and I reminded him "do you really want to be detained at the airport explaining to them that the bloody clothes in your bag is a costume?" Then I get into my costume. Yet another life lesson: dressing up as an obscure American television character from HBO is not going to be super interesting in another country. Can you guess who I am? Well, after Greg takes second at the Luna Blue costume party in the "scariest" category (granted, there were only two of them) we head back to the tequila barrel to take in some Saturday night football (UT vs. USC...we are Southerners....after all) and I tell my sob story a couple more times which equals several free drinks. We meet a lovely couple from New York and we decide to do some clubbing! He make look silly in the picture, but try ordering your 5th shot of tequila from him! So I don't know what club we went to, or if we drank there, but we definitely danced! So we stumble back to the hotel for the last night and I fall into a rough sleep. Last edited by Linds_ATL; 03-23-2010 at 09:59 AM..

03-22-2010	#21 (permalink)
Linds_ATL toe in water Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 54	Halloween '09 in Playa: The good, the bad and the ugly So at this point...the happy PDC story ends. You may want to turn and run now. Maybe read the drinkumentary again...because that was way more fun . I wake up feeling like I drank a bottle of tequila and we learned something very important about day light savings time. While our iPhone/clock assumed we were still stateside and oh so conveniently adjusted itself, helping us gain an hour of much needed sleep, Mexico does not have the same policy and neither do flights leaving Mexico. We realize this about 10 minutes into the cab ride, and while I focus on not losing my tequila in the cab, Greg stresses about how we are going to miss the flight. We do in fact miss our flight and spend 4 hours arguing with Air Tran about how to get us on the next flight out. We spend a lot of time waiting for a mysterious manager to present himself (who we later find out doesn't exist) and eventually pay the increased ticket price to get home. Now the Cancun ticketing terminal does not have any place to sit, so my tequila soaked bum spent 4 hours trying to sleep/die on my luggage. Well, we make it on the plane, and get back to the ATL and had to take the bad and the good. Air Tran did refund us the difference, and that was very kind of them and the hotel helped us by stating what had happened with the ring so we could get a discount on its beautiful replacement and all is well that ends well. So we plan to return to Mexico for a 3rd time this spring, and spend 9 nights in PDC, getting spoiled rotten and basically eating and drinking our way to relaxation. I can't say that I wish we hadn't gone, but at the same time it was a very expensive trip that only lasted 4 days and I can't say that we got our money's worth either. But that is life, and quite frankly if that is the worst thing that ever happens on a vacation than I consider myself very lucky. I hope you didn't find the whiney parts too whiney and I hope that the funny parts made you laugh. If I hadn't spent so much time with all of you on this forum I would never have known about El Fogon, or Yaxche and the ADO and basically the all the little gems of playa and mexico that we got to experience on our too short trip. Thanks for all the great tips, and the great trip reports and quite frankly for giving my all the fuel I need to make playa 2010 an awesome trip to come. Special thanks to angel for helping me with the pics and of course thank you to Greg for: a) Being so understanding about my mistake b) Not being angry with me about the post mistake behavior that occured on 5th c) Letting us give playa a second chance in 2010 d) Generally being the most awesome person on the planet...IMO

03-22-2010	#22 (permalink)
caramba añejo Join Date: May 2002 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 6,643	Great report and great attitude. Glad you're going back.

03-23-2010	#23 (permalink)
lindalou61 life=playa Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Nebraska - Go Cornhuskers! Posts: 900	Thanks for the trip report! So sorry about your ring.

03-23-2010	#25 (permalink)
Yucatanned reposado Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Gaylord Michigan Posts: 1,085	Great Report! Gracias!!!

03-23-2010	#26 (permalink)
sunstarved beachaholic Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Calgary, Alberta Posts: 270	Loved it!! Thanks for the pictures (they are fantastic). Just think, now that you have been to PdC once.... you don't have to go through the "what the hell do we do now?" or the "where the f**k are we?" and you can hit the ground running right from the airport. That is exactly why we are hitting Playa on our perpetual honeymoon... no time wasted getting the lay of the land and figuring the cultural dos and don't s... it's just romance the whole time. What are your dates exactly for your next trip down? We'll be there from June 7-20... I am trying out for the tequila olympics and love having training parties.

03-23-2010	#27 (permalink)
queencityfan añejo Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio Posts: 3,342	Great report! Oh, and you were Sookie Stackhouse of course! I was the aging blond cheerleader at the LB that night.

03-24-2010	#28 (permalink)
LucyE añejo Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Torrance, CA Posts: 7,242	Great Trip Report. We just love Cueva Del Chango and El Fogon too! So sorry about your ring. What we do is we buy a ring (band) whenever we go somewhere new. So far I have one from Chichen-Itza (to represent the Riviera Maya); one from Puerto Vallarta and one from Hawaii. When we travel, we wear one of the "travelling bands" that we bought and leave or wedding rings at home. Last year hubby dropped his band in the condo we were staying at... but luckily we found out right away so we sent an e-mail to the condo-owner and the property manager. They found the ring and one of the condo's visitors actually brought it back to the states and shipped it to us! We were so happy to get it back.... even though it was not the real wedding ring, it still holds a sentimental value. This maybe something you might want to do on your next trip... that way you are not worried about losing your wedding rings.

03-25-2010	#30 (permalink)
bigdogmom beachaholic Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Colorado, USA Posts: 466	That was a fabulous TR, Linds!! So sorry about the ring, but your attitude was fabulous... You certainly didn't let it totally ruin the trip (although some whining was definitely appropriate)! Our favorite place to eat was El Fogon, and we never managed not to order too much food (there or anywhere else), LOL!!

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