[Ali]

It's been so long since I got back that I don't know where to begin!

Let me say first off what an amazing bunch of Peeps! I'm so glad I finally got to meet so many of you and I can only ditto other comments on the board that I wish I had been able to spend more time with y'all (I'll never be able to tawk Joisey or Texas but boy do I LOVE those accents!)!

Mostly everything we went to in the first week has been covered so I'll just post up a few notes and pictures (despite the fact I took a record number of pictures on this trip I'm still pretty disappointed with the results - I need lessons!!) I'll probably get all the days muddled up as it all kind of merged in to one great holiday by the end of the two weeks

So, first week was spent at the Luna Blue - it was everything I had come to expect from reading other's reports. Part of me wishes we had stayed there for both weeks but still being new to the 'in town' scene (and free from AI!) I wanted to experience more than one hotel. Anyway, we had room 6, a kitchenette room, and it was lovely... and big! Anyway, for those who haven't had the joy of setting foot into the 'Blue yet here's a few shots....





So Sunday night was a bit of a blur. I'm pretty sure we played it safe and went to Media Luna for our dinner and just wandered around some bars. Our flight is 10.5 hours and there is a six hours time difference so as much as the mind wants to party on the first night the body is generaly WAY too weak for any of that!

Monday was our first full day in Playa and I wanted to check out the gyms in an attempt to force myself to keep things up. We found ‘The Gym’ (I used this one three times - better than nothing I guess! Won’t put the details here, I’ll add them to an old thread on gyms to keep it all together) and then wandered up to find the Area gym up near 10th/38th but I didn’t realise it was past 38th and we’d turned by then so we ended up having breakfast at La Cueva del Chango which was hmmm…ok...well maybe I just ordered the wrong thing given how popular it is. After we headed to the beach at Mamitas. Sadly the clouds rolled in after just two hours so we decided to give up and head to Walmart for some supplies for the fridge. Just as we were leaving I spotted Carole and Linda so I just had to say hi. I also got to meet Kelly, Shirlee and Scott so it was worthwhile my waddling over there.

Monday night was the gathering at Posada Freud as arranged by A'ndrea. We were late so didn’t see the parade (still adjusting my body clock by way of regular snoozes!) so I’m grateful to all the great pics other people have already posted. I have to say it was kind of daunting to meet all these peeps in one go - the place was heaving! Did my best to mingle and introduce myself to the many familiar faces and names. A breakaway group of hungry folk went to Carboncitos but we’d already eaten (a nice meal but with appallingly slow service - especially given there were so few people in there - at Babes north) so we just headed for drinks in a few various locations to reacquaint ourselves with the joys of being back in Playa......