The rest of the Cancun trip

I'm so embarrassed that I left you all hanging! I thought I had finished up posting about my Cancun trip, but apparently I must have dreamed it all up. I have a very funny story about dreams which includes aliens and my dear #1, but I'll save that for another time (and another layout).

The last thing I talked about was Saturday, so let's move along. Remember, this is nutshell format. Details will probably be included in later layouts.

Sunday -
Mitch was suckered into committing us to go to a timeshare presentation and, of course, we always follow through with our obligations, so we got up early, met our sales dude, and followed him into a restaurant for breakfast. He started the meeting right!! We ate, talked, then hopped on a golf cart for a tour around the resort. It was fascinating and it opened our eyes to a lot of fun opportunities that we never would have known about if we hadn't gone on the tour. (That was Mitch's plan all along, right?) Mitch saw some new "life birds". He was excited. When the tour was over and we said, "Thanks, but no thanks", we were sent off with a calendar, 2 t-shirts and $100 of Palace cash. We immediately found the bike rental place and hopped on some bikes and took our own little "eco-tour" of the resort. Had to stop to look at the myriad of lizards, birds, bugs, etc. Got totally hot and sweaty. Became hungry and thirsty. Found an awesome restaurant that served Caribbean cuisine (fish and mangoes!), ate and rode bikes back to our side of the resort. (Actually, I took off and left Mitch looking at birds by the golf course.) I hung out by the pool for a long time and got even more burned. (It's a base, right?) Mitch took a nap, then joined me in the shade by the pool. That night we went to dinner at "the steak place" with some friends. On the way out of the restaurant, I sprained my ankle. Totally embarrassing story involving a curb that was not supposed to be there. (Still bothers me, by the way!) Relaxed in the HUGE hot tub in our room while looking out at the ocean!

Monday -
Did you know that you are supposed to ICE a sprained ankle and not heat it? Hmm. Now I know how important that is. I woke up in the middle of the night in AGONY thinking, "How in the world am I going to survive a trip to Chichen Itza?" I took some Tylenol and sucked it up. We got up early again and hopped on a bus headed toward Chichen Itza, which is the Mayan city with the huge pyramid that you see on TV and in the movies. We stopped off at a little Mayan village and got to see how modern Mayan people live. Squalor is the best way to classify it. Then, we stopped at a little square where real Mayan artisans sold their stuff. (There are a lot of impostors out there who sell junk, but this was the real thing.) Finally, we arrived at Chichen Itza. It was very, very cool. I remember teaching about this place in my former life (7th grade teacher!). The guide called it "Chicken Pizza", so you may hear us refer to it by that name. I highly recommend a visit, however it was hot, sticky and a LONG drive there and back. After an educational tour, more birdwatching, and attempts at re-hydration, we hopped back on the bus for the LONG drive back. We stopped at the same little square and enjoyed "lunch" at 4:00. Nevermind that we were all anxious to get back to the resort to get ready for the big dinner.

Anyway, we finally got back to the resort at 6:00 (dinner was starting at 6:30), practically ran to our rooms and took very cold showers. (Side note: I literally took 3 showers a day while in Cancun. Never less than 3.) After getting all gussied up for one of the only "State Farm" functions during this trip, we walked into the lobby. The RUSH of noise was deafening! SO many people milling about! (Very cool!) We made our way into the banquet hall, sat, ate, and then the entertainment started.

I know I said this was supposed to be a nutshell. Sorry. I'm Kelleigh. What can I say?!

Entertainment. Check it out here: World Classic Rockers. Oh, my gosh, it was awesome!! These are the lead singers, guitarists, drummers, etc. of some of the biggest bands in history!! You KNOW these songs, I promise. My dad used to blast some of this music through the house and in the car growing up. It was AWESOME! They invited the kids to come up to the dance floor, so of course people rushed up there. Kids of all ages. We joined them. It was so cool being an arms length away from representatives of Journey, Boston, Toto, Santana, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Steppenwolf. Oh, and I just know that one of those guys has been on some movies lately. It was seriously SO cool. After the concert, we hung out in the lobby bar for a while (where the lead singer for Toto swung through), then went on up to bed. We later found out that the band members had an impromptu concert in the lobby bar. How cool would that have been!!?

Tuesday - The first thing we did was go to breakfast where we were seated at the same time and just an arms length away from the lead singer of the Carlos Santana Band. You would TOTALLY recognize his voice. Tom, Mitch's boss, went over to tell him how cool the concert was. Hee, hee! We decided to play "Spot the Rocker" that day. We saw about 5 all over the resort!

Ok. Next was the SF Business meeting (for tax write-off purposes) which lasted about an hour, then we relaxed around the pool while waiting for the departure time for the "Jungle Tour." (Nutshell, Kelleigh, nutshell.) We rode a boat through a "jungle", came out in the ocean, bounced in the waves, tied up and went snorkeling in the second largest reef in the world. It was very relaxing ('cause we got to wear life jackets)!

We got back to our hotel, showered (of course) and went to dinner at "the Brazilian place" with some friends. It was another very fun time! LOTS of meat. I took it easy, but apparently some in our party did not. They became friends with the toilet that evening.

Whew!

Wednesday (it's almost over, promise) -
We went deep sea fishing in the morning. We hung out by the pool in the afternoon. We finally found some Mexican food for dinner and ate out with some friends!

Thursday - We were both up super early. Mitch went bird watching for the last time while I took pictures of the resort. After checking out, we ate breakfast at the golf club restaurant (where Mitch went bird watching again and saw another alligator) and then hopped on the bus for the airport. Easy trip back.

That's it. I'm tired.