Liz: Day Four: Lessons Learned

Today was wonderful, then tough, then tougher, then back to wonderful.  We learned several lessons today.
1.   Tip stands for To Insure Prompt service.   It can make a world of difference in Mexico where many people in the service industry are paid only with tips.  It made a huge difference for us today.  I'm so glad we learned this lesson early into our trip.
2.  It is very cheap and convenient to take the bus in Cancun. At  $8.50 pesos each, it cost just over two dollars to get from our hotel to the beach.
3.  There are several public access entrances to the beach and they are free.  You just have to pay 5 pesos to use the bathroom.
4.  The ocean is warm, warmer than the swimming pools. It feels amazing.
5.  When bargaining, it is important to be able to easily convert dollars to pesos in your head or you could end up paying $25 for a beach towel.
6.  There are some really beautiful beach towels for sale at the flea market in Cancun.
7.  When I'm walking out with Patrick and the kids in Cancun, he gets all the offers for sales and nobody bothers me.  When I walk by myself I get about twenty times more offers with more pressure and more suggestions.
8.  You should always know exactly where you are going on the bus by name so that the bus driver won't think you're on the wrong bus and make you get off so that you have to walk the rest of the way with two tired kids. 
9.  When you find yourself walking unexpectedly through a part of town you are obviously not from, you may recieve helpful tips from expatriates, like "You're visiting aren't you?  Don't walk two blocks in that direction, especially at night."
10.  When you arrive back at your hotel after a challenging day, it is wonderful to receive exceptional service, like drinks brought to the hot tub for you, special food prepared for your kids just because, and your room cleaned with extra special care. 

Liz: Day Three: "I poured my heart and soul into that pool."

Sofia would live in the pool if we let her.  I suspected that would be the case pre-trip and made sure to book as many of our hotels as possible with pools.  So this morning after breakfast and packing, we all headed down to the pool for one more go.  Well, everyone else took a dip and I enjoyed relaxing in the shade checking email and doing some research.  As we were leaving, she exclaimed "I love that pool! I love it more than all the other pools.  I poured my heart and soul into that pool."  So, if you're ever in Cancun and need a great place to stay overnight on your way to or from the airport, checkout the pool at the Courtyard Marriott.  It has Sofia's stamp of approval.  Also, they have a great breakfast buffet with unlimited freshly squeezed orange juice, which has Patrick's stamp of approval and they can recommend some amazingly mouthwatering Gallitos for delivery, which has my stamp of approval. As for Otis, upon arriving at our second hotel he said "They just keep leveling up their hotels here in Mexico. They just keep leveling up!"  That's video game lingo for getting better and better.  He is in hotel heaven, which is funny because our second hotel is much less fancy than the first.

Today we traveled out into a less touristy part of Cancun.  It was a holiday and Sunday, so many of the food places near our second hotel were closed. We decided to walk about 10 blocks to a big shopping center to buy groceries.  This was not one of the tourist focused shopping centers and it was refreshing and a little bit of a culture shock, especially at the grocery store.  We had to use our Spanish although several people approached us and asked if we were Americans and chatted in English a bit.  Hmm, what gave us away?  What surprised me was when I tried to find cheese for snacks, having a loaf of something like Tillamook cheddar in mind.  The cheese section was filled with very soft cheeses wrapped into thin stacks in plastic wrap.  I ended up trying a Gouda wrapped that way that was the texture of American processed cheese.  My culinary education has left me with a gap here!  I have a new mission to learn about Mexican cheese.  And I need to find someone to take me on a tour of a grocery store and show me what all the best foods are.  Speaking of quality food....while at the shopping center we also stopped by McDonalds and ordered dos cajitas feliz, two happy meals. 

When we returned to our rooms, as I was on the phone trying to communicate with my beginner Spanish skills, a travelling circus passed by right outside our windows.  Patrick tells me there were two zebras and a camel in a caged trailer and a man speaking into a megaphone loudly as it passed by.  I regret that I missed it as my imagination is probably wilder than reality and I'm having a hard time believing it actually happened (Patrick: Otis can corroborate.)

Tomorrow we will attempt to find the hotel's beach club via the public bus.  We are so looking forward to seeing the white sand and turquoise blue water.  We've been in Cancun three days and still haven't seen the beach!

Pictured below: Waiting to check into our room, FUD...from our grocery shopping excursion.

Liz Day Two: Happy New Years!

Today we stayed at our hotel, swam in the pool and rested.  It was what we needed but we are looking forward to getting out and seeing more of Cancun.  We are still adjusting to our new schedule and smaller living space.  Sofia had a blast playing at the pool with a friend she met.  The water was too cold for Otis' taste but the rest of us enjoyed it.  It's so amazing to be able to walk around in summer clothes in December!  Last night we had some delicious Mexican food, recommended by the guys at the front desk. 

Tomorrow we have three tasks:  Finding our next hotel and a place to stash our bags until check-in,  getting the kids to a park or play area and swimming in the pool again.  Sofia and I are hoping for some mall time at the big mall, Plaza America, downtown. There is a kids play area there as well as an airconditioned movie theatre and shopping. We need to buy some sandals and a few more summer clothes for the kids.

Liz: Hola Mexico!

Day One: Our trip started out early with a 2:30 am wakeup. Our airport shuttle was great (the Hillsboro Airporter) and the kids chattered away on the ride. They were both a little nervous about their first plane ride but both ended up LOVING riding the plane. After a long, exhausting day of waiting in lines and sitting on planes we have to say that ages 6 and 8 are great ages for travel. They did so well. We had one small problem upon arrival. The stewardess on the plane had told us all that we only needed to fill out the green section on our travel papers, when in actuality you are supposed to fill out the entire form. We were one of the later groups off the plane and by the time we got up to the guy stamping passports, he was so frustrated that he threw our passports back at us and left the booth. That was a little embarrassing. We felt like noobie travelers, which after ten years, we kind of are. When we arrived at the hotel we were so tired that we ordered room service, watched cartoons and crashed at about 8pm. So we haven't actually seen much of Mexico yet except for all the beautiful brightly colored flowers and lush green plants on the side of the road from the airport to our hotel.

This morning the birds are chirping and it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day. The girls are up and awake trying to be quiet and the boys are still sleeping.

Patrick: Week 1: The Siesta

We finally finished the marathon holiday season and have made it safely to Cancun.  This week we're easing into Mexico with Cancun.  The pool looks delightful and I have already tested out the Quesadilla from room service (which did taste pretty darn good after a long day of flying.)  We're going to just veg for a day and then get started on some more serious touristing (laying on the beach, snorkeling, chocolate factory tours, margarita testing, etc...)

Getting Ready

I can't believe we are three months away. We have our passports and our plane tickets, a dog sitter, a housesitter (and goldfish minder), about half our hotel reservations made and lots of research done.

Next up on our list of things to do:
Figure out bags/luggage. I have received several recommendations to go the backpack route and NOT the suitcase with wheels route, as they are hard to maneuver and inconvenient. Many of the roads where we are going are not paved. I'm going to let each of the kids carry their own backpack on the plane with a spare set of clothes, basic necessities, snacks and activities.
Figure out clothes. The kids grow so fast (and I am working on going the opposite direction) that we need to buy our travel clothes later rather than sooner. We're going to try to keep it light and buy whatever extras we need over there. (sunhats, t-shirts, shorts, skirts, jewelry, etc) We are considering taking snorkel masks with us to save rental fees. Also, we need to figure out what shoes to take. Hiking boots for the rain forest? The guide books say tennis shoes are very American Tourist. It's pretty much guaranteed that we're going to stand out in the Yucatan anyways as we're all very tall, blonde and blue eyed so maybe tennis shoes aren't a big deal?
Learn Spanish. We are just getting going with this. In Belize, English is the official language, so we won't have as much of a chance to practice Spanish there, but that might be a nice break after five weeks in Mexico.
Save More Money. We'll be giving each other travel related gifts for Christmas this year, let's just put it that way.

Violence In Guatemala

This was a tough decision to make but we have decided not to go to Guatemala on this trip. There have been many attacks against tourists this year, including shooting deaths in a grocery store, sexual assaults, forcing a tourist to strip naked on a bus to take their hidden money and most recently a handful of stabbings of tourists in Antigua to steal their bags/purses,etc. That's a short list of everything that has happened this year and doesn't include kidnappings, extreme levels of theft, etc. Even the Guatemalan government has put out a travel warning saying they don't recommend travel to Tikal/Flores and the US won't let it's employees travel in parts of Guatemala. SOOOOO...bummer! I was looking forward to traveling there, especially to Lake Atitlan.

As a result, we have decided to just stick to two countries and spend a month in each country: the Yucatan/ Mexico and Belize. I feel relieved about this decision. It will give us more time to see the Yucatan and Belize and we won't have to be on hyperalert or worrying (more than usual) about safety.