The Mexico Recap

OK, OK, here it is… finally! The short answer: we had a great time. The long answer follows.

We headed out very, very early the morning of Friday, January 26th for our 6am flight. Don’t tell the police, but I even ran a few red lights in my haste to pick up Danielle and get us on our way.

We made it to our resort by about 1pm Cozumel time and once I saw the lobby, I finally started to calm down from the massive panic attack I had the day before we left.

However, the reception dude – who suspiciously looked like he belonged in a Mexican boy band – told us we would not be in the quiet-at-night section of the resort (seeing as no resort is quiet during the day). When he kindly offered us an upgrade to the adults-only “Sabor” section for $10 extra a night, we jumped at the chance to sleep peacefully and not listen to the Macarena at 3am.

Even more quickly, we jumped into our dresses and headed to the lounge for drinks before dinner. We were able to make reservations in the fancy restaurants for every other night of our stay, but they were booked up for our arrival night. However, Jorge the Concierge surprised us with last minute reservations for that night too and became our best friend ever. We clinked glasses in his honor as we sipped our first fruity drink in the warm tropical air.

We decided that every evening should have a drinking theme. Friday night was the Dirty Monkey – which we had never heard of much less drank one before. For you fellow Dirty Monkey Virgins:

In a blender, mix:
4 oz. Cream of Coconut
1-1/2 oz. Dark Rum
1-1/2 oz. Kahlua
1 Banana
2 cups ice

Saturday came and we hit the beach. Lovely blue skies, blue water and lazy girls. Danielle and I slothed the morning away sitting on the beach and laughing our asses off thinking about the poor Denverites plodding their way through more snow. (Sorry, guys).


In the afternoon, we took a snorkel trip on a large Catamaran. And after an hour of waiting, pacing and cursing “Mexican Time,” the large Catamaran actually came and picked us up… at which point we finally realized I had set my watch incorrectly and they were all perfectly on time, we were just an hour early. DOH!

Oh – and the following pics came from a cheapie underwater camera – but I think you’ll forgive me for not taking the chance of sending my Canon to a watery grave!

We got into the water and did the snorkely thing – which I love love love, by the way. I could seriously snorkel every single day of every single vacation for the rest of my life.

However, one thing did end up in a watery grave! My silver wedding band that I bought from a street vendor on our honeymoon in San Francisco 10 years ago. It literally was like that scene from The Lord of the Rings; the ring slipped off my finger and twirled out of my reach as I desperately grabbed for it… and it just sank and sank. Danielle made several dives after it but it was just too deep and we lost sight of it. It wasn’t expensive, of course, but it certainly was sentimental. Danielle comforted me by reminding me it was my weight loss that caused it to slip off my finger, and we could look at it as closing that chapter in my life. And then later that evening I cheerfully bought 2 other silver rings, a pair of earrings and a lovely chunky bracelet to make up for the loss.

We swam down and around and looked at the lovely coral – which wasn’t as ripped apart from Hurricane Wilma as I would have expected.

But the coolest part of the adventure was the sea life. We saw a lobster, two stings rays, a barracuda, two sea turtles – the small one is swimming behind Danielle below, and the big one was literally 5 feet across!

And then there was the big finale.

We. Saw. A. Shark.

He is hard to see in this picture, but I assure you he is down there and only about 40 feet away from us. Danielle thinks he was about 8 feet long. And I think he was cool as shit.

The whole way home I just could not believe I swam with a shark. I rock.

To celebrate, that evening was Strawberry Margarita Night. And we had, um, let’s say, quite a few. So many, in fact, that we decided to wander around the pitch dark edge of the resort and down onto the pitch dark pier. This is the only photo that is ready for prime time. I trashed the photos that I mistakenly took of my underwear.

Sunday morning rolled around and Danielle was coherent enough to get up and go for a scuba dive. I am really proud of her for doing so, not just because she had a hangover – but because she is trying to get over some anxiety from a bad diving experience a few years ago. And she kicked ass! Especially considering Jeff was not there to go with her.

Meanwhile, I wandered around the resort and took photos of the foliage and myself.

The clouds rolled in Sunday afternoon and we literally just laid about, read our books for several hours and grunted at each other as our main form of communication. When was the last time you have been able to do that? It was fucking awesome.

Of course, this was also the afternoon of the one day that we ate in the buffet in the non-upgrade section of the resort. Remember what I was scared about before I left? Yup. There was another reason we hung out in the room all afternoon. Eeks. But by dinnertime I was feeling better, albeit swearing to steer clear of the buffet!

But. Did I mention we had a hammock on our balcony? And this photo was taken before Cosmopolitan Night even started. The leg up thing is actually an homage to an old family photo that I don’t even know the backstory behind – just that I always thought it was hilarious and we have started doing it on a regular basis. Mom? Aunt Heidi? Care to fill us in?

After dinner, we headed to the lobby and I brought out my Table Topics cards that a friend sent me for my birthday. We had some really deep, funny and interesting discussions. That Danielle is one smart cookie.

And when we were ready for some silliness, we took advantage of the atmosphere and started taking photos of each other.


Apparently we weren’t doing it well enough, because an observer started arranging Danielle for me. I guess I needed an assistant.

The next morning, Monday – we were bound and determined to do more snorkeling in front of the resort. So we tromped out into the waves and started swimming around. Precisely 3 minutes later we both shot out of the water like a canon. Danielle yelled, “Aimee! WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A HUGE HERD OF JELLYFISH.” And damned if we weren’t! They were fricking EVERYWHERE. We tried to swim away, but nothing going. We just looked at each other and said, “Every man for himself, see you on shore!” and we started swimming like crazypeople – zigging left and zagging right to avoid the gelatinous balls of stinging goo. Too bad no one was video taping us, we would have had our audition tape for The Amazing Race.

So, we bagged our windsurfing lesson for the afternoon and headed for a massage. A really, really good massage.

The staff at the resort said the storm from the night before blew the jellyfish in, so we took a walk along the beach in the afternoon, in search of. Yup, they were everywhere. That’s OK – the light was fantastic. So we took more photos of each other and as you saw from the previous post – lots of sand and shell pics too.



By the way – both Danielle and I are Harry Potter fanatics. On the trip, she started rereading all the books in anticipation of the new movie and book this summer. I will follow her through the books too so we are both READY. Oh, and I pre-ordered the new book today too (thanks, Teri!).

This evening was Miami Vice night. We have never heard of this drink either – it’s Piña Colada on the bottom and Strawberry Daiquiri on the top. Lots of calories and perfect for your last night in the tropics.



But wait – even more perfect and even more calories is my favorite treat when we go to Mexico… Tres Leche Cake. If I was a better cook and less lazy, I might try to make this back in the States, but I definitely look forward to it every time we head south.

Then, Tuesday morning, we snuck out for about an hour in a glass bottom kayak (Bryan was so proud) to see a few more fish and coral. We did get to see the most humongous angel fish I have ever seen (in my admittedly limited experience). But of course the motion sickness got the best of me, not to mention we had a flight to catch, so we headed back in and caught our cab to the airport.

Speaking of the airport – a little tip from me to you. Next time you go to Mexico and they give you a little immigration piece of paper: HANG ON TO IT. I had mine till just that morning and really just forgot about it and left it in the hotel. Apparently this is a really big deal, and Danielle had to do some major fast talking in Spanish for me, I had to fill out forms galore and then give them some big, sad puppy dog eyes to make the Mexican guarda let me pass. Oops.

So. As you can tell, we had a fantastic time. The resort itself is what I would have expected for what we paid – with the exception of the – um, maybe… well, um, OK, the pissy, over-the-hill but still trying way too hard to be young clientele… Wait, did I type that out loud? Oh, and the guy who picked at his nails for 15 minutes with his dinner knife. Yeah, he was pretty gross too. No wonder they have a food poisoning problem. But, other than that… totally top notch time.

Danielle – thanks for the great vacation, chica!

Now back to reality.

This article has 7 comments

  1. Meghann

    Ok, so you don’t know me very well, but next time you go. . .take me with you!!!

    Nice nature shots btw. Even if you do shoot with a Canon. 😛

  2. Builder Mama

    So glad that you and Danielle had a great time! The pictures are great and by the way, you look amazing!

  3. TxGambit

    Sounds like you and Danielle had a great time! Love the pics.

  4. joansy

    Wow! What a great report. Great photos too. Welcome home!

  5. aimee

    Thanks everyone! I made Bryan a Dirty Monkey this weekend to share the love.

  6. Tree

    I love the blow by blow because I feel somewhat like I was there!

    Sharks, jellyfish, sea turtles, oh my!

  7. Rebel Girl

    Ditto what T said… Thanks for giving us a little taste of the beach life… and yes, you do look fabulous. I want to go next time too!!!

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