This was our Second Annual Mexican Family Retreat. Last year was 7 days in Puerto Penasco. This year is 7 days in South Akumal but we are adding 4 days to travel the Yucatan before joining my Dad and his Wife.
We live an hour away from the airport, so in order to make a 8:30am flight out of Sky Harbor Airport we need to leave home around 5:30am. While not great, this wouldn’t be bad except Hubby, aka Chris wants to stop by work for a few minutes before we leave. Good thing it’s very close to the airport. So, we leave around 5:00am. Ryan, the 11 year old is fine with this because we’re going on vacation! Paige, the 15 yr old is grumpy because she couldn’t sleep in on vacation. Can I get a cheer for family vacations?
We get a ride from work to the terminal so that makes going in a little more palatable. There is something to be said for not dealing with shuttles and luggage at that hour. We’re there with 2 hours to go before our flight. By the time we get through security and get to the gate we’ve 1 hour left. This is the part I hate. I’ve done my part to get us here on time and now everyone wants to wander around, leaving me to hope they get back in time to board. Luckily, or unluckily, our plane is delayed 20 mins. And they all make it. There is weather, aka big ass thunderstorms, rolling through Houston so our 1 ½ hour layover is reduced to running to the connecting gate ten minutes before we push back.
I have spent the last 4 months researching this trip and am still reading books on the plane. Chris says I need to relax more. My daughter calls me an OCD Nerd. My son still idolizes me so he says nothing in front of me. Soon we see land. After customs and immigration, we start out through the gauntlet. Chris asks where do we go now, who are we renting with? Hertz? Not exactly, I say. I tell them all, don’t listen to anyone as we walk through the hall. The car guy will be outside waiting for us. They look at me as if I have three heads. Then they find out I actually know what I am talking about. True to what I’ve told them, the sharks area circling and try to suck us in. Sure enough the Caribbean Car Rental guy is waiting for us just like I/he said he would be. We go to the rental building and fill out the paperwork. My dad is coming down 4 days from now so I give Miguel an extra set of directions to Casa Texoma to give him. I don’t want to imply he’s forgetful; I just know how he thinks. He may think he doesn’t need anymore than “Take 307 south until you see a sign for Akumal Sur, then turn left” I feel better knowing he has an ‘extra’ set handy. All in all, 1 hour 20 minutes after touchdown, we hit the Toll road to Valladolid.
I don’t have to explain the corrupt cops to Hubby, but I do go over the Pemex scams. We’ve never had an issue in our area but I figure its better he know the scoop. The kids can’t believe that drivers would fall for them but I do my best to explain the ins and outs of why. About 20 mins in we run into a Federales checkpoint. The kids are fixated on the size of the guns the soldiers are carrying. The guy in charge stops us and asks in Spanish where are we going? My 4 years of French and 2 years of German aren’t helping. Good thing Paige has had 2 years of Spanish. She quietly says from the back seat, he wants to know where we are going. Valladolid I reply and he waves us on. Chris says he’s impressed that I knew what was going on. I think he was flashing back to our last encounter and just blocked everything that just happened out. He never heard Paige talking at all, and she was sitting directly behind him. This leads to my retelling the story of our last trip 15 years ago. We get to the Tollbooth and the toll has risen to almost $20.00 USD. Chris asks if all roads are this expensive around here. I explain we needed to make time so we needed to take the fast road. Again, he gives me a look and drives on.
As we approach Valladolid it starts to sprinkle and its now getting dark. Mapchick’s map is clutched in my hand like a bible in the hands of a mercenary. As we get close to the square, I brace them by telling them this is probably the worst place we’re staying on the whole trip. We get into the square and I point out where the hotel is. Everyone is looking at me like, “Where’s the Holiday Inn?” I tell them to trust me, please. I take Paige and go check in. Between her Spanish and my French we do fine. We’re handed our key, which is attached to a big iron heart and the TV remote. Paige is doing her best to contain herself. When I ask about parking, the bellman says if we drive beyond the hotel, he’ll open a door and let us in. WE go back to the car and tell Chris this as we go around the square again. He wants to know where the door leads to and why didn’t I think to ask. As we drive beyond the hotel, I see the bellman flagging us into this tiny alley way and I think, maybe hubby as right. We pull in and it opens up the prettiest courtyard. Nothing like what he was expecting. Two guys come over to help with the bags, which is good.
Every time in the past when traveling on Continental Airlines, they have lost our luggage. I figured it was better to assume that it would happen again, so I packed all the snorkeling gear and misc stuff into bags to be checked. That way, if they were lost, I’d just have them deliver the bags to the house in South Akumal. So for good or bad, the bags made it and now we each had our carry-on with clothes and the personal carry on. Then there were the two checked bags. It’s now after 8:00pm, it’s been a long day and the room is on the second floor. After turning on the A/C we headed down for dinner. Very nice atmosphere and wonderful food. My gazpacho was top notch. So was the Sopa Lima. I wasn’t expecting hot soup but it was wonderful. Everything was. After dinner we went out front to walk around the square. On the opposite side from the hotel is a beautiful old church with clock tower. It was now almost 11pm and we were exhausted.
On the way back to the room Chris stops to get something to drink during the night. While in AZ we have learned that it’s best to have something on the bed stand to drink when you wake dry as the desert. He got 2 waters, a diet coke and a squirt. The kids, never having seen Squirt before, keep asking what does it taste like? Does it taste like Mountain Dew? Sprite? 7-up? “It tastes like Squirt”. And so, our first phrase of the day is born. Tastes like Squirt.
No pictures for today, but lots to follow...