Drama in Cancun!

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Early this morning Vern, Bill, Christina, Patrice, and myself all headed down to LAX for our 5 day vacation in Cancun, Mexico. Arriving at the airport early for our 7am flight, drama which would be the overriding theme for the day was about to begin. We all had no problems obtaining our boarding pass for our America West flight to Phoenix. However Bill decided that he would use his expired driver's license as his form of identification. The ticket attendant refused to take this as an acceptable form of identification and told him that he needed to clear this at some office in a different terminal. We were already running late and still had to go through security and now we had to wait for Bill to get this cleared up. While Vern and him ran to the other terminal, Christina, Patrice, and I just stood there waiting. We were wondering what we should do if they are not able to accept his expired driver's license. Patrice and I were so upset that he put us in this situation that we were willing to still get on the flight without him. When we started to lose all hope that he was going to come back in time with the proper clearance, they come running back saying that everything has been cleared. Finally, we were able to go through security and catch our flight to Phoenix.

Once we arrived in Phoenix, we had to rush to catch our connecting flight to Cancun. However, our flight was in a completely different terminal and we had to run just to make it there on time. The flight to Cancun was only about 3 hours long and only about half full, making it a very comfortable flight. Arriving in Cancun, the drama we had experienced at LAX with Bill's drivers license was about to resurface. This time coming through Mexican Immigration. They refused to allow him entry not because his license was expired but because it had been torn in pieces and put back together with scotch tape. I could definitely see how immigration officials would view this with skepticism. Christina had to step in and after some begging and pleading, the official finally let him through. After all that drama, we finally grabbed our bags and grabbed a taxi van to take us to our hotel for the night, the Holiday Inn Express.

There were 5 of us staying in the hotel room. However, I had only paid for 3 people. The plan was to sneek in the other 2 and if questioned, we would just say that they were not staying the night. I think the hotel staff knew what was going on as they were following us the entire time we were there. After dropping off our bags, we went straight to the hotel pool. Every time we looked up, there was somebody watching us. The damn staff here were really starting to get on our nerves! After cooling down in the pool, we caught a taxi over to the main part of town to have dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. Then plan was to have an early night, have a nice dinner and relax back at the hotel. Little did we realize that all the drama we had experienced thus far paled in comparison to what was going to happen tonight.

After dinner, we walked down to the beach to check out the beach at night. The ocean was bathtub warm and the sand powdery soft. I couldn't wait to just relax on the beach during the day. We hailed a taxi to take us back to the hotel but it was only able to fit 4 people. So with the driver's permission, I had to lay across the laps of all 3 people in the back and try to not be seen by the police. It was definitely a sight to be seen! The drama started when we arrived back at the hotel and all 5 of us tried to re-enter. We were approached by the hotel staff and were told that only 3 of us could go back to the room. We started protesting by insisting that they were not staying the night and were just going to hang at the room with us. The staff wouldn't budge and after we continued to protest and yell, they decided to kick us out. I demanded to have my money refunded and even went so far as to insist a manager be called. I was put on the phone with a manager where I continued to argue but no money was ever refunded. After going back to the room to retrieve our bags, all 5 of us hailed a taxi and asked to be taken to any hotel with vacancy.

The taxi driver took us to a hotel right on the beach that was surprisingly cheap for it's location. We got 2 rooms, one for the girls and one for us boys. The hotel looked really creepy and empty. I don't think that I even saw one guest besides us the entire time we were there. It felt as if we were in some horror movie checking into some empty hotel where we would later be murdered. After dropping off our things in the room, we all met back at the hotel pool. We sat around enjoying the cool night breeze and discussed tonight's events. Later that night as we were all back in our rooms, Christina and Patrice came knocking at our door. They were apparently too scared to sleep by themselves in their room because their door wouldn't shut properly. I looked at our door and noticed the same thing. So all 5 of us slept in the same room with a chair propped under the doorknob. In case somebody tried to come in and murder us, at least we would hear them.

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Photos

The Cancun Crew
At Vern and Bill's Apartment

On the Plane
America West LA to Phoenix

Chillin' at the Hotel Pool
At the Holiday Inn Express

At The Rainforest Cafe
Dinner our first night