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Published: January 8th 2013
"Weather's here, wish you were beautiful." Jimmy Buffet
Buenos Dias!!! (Good morning)
We're HERE!!! Oops meant to say weather's beautiful, wish you were here! :D
Well this little band of merrymakers arrived in Cancun on Tuesday morning at 9:45 am (10:45 Ottawa time). Our flight left on time at 6 am. Nothing like getting on a plane when it's dark and arriving to sunshine & heat and Playa alive with music with the sounds of birds in the air.
We had to be up and at 'em in the wee hours of the night to be at the airport a little after 4 am. As I've said before, there's no reason to ever be dragged out of bed at that hour unless you are going on a tropical vacation.
Since most restaurants are closed at the airport at that early hour, I made us all ham, egg & cheese croissants for breakfast and they went over really good. Heck, I'm still waiting for a tip for all my effort, but nothing was forthcoming 😊
Blaine & Greg were especially in great spirits looking forward to the adventure ahead. The girls have so much fun with
them and are beyond thrilled they are coming with us to Playa!
We passed the 4 hour flight relaxing, napping, and reading and it’s how I like my flights; uneventful.
There's nothing like landing in Cancun and walking off the plane and being hit by the humidity and the smell of the ocean. Today the lineups were unusually long; did they hear we were showing up and wanted to meet us?
Finally we got through, grabbed our bags & headed through security. Once your baggage has been scanned, you grab it and there's a button to press; if you get green, you go through, if you get red, your bags are quickly checked. Quite often with a family/group, one person will hit the button for the group. AND, I was able to press the button for our entire group, and we got a green. HOWEVER for some reason both Blaine & Greg, and our bags were searched. It musta been that mischievous look on Greg's face?! We did have two oranges (no bringing fruit into Mexico). They questioned all the food we brought which we have to, due to Lara's Celiac disease, and I had printed off
a letter in Spanish about her dietary needs and they let me through. Although they sure kept sniffing the gluten free flour I brought in...Trust me it would be worth taking down the customs officer for Lara to run through and have safe food she can eat here.
A few minutes later we were outside, and there was Johnny our driver holding a sign with our name on it. He got all our luggage into his shuttle van, and we hopped in grateful for the rush of a/c for the 45 minute drive to Playa. Johnny is affiliated with Playa Beach Condos & Villas and is always our driver when we get picked up at the airport.
We stopped at MEGA, (the huge grocery store in Playa) as I prefer it over Wal-Mart. We picked up snacks, milk, cerveza (beer), pop, breakfast items, and had to show Blaine & Greg their huge bakery! Zipped through the cash & back in the van for a 3 minute drive to our condo.
The staff welcomed us with big greetings as always, and helped us get our luggage & groceries quickly up to our condo.
As expected, Blaine &
Greg were pretty amazed pulling up to the condo and seeing the turquoise ocean with the sun rippling off the water and the white waves breaking at the shore, mere feet from our condo. If this isn't heaven, it's heaven's waiting room! Ray & Pat were already checked in and Ray was waiting on the balcony to greet us.
The first view of the condo complex with the beautiful gardens, flowers, palm trees, infinity pool, and ocean all at your fingertips is a virtual feast for the eyes; even the postcards from here can't quite do it justice. Just driving to our accommodations through Playa is so beautiful with the red fiery flowered trees which I believe are called Royal Poinciana.
Overall I can safely say the accommodations were met with a "WOW"! I think they are pretty happy they joined us.
So now ladies and germs, it's time to sit on a lounger, have a margarita and walk over to our little beachside bar and see our friend Luis and have some lunch! I love their grilled chicken kebobs, jasmine rice and fresh salad for about $5 CDN! I brought Luis an Ottawa key chain of
the Parliament Buildings and a T-shirt with Ottawa on it. For Odin the beach server, I brought him a baseball cap with “Ottawa” on it. It was all met with a gracious hug!
Ah, 'tis the life, surrounded by family, with the sun shining warmly upon our faces and the turquoise sea kissing the shore....
"Contamos nuestras bendiciones" (We count our blessings).
Tonight we’ll get gussied up, and will take the crew up onto 5
th avenue to show them the sights! That will be FUN!!!
Signing off from an oceanfront lounger,
Gringa Sal & The Gringettes! (PS see pics further below as usual!)
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Kelsey Dickson
non-member comment
I can't believe you guys were searched, that's so inconvenient! That picture of Ava sleeping on the plane is too cute though. Have a great trip guys, miss you already! (PS I told you I read your blogs, Sal. :) Love you!