Last Day on the Beach

Up again slightly before sunrise, I waited purposefully for the day’s first splash of sunshine before I removed myself from bed. I was quick and efficient going about my business. I felt much better this AM than I did Thursday. Instead of rushing through morning coffee and writing, I took extra time to just be. That, of course, cost me some serious heating degrees. Running at 7am is far easier than running at 8am. But even still, on this day I figured the benefits still in my favor. I left Mindy a cup of coffee before finally heading for my run close to 7:50am. I ran through the entertainment district, my usual trek through Cancun’s hotel zone. And while I felt far better than Thursday, some stiffness remained most notably in my calves. But rather than cut it short, I pushed through it and went further than I’ve gone all week. I don’t want to exaggerate, however. The Additional distance when it was all said and done was minimal, maybe an extra half kilometer. I felt strong on my return and never felt as over heated as I speculated I might. That might have something to do with running with shirt in hand versus on my back. In any case, I put it back on before reentering the hotel. The concierge handed me a towel and bottled water on reentry. I could get used to that. Mindy, please take note. J On second thought, she often has juice and eggs ready upon my return back home. Mindy was still sleeping when I reentered the room. I continued to be somewhat quiet, eventually returning to the laptop to finish writing about Thursday. Mindy mentioned taking a shower but the next thing I knew she was dressed and all but ready for breakfast. I promptly showered and dressed. I’ll bet soup to nuts it didn’t take me ten minutes. We headed down for breakfast at 10:05am. We were seated by Carlos and handed over to Jorge, our server of choice. We sat in the shaded area just shy of the rail overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Jorge was most gracious/pleasant. He offered coffee and mimosas. Yes to both! He also shared that the orange juice was much better today, and that if we didn’t agree he would make different mimosas with pineapple juice. Cool! The juice was indeed good. No need to change to pineapple juice. While Jorge made sure we had coffee and mimosas, Mindy dashed off to the water sports dock after seeing the boat we took snorkeling occupied by the crew. We were anxious to give our gracious hosts the tip that they earned but that we didn’t have in tow at the time. She commented on how hot the sun was on her walk back. During breakfast, Jorge shared how fortunate we’ve been to have such great weather. Felt sorry for travelers over the last few weeks who apparently endured rain each and every day with not even a small break of sunshine. Just the thought was sad. Mindy shared that we’re blessed and always end up with pleasant weather. We also took yet another opportunity to thank Jorge for the exquisite service during our stay. We also joked about both of us being a little hungover yesterday. He said he’s done it before, too. It’s vacation, you’re supposed to enjoy! We finished breakfast after 11am and headed back to our room. I went immediately to writing, finally finishing Thursday. Mindy beckoned me to bed for a brief nap. It felt terrific to close my eyes after, ugh, about five mimosas. J We hung out in the room until about 12:30pm. It was time to hit the beach. We each lathered up in sunblock, me in SPF8 and Mindy SPF15. Both of us were a bit more aggressive but also by design. I still used SPF 15 on my face and Mindy SPF30. Since this was Javier’s day off, we knew we wouldn’t get nearly the same level of service on the beach. We garnered our own towels, two each as we passed the unattended towel stand. We found a slightly different locale on the beach, too, but not too far from normal. We are indeed creatures of habit. There I spent almost all of my time in the sun, although it was incredibly hot. Mindy and I walked along the surf to the west and played in the water for a while. We spent a lot of time in the sea, more than any other day. It felt terrific. I stuck to Gatorade at the beach. Mindy ordered one rum & Diet cola mid-afternoon. We sunned the afternoon away. We talked a little bit about our soon coming July family vacation and how we just might skip the beach or even Lake Norris, and instead do things around our area, like camp, boat, and pool. Both of us get a little board at the beach after about 5 days. And as much fun as Lake Norris is, it gets old even quicker. We also talked about Glenn’s visit home coming up in 2.5 short weeks. Because I am off for four days in a row (July 2 - 5), we may go to Cedar Point that Thursday. We’ll measure others interest. As gorgeous as Mexico is, both of us were looking forward to returning home tomorrow. Going back home in the summer is especially favorable to my heart. After all, I love spending time at home in the summer. We talked about the fact that our neighbors are leaving for Myrtle Beach tonight and how we won’t be seeing them for another week or so. They’re a lot of fun. Still, it’ll be nice to be home. The kids won’t be home until Sunday evening. We’ll have most of Sunday to ourselves to get things back in some order. We even discussed going to Barley’s Saturday evening. But the earliest that could realistically happen wouldn’t be until about 9pm. I am game! I spent another hour or so in the sunshine. Meanwhile, Mindy went in and out of the shade of the papala. At about 4:20pm we called it an afternoon and went back to our room to begin the process of packing/organizing for our Saturday departure. While Mindy organized/packed, I wrote. Eventually, however, I assisted in the packing. We used a different plan for homeward packing. All of our dirties were to go in my smaller suitcase. Mindy’s suitcase, at least up to that point, held only our clean clothes, which there were many. I, for example, wore only two pair of shorts and about five shirts the entire time. I brought six pair of shorts, two long pair of slacks, and probably 15 shirts (5 black tee’s). By 6pm our initial packing was complete and our showers behind us. We headed out in search of souvenirs for the babies, probably t-shirts. I suggested we walk west so Mindy could see the lovely twin RIU resorts just to our west. She really liked them. I knew she would. Afterwards we crossed the busy street to get to the mall. At the mall we quickly happened upon a t-shirt shop with kids t-shirts for only $5 USD. Perfect! We bought all the boys a burnt orange Cancun t-shirt, and the girls a deep purple version of the same logo. And what the heck, we bought ourselves the purple version of the same only in adult sizes. Those were $9 USD. Still not bad. We also picked up a shot glass for our friend Tim. Hey, he asked! I thought we were done but no. Mindy bought a key chain and then moseyed next door to a shop that sold figurines. There, we spotted an abstract black metal statue of a man and woman in a sensual embrace. We liked it mucho. $11 USD. We bought it. We were done. We discussed dinner options and decided on room service. We took our souvenirs back to our room and then ventured the hotels upper floor in search of a view of the lovely Caribbean sunset. The elevator goes to floor number eleven but there’s an additional floor for the few penthouses. I was hopeful but not counting on access to that. We could only get to the 11th floor. Mindy found a westward looking window while I slipped out onto the veranda overlooking Cancun’s famous hotel zone entertainment district. Awesome view! The strip seems so miniscule amongst the surrounding water, the Caribbean Sea and then the intercoastal. After a few pics we ventured back to our room to order some room service. After perusing the menu, we chose to order an appetizer, some Mexican tapas, and then for our entrees, Mindy ordered the same chicken Caesar salad she’s had twice before. I went with the chicken quesadilla. I had one of those prior, too. Thirty minutes later Marcelo arrived with our food. Like before, we had him spread it out on the glass coffee table in the sunken living room. He nicely encouraged us to call room service after dining so that they might retrieve the dishes and mess. He left the cart this time, perhaps an effort to assure our compliance. Everything was delicious, just as we’d come to expect. Like a good soldier, I phoned room service to request retrieval. I was sure the woman answering didn’t understand as she only assured me it was on its way. Mindy later made a second call. And while it wasn’t yet 9:30pm, we were ready to turn in for the night. I ended up placing the room service cart just outside our room door so that we could change into our bed clothes and drift off to sleep. Good night moon. Good night Mexico!