This morning, I decided that the place was too messy with all the suitcases opened up on the floor and it was time to put a bit of order in this house. I can’t believe how much clothing my kids have…and they are boys!
We loaded the kids in our tiny car and headed for The Reef, a hotel-resort 5 minutes away from the house. The resort is in a beautiful okra-red color, surrounded by trees and nature (we even went by an iguana enjoying a ray of sun).
There are two pools and obviously the beach, with turquoise super-warm water. The biggest problem of the day was to choose between the beach, pool number 1 or pool number 2, where the kids made friends. Pool number 2 had also the advantage to be around a bar, so we had easy access to pinacoladas and mojitos. We had lunch at the restaurant by the pool. This was actually the first time M & O ate “grown-up food” in a restaurant without making or scene or without Nazi-Mom needed to force feed anyone.
The boys are almost ready to swim. Oscar was getting cozy with Emily, an Hispanic-American girl coming from Texas. Maybe one day he is going to live close to Uncle Steve, happy as can be in beautiful Houston, TX!
It is incredible to see the consistency of Oscar’s tastes: always Hispanic, always older and always with personality. Emily (or “princess” as she likes to be known) was asking me why was Oscar grabbing her all the time. I told her it was because she was good at jumping in the water. I am sure she was looking for a more flattering answer. I got to talk to the parents who seemed nice. I think we’ll need to go back to the Reef to get better acquainted with the potential in-laws.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Time Share
We woke up as in a “mid-night miracle” with all four in the same bed. It is funny to see that our wondering kids figured out immediately their way to our room. The cats also seemed to have finally settled, but the suitcases are still opened and our stuff is all over the living room.
I am spending some time with M & O in the swimming pool and trying to socialize with the neighbors to find out who has a wireless network (we NEED a password). That is my mission otherwise Alain is going to take advantage of the situation to socialize with the waitress at the Internet Café...
In the afternoon, we went looking for a car rental in downtown Playa. We were walking around and it was totally unrecognizable compared to our 1997 visit. It is impressive how they have built so much but yet everything is still pleasant.
Lorenzo had advised us to look for big companies like Avis or Herz because sometimes with the local companies you get rotten deals. But a nice guy with a big smile came out of his shop offering us a great deal on a car if we would be willing to take tour of a nearby resort. We were thinking “ok we have a year to spend here so there is no harm wasting 90 minutes visiting a resort”. Plus we would get a free buffet lunch and the great deal on the car.
We went there, had lunch, toured the place and got swallowed in mutitle sales pitches for a time-share deal. We went through three salespeople with three different degrees of aggressiveness. I had a headache. First we got the nice Mexican guy from a good family, then the tall, blond, stylish, US-educated Mexican woman, then the aggressive American with a gold watch and a gold college ring. On the top of it, we were expected to commit *on the spot* on a $70,000 purchase with no option to think about it overnight or the deal was gone. Finally after 3 hours, we managed to get out.
Later, Lorenzo stopped by and told us that the timeshare trick it is like a rite of passage for all foreigners … well we feel better :-)
I am spending some time with M & O in the swimming pool and trying to socialize with the neighbors to find out who has a wireless network (we NEED a password). That is my mission otherwise Alain is going to take advantage of the situation to socialize with the waitress at the Internet Café...
In the afternoon, we went looking for a car rental in downtown Playa. We were walking around and it was totally unrecognizable compared to our 1997 visit. It is impressive how they have built so much but yet everything is still pleasant.
Lorenzo had advised us to look for big companies like Avis or Herz because sometimes with the local companies you get rotten deals. But a nice guy with a big smile came out of his shop offering us a great deal on a car if we would be willing to take tour of a nearby resort. We were thinking “ok we have a year to spend here so there is no harm wasting 90 minutes visiting a resort”. Plus we would get a free buffet lunch and the great deal on the car.
We went there, had lunch, toured the place and got swallowed in mutitle sales pitches for a time-share deal. We went through three salespeople with three different degrees of aggressiveness. I had a headache. First we got the nice Mexican guy from a good family, then the tall, blond, stylish, US-educated Mexican woman, then the aggressive American with a gold watch and a gold college ring. On the top of it, we were expected to commit *on the spot* on a $70,000 purchase with no option to think about it overnight or the deal was gone. Finally after 3 hours, we managed to get out.
Later, Lorenzo stopped by and told us that the timeshare trick it is like a rite of passage for all foreigners … well we feel better :-)
The Departure
After a 24 hours packing spree…we finished at 5 a.m. in the morning, the taxi-van came to pick us up at 6 a.m. Well the timing was perfect and we did not have to worry where we had a mattress available to sleep that night (as our friend Shai had predicted). We were pretty tired but now we had to gather all the adrenaline necessary for the trip. The flight was unusually smooth, the kids behave well and the cats were super quiet, to the point that my neighbor did not notice I had a cat until we got to Cancun. Even our 30 minutes layover in Houston turned out to our benefit because a little motorized cart came to pick us up. And if you know Huston airport, you must know that is a huge advantage. There were at least three miles between gates.
The plane was packed with well-behaved Americans. It arrived in Cancun on time, the immigration was a long, but fast moving line. Apparently once in Mexico people know which line to choose by themselves, in fact you do not need an obnoxious individual shouting at you or a big fat yellow line. We were able to figure that out just as easily!
The kids were running on the conveyor belt (which fortunately was not on) while we filled up the immigration paperwork …and no one was saying anything. No one accusing Matthias and Oscar of terrorism or more appropriately drug traffic! Anyway I went to pick up my uncontrollable kids and Matthias ask the custom office if we were in Mexico? Just checking…
Believe it or not the 5 pieces of luggage and two car seats were there waiting for us, the paper work for the cats was reviewed rapidly, and in no time we are in a giant van on the way to our new home.
I called Lorenzo, our local savior, that was going to meet us at the house. I had to come all the way to Mexico to experience a trip with 2 kids, 2 cats, 1 husband, 2 huge suitcases, 3 big bags, hot and humid temperature and a sleepless night and still be in a good mood…
I am writing it so that I will believe myself one day.
The house we are staying this first month it is very fancy, there are three floors and on the top floor there is bedroom with a huge king size bed, with huge bathroom and a walking closet as big as my Manhattan apartment, middle floor the kids room, the guest room (ding ding), and another bathroom and the ground floor is a large living area with big kitchen and an half bath.
The cats, after few hours under the sofa, got possession of the house. Lorenzo bought a scratching pad with a game and litter for them… I told you he was our savior! He gave us interesting information. For instance: the resident of playacar (the residential area where we live) have access to an hotel close by and can use the facility of the hotel (beach, pool, kids activities, etc) for free. Wow! That is life as it should be!
We have a common pool 5 meters away from the house, and of course as soon as we got here the kids jumped in it. That is guarantee hour of peace and from my living room I can see them and enjoy a moment of peace while the monsters jump up and down in the water.
We went to a local deli to buy little things for breakfast and we ordered a pizza for dinner but we got two for the price of one, it is like the margaritas! We had a little not up-to-standard margarita bought at the convenience store but, at this point of the night, we were really really tired so we gulped without a problem.
The plane was packed with well-behaved Americans. It arrived in Cancun on time, the immigration was a long, but fast moving line. Apparently once in Mexico people know which line to choose by themselves, in fact you do not need an obnoxious individual shouting at you or a big fat yellow line. We were able to figure that out just as easily!
The kids were running on the conveyor belt (which fortunately was not on) while we filled up the immigration paperwork …and no one was saying anything. No one accusing Matthias and Oscar of terrorism or more appropriately drug traffic! Anyway I went to pick up my uncontrollable kids and Matthias ask the custom office if we were in Mexico? Just checking…
Believe it or not the 5 pieces of luggage and two car seats were there waiting for us, the paper work for the cats was reviewed rapidly, and in no time we are in a giant van on the way to our new home.
I called Lorenzo, our local savior, that was going to meet us at the house. I had to come all the way to Mexico to experience a trip with 2 kids, 2 cats, 1 husband, 2 huge suitcases, 3 big bags, hot and humid temperature and a sleepless night and still be in a good mood…
I am writing it so that I will believe myself one day.
The house we are staying this first month it is very fancy, there are three floors and on the top floor there is bedroom with a huge king size bed, with huge bathroom and a walking closet as big as my Manhattan apartment, middle floor the kids room, the guest room (ding ding), and another bathroom and the ground floor is a large living area with big kitchen and an half bath.
The cats, after few hours under the sofa, got possession of the house. Lorenzo bought a scratching pad with a game and litter for them… I told you he was our savior! He gave us interesting information. For instance: the resident of playacar (the residential area where we live) have access to an hotel close by and can use the facility of the hotel (beach, pool, kids activities, etc) for free. Wow! That is life as it should be!
We have a common pool 5 meters away from the house, and of course as soon as we got here the kids jumped in it. That is guarantee hour of peace and from my living room I can see them and enjoy a moment of peace while the monsters jump up and down in the water.
We went to a local deli to buy little things for breakfast and we ordered a pizza for dinner but we got two for the price of one, it is like the margaritas! We had a little not up-to-standard margarita bought at the convenience store but, at this point of the night, we were really really tired so we gulped without a problem.
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