TDL’s Sports, Wrestling, & Otherwise

Monday, November 19th, 2007

There’s no good reason to do a diary of this day, basically because nothing interesting happened. We took the 11 am Ferry of Doom (everyone did, actually… the rest of our party who wanted to take the 8 am ferry backed out when it was pouring rain) in the rain which soaked all of us and every stitch of my luggage. The ferry ride back was relatively calm, even with the pouring rain. For future reference: Rain != wind. We followed with yet another cab ride to Cancun this one was only $90 for 7 people instead of $225 for 9 people… and they say travel agents are worth it.

We got to Cancun at about one in the afternoon and checked in to the well-known Mexican hotel chain “Mariott”. Ms. L and I bailed on the rest of the party and pretty much spent the day together. It was actually somewhat disappointing how much like the US Cancun really is. In Cozumel I could at least tell we were in another country. In Cancun I stayed in a Mariott and took a cab to the Mall. On the way to the Mall we passed a second mall which featured Prada, Louie Vitton, and other high end stores. The mall (mall isn’t exactly fair… all the stores weren’t connected indoors. It was a mall if the hallways between the stores were outside) we actually went to was full of Gap and such and we could have grabbed a great Mexican lunch at Chili’s. As it was, we stopped at what seemed to be the only Mexican restaurant in the place and were served to what was obviously chain food. The only benefit to the place is that the seats were right on the boardwalk. In other news, there was a boardwalk. Going back, Ms. L would not take the Cancun Drunk Bus… which is just buses that run and up and down the main drag and only cost 6.5 pesos (about 60 cents) and instead elected to make me take a cab in both directions… about $10. In an amusing turn of events, the girl who rides the New York City subway alone at all hours of the day is scared of a bus full of tourists in broad daylight. Go figure.

We went back to the hotel around 4pm and our traveling party had headed into town to do a bar crawl. When I first discovered this, I was annoyed. When I later discovered that they went to five different bars and took a cab to each one, I was less annoyed. Please note: all of my traveling party lives in New York City and takes public transit on a daily basis. The buses are basically MTA buses… and I’m the only one willing to take the Bus that costs pocket change.

Instead, Ms. L and I kind of relaxed on our balcony. We took a quick dip in the pool just to say we did it and then went to a pretty good dinner at a place called the Crab Shack across from the hotel. Afterward, we retired onto our balcony with some Coors Light (yes, Coors Light… Ms. L drinks nothing but Corona and Coors Light and, believe it or not, the random store across the street had no Corona) and listened to the water. It was a nice night.

Of course, we later discovered that our travel group had spent about 500 pesos ($50) on cabs to go to between four or five bars and then came back to the hotel and ordered in a very Mexican meal of Domino’s pizza. Then the obvious debate of “what time to go to the airport” comes up. I realize that we’re flying out of a tourist destination on a Tuesday and likely will be the only outgoing people in the entire airport. I’m over-ruled and we decide to give ourselves the full three hours.

I spent the tail end of the last night, as I usually do on a vacation, sitting by myself. Ms. L had decided to head to bed to give herself enough time to get up and get some coffee in the morning. I decided to spend the last hour out on the balcony listening to the waves come in. There was a full moon, making the water and sand weirdly bright. If anything, it made me realize how much I miss my old apartment and the nice view of the water it had. Being in Mexico that time a year almost made me forget how BRUTAL the weather was in late August.

All in all, I had a great time and I’m glad some guy I met twice decided to invite me to his wedding.

Tomorrow: the longest day of my life.