Playa del Carmen

My plans for a weekend blog post about our trip didn't happen. Quite frankly I didn't want to do much of anything that I should/could have been doing this weekend. R and I are lucky I found the motivation to do some laundry and that he found some for emptying the dishwasher.

I suggest you check Spargelkohl's blog for photo links and his descriptions of what we did. I will just add a few thoughts.

To give R credit, I didn't know that we were flying to Cancun until the Black & Gold festooned United employee checked us in and wished me an early happy birthday. The rest of the details were a well-kept secret until we were sitting at the gate, and even then, knowing very little about Mexico, I didn't know what to expect until we arrived.

The fact that I knew we were going to Mexico did allow for some Spanish practice during the week and it meant that I brought my mini-dictionary - which was pretty helpful for words I couldn't remember. In most cases I found that words popped right into my head or they just wouldn't come at all. Having the dictionary to refresh my memory was fun, and overall I was pretty happy with my ability to remember the Spanish I used to know. My response time to Spanish questions was pretty slow...but better than when I first arrived in Spain in 1998, so I haven't totally regressed. :-) Must find a way to practice from time to time...

The main "excitement" on the flight was when I nearly lost a double pointed needle. Which, if I had 5 wouldn't have been a big deal. But I already broke one, so only having three would have made it impossible to work on my socks and I had only brought one non-sock project on the trip with me. Being in the last row made it tricky to retrieve since I dropped it during takeoff...but the guy in the aisle seat didn't look at me like I was too crazy for almost getting my arm stuck between the seats and even volunteered to try to reach it for me. Success! (Let's not think of this trip without the ability to knit...I might have experimented with toothpick knitting...)

On Day two, we saw a bit of the shopping opportunities in Playa del Carmen. We heard a few other people talk excitedly about what was available, but I didn't see anything that made me wish we had made time to shop. (Being my birthday weekend, I had the power to set the schedule, so I could have requested shopping if I wanted...) Not sure if my "shopping gene" wasn't paying attention or if we just didn't hit the right part of town. Of course, if it would have been my bag that stayed in DC, we would have gone shopping as soon as we arrived at the resort!

On Sunday, be sure to take note of my "Hombres de Acero" t-shirt. It's the first time I've gotten to wear in a Spanish-speaking place. And so timely, too. :-)

Getting up to try to see the sunrise on my birthday probably marks the earliest I've ever gotten up on my birthday...I think.

Lastly, I'll add that when we returned home it was not only cold but it was also snowing! Talk about a harsh plunge back into reality... Oh, and Dulles stinks. Will be avoided in the future.