Mexico: Top Ten

Recently, Barry and I traveled with eight of our friends to Mexico for a 5-Day/4-Night vacation. Canon stayed with MyGoo and Doc where, I am told, he was the perfect baby (like I'm surprised!!). We stayed at the El Dorado Royale located just outside of Playa del Carmen. Kyle & Mandy, Ed & Leslie, Lance & Tracie, and Sam & Alicia made the trip with us. It was, to say the least, a very memorable experience. Because trips like these can be difficult to describe, I'm taking an idea from my sister-in-law and making a Top Ten list to condense the trip down to its most memorable moments. I'm no Letterman, but here goes . . .

Number 10: Playa del Carmen. The last night of our trip, we decided to venture away from the resort and experience some local night life. We reserved a van to transport our obnoxious crew the 15+ miles to 5th Avenue, a cobblestone road lined with restaurants, shops, and bars. We spent just three hours walking the streets (no . . . not like that) and checking out the shops-that-appear-to-sell-local-memorabilia-but-actually-sell-items-made-in-Taiwan. A few of us found some things worth purchasing (yes, even me) and we had a great time. Things I learned in Playa: the mojitos are better here than anywhere else in Mexico (but not as good as Kyle & Ed's), a Ladies' Small t-shirt is much smaller than a regular small t-shirt, and Mexican women NEVER wear flats.

Number 9: The Sandbags. In an effort to make the horizon a bit more appealing to its guests, the Royale has strategically placed sandbags that look like large boulders a few feet from the shore. While these sandbags are mere eye-candy for most guests, the boys in our group saw an opportunity for an excursion. They climbed and jumped from one sandbag to the next, scraping their feet and backs along the way. Apparently, the game caught on. The lifeguard soon joined them, jumping from bag to bag and blowing his whistle with delight!

Number 8: The Lazy River. The whole reason we chose the Royale over other resorts was the inclusion of a Lazy River in the overall experience, and at least the boys can say that it didn't disappoint. Outside each of our rooms floated a long and winding river - the only river I know whose water is still. This river led to our favorite pool as well as to each other's rooms. Who needs sidewalks when you can take off your cover-up and flip-flops, toss them into a bag with your sunscreen and magazine, and carry all of it over your head in a four-foot-deep canal to the nearest pool only a short football field away? While those not carrying the bag appreciated this mode of transportation, I found it most enjoyable at 2 a.m. after Room Service was delivered and we could enjoy the guacamole and tostitoes from a pool chair in the Lazy River.

Number 7: Six-and-Four. If there is one thing that most of us will remember about this resort is the fact that it does not typically see groups of larger than six people. We sat in each other's laps when the shuttle carried us from place to place, and we rarely (only twice!) sat together as a group at a meal. Whenever we approached a hostess and requested a table for 10, her eyes got big, beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, and she immediately responded, "No, we do six-and-four." We finally quit arguing around Day Four.

Number 6: The Cougars. On the third night, we hung out in the Martini Bar in the lobby of the resort. With a group the size of ours, we basically had the bar to ourselves, until . . . The Cougars walked in. A group of 9 forty-something-year-old women sauntered into the bar and immediately found our friend, Lance. Or maybe it would be better to say that Lance is a Closet Cougar-Catcher. To make a long story short, we ended up spending quite some time hanging out with these women, who turned out to be top-selling travel agents from Ohio. When they heard of our troubles with sitting together at meals, they promised to clear everything up for us. While we appreciate their efforts, we continued to sit "six-and-four" for the remainder of the trip. Thanks anyway, Cougars!

Number 5: The Engagement. While I'm sure this would be Number 1 on Sam and Alicia's list, let's be honest . . . we were all waiting on this to happen. One of the promotions we received (you'll hear more about these later) was a candlelight dinner on the beach. The one night we probably all would have preferred to eat with just our spouses, the concierge set us up at a huge table-for-ten! We still had a great time, despite the romantic implications. After dinner, Kyle and Mandy insisted on a walk along the beach. They were celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary and wanted some "alone time." This was, at least, the lie we told Alicia so that Sam could lure her privately to the beach to propose while the rest of us prepared the post-engagement celebration! I want go into details, but know that chocolate-covered strawberries were included. You're Welcome, Sam!

Number 4: BOLUS! If there's one thing I learned from this trip, it is that it never hurts to take two people with medical degrees on any vacation so that they can teach you about things like a Bolus! Basically, a Bolus is a quick and large consumption of water. We all partook in quite a bit of these. You know . . . to fight dehydration! This is Ed teaching the bartender at the resort how to make a mojito.

Number 3: 5-Dinner-Days. One of the best things about an all-inclusive resort is the limitless amount of food and drink available to you at any given time of the day. Our first full day at the resort, we reserved the candlelight dinner on the beach . . . for 10 p.m. There was no way we could wait that long for dinner, so we decided that we would have a "1st Dinner" about 6. Well, if we're going to have a 1st Dinner, we might as well have a 1st lunch as well. Basically, in this one day, most of us consumed 1 breakfast, 2 lunches (back-to-back, literally), and 2 dinners. We didn't do this again.

Number 2: The Promotions. I'm not sure of the details, but somehow the travel agent we used was able to get us some fairly awesome promotional deals during our stay (or maybe it was Sam's daily discussions with Diego using the resort's on-line chatting tool - we're still not sure who Diego is!). Either way, we received three promotional vouchers upon arriving at the Royale. We each used one of our vouchers on the Candlelight Beach Dinner and at least one other one on a massage. This was my first massage, and I must say that it was pretty great. I don't want to go out and spend $100 on one every week, but the next time Diego offers me a free massage at an all-inclusive resort, I'll be sure to take him up on it. In case you're wondering, as cheap as Barry and I are, we didn't actually use our third voucher. Barry has always wanted to throw his own blender out the window and break it on the sidewalk "just because he can." I guess, in some twisted way, he was able to do that in Mexico with the third voucher.

Number 1: The Rendezvous. Though not exciting, the Rendezvous was probably the place we most frequented at the resort. Each morning after breakfast, we would meet at "The Rendezvous," the nickname we gave the pool that the Lazy River emptied into. We awoke and ate at different times, but because we all wanted to meet up eventually, we waited at The Rendezvous until the entire group was there. The boys played Pool Volleyball everyday (the girls joined in once), and a couple of the girls got roped into Water Aerobics. Again, not the most exciting place in Mexico, but definitely a memorable locale. There was a swim-up bar, pool chairs sitting in the pool, and canopy beds in the shade of the coconut trees. Iguanas were everywhere - I think Leslie almost stepped on one! It really was a pretty cool place.

Though not too extensive, I hope this helps your imagination run wild with the events of our vacation. Here are some other pictures that might help you better enjoy our vacation.

The scenery at our resort was beautiful. It was on such a large campus that we rode shuttles from one place to another, and we would all be snapping pictures along the way.


This is a "saltwater pool." We hung out here all afternoon one day. It's a large area of the ocean that they have blocked off with a rock wall. Crabs and other small animals still climb from one side of the pool to the other. Traci spent most of this particular afternoon chasing "critters" and showing them off to us.

As usual, the girls spent a lot of time together! We had to initiate Mandy & Kyle into this way of vacationing. They're used to going on trips with couples who like to hang out together.

I just wish I had gotten some sun on this trip.

The boys also had a good time. They tended to find more interesting things to do, like scuba diving in The Rendezvous pool and trying to drive the resort shuttles.


We did manage to get a few pictures of at least most of us. The one with the Buddha-ish statue is the only one we got of all ten of us. This was one of the two nights were able to sit together, so we thought we'd make a record of it.