Urban Grange Hall: Travelog Mexico, Day 1

This trip was made possible by my parents who saved and protected their monies so that I would have an inheritance. Thank you! And a great big thank you to Annette C. who managed the fort while we were gone.

Our adventure began at 3 am Saturday morning when we arose for our 4 am pick up. It was cold. Winter had settled back into Maine. Our friend and my co-worker, Annette, AKA Nonette, had graciously volunteered to take us to the airport at 4 am. She said it was her way of living vicariously through us. She was the perfect person for the task. She is always positive, attentive, and held in very high regard by Miss Maisie.

The flights went off without a hitch-we actually arrived a bit earlier than planned on both legs. We touched down in Cancun around12:45 pm (Mexico time). The drive to the hotel was about an hour, so we were settled in by 2:30 pm or so. The first order of business was to trek to the beach and put our feet in the water. I had read earlier in the week that the temp was 79 degrees f. At it's warmest, the Atlantic in Maine only reaches the low 60's so we were pretty stoked about the warmth of the Caribbean. We all strode into the surf-and right back out-it was COLD and there was a strong undertow and rips. Apparently there had been a northerly on-shore wind for a few days and it had shifted the currents. The blustery breezes also helped to keep the pools on the cooler side as well.

There were palm trees and tropical birds everywhere. All I could think of was "Welcome to Fantasy Island". At night we slept with the sliders open after lingering on the balcony where we enjoyed the warm evening and the radiant heat from the tile that had been sun baked during the day.

Before diner we had met with a booking agent provided by the travel company. We decided on two days of Mexican tourist adventure. The first was a trip to Cozumel and an immersion in The Atlantis, a submarine that takes passengers down to the Meso American reef, the second largest coral reef in the world, and to the Yucatan trench. There is the possibility of seeing sharks and sea turtles on these excursions, so we were pretty excited. The second experience we committed to was a tour to Chichen Itza that included a swim in a cenote and a side trip to a colonial city.

We were asleep before 10 pm. More than fifteen hundred miles from home having started the day in winter and now we were slumbering in paradise. How we were able to sleep beats me. It's pretty amazing when you think about traveling 7 miles up in the sky, going over 500 mph, crossing the Tropic of Cancer, being welcomed in a foreign country-all in less time than you normally spend at your job every day.