Cancun Christmas Part II

Christmas Day, 2000
ClubMed, Cancun Mexico

I wake up at 8 AM to the sun shining and warm tropical breezes. I dress in my black and white bathing suit with matching sarong. Anne, Brien and I are the first up and mosey down for breakfast. We are greeted with Mimosas by the General Manager, Ryan...a very tall, Tom Selick looking man with mustache and a loud booming voice...in three languages no less.

We take the drinks with us to breakfast. I take one sip and place it on an empty table. Cheap champagne and orange juice from a powdered mix is a recipe for a horrible day. I do not want to spend today sick or hung-over. It's the thought that counts, I guess. I wonder why they do not use real orange juice especially on a holiday that the resort is celebrating and I am sure Brien has paid at least $2500 for each of us for this week's visit...couldn't they find fresh OJ? No matter.

The breakfast buffet is becoming predictable after three days. Pancakes, crepes, French toast, scrambled eggs, pastries galore, croissants, danish, fresh fruit, pineapple, honeydew, watermellon, bananas, oranges, grapefruits and every cereal you can imagine is available for consumption. I settle with three minute eggs, dry toast, hash browns with a touch of real maple syrup (thank you God!) and the world's best bacon.

Bacon. Natures' perfect candy. Thank you god for this beautiful bacon. It makes all the powdered drinks disappear in shame. God bless the magical bacon and its beautiful powers to transform a vegetarian into a carnivore. Forgive me friendly Jesus if I upset you...and thank you for the glorious bacon on your birthday! Amen. And seriously Jesus...thank you for the bacon. Amen again. I really mean it...it's awesome!

After breakfast, the rest of our group arrives and we relocate to a large outside bar/cafe pool-side. The staff makes us "cappuccinos" but we laugh to ourselves being all Seattle coffee snobs, at the sugary milk they float on top of our beverages. It is no cappuccino! It is more of a cafe con leche with lots of sugar. Anne and I love them and we drink them regularly at 10 AM, 2 PM and 4:30 PM. It is a ritual we enjoy and the staff is surprised that we get excited over coffee and not the free mixed drinks. There seems to be no caffeine in these sugary drinks either since we do not feel jittery after having a couple. I guess this is paradise.

Anne is still sick and Nathan, her brother in-law, is a doctor. Medicine arrives today from town for Anne to take and she seems a little stronger during our gift-opening ceremony. We had rules: no gifts over $10 and they must be packable. Brien did all his shopping at JFK and we each got a paperback John Grisham book. Cindy gave us girls scarfs that are beautiful and cost much more than ten dollars...she really shouldn't have...they are so beautiful and she is so kind and generous. Anne and I feel unworthy of their affection and I marvel at how a family can behave with kindness and no fighting, especially on a holiday.

Anne gives art. Her work is always spectacular and appreciated. I made body lotions (after sun care) and I got Brien some Bay Rum (the kind you slap on after a shave.) He loved it, saying he had some years ago and loved how it smelled. It is a refreshingly manly scent. They receive gifts so well. We stay gathered for an hour or so chatting about things we want to do today. Anne is going back to bed. Cindy and I are going horseback riding.

We have dinner reservations tonight in the fancy restaurant. I am surprised at how easy it is for all of us to enjoy each other's company. Conversations are easy. We discuss politics and we are all good liberals. Brien and Cindy donate tons of money to the right organizations and people. They are involved in their community and give a large percentage back to helping others. It is kinda what I think being with the Kennedy's is like, less the football and accents. I am honored to be here. Alice (Anne's sister) and Nathanial are good NYC liberals working in academia at the New School...I forget where Nathanial has said he works and I am embarrassed to ask him again. I think he has told me a couple of times already. Should have written it down.

The ClubMed theme is always playing in the background. It is a smooth jazz version of "Baby I Love Your Ways" by Peter Frampton. Anne and I think this is hysterical. You have to be careful when and where you walk here because at any time there may be a Congo line going and you will get swept up in it and cha chaed to a place you hadn't planned on going.

Later...

The bar manager, Benny, has taken a shine to me. He tries to buy me drinks when he sees me. He is handsome, thick black hair, semi-sweet chocolate brown skin, his heritage is Bengali and he is a Hindu. He is in his mid-forties and has been working for ClubMed for 26 years. He was just transfered here...this makes his 33rd location. The organization has 130 sites.

Since it is Christmas, I decide to have a Manhattan on the rocks. Benny asks me, "What are you like when you are drunk?"

I say, "This is pretty much it. I don't get drunk anymore...or at least I try not to. I may get tipsy or a little happy. Then I am done. I'm not a good drunk and don't like to be drunk."

This is a conversation stopper for Benny. He doesn't know how to relate to the pretty women here who don't get drunk. ClubMed is a little like being on a cruise ship whereas the employees are expected to "party" with the guests when they are "off duty". God. What a terrible job! Thank you God for keeping me away from working for these kinds of places!

The skies turn dark blue and the torrential rains return canceling our horseback riding excursion today. Back to pottery painting for me...Cindy is disappointed. She misses her horse when she travels and we make plans to try again tomorrow.

Christmas dinner is a quiet affair in the high-end restaurant. We have beautiful fresh seafood and there is a decent wine list, so we share over priced California chardonnay with our meal. Anne stays in bed...her fever got higher and I take her soup from the restaurant back to our room. Poor thing. It sucks being sick in paradise.

Boxing Day

It is Boxing Day...a holiday Americans do not celebrate. I decided to start celebrating Boxing Day back in 1992 when I was working at Cafe Flora. We did not celebrate holidays there (at least not Christian holidays) but we did recognize the obscure ones and Boxing Day is a great day to rest and look at all your boxes from Christmas. I know, you're supposed to box everything up and return it I think, but I just like having an extra day holiday after Christmas. It is not celebrated here at ClubMed.

It is really windy and stormy looking out again. Courageous fools go para-sailing or wind surfing in this weather. Cindy and I will try horseback riding again today. Anne's fever broke and she is feeling a bit better. She decides to join me for breakfast at the buffet.

This place is packed with French tourists. They don't smell too bad since there is so much water around, they can jump into a pool or the ocean or the lagoon to release the stench. I know, I know a negative stereo-type, but seriously...the b.o. thing...I got no tolerance!

The seating at the breakfast buffet is open so people share tables. Anne has more energy and brightens up around other people. Being in community is such a good thing for the soul and Anne is such a smarty-pants. She is conversing in Spanish and French this morning. I can follow most of the conversations and can reply slowly in Spanish. French is not my language. I failed it 3 times in high school...let's hope I find a handsome Frenchman who can translate for me during my next visit.

Anne was speaking with a French couple who are perfectly dressed, thin and have excellent posture. They told her they bought old apartments in Paris and renovated them, then sold them for big money. Just like the Americans I think to myself! Anne told them how much she loved Paris and that she was looking forward to her next trip there ad the French woman said, "I am sorry but Paris is closed."

Anne asked her to repeat what she said and she said the same thing. Then Anne translated for me and we started laughing our asses off. God damned French Bastards. Closed? Seriously? The whole city is closed now and we cannot visit? Fuck the French!

Wow. Closed.

The French couple did not understand why we were laughing and we finish up and excuse ourselves wishing them a lovely day laughing all the way back to the room.

Wednesday
Tulum Ruins, Mexico

I am sitting on the back steps of a small pyramid in Tulum. I have visited here before and love this coastal Mayan ruin site. It is well excavated and there is beautiful energy in the land. I feel very at home in the Yucatan Peninsula. I am certain that I was a member of the Mayan tribe in a previous lifetime. I have found the only peaceful spot. Many tourists are swarming around. American, Mexican, Germain, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian...all languages yelling the same thing to their partners..."Take a picture of me standing here!" They seem to follow me and all want photos taken in front of a palm tree, where I am sitting.

Florescent stickers identify the different tour groups. The ClubMed group is ultra pampered. Air conditioned bus from the compound with movies playing and a bathroom, a tram to take us from the bus to the entrance of the site...cold beverages available for us on the tram and in the bus. Cindy asked our guide if we could walk from the bus to the entrance, about 1/2 mile, and the guide thought we were crazy! The guide said it was dangerous saying there were mosquitoes and water puddles because of the rain. We smiled and said we'd brave the threats and walked anyway. The tram arrived at the same time we did. It feels good to walk.

There are many local people who speak English and offer American tourists guided tours of the ruins. I experienced this several years ago when I visited here alone and the guides can be quite pushy. Cindy asks our opinion on taking a tour guide. Since it is her first visit, she decides to splurged for a guided tour.

Alex, our guide, is a handsome young man who speaks perfect English. He is of Mayan descent...round face, caramel colored skin, big brown eyes, brilliantly white teeth. He takes us in front of the ruins and holds up picture post cards of the sites we are looking at and seems to be reading from the back of the cards. Maybe they are his notes, maybe he just bought the cards and is looking for a quick twenty bucks. He explains how advanced the Mayan people were not only because of their architecture, but because of the calendar and planetary knowledge. They designed their buildings to have a beam of light, in the shape of a serpent during certain equinoxes, full moons and some sun rises.

I want to ask about alien sitings but Anne is not with me and I am afraid that Nathanial and Cindy might think I'm crazy, so I keep my questions to myself. I excuse myself from the tour since I am familiar with the site and find a beautiful pyramid overlooking the sea and I meditate, then write. I am in bliss sitting here with the energy of the ruins...my old peoples. The Mayan energy enters my cells and I will always remember this place. Thank you God.

Tomorrow...part III
So much love...
Linda