Cancun

Cancun

Cara and I went to Cancun for a four day weekend a few weeks ago for a friends wedding. We grabbed a direct flight down to the resort outside of Cancun. Our time was short, and there were events for the wedding guests daily so we did not venture off the resort.

I liked the weather, I liked the resort - Moon Palace Sunrise. I relaxed and soaked up the calm ambiance. The resort was very nicely appointed with everything you could want, from swim up bars to a huge variety of good food and cheap booze (free to guests, cheap to them!).

The well manicured lawns, the maintained streams and fountains, the tractor that picks up sea-weed from the beach to keep it beautiful all gave the place a very unreal feeling. In the sense that it is an escape from reality, it did the trick. Most of the people that worked there knew English very well, I did dive into my mind and pull out quite a few Spanish words and phrase, all unnecessary. I want to begin re-learning sentence structure, I'd love to be able to have a solid conversation in Spanish by the time we go to Costa Rica next year. All of the employees being able to speak English made the place seem that much more unreal. Not a bad thing, just an observation.

We did see some wild-life. We saw iguanas,. and 1 lonely orange-billed gull surrounded by his drab brethren, and to top it off we saw a coati! The coati, also known as the snookum bear, looks kind of like a cross between a cat and a raccoon. Cara and I were going for one last stroll around, killing time before we headed to the airport. By a line of bushes I saw a tail float up from the shrubbery. The tail immediately made me do a double take, as it was much too long to be a cats tail. I skirted the bushes, and grubbing around in the dirt was this coati. He looked very smart and very hungry! He paid us no mind as we stalked him and watched him move down the bushes in search of his meal. A worker tossed us a muffin to feed to him. I always have reservations about feeding wildlife and getting them dependent on humans, I did appreciate the close up views though. My guilt is bearable, but still there.

The important part of this trip, the great part of this trip, the truly memorable part was the joining of two lives. The wedding of two friends, surrounded by family and friends supporting their decision to combine their lives to one. The ceremony was held in a pavilion over-looking the beach. As we walked along the path to the place of marriage, three planes dodged and wove above us, doing aerial maneuvers seen at airshows. The wedding party all made it under the pavilion before the sky opened up, before the bride made it there. The horse and carriage slowed nearly to a halt and then clopped away to shelter to wait out the passing shower. This gave everyone a good laugh and will be integral in the telling of their day forever - an occurrence that some may find horrifying they found funny and up-lifting. After the ceremony we all went to the reception with plenty of alcohol and dancing. I wish the newly weds all the best! They are a wonderful couple.

The trip was relaxing, the travel was easy. Cara is such a good traveling companion. Neither of us like to feel rushed so we arrive early and lounge waiting for the plane. We take it easy and enjoy all parts of the journey. I would want no one else to be with on these trips.