Ixtapa: Thursday/Friday

Everyone had a bad night's sleep last night; I woke up with both sides of my back a solid knotted mass of muscle; Heidi didn't feel rested at all. We had arranged to meet the Lynch's at 10:30 for a ride on the banana boat, but Heidi was so tired that she went back to bed. I took one of the Somalgesic pills we bought the other day, and my back eased slightly.

After breakfast, Tasha and I made our way to the beach. Another stinking hot day with high humidity; it was good to be near the water. Raymie and Peter were there, and after a short wait I went on the banana boat with Raymie and Tasha. I sat up the front with Tasha between my legs; she loved the bouncy parts but didn't like getting sprayed with water.

Back on the beach I took Tasha for a swim in the ocean. More squealing and jumping. Heidi was there by the time we got back to shore, and we all went for a ride on the banana boat. At $5 each, it's hard to beat.

Over lunch I realized that my back was troubling me to such a degree that I needed to do something about it. I remembered that at the far end of the beach past the sailboats was a make-shift tent where you could get an hour massage for $25. We walked over there, and while I organized a massage, Heidi went sailing with Peter and Aedan.



After the massage I felt a great deal better, and indeed ready to tackle the day's featured event. At 5pm, Heidi, Raymie, and I hopped into a taxi and drove for about 30 minutes to Playa Larga (Long Beach), near the town of Zihuatanejo. You may remember Zihuatanejo from The Shawshank Redemption as the paradise that Andy planned to escape to. Although they actually filmed the Zihuantanejo scene the US Virgin Islands, this area boasts some spectacular beaches that we had a great time exploring:


Our horses definitely had some personality; mine refused to let any other horse get in front of him, and as such frequently jolted forward to head off any young upstart colt who fancied himself a leader. Heidi's horse was a lazy beast; after noticing that he refused Heidi's orders to trot, our guide (Pastore Sanchez; more on him later) gave Heidi a motiviational instrument (visible in her left hand above), which had very little effect (other than making Heidi feel sorry for the horse.)

Nevertheless, we had a magical time exploring the beach around sunset:



Back at the ranch, we were offered our choice of beer or soda, with only the beer being actually available (what can I say: it was a tough holiday!) Riding is thirsty work; enough so that Heidi had her second ever beer:


Pictured with Heidi is the aforementioned Pastore Sanchez, a true character. He speaks enough English and we enough Spanish in order to have a conversation with him about the Mexican rodeo that was playing on a nearby TV:

"So, Pastore, have you ever done that?"

"Si, amigo. When I was young and...."

"Loco?"

"Si, crazy niño! One time..."

(he starts miming the actions of a matador)

"I stand there, bull, he ees theees"

(mimes a bull snorting and pawing the ground)

"I want to run away, but nothing happen.... Mi sopladores: up here," he says, indicating his throat.

"Sopladores? Um??"

He looks right at Raymie: "What you say them? Testículos?"

Raymie is a bit embarassed: "Um, we say.... I don't know.... balls?"

"BALLS? You say BALLS?"

It was hard to have a meaningful conversation after that, as everyone in the vicinity was roaring with laughter. So next time you're on Playa Larga in Zihuatanejo, ask Señor Sanchez about his cojones :-).

Taxi ride back to the resort in time for the "International"-themed dinner and this desktop wallpaper sunset:

Friday

Our last full day in Mexico. We had a lazy breakfast, and made it down to the beach in time for Tasha's turn riding a "horse" on the beach:




Coincidentally, a beach volleyball game was just starting so I joined that while Heidi filmed Tasha's adventure.

At noon we caught a water taxi across to Ixtapa island, which is about a mile offshore (visible in the sunset above). This expedition was billed as "Lobster Lunch", and didn't disappoint:


...although it could equally have been called "Lazy Liquid Lunch", as alcohol and hammocks were both free of charge:



After a quick splash in water to freshen up, we caught a taxi back to the mainland, where I summoned the courage to join the circus:


They offered trapeze training each day of the week, but it wasn't until our last day that I was able to make it. It was a lot of fun but rather disorienting: trying to remember what you were supposed to do, remembering which way was up, all while listening to the coaches and trying not to look like a fool. On my second attempt I completed the routine: a leg swing followed by a backwards somersault dismount, but time ran short before I could get on to the more exciting part which involved being caught by a coach on the other swing.

Next up we attended the Mini Club Med awards ceremony, where Tasha (and all the other kids) got a medal and gave us a semi-rehearsed dance routine.

Dinner on our last night was definitely the culinary highlight of the entire holiday: "Chef's Showcase", featuring duck a l'orange, quail, canapes, and all manner of delicious deserts that tasted as good as they looked:

The River of Tequila!

Nordic salmon with canapes; quail with raisin.

Dessert to die for!

So that was about it! We all enjoyed Mexico, but by this time we were ready to head home. We're not sure where our next adventure will take us... I'm hoping to do a summer trip into the Cascade mountains, but for now.... adiós, amigos!

Ixtapa: Tuesday/Wednesday

Peter and I had arranged to meet at 9:30 for some breakfast before heading off to try out the sailing. Even though there was barely any wind we decided to give it a try. At first we just sat there with the sail limp, so I hopped off and pushed the catermaran out beyond a rocky point. We caught a bit of a breeze at that point, but for the next 40 minutes it was a case of trying to find a breeze that would take us anywhere! We decided to head back in and try again later in the day if the wind picked up.

We met back up with Heidi and Raymie. All the kids were at the club, and Heidi and I discovered we were dog tired, so we decided to have a siesta... very decadent, seeing as it was only noon! If you had to sleep on these rock-hard matresses, you'd need the extra rest too.

We woke up in time to grab the last of the lunch, and then grabbed Tasha and headed back down to the beach for some more sailing. The wind had picked up considerably, so after a short wait for a boat to come back in we headed out quickly into the bay.

Much better this time! The breeze had grown considerably, and there was no problem getting going in any direction we wanted, and turns were much easier as the sail whipped around quickly. Tasha's first time on a sailboat: "I loved it!"

Mexican theme at dinner tonight: Lots of fajitas, echiladas, refried beans, mexican rice, and especially churros, a sugared deep-fried pastry.

Heidi and Raymie stayed up late partying a la piña colada, while the guys sacked out early.

Wednesday

Today we seemed to be running about 30 minutes late for everything: a rush to catch breakfast before it ended, and the same for lunch. We spent most of the morning at the beach: playing in the ocean, relaxing on the sand. Tasha seems to really enjoy jumping over the waves, and is fascinated by the way the waves "come out of nowhere".


We'd been eyeing the banana boat for a few days, and decided to try it out:


...it was a lot of fun: not too scary, but still a bit bouncy, particularly when you cross over a speedboat's wake. After the banana boat, I had another spin on the jetski while Heidi and Tasha went back to the room. I'm glad Heidi didn't see what I was getting up to on the jetski. On one jump I must have got at least 10 feet in the air: I counted to three before hitting the water again :-D


After another enormous lunch, we hopped in a taxi for an excursion that we had booked: swimming with dolphins. There's a large aquarium right in the heart of Ixtapa that seems to exist solely for giving tourists the opportunity to spend some time in the water with some playful and friendly dolphins.

Having Tasha along meant that we couldn't do the more adventurous things such as hitching a ride on a dorsal fin, but we still had a really great time:



Ironically, once you're in the water with the dolphins, you don't get nearly as good a view of them as when you're standing on the side of the pool: they're designed to be camoflaged, and when you've only got your head above the water all you can see are reflections, until a long nose lifts up out of the water and slips past you. As they glide past, they were happy to let you stroke their stomachs or gently feel their fins.

We were in a tank with a mother and her two-year-old baby; they were both extremely comfortable with people, even nudging us out of the way if the wanted to get between us. They were very gentle, barely moving their tails as the slipped through the crowd of people floating in their tank, but you could tell that even the baby was very strong and could easily break your leg with its tail if it wanted to.

The combination of all the people, a very deep pool, and some vigorous dolphins squeaking and surfacing unexpectedly was too much for Tasha: she clung to us and was very reluctant to get anywhere near them. "Too big!" She did touch them a few times as they slid past, but after a couple of minutes of terror she needed to get out of the tank.

I can sympathize: I've heard the phrase "being in another animal's domain", but it wasn't until I was in the water with the dolphins that I truly understood what it meant. We were virtually helpless as the dolphins played with us. A sobering thought when you realize that there are other animals equally at home in the water as dolphins but not nearly as benign. Specifically: if a shark wants you, there's nothing you can do about it and you won't see it coming.

Dinner tonight was fittingly a seafood theme: octopus salad, tilapia, mahi mahi, etc. Tomorrow we've got planned another excursion involving animals that are even bigger, but for now I'll leave you with another Mexican sunset.

Ixtapa: Monday

We set the alarm earlier in order to catch up some time, and made it to breakfast before they closed it down. Huge chunks of bacon, as well as cereal, fruit, etc. It would be very easy to put on a lot of weight here. Today it is slightly cooler: high-level haze, with a moderate breeze. Welcome relief!

During breakfast Heidi's back spasmed, undoubtedly due to two nights on the rock-hard beds they feature here. She went back to the room for some relief while I took Tasha to the kids club. Unfortunately, Tasha balked at going to the club with about a dozen different excuses, so it was back to the room to rethink our plan for the day.

Tasha and Heidi decided they wanted to get their hair done in braids. There was a long line and it takes a long time per person, so we were in for a fair wait. I decided that I didn't want to get my hair braided (heh), so I took a taxi ride into Ixtapa to scout out some more powerful painkillers for Heidi's back.



The taxi dropped me at a little mall, and I wandered around for a while noticing all the signs trying to lure American tourists in: "Hamburger here!", etc.


Mexico is notorious/famous for their liberal dispensation of powerful medication without a prescription, and I was assured that I could obtain something like Percocet without trouble. The first farmacia I tried either didn't have it or didn't want to give it to me, instead directing me to another one a block further up. This farmacia was in the back of a tourist-trinket shop, and the lady looked on the shelves to see what they had. After a short game of charades, she presented me with a medication called Somalgesic^TM. I didn't recognize any of the active ingredients (Carisoprodol, Naproxeno), but the magical phrase Su venta requiere receta médica on the side spoke of the medicine's power.

Back at the resort, I checked online to see what I'd scored. I was mildly surprised to see Google.com come up in Spanish, but was quickly able to find out exactly what Somalgesic is: a combination of a muscle relaxant and a powerful anti-inflammatory... as it turns out, medicine we already had in our arsenal.

Tasha's and Heidi's hair weaves were now finished:

...not bad for 40 bucks! The only problem is that a criss-cross pattern of Tasha's pale scalp is now exposed, pushing my paranoia about keeping her out of the sun into the stratosphere. A quick trip to the boutique secured a spray-on sunscreen that I'm sure she'll be sick of by the end of the trip.

Around this time my back started to get stiff too, so we took it easy for the rest of the night. Tasha and I went for a swim in the pool, and we then went to dinner. Tonight, it was a French theme: onion soup, roast lamb, battered frog's legs... plus a whole pastry shop full of pies and cakes, including Baked Alaska.

Tasha was spending the night with the Lynch's, so we dropped her off there and both took some muscle relaxants for the tortuous night's sleep.

Gobble Gobble, Part II

Gobble Gobble, Part I