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Friday, June 25, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Park CIty New Years 2010
The last four years for New Years we have booked a hotel room in downtown Minneapolis. This is kind of fun, we have dinner, have some drinks, usually end up at Brit's enjoying the band. We get up the next day and have breakfast at Hell's Kitchen. Not too terribly exciting but it works for us.
We have been going Salt Lake City the last three years to visit Karen's brother and his family and we usually try to ski one day while we are there. We decided to change up our new years routine this year and spend new years in Park City and visit Jerry and his family after skiing.
We flew into Salt Lake on New Years Eve day. I love Hotwire.com, I have gotten great deals on hotels over the years and I have also gotten great deals on rental cars. I booked the rental car through Hotwire, it was about $130 for four and a half days. We got a little Corolla, with the floor mats removed of course, because of the Toyota recall. We felt kind of bad because we tracked a lot of dirty snow and slush onto the new carpet but there was not much we could do about it.
We drove directly to Park City from the airport. We got a little lost finding our condo because of the crappy GPS software for my Palm but we eventually found it. Copper Bottom Condos are located in the same building as Chez Betty several blocks away from the ski area. The building looked a little dated from the street but our condo appeared to be recently renovated. It was nice; granite counter tops and two flas screen TVs. We did encounter two problems with the condo, the windows were extremely drafty, you could feel a cool breeze in the livingroom and it was nearly impossible to adjust the water temperature in the master bathroom, something was wrong with the faucet.
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| From Park City 2009 |
We unpacked and drove to Old Park City for lunch and to locate Cafe Terigo, where we had reservations for that evening, we walked up Main Street until we found it. We had lunch at what appeared to be a nice little Mexican restaurant called Zona Rosa. I hate when I go to a real Mexican restaurant and the food cannot measure up to the fast food at Chipolte. This was the case with Zona Rosa, the food wasn't terrible but it wasn't spicey at all, I would have preferred Chipolte. After lunch we walked around town for a while until Karen complained that it was cold, so we went back to the room. I thought it was odd that Karen though it was cold, it wasn't that bad but it turned out to be a foreboding of things to come.
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| From Park City 2009 |
We went back to the condo to rest before stuffing ourselves with New Years dinner. We changed and then returned to Main street in Old Park City for dinner. Cafe Terigo was packed but we were seated immediately. We chatted with a couple sitting next to us, the guy had just moved from LA to Salt Lake City. I couldn't help but wonder if he is prepared for the culture shock. The food and service was excellent. Towards the end of dinner Karen just stopped talking to me. I wondered if I said something wrong. What the heck was going on? I finally asked her and she said that she was feeling terrible, congestion, sore throat, sinus headache and it came on during dinner. Karen being chilled earlier in the day started to make sense, she was acutally starting to come down with a sinus infection earlier in the day but it did not hit her until dinner. Karen did a little research later on and found out that that altitude can cause a sinus infection to rapily worsen and that is exactly what happened.
We started out the new year at Snow Creek Medical Center. Karen had the worst sinus infection of her life, she barely felt well enough to get dressed and drag herself to the clinic. We arrived when the clinic opened. Most of the other patrons were parents with sick kids, ages from toddler to teen. They quickly got Karen admitted. I decided that as long as I was there I would get my H1N1 flue shot. I tried to get one when I went to Bolivia but the vaccine had not been released to the general public yet. I actually save $3.00 by getting the vaccine in Park City, it would have cost me $18 in Minneapolis but it was only $15 in Utah. That is the only upside to spending new years morning in the clinic.
We went back to the condo so Karen could rest and recouperate. I make a inadequate nurse but I did my best to make Karen comfortable. At noon she told me she would be fine and I should go skiing for the rest of the day, so I did. We had prepaid the lift tickets and ski rentals so it was nice to get half a days use for one of us.
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| From Park City 2009 |
I had skied here about twenty years ago so the trails were vaguely familiar. The front side of the mountain was busy so I headed the backside and skied the runs from the Motherlode and Silverlode lifts. It was nice, I did not have to wait for a lift all afternoon long. Of course I made the classic mistake of looking at a mogul run from the chairlift and thinking I can ski that. When when I did I skied two moguls and stopped and skied two moguls then fell etc... I am not a great mogul skier.
I remembered Home Run from twenty years ago. It runs under the Bonanza lift and it is a cruiser run that is perfect for the last run of the day, steep enought to gain some speed, no moguls and just enough turns and twists to keep things interesting.
I rerurned my equipment to Aloha Ski Rental at the end of the day. Past years we had rented with Utah Ski and Golf and the only problem we had was they gave me a pair of boots that smelled so bad that I had to exchange them for another pair and they reaked before my feet even touched them! The equipment that we got from Aloha seemed newer and in better condition. The Aloha Ski personel were more personable than Utah Ski and Golf, not that there is a problem with the people at Utah Ski, the people at Aloha are just a little friendlier. Just an FYI, if you are new to skiing in Utah, you can buy your lift tickets in Salt Lake City (Utah Ski and Golf) and save about 20% or more. We paid $118 each for a two day lift ticket.
I went back to the condo and I would have loved to soak in the hot tub to warm up but the condition of the hot tub was well out of my comfort zone and I am not a germaphobe. The tub looks like it might be from the '70s and the water was a little foamy and clear enough for me to get in.
Karen was wiped out from her sinus infection so I got takeout from a local Thai palce for dinner. Going out for drinks was not an option and the satellite TV was terrible. It was about thirty shopping channels and three local channels (not queit that bad but almost). Luckuly I always travel with my netbook (to the bane of my wife) so I went to the local drug store and bought a $35 HDMI cable to connect my Dell 11z to the flat screen Tv in the condo. I also travel with movies and a few episodes of Burn Notice for those late Friday night flights home when I don't feel like doing anything. I happened to have State of Play with me so we watched that. Good movie.
Karen's brother drove up from Salt Lake City to join us and go skiing. Karen was still under the weather so Jerry and I skied for the day and Karen stayed at the Condo. Aloha Rental was very accomidating, they allowed us to transfer Karen's ski rental to Jerry so he did not have to pay for rentals.
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| From Park City 2009 |
We skied the back side of the mountain in the morning and the front in the afternoon. It was crazy-busy and I was almost run over by snowboarders several times. I am sure there are some snowboarders that pay attention but my experience is that they have their IPod on and are screaming down the mountain in their own little world not paying attention to other people. Case in point, Karen was back out in Park City in February for a work ski trip and a snowboarder literally ran her over, broke her thumb and sprained her shoulder. The girl was not watching where she was going.
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| From Park City 2009 |
Karen was feeling a little better by noon so we met her for lunch at one of the restaurants at the base of the mountain. I had lasagna for lunch and they gave me a huge piece. Good marketing for them because I had four people ask me where I got my lunch and I pointed them to the pasta line.
At then end of the day we drove back to Salt Lake City, Jerry to get back to his family and we had reservations at the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Salt Lake City. I love Hilton Garden Inns, I have stayed at them many times before. This was Karen's first time at HGI and she liked it as much as I did. We liked the store they have in the lobby area and the rooma are large.
Karen's anitbiotics had kicked in but she was still not 100% so I picke dup dinner at the PF Changs several blocks away from the hotel. The restaurant does not have a parking lot so I parked illegaly to run in and get out food.
We spent Saturday with Jerry's family, it is always nice to see the neices and nephews. We got up Sunday, had breakfast and went to the airport.
Final opinions:
The Copper Bottom Inn looked a littel dated on the outside but the condos were updated and very nice. We did have problems with leaky (cold air) windows and a tub faucet that did not want to adjust.
Park City is nice but I prefer Alta or Snowbird.
As always, the Hilton Garden Inn is a great place to stay.
Cafe Terigo was excellent. The waitpeople were professional and the food was very good.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
La Paz Bolivia 2009
It was a busy personal travel year for me; Salt Lake City in February, Puerto Aventuras in February, Puerto Morelos in July, Isla Mujeres in November and Park City over New Years. I am a very lucky person, three dive trips and two ski trips in a year. On the other hand work travel was minimal, until the end of the year. I went to Charleston South Carolina in April to install equipment and LA in August for a seminar. Then all hell broke loose; the beginning of November I was diving in Isla Mujeres, followed by a seminar in Dallas. In December I went to Hawaii for a seminar and maintenance on equipment. I ended the year with trips to Bolivia and Parks City UT.
The La Paz trip was offered to someone else but they declined so I was offered the trip and unfortunately I had very time to decide. I was a little unsure about going to Bolivia after I read the warnings on the state department website. The warnings about La Paz were mostly were about not taking gypsy cabs because you might get robbed. The only way I was going to go was if I had someone who spoke Spanish travelling with me. Our distributor was sending their representative who was born in Columbia so he was very fluent in Spanish. I discovered that La Paz is a very safe city but like any large city there are things you just do not do.
Since all of this happened at the last minute I had to rush to get my vaccinations and I had conflicting information about the visa requirements. Bolivia requires a yellow fever vaccination and it is recommended you get hepatites A and typhoid. I had called just about every clinic in the phone book. I finally found one that had a supply of the vaccines and was able to get me in. The nurse at clinic told me that I would need malaria medication for certain parts of Bolivia, but luckily not where I was going. She offered me altitude medication but told me that if I drank any soda while on the medication it would taste like dried blood or or a dead mouse. I have been at altitude in Colorado and Utah and not had a problems so I opted to forgo the medication, but later wished I would not have. The clinic where I got may vaccinations was called Airport Clinic located by MSP airport. I still have to go back for my second hep A vaccination sometime in June 2010.
The visa process was more irritating than trying to get my vaccines. On one hand I had our travel agent was telling me I needed a work visa to get in the country and on the other hand the distributor said I did not. Our company has a visa service that it uses in these situations and I was on the phone with the visa service ten minutes the last FedEx pickup. I was told that I had to send my paperwork and passport that night in order to get it back in time for my trip. I was not crazy about the idea of sending my passport via any delivery service, if they lose it I am in trouble. Since the distributor insisted that I did not need a work visa and someone at the visa service concurred, I decided the get a tourist visa in Bolivia, if the distributor was wrong he would have to figure out plan B.
One of the Marcor people in our office is married to an international sales rep and she travels extensively through Central and South America. While I was in Hawaii he emailed her (she was in Brazil) to get her take on my situation, she said she never gets work visas because her company is in the US, if she was traveling to a country to be employed by a company within that country, then she would get a work visa. So I feel a little better about my decision to go with the work visa.
I had to cut my Hawaii trip short by one day so I could spend a day at home before leaving for La Paz. Karen was suppose to be in Des Moines watching our nephew Charlie perform in the Nut Cracker. Luckily (for me) there was a snowstorm and she had to cancel her trip so we could spend a day together.
When I came home from Hawaii I flew overnight from Honolulu to LA and then arrived in Minneapolis at noon on Friday. I stopped at Minntech on the way home to pickup some tools for the install and to make sure that the machines had arrived in La Paz. I was told they were but I later found out there was no clear answer. Saturday was busy so I was up late packing and had a 6:00 AM flight out on Sunday, which meant that I had to get up at 3:30 am. More sleep deprivation.
I decided that I would eat dinner at the airport, big mistake, when I got to my gate the only restaurant that was open was a little sandwich shop. I had a chicken wrap that was exactly what you would expect from a pre wrapped airport sandwich, dry and tasteless.
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| From Bolivia 2009 |
Carlos and I met for the first time at the airport. He called me on his cell when he got to the gate and we both stood up and looked for each other. Carlos was the perfect travelling companion, goods sense of humor, and smart. He was indispensable, I could not have done it without him.
I was glad we flew business class to La Paz, it's a six and a half hour flight. I immediately got my blanket and pillow and crashed, I was asleep before we took off and slept through to landing, only waking up several times. Unfortunately for Carlos he was not able to sleep.
It was 6:00 AM when we landed. We deplaned and waited in line for customs and immigration. As I was talking to Carlos when I realized that I was breathing hard because there was no air! I was amazed, I though I would be fine at 12,000 feet, I've had no problem skiing at 10,000 feet in Colorado or Utah but the air at 12,000 feet is too thin for me.
The terminal reminded me more of the terminal in the British Virgin Islands; small and old. It was not what I expected for a city of over two million people, there were only four of five lines for immigration. Carlos had gotten his tourist visa in the US, I had not, so I had to stand in line to pay my $135 tourist visa fee, cash only, no credit cards. I actually had to break a twenty for the guy in line in front of me, they ran out of change in the visa booth.
I was the last one in the tourist visa line and immigration and customs. Since I had a tourist visa I was a little afraid of going through customs and having them find my tools in my suitcase but I was literally the last person in the airport so they just ushered me out the door and did not look through my bags.
The local distributor had arranged to have a cab pick us up at the airport and drive us to our hotel. The taxi drive was surreal, I was groggy from lack of sleep and lack of oxyegen. The cab flew down the hill into La Paz, we were passing taxi stands with twenty people lined up waiting for a cab, cars were ignoring stop lights and stop signs, pedestrians were walking in front of our cab and the cab driver was not slowing down, I honestly thought we were going to hit many of the pedestrians.
We checked in, showered and went back to the distributor's office. They noticed we were breathing hard after climbing a flight of stairs so they sat us down, told us to walk slow during our time in La Paz and then they gave us coca tea, and it actually seemed to make the altitude more tolerable so we drank it daily for the rest of our time in La Paz.
Originally we were going to fly in Monday, also setup and train on Monday and fly back to the US on Tuesday. I felt that was not enough time to train, especially when taking into account the language difference so I decided to train also on Tuesday and return on Wednesday. That was the plan but it did not work out that way.
After our cocoa tea Carlos had a long conversation with Alfredo, the distributor. Carlos informed me the equipment was not in La Paz, I had taken the company's international cell phone with me so I contacted our international customer service person and she said she would track it again and let me know. She called me back and said her information shows the equipment is there.
We literally spent the next three and a half days trying to track the shipment. Our information showed it was in La Paz but the local people told us that it was in Santa Cruz Bolivia, then in La Paz, then it hadn't left Miami yet. We ultimately found that it had been in La Paz the entire time but was held up in customs. We also discovered that the reuse room was not even close to being finished but the clinic had arranged space for us to setup the equipment and perform the training on the clinic floor. We decided to extend our stay to Friday and told the distributor that if the equipment wasn't there by 4:30 PM Thursday afternoon we would have to schedule the training for another time. As luck would have it the equipment showed up at 3:30 PM on Thursday.
The distributor requested technical training so I spent Monday afternoon and evening training the technicians at the clinic on the operation and repair of the Renatron. I did not have a machine or manuals and english was not their first language so I did the best that I could. They were a bright group of people so I hope they were able to absorb enough information.
Tuesday we went to the distributors office, went to the reuse room at the hospital; it was still not close to being done, then back to the office etc..
Wednesday we were informed that the equipment was in La Paz and had been there since Monday but it would not be delivered until Thursday. Alfredo arranged to have Boris, take us to Lake Titicaca. I really never thought I would get a chance to see the Andes or Lake Titicaca in my lifetime so it was worth spending two extra days in La Paz. Just as any other time that we were in a moving vehicle in La Paz we came close to hitting several pedestrians, we ran red lights, drove on the wrong side of the street and almost got rear-ended.
We climbed out of the valley that La Paz is located in onto the high plains. The snow covered Andes were to our right. The road was mostly flat and straight until we got to the lake. We passed what appeared to be subsistence farms, along the road and saw people washing their close in streams and laying them out on rocks to dry.
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| From Bolivia 2009 |
We stopped at several overlooks and took pictures of Lake Tticaca. The lake is amazingly blue, it reminds me of Crater Lake in Oregon. We stopped at a souvenir shop that also makes reed boats, they bundle the reeds together and make a boat that is a cross between a Viking long boat, with dragons heads and a pontoon. They also had an alpaca and a llama.
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| From Bolivia 2009 |
The road ended at the narrowest part of the lake, it was about 1 km across. San Paulo was on one side and San Pedro on the other. We paid to take a boat ride across, it was an old wooden boat the had rotting floor boards. The captian was a grouchy old salt that made us wait while he tried to get more customers for the already full boat, there was a lot of yelling in Spanish between the captain and the other people on the boat before he finally gave in and took us across the lake. We explored the small town then returned to the other side and drove back to La Paz.
On the return trip to La Paz Boris's girlfriend told us a story about a parasite that exists in the more tropical parts of Bolivia. It is transfered by insect bites and when the parasite larve hatches in your body it stares feeding, where ever it hatched; brain, heart, lungs and there is no cure. I asked her if the bug exists in La Paz and does not, I hope.
Thursday was the final day for the equipment to arrive. Carlos and I had decided that if the equipment wasn't there by 4:30 PM we would have to come back to train. Even 4:30 PM was unrealistic, we wouldn't finish until after midnight and we had a 7:30 AM flight out.
As luck would have it the equipment arrived at 3:30 PM. At this point I would rather work late into the evening to finish than have to spend nine and a half hours in a plane to come back.
It was complete craziness once the equipment arrived, we threw the boxes I thought we needed into Alfredo's SUV and sped to the hospital. We unloaded and I realized that I did not bring the pressure regualtors so we had to go back to the office and get them.
Manuel, the clinic biomed, had plumbed the fittings we needed and provided the electrical outlets that we requested. It took us about one hour to set-up the computer and the rest of the equipment and then we started training. The training was done in Spanish so I would make a statement, Carlos would translate it, answer as many questions as he could and ask me for clarification if he needed it. This really slows things down but it was necessary. We stopped at 8:00 PM for dinner and finished training on the operation of the system about midnight. They had also requested training on the troubleshooting and maintenance so we continued on until 1:00PM, said our goodbyes and Alfredo took us back to our hotel. We arranged to have a cab pick us up at 3:30 AM. Carlos said that he was going to try to grab a couple of hours of sleep. I know myself, I will feel worse if I get two hours of sleep than if I get none at all, so I showered, packed and watched some bad Spanish TV. As it turned out Carlos could not sleep either.
The return flight went from La Paz to Santa Cruz to Miami. Carlos was in business class, since we had to change the flight back from Thursday to Friday, I ended up in a middle seat in cattle class. It was a long flight back, I managed to grab an hour or so of sleep but Carlos could not nod off at all, despite having the luxury of business class.
Carlos and I parted ways in Miami, he went home and I had hours to kill before my Minneapolis flight. I thanked him profusely for the wonderful job he did in La Paz. I hope I get a chance to travel with him again. I was lucky, Google was providing free wifi at airports across the US for the holidays and Miami was one of the airport so I checked my email while I was waiting. The flight back to Minneapolis was uneventful and I felt I could sleep for twenty-four hours straight by the time I got home.
Recap for Bolivia:
- You will need a yellow fever card.
- Bring plenty of cash for the tourist via or get the visa ahead of time if you can.
- I definitely recommend getting the altitude medication. I can handle skiing in the mountains in Utah but I could not sleep in La Paz because of the altitude.
- Prepare yourself for the cab ride. The traffic is crazy, cars do not slow down for pedestrians, stop lights are just a recommendation, most cars do not stop for them. They also drive on the wrong side of the street and go the wrong way on one ways.
- You will need $25 cash for the airport departure fee.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Isla Mujeres 2009
The no-Dive (almost) Dive Vacation
Another year and another of my wife's shopping weekend at our house. If you have read any previous posts you will see that most years Karen’s aunts, cousins, nieces and girlfriends come to our house to get together and do a little early Christmas shopping. It just so happens that I love to dive so I go diving for four or five days, usually Mexico but I did go to Key West one year. It works out well, they don’t have to worry about having one male in the house with twenty five or so women and I get to go diving.
I love Isla Mujeres, the diving is good, North Beach is beautiful and it is flat out cheap to stay, dive and eat on Isla. This has been one of the quietest hurricane seasons in recent history so I thought I was not going to have a problem with the weather. Oh well, there is always next year.
I used frequent flier miles to book my ticket and the only option I had was first class. Nice! We had thought about buying a timeshare at Avalon Reef so I decided to book my room there to check it out. I got a great deal at 1800hotels.com, $53 per night, cheap, even for Isla. It is a good thing that I stayed at Avalon before buying a timeshare, I would not want to stay there every year, at least not in the tower building. The tower room that I was was small, the furniture was old and the window leaked when it rained. The beach is small and there seemed to be a lot of seaweed floating in the water. All things considered I would rather pay a little more money and stay at Ixchel, Nautibeach, Aluxes or even in the new section of Posada del Mar.
Puerto Jaurez
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| From Isla 2009 |
When I arrived at the ferry terminal in Puerto Jaurez the sky was blue, it was warm and the wind was calm. The ferry ride to the island was beautiful, I sat on the top deck enjoying the weather, the sun was about to set, it was a perfect night. Once on the island I grabbed a cab to Avalon. The cab ride over the rickety wooden bridge is a little scary, the bridge is made of 4 x 4 beams and they are uneven so it is a rough, creaky ride over it.
View from the Ferry
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| From Isla 2009 |
I read in trip Advisor that Coral Divers was defunct and Carey Dive Center had taken its place. That was accurate, it seemed like the only thing that changed was the name on the building and the person at the desk. Most of the staff was the same, however David had returned to Belgium and Enrique had moved on to another dive company. They are still very friendly and have good equipment, I can definitely recommend them.
My first day on the island I woke up early and walked down to Carey dive shop to arrange diving. I like diving off-season in Mexico, you don't need a reservation, you just walk into the dive shop and say "I want to go diving today". Also, they will run a tab for you so you just settle up when you are done diving. When I arrived at the shop there was a Belgium couple getting their gear, they wanted to do a wreck dive which I had really hoped to do, but not the first dive. I was a little worried with a deep dive first. I usually wait twenty-four hours before diving after I fly (some people say 12 hours).
Wet Boat Ride
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| From Isla 2009 |
We gathered our gear and boarded the boat. The boat captain remembered me from out last dive trip, it is nice to dive with a company so many times that the recognize you. It rained on the way out (as you can see from the pictures) so we opted for a shallower div,; Aquarium, which I had dove many times before. When we finished the first dive the weather started to deteriorate so they canceled the second dive and brought us back to the marina. I checked back with the dive shop the next two mornings and they were not going out because of the weather.
I discovered that the bad weather was the fault of tropical storm Ida, which later turned into hurricane Ida. It rained the majority of my remaining vacation and the wind picked up so none of the dive shops were going out. I could not dive, I could not snorkel, or even hang out on the beach. I could not even rent a golf cart and explored the island because I would have gotten drenched. I was going stir crazy and I had to get off of the island.
Hyatt Regency Cancun
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| From Isla 2009 |
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| From Isla 2009 |
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| From Isla 2009 |
I booked a room at the Hyatt Regency Cancun for Friday and Fiesta Americana Coral Beach for Saturday . It is always culture shock going from a low budget hotel on Isla to the opulence of an expensive resort in Cancun. The Hyatt is very nice but I would not classify it as opulent, however, the Fiesta Americana falls into the opulent classification. They are located in the hotel zone across the street from each other. I wanted to stay in this area because of all of the shops and restaurants in the area.
I had a late lunch at Carlos and Charlie's, the enchiladas verde were the best meal that I had on vacation. The waiters are hilarious, I am sure they have the same pranks that they pull on everyone, they were definitely entertaining. Halfway through my meal I heard a woman screaming, I looked over and saw the waiter and her boyfriend laughing. I asked the waiter what happened and he showed me a realistic looking rubber cockroach with a piece of fishing line tied to it, he pulled it across the table using the fishing line and I was amazed at how real it looked. I might have screamed too! Not really.
I made the mistake of working out the first thing Saturday morning, The sun was shinning and the wind had died down, I should have known that the nice weather would not last for long. Once I finished my workout it started raining again. The health club at the Hyatt is one of the nicest ones that I have used in a hotel.
Hard Rock Cancun
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| From Isla 2009 |
I spent the rest of the day checking out the restaurants and shops in the area- I had to find a shop where I could buy an umbrella. There is a Carlos and Charlie's, as mentioned above, Bull Dogs (Night Club), CoCo Bongo (night club), Hard Rock, and more in the immediate area. Here is the link for the shopping center http://www.forumbythesea.com.mx/ (Spanish only) and a link for a map of Cancun www.advantagemexico.com/cancun/images/cancun_zone.pdf and here is a link to shopping in Cancun http://www.cancun.bz/shopping_tips.htm . The thing I noticed about this area is that it is predominantly 35 to 60 year olds during the day and once the sun goes down the average age drops dramatically to twenty-something.
Fiesta Americana
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| From Isla 2009 |
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| From Isla 2009 |
The following morning I packed my bags and hauled them across the street to the Fiesta Americana Coral Beach. Since I was only moving across the street I opted to walk and I had to explain to every cabbie that I saw, and there were a lot of them, that I was just going across the street. I was met at the hotel entrance by what I thought was a bellhop who offered to carry my bag. I declined because I had just dragged my bag all the way from the other hotel and I was not going to pay someone to drag it the last ten feet. He showed me to the front desk, while I was checking in he brought me a fruit punch and once I was checked in he showed me to my room giving me a tour of the resort and restaurants. He performed more duties than the usual doorman so I did end up giving him a well earned tip.
The Fiesta Americana was an incredible resort. The lobby was beautiful and the front desk people were extremely professional. The room was very nice suite, it had a large vanity area/bathroom, big bedroom area with a flat panel TV, the living room area was down three steps, it had a couch and another flat panel TV and there was an entrance to the balcony from the living room area.
They have a small cafe near the hotel entrance, I had pizza there for lunch and it was both reasonably priced and good. I went back to Carlos and Charlies for dinner.On the way back I passed CoCo Bongo and it was packed with twenty-somethings partying their butts off. When I got back to my room I opened the door and saw a light on and heard music playing. I was sure that I turned everything off when I had left. I double checked the room number; yup it was mine. My next thought was that someone was in my room. I opened the door and said, "Hello", no answer. I slowly walked in, leaving the door open for a fast exit, just in case. I saw what was going on, the maid had turned down my bed, turned the TV to a music station (the have XM on their cable) and left a light on. She had also placed slippers on each side of the bed and put chocolates on each pillow. Very nice!
By the following morning hurricane Ida was ninety miles off of the coast of Cancun but the weather was not as bad as I thought it would be, the rain was coming in waves and there was some wind but not close to hurricane force. I walked to Starbucks for breakfast and used their wifi to check my flight, it was still on time. I was slightly amazed, I thought for sure the weather would at least delay my flight if not cancel it. After breakfast I walked back to the resort, they had closed the huge storm shutters for the main entrance. I had the front desk call Delta and verify that my flight was actually on time. It was, so I checked out and grabbed a cab to the airport. I was early but there was no reason to stay at the hotel.
The flight back was nice, first class, no connections and uneventful. My lovely wife was nice enough to pick me up at the airport so I did not even have to get into a cold car.
This was a good news/bad news vacation. Every time I has something really nice happen it was offset by something not so nice happening.
For example:
Since I flew first class there were only eight people in front of me in the immigration line (a far cry from the hundreds that were ahead of us in February) but the computer were down so I had to wait. The funny thing is that the computers never came up they eventually they just started stamping passports and letting people through.
I was on a dive vacation but I only got to dive once.
I got to check out the Cancun hotel zone but it is not for me.
The Good
Flying first class is great.
Three trips to Mexico in one year.
Hyatt Regency Cancun.
Fiesta Americana Coral Beach.
The Not So Good
- Hurricane Ida.
- Being stuck on an island and not being able to dive, snorkel, or relax on the beach.
- Avalon Reef.
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