Part Two of the Family Extravaganza in Mexico

Paul and I got up early on the morning of the 28th, took our bags to the Hyatt, and checked in. We were pretty dirty since we didn’t have hot water in our apartment so the Hyatt people were kind of like, um, are you sure you have a reservation here? But they were nice and we got our room and then headed to the airport. The Manley flight was delayed (the same flight and same delay the Worleys had) so we waited, ate at Burger King, and waited some more. Just ten minutes before they were to arrive, the flight was delayed again by more than 2 hours. We drove back to the hotel and I took a fabulously hot shower and was in better spirits to meet the parents in a much cleaner state. Paul checked the flight online and we headed back to the airport. The Manleys arrived safe and sound and later that night Mom and I went to go get Uncle Larry who flew in from San Diego.

We relaxed and visited until everyone was about to pass out and made plans to meet for breakfast the next morning. (BTW: The Hyatt is super nice and the buffets are amazing so we ate there a lot.)

Friday: we went to Dzibilchaltun and had the same guide as we did when the Worleys were here. He was excellent (again) and we got to see the ball court in the back part of the city behind the cenote.

Saturday: we got a guide who took us through Chichen. He was good but didn’t really have tons of extra information that Paul didn’t already know. We did take some extra time (although it was quite hot) to visit the observatory and temples in the old part. It threatened to rain but never did so we headed off to the buffet in Piste where we ate with the Worleys and it was yummy food again with more Yucatecan dancing. After the buffet these boys from the town wanted to trade something from us for a statue one of them had carved. Paul (to my happy surprise) decided to trade his old hemp necklace to the boy for the statue. They boy was excited and so was I to get rid of that thing! He had it on by the time we were leaving the parking lot and we had to tip all the boys for “watching our car!”

For dinner we went to Los Almendros and had panuchos, which everyone agreed were yummy.

Sunday: We went to Merida en Domingo for shopping. I had the bad idea to tell Mom that Nancy had bought some dresses for grandchildren that didn’t exist and she thought that was a super idea and bought three! Um hello? So now the pressure is not only on Kate and me to produce female heiresses, but on Bryan (sorry, you’re going to have to have more than just Mavster) and Mary too. Sorry all, I take full responsibility…

For New Years we decided to do the package the hotel had to offer and what fun it was! We had a scrumptious buffet with California rolls, marinated olives, every meat you can think of plus 10 more, salads, sides, and then the desserts! We think there were over 20 desserts to choose from and I’m pretty sure that between all 5 of us we tried them all! After that Uncle Larry treated us to a bottle of champagne to ring in the New Year. The actual ringing was kind of weird because no one actually “rang” it so we just decided after a while that is was the New Year and then celebrated! I think we were all in bed by 1am!

Monday: we just relaxed. It looked like rain but we walked around some and had frappachinos (sp?) downtown. Pretty much everything was closed for the holiday, which surprised me because there were many more tourists in town for New Years than there had been for Christmas.

That about sums it all up. Paul has his first class of the semester right this moment and I start on Monday, at 8am, yuck! Wish us a fast and productive semester!