WHAT I LOST IN MEXICO

Our time at Hostel Quetzal in Cancun was very short.  We got only about four hours of sleep, and that wasn't very sound as music was once again blaring from the "beach bar" down the block.  Apparently they were open all night long, because the music was still playing when we got up and left before it was light out on Saturday morning (7/21).  We had hoped to see Monica Moray, the hostel's owner and "International Performance Artist" again, but our stay there was so short this time we missed her.

While we were checking out a taxi pulled up in front and a rather intoxicated young man got out and came inside.  He announced that the cab driver had taken 20 minutes to get there, as he was driving around looking for prostitutes.  "But I don't want to have sex with ugly prostitutes", he announced to us.  "I want to have sex with pretty girls!"  And I am sure the pretty girls are longing for him as well . . . As we were loading up the car, he came out and asked if we knew where there were any good strip clubs.  I told The Doctor later we should have sent him to the Adonis resort in Tulum . . .

In the process of getting our things in the car I discovered I had lost my shoes somewhere along the way.  I remembered carrying them in my hands when we left our room at Adonis the day before, but apparently I set them down somewhere between the room and the car, as they were now no where to be found. I just had my sandals.

We found the airport without too much trouble and stopped to return the car at the Budget rental office.  The man came out and looked the car over and asked where the hub caps were.  Both The Doctor and I were pretty certain there had been no hub caps on the car when we rented it, but the man showed us that the box had been checked off on the rental agreement stating that there were hub caps on the car when we took it.  We both looked through the photos on our cameras, and The Doctor found one that he had taken shortly after we arrived at Hostel Quetzal on our very first day showing the car with no hub caps.  Granted, this was a few hours and a stop at Walmart after we had rented the car, but at least it was something.

The man - who was simply doing his job - kept insisting he had to go by what was checked off on the agreement.  I think it would have cost us about $75.00 to pay for the hub caps, and if it were me I would have just paid it and left.  But The Doctor was holding firm, and the Budget guy wasn't going to back down either.  He said he knew some cars on their lot didn't have hub caps, but he didn't know which ones, and he had to go by what was checked off on the agreement.  He said his manager did know which cars were missing the hub caps, and she would be able to clear it up, but she wouldn't be in for another couple hours, which would be cutting it dangerously close to our flight.  The Doctor asked him to call her at home.  He was hesitant at first, but he finally called her.  She told him he would have to check past agreements on our car to see what they said.  These were kept in another office just across the lot, so he had to go there to look at them.  When he came back he was beaming, and said we were all set.  I am sure he was just as glad to resolve the situation as we where.   I made sure to thank him for checking out the other forms, and The Doctor did also.

He drove us and two other people to the terminal.  We checked in and went through security without any problems.  The weight limit for checked bags was 50 lbs, and my steamer trunk came in at 48.5, just barely under the limit. 

After we went through security, I went to the bathroom, and shortly discovered that I had managed to get Montezuma's revenge.  It hit very suddenly, and once in the bathroom I was afraid I wouldn't make it to the toilet in time.  Once everything was out of my system, I seemed to feel better, and I went out and ate a little breakfast with The Doctor.  We stopped at the gift shop where The Doctor picked up a few more things and then we found our gate.

Our flight to Houston was thankfully uneventful.  We made it through customs and immigration without any trouble, and then had to go through security again to get to our next gate.  There they used one of the full body scanners, and as I came out a large black security guard told me he liked my look - my shaved head and goatee and pierced ears, etc.  Then he promptly asked what I had in my pockets.  I had taken everything out except for a bandanna in my back pocket, which I took out and showed him.  He scanned me again, and then said he was going to have to pat me down.  Some nice compliments AND a frisking!  Who could ask for more?  He didn't find anything and sent me on my way. 

The Doctor was having his own problems with his carry on bag.  Something suspicious had shown up in it, so they had to open it and look through it.  He had a couple of wooden type percussion sticks, some kind of musical instrument he had picked up at the gift shop in the Cancun airport, and they had shown up on the x-ray machine.  Once the security guard looked them over, he let him pass.
I had another episode of Montezuma's Revenge at the Houston airport.  We had a six hour lay over there.  The airport is named after the first President Bush, and that was the last place I wanted to spend six hours, but having gone through security already we were pretty much stuck there.  After my trip to the bathroom, we went to the food court.  I went to a Mexican place and ordered an enchilada plate.  The girl at the counter promptly asked me if I was vegetarian, and when I said that I was she went on to explain that the enchiladas were OK, but the rice and beans were both prepared with meat.  She said she would give me black beans instead of the re-fried beans.  I don't know if she asks everyone the vegetarian question, but I appreciated her asking me.

The Doctor got something at a Chinese place, where he said he had more trouble communicating with the counter people than he had had anywhere in Mexico.  There was some sort of confusion over the change that took forever and two people to figure out. 

Shortly after I ate, I started feeling very cold.  The Doctor is the one who is always cold, and he was fine, so I figured it might have something to do with the Montezuma's Revenge.  I couldn't seem to warm up at all.  I put my bandanna on my head to help retain a little body heat, and after awhile I took the Juego De Pelota beach towel out of my bag and used it as a throw to try to get warm.  A woman from United Airlines walked by and saw me, and came over and asked "What are you wearing?"  The towel was mostly a tan color and she thought it was a some kind of deer skin shammy with intricate art work on it.  The Doctor was quite amused by this.  I still had the chills, and I finally ended up going to the gift shop and buying a red sweat shirt that said HOUSTON on it. 

When we got on the plane I was still cold so I dug out a pair of white athletic socks from my bag and put them on under my sandals.  Not very fashionable, but it helped warm up my feet.  I was in the middle seat, with The Doctor at the window and a woman to my left.  It took some maneuvering to get the socks on, and I had to put my feet over on The Doctor's side to complete the task.  The woman next to me told me I did a good job, and I told her I figured she would rather I do it on his side and not hers, for which she thanked me.

At the airport I read a little in my guide book about Traveler's Diarrhea, and I told The Doctor on the plane that the book said diarrhea could also be an indicator that I had cholera.  He said what I had was hypochondria.  I told him he should ask the guy who was in the stall next to me at the airport bathroom if HE thought I had hypochondria, as I was pretty sure he would agree that I most certainly did not.

Luckily I didn't have any Montezuma episodes on the plane, and we made it to Boston without any problems.  We got off the plane and I claimed my steamer trunk, and The Doctor walked me to where I had to wait for the Knight's Limo van.  We said our good-byes there, and he went off to wait for his ride. 

The van came after several minutes.  There was another couple on it who had just returned from Europe.  They were headed in the opposite direction from my destination, so I was dropped off in Framingham and got on another van that took me home.  When I got home and walked in the door, there were the sunglasses that I had bought for my trip sitting right where I had left them . . .

Montezuma's Revenge stayed with me for a few days, and I took my first day back off from work, just as a precaution as I wasn't sure how bad it might get and I didn't want to have to be running in and out of the courtroom every few minutes.  Luckily it never got that severe.

A day or two after my return home, I discovered I had lost the USB cable for my new camera, which I needed to charge it and to download pictures to my computer.  I was using it on the plane, so I must have lost it there.  I was able to get a replacement for it at Staples.  But for those who are keeping track, here is a list of What I Lost In Mexico:

4 pairs of sunglasses
1 pair of shoes
1 camera
1 USB cable for the new camera
My ankles
The ability to produce a hard, well formed stool.

Luckily the last two have returned. 

And I've gone almost two weeks without having to buy a new pair of sunglasses . . .

XCARET

When I awoke on Saturday morning (7/21), I was horrified to discover I no longer had any ankles.  Both my legs were swollen due to the severe sunburn to the point that there was no trace at all of either ankle, although it was much worse on my right leg.  The Doctor - who was still having his own problems with swimmers' ear - said the swelling was most likely due to sun poisoning.  As horrible as the swelling looked, thankfully there was no additional pain other than what would normally accompany a bad burn.
Our plan for the day had been to go to Xcaret Park, one of the local "eco-parks" that was on our way back to Cancun where we would be spending our final night in Mexico.  The day before I was feeling so lousy because of the sunburn I had told The Doctor I didn't know if I would be up to going Xcaret or not. On Sat. however, I was feeling better, in spite of the swelling, so we went ahead with our plans.

We had breakfast first at Adonis' poolside cafe.  Victoria was again our waitress.  We had been a little unclear on the resort's tipping policy; since all meals and drinks were included in the stay, we weren't sure if we were supposed to be tipping the wait staff or not.  The Doctor had asked about this the day before at the front desk, and the clerk said the wait staff didn't make a lot, and it was nice to tip if we felt it was appropriate.  As this breakfast would be our last meal at Adonis, we planned to just hand both Victoria and Juan a nice tip for the service they had provided during the length of our stay.  Juan had waited on us a lot more - both at the pool and at our evening meals in the restaurant - so we both agreed we should give him more than Victoria, but I still felt she should get more than what The Doctor seemed to think she deserved. 

We were debating how much to give her when she came over to our table. The day before Victoria had told The Doctor it was one of her "quiet days" so she wouldn't be asking us any questions.  Saturday apparently was not a quiet day, as she proceeded to ask us where we were from.  She seemed surprised to learn we were from the U.S., and told The Doctor that he didn't have an American accent.  She told him he both sounded and looked more European than American.  She then went on to say that I DID look and sound like an American.  The Doctor of course was flattered at being told he a European flair.  I on the other hand was beginning to rethink my generous position on Victoria's tip . . . But of course, we did give both her and Juan what we considered to be a nice tip.

The Doctor told me a little about his night at the Adonis' club.  At the pool the day before, Mark - the activities - director, had told me there would be a show at the club that night, and that I should come.  I had turned in early, but The Doctor had gone on his own.  He said the show was pretty awful.  It was an attempt at a drag show put on by members of the staff, with no recognizable choreography and little of anything that could be called talent.  Most of the costumes consisted of large feathered hats and g-strings, prompting me to say they must have found a box of costumes left behind by the opera company that had been at the resort when we arrived, giving someone the idea to "HEY!  Let's put on a show!!!"  Part of the performance had something to do with Snow White eating the poisoned apple, then being found by a dwarf who proceeded to eat the rest of the apple and fall down on top of Snow White.  It pretty much ended there, with no "Love's True Kiss" to revive anyone.  I was certainly glad I had opted to go to bed, though The Doctor said it was so bad he had almost come and got me to go see it. 

After we ate, we went back to where we had seen the Leaf Cutter Ants the night before.  I had found a little information about them in my guide book, and it said they consistently follow the same course for months if not years, and can wear down a path through the dirt and undergrowth.  Sure enough, we were able to clearly see a well worn path where we had seen them the previous evening. 

The issue of me making the reservation for only one person had never been resolved, but when we checked out they told us it would only be an additional $140.00, which I didn't think was bad.  I was expecting it might be close to double the original price, but that amount didn't even come close to that.

Xcaret was about 45 minutes from Adonis, and we found it without any trouble at all.  The park is described as giving one a genuine taste of Mexico, both from a cultural and natural perspective - although my guidebook stated their ecological record was a little spotty.  I have to say I was not overly impressed with it.  I knew enough not to expect a Disney park, but still it didn't really give me much to be excited about, and I think The Doctor would more or less agree.

As soon as we arrived and bought our admission tickets (where I used up most of the balance of my Mexican Pesos), I wanted to go to the gift shop to look for a small bag.  I had been using two sling bags which both had holes in them so I was using them one inside of the other so as not to lose the contents, but one of the holes was getting bigger so I decided it was time for a new one.  I bought a nice small woven Mexican back pack style bag.  Though colorful, The Doctor said it was appropriately masculine enough not to draw ridicule.

One of the first things we saw after we entered the park was a display of some colorful Macaws.  A nearby sign said Xcaret held the Guinness world record for the most Macaws born in captivity (105) in a single year (2009).

 Not too far from this was a stone marker with changeable numbers counting down the number of days until Dec. 21, 2012 (or 12/21/12), the date that some claim the world will end based on the fact that that is when the Mayan Calender ends.  As of the day we were at Xcaret, we had 151 days to go . . .

One of the main attractions at Xcaret are a series of three underground rivers that run through the park, where one can swim or snorkel.  This was something The Doctor wanted to do, so it was pretty much our first stop.  We first had to find a changing room for The Doctor to put on his skimpy bathing suit (I had worn a more modest pair under my regular shorts), and then put the rest of our belongings in a locked bag which would be waiting for us at the other end of the river.  Everyone had to wear a life vest, and snorkel gear and fins were available for an added fee, but we decided not to use those.  The life vests were dividing into stacks depending on size.  The attendant passing them out took one look at us and told The Doctor he was a medium and told me I was a large.  Apparently I not only look and sound like an American, but a fat one at that, whereas the Doctor looks and sounds more like a nice svelte European . . .

The river had three different entrances, and we picked the middle one.  I assumed they were all pretty much the same, but later we would see different portions of the other rivers and they all had unique features.  Ours apparently was the least interesting of the three as there wasn't much to see.  I was a little surprised at how cool the water was, not at all as warm as the ocean water that I had gotten used to.  The river was also much longer than I expected; it must have taken us at least 45 minutes to an hour to reach the end.  There were other exits along the way for those who didn't think they could make it any further but we stuck it out to the end.  The life vest kept me afloat, but making any forward progress did require swimming movement, and I felt I did pretty good making it to the end considering my weak level of swimming experience.  The Doctor never had to drag me along behind him, as I saw some other people doing.  At three different spots in the river they had photographers taking pictures which you could purchase later.  One of these spots was right next to an outdoor "spa" area where they were giving relaxing massages to other park guests.  There were signs along the river giving notice of this and asking the swimmers to please be quiet so as not to disturb those receiving the massages.  Putting the photographer right there kind of spoiled that, as he was doing quite a bit of yelling to those in the river to look at him and smile.  The river was pretty crowded with people, and at some of the narrow sections became almost clogged with swimmers.  It would have been far more enjoyable with less people.

Most of the river (and I believe it was natural and not man made) was underground, with a few short sections out in the open, such as the massage area.  We became aware at one point that it was raining out.  By the time we reached the end the rain had stopped, but it had cooled down quite a bit, which though refreshing, made it almost chilly after getting out of the river.  Eventually it did warm up again.  The river came out right near an ocean beach area of the park, with a lot of hammocks and beach chairs. 

There were many big rocks along one section of the beach, and one of these formed a blow hole where water spouted out like a geyser when the waves came crashing in.  That was kind of interesting to watch.

We went to a nearby set of bathrooms where The Doctor could change back out of his swim suit.  The sinks here were in a common area between the men's and women's room.  The faucet and spigot appeared to be made of wood.  There was no sink "bowl", the water just flowed trough a flat surface made of rock and then drained down onto the ground where it apparently flowed back into the environment, sort of natural recycling process.

Next we went in search of the Jaguars, and Cougars, and Pumas (Oh My!!!). Along the way we visited a bat cave, which was very dark and in which we only could make out one or two bats hanging from the ceiling.  We also stumbled upon a rather sad, lonely looking Manatee in an enclosure which was much too small for it in my opinion, leaving it only enough room to swim around in a wide circle. 

We eventually came to the cat enclosure. There were at least three different cats, all with different coloring, so I wasn't sure which was the Jaguar, the Cougar, or the Puma.  To further confuse the issue a nearby sign said that the ancient Mayan believed that every man had a Jaguar inside him, and that sometimes a Jaguar could take on the appearance of a man . . . so then I wasn't even sure about The Doctor . . . There was a large yellowish cat on the far side of the enclosure, and while we were watching a big black cat went over and started having relations with her.  We tried to walk around to the other side, but by the time we got there, they had both apparently found a more private location.

(The Doctor consulting a map of Xcaret)

We next walked through a butterfly house, which was in the sun and very hot, and near that was a stained glass exhibit.  This turned out to be a single but very impressive work of art in the ceiling of a structure built over one of the rivers so that swimmers could look up and see it from the water.  Obviously it was not the river we had been in.  The stained glass art was inspired by the butterflies of Mexico, and was quite stunning.

We walked through a section of the park that was supposed to be representative of Old Mexico.  It had a very quaint and interesting cemetery, an old school house, and various artisans selling their work.  There was also a replica of one of the ancient ball courts such as the one we had seen at Chichen Itza that I was quite interested in.

(The Old Cemetery)

Around mid-afternoon we went to see the "Flying Men" perform.  This was in a small plaza with arena seating.  There were two empty seats right in the front and in the shade, but when we started to sit there the Mexican woman behind us made us aware that there was some sort of ant colony right next to one of the seats, so we moved on.  She was kept quite busy warning people about the ans until the show started, as everyone who came along wanted to sit in those prime seats. 

The show itself was fascinating but rather short.  Five men in colorful dress climbed a high pole where four of them sat on each side of a square frame with a rope tied to each of their waists. The fifth man played an instrument and performed  a rather harrowing hopping dance balanced atop the pole.  Then the four men fell backward off the frame which began to spin, letting out the ropes tied to the men so they spun around the pole upside down until they reached the ground. 

Next, four of the men mounted an upright four armed cross type structure which spun around clockwise so that each of them was upside down as it rotated.  Both performances were impressive, but as I said rather short. 

(Me with the flying men)

We walked around looking at the various animals, birds, and water creatures.  There was small set of ruins that appeared to be authentic, and which we were allowed to climb up. 

There was a turtle exhibit, that included large replicas of turtle shells that you could climb inside and pose for a picture.

(If I were a turtle, I might look like this . . .)

Both The Doctor and I did this, and after The Doctor had taken my picture, he handed me back my bag and sunglasses.  As I went to put the sunglasses on - the ones I had purchased just the day before at the Adonis Emporium, I discovered they had broken in half right in the middle.  This was the fourth pair I had bought in Mexico . . .

I was getting quite hungry, so we started looking for someplace to eat.  I was hoping to find a table service restaurant, but though there were several restaurants in the park they all appeared to be buffets, so we had to settle on one of those.  I was quite cranky by the time we found it.  When we put our name in for a table, I was surprised that The Doctor said that he wasn't going to eat.  He just sat and watched me stuff my face.  He hadn't had any more to eat since breakfast than I had, so I couldn't believe he wasn't hungry.  They had some interesting food, but I wasn't quite sure what a lot of it was, and what was vegetarian and what wasn't, so I didn't try much that was new to me.  One thing they had was corn on the cob that people were putting mayonnaise on and then rolling in grated cheese.  That looked good, but I am not a big fan of mayonnaise, so I tried to do it with just the cheese, but it really didn't stick to the corn without the mayo, so it wasn't very successful.  I bet it would be good with butter though.

We stopped at a men's room.  The urinals here had a long tiled snake running across the top of them.  Both The Doctor and I wanted to take a picture of it as was quite artistic, but we had to wait until the bathroom was empty.  We thought people might think we were a little weird taking pictures of a urinal (and maybe they would be right . . .)

We went back to the Mexican village again where we both bought some souvenirs from one of the artisans. 

We walked around the little cemetery again, and then went back to the ball court, where The Doctor took some pictures for me as the battery in my camera had died. This replica of the ball court made the game (known as Juego de Pelota) a little easier to understand.  There was a level playing field, but a sloping stone playing area led up to the hoops on either wall.  Getting the ball through the small hoops seemed a little more possible here, as opposed to the ball court we had seen at Chichen Itza where the hoops were about the height of a basketball hoop with no incline beneath it.

We began making our way to the auditorium where the evening show was to take place. I believe it was called the  "Espectacular!"  The Doctor wanted to swing by the gift shop first, and while this made sense as opposed to fighting the crowds there after the show as the park was closing, there was already a steady stream of people headed toward the auditorium.  I was afraid we wouldn't get a good seat, so I strongly suggested we go directly there.  The Doctor seemed hesitant but finally agreed. 

We did stop at a beautiful Mexican church along the way.  We went in, and I waited up in the back while The Doctor went down to take pictures.  The rows of seats descended down to the front of the sanctuary, where the pulpit was set in a pool of water which looked like it could have been a natural cenote.  Above this, in place of a cross, was a large tree with the roots coming down to toward the pulpit.  It was all quite beautiful, and had a genuinely sacred feel to it.

Down closer to the front I could see people sitting in the pews, and I noticed The Doctor was taking pictures of them.  Taking a closer look, I realized they weren't real, so I went down to investigate.  They were painted wooden cutouts, representing famous Mexicans, the only one I recognized was the female artist Frida.

We continued on to the auditorium, and as we entered the walkway was lined with men in costume and full body paint.  They were all quite colorful, and some were pretty hot, so I insisted The Doctor take my picture with a couple of them. 

By the time we got inside, the place was almost full, and we ended up about five or six rows from the back on one end.  Not the best seats in the house, but they were OK I guess.  It was an an open air auditorium, and with no air conditioning it was stifling hot.  I'm not sure how I made it through two hours, and even The Doctor said he was surprised that they weren't carry people out on stretchers.

The show was divided into two parts, with an intermission in the middle.  Early in the first half they actually played the Juego De Pelota game, and it was truly fascinating to watch.  I am not a sports fan by any means, but I was amazed at the skill involved.  As depicted in many of the pictures I had seen, the players were not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or feet, but only their hips.  They would bounce it back and forth and all around this way, and if the ball went low a player would slide down to the ground and bounce it back up into play with his hip.  And of course they were wearing a traditional outfit consisting pretty much of just a long loin cloth, so that made the game even more interesting to watch . . .

I can't say I totally understood the rules, but the first part of the game seemed similar to soccer, but after one team scored a certain number of points they were allowed to move up to the sloped area and attempt to get the ball through the stone hoop.  I didn't believe they would be able to do it using just their hips, but after some very close misses, sure enough one of the players managed to do just that.  The crowd went wild!  And the same feat was performed several more times during the game.  I am truly surprised this game hasn't caught on and become more popular, possibly even as a professional sport.  And you sure wouldn't be able to beat the team uniforms!

This was followed by another game which I had not seen or heard anything about.  It was similar to hockey, in fact a stick very similar to a hockey stick was used.  But instead of a puck, the game was played with a ball . . . that was on FIRE!  Again the players wore just loin cloths and were barefoot.  It was quite a spectacle to watch.  Though I certainly enjoyed watching it, I can kind of understand why this game is no longer played professionally.  All it would take is one player's loin cloth to go up in flames and that would pretty much be the end of the game . . .

As for as I was concerned the show could have ended there.  The rest of the first act was a historical pageant presenting a very sanitized version of Mexico's history.  Not a hint of human sacrifice or bloody battles.  (I was even disappointed that member from the losing team was not sacrificed at the end of the Juego De Pelota game, as was sometimes the case in Mayan times.) The second act was pretty much just a musical review featuring traditional Mexican song and dance, which seemed to me to get repetitive after awhile, though most of the crowd seemed quite enthusiastic about the numbers.  Also, the whole show was in Spanish, with no interpretation, so I know we missed out on a lot because of that.  Towards the end, there was another performance of The Flying Men, spinning upside down from the top of a pole, so that livened things up a little.  But I was more than ready for the show to end.  The crowd, mostly Mexicans, cheered wildly at the conclusion, and it was obvious that the program had appealed to their national pride.  A woman in front of us even grabbed her young grandson, and, almost completely overcome with emotion from the experience, proudly kissed him. 

As expected, leaving the auditorium was a very slow process and it probably took us at least 15 minutes to get back to the gift shop, and that was completely out of control.  We agreed to meet in a half hour and split up.  I went in search of the photos that had been taken of us during the river swim.

There was a whole section of racks filled with photos, not only of the river, but of various other photo ops throughout the park.  Not only that, but I soon discovered the river photos were separated by each of the three rivers, and I had no idea which river we had been in.  It was a mob scene, you could barely move, and it was so crowded people kept bumping into the racks and knocking the pictures down and then walking  on them.  I tried to pick some of these up at first, mainly because I was afraid one of them might be our picture, but finally just concentrated on trying to figure out which river we had been in.  And of course, our pictures were in the very last section I looked through (we were in the River Azul).  I knew we had stopped for three photos, so it took me a while to find all three, but I finally did and picked the one I thought was the best.  I then went over to the rest of the gift shop and bought a beach towel with an image of a Juego De Pelota player, and two refrigerator magnets with a similar picture - one for myself and one for The Doctor.

Finally, I met up with The Doctor again.  By this time the crowds in the gift shop had thinned out a good deal.  I wanted to get a t-shirt - not only for a souvenir but because I had no clean shirts for the flight home the next day.  I found one with a Juego De Pelota player on it, but it was a small and when The Doctor asked if it came in a larger size the girl said no.  I then found one with a picture of a fire ball player, but they only had that in extra-large, but I ended up getting it anyway.

We made our way out to the parking lot and started our drive to Cancun.  We got there without any difficulty, and found our hostel without too much trouble using the GPS on my cell phone.  We were staying our final night in Mexico at Hostel Quetzal, where we had spend our very first night.  It was almost midnight when we arrived and the front gate and door were locked so we had to ring a buzzer to get in.  We both had assumed we would be staying in the same room up on the third floor again, but the guy at the desk led us through the common areas and out into the back, than down a very narrow alley to another room in the back.  It was on the first floor, and not quite as nice as the other room, but certainly adequate enough for the short amount of time we would be staying there.

THE HEAT OF ADONIS

After we awoke on Thursday morning (7/19), I heard something hit our window.  When we had first arrived the day before, I noticed some beautiful little yellow birds in a tree right outside our room, and now one of those kept flying into the glass.  He wasn't hitting it hard enough to do him any serious harm, but it must have smarted some.  I couldn't tell if he was chasing insects, or just simply determined to penetrate the invisible barrier, but every few minutes or so he would slam into the window.

The Doctor and I had breakfast at the Adonis' cafe, and ate outside near the pool.  I got Eggs Florentine.  After we had ordered we discovered there was also a small buffet set up inside, with fruit, cheese, and bread so we helped ourselves to that as well.

When I checked in the day before, the desk clerk had told me they were at 15% capacity, and the place did seem pretty empty, but I didn't mind the peace and quiet at all.  There were a few other gay men, mostly couples (including a very young twinkish couple), and one man who seemed to be by himself, and was alone every time we saw him. There was also at least one lesbian couple, and a surprising number of what appeared to be straight people, both couples and singles. 

While we were having breakfast a slender man came over dressed casually but wearing a Dolce & Gabbana belt that probably cost more than all the clothes I had brought with me combined.  He introduced himself as Michele, and said he was the resort manager.  He said he hadn't seen us before and asked us when we had arrived, where we were from, etc.  He told us there was an opera group staying there, but they were leaving that afternoon, and things should "calm down" once they were gone.  I thought things were pretty calm as it was! Apparently most of the straight people I had seen were members of that group.

After we ate, we went and checked out the little Emporium.  It was mostly a gift shop, and though it had some hats and golf shirts with ADONIS embroidered on them, I was disappointed they didn't have any Adonis t-shirts.  They had some skimpy Speedo style bathing suits, which I showed The Doctor, and he picked out a couple pairs and spent several minutes trying them on.  He called me back to the dressing room once to ask if he looked better in the small or the medium;  he looked hot in both, and I really couldn't see a noticeable difference.  I believe he ended up going with the small.  I bought a few postcards with pictures of the resort on them.

We went back to the room, The Doctor put on his new swimsuit, and then we headed down to the Clothing Optional beach. 

There were two men already there, and another couple arrived a short while later.  This was a couple we had seen around the night before.  They were from England.  One of them was deaf, and he and his partner communicated through sign language.  He was attractive and had a nice body.  They went down closer to the water out of sight.  Some time later a woman also came along, but she sat discretely up behind us in the shade of one of the outdoor beds.

At dinner the night before I had told The Doctor that if he wanted to take full advantage of the clothing optional beach, not to worry;  I would not try to grope him, or stare, or take pictures (unless he wanted me to!), or otherwise behave inappropriately.  And he told me that if I wanted to take full advantage of the beach, I too should go ahead.  The other guys on the beach had all stripped down, and after we had been there awhile, I opted out of my clothing as well.  The Doctor never did, I am not sure if he was uncomfortable doing so around me, or just in general. I certainly hope I wasn't responsible for cramping his style, but as it was his suit left little to the imagination . . .

We stayed at the beach for what seemed like a couple hours at least.  It was very peaceful, just the sound of the ocean crashing against the rocks along the shore.  After awhile, The Doctor said he was going up to take a dip in the pool, so I asked him to see if he could get a non-alcoholic frozen drink for me at the bar.  When he came back he had a strawberry daiquiri and a pina coloda, and let me pick which one I wanted.  I took the daiquiri, and it was soooooooooo good, especially after laying out there in the hot sun.

Finally he wanted to go lay up by the pool, so I put my swim suit back on, and we both took a quick shower under one of the outdoor showers, then headed to the pool. 

It wasn't as quiet there.  Music was playing, and it was kind of loud and a bit erratic.  The songs would cut off right in the middle and another would start up, and at least once two songs were playing at the same time.  Michele, the manager, was still sitting outside of the cafe near the pool, and seemed to be conducting business from there.  The other guys who had been down at the beach also eventually came up to the pool, including the good looking deaf guy, who seemed to be shooting me fervent glances every time he walked by.  The opera group were hanging out by the pool too, until they left.

A waiter named Juan was circulating poolside, and he must have brought me at least half a dozen more strawberry daiquiris.  I couldn't get enough of them, and once I got it through my head I wasn't having to pay for them, there was no stopping me.  The Doctor ordered a veggie burger for lunch, and when it came it looked and tasted so suspiciously like the real thing that he had to verify with Juan that it was in fact meatless.  He really liked it a lot, and I ended up getting one as well. 

We stayed by the pool for a couple more hours.  I think this is the first time I can remember being on a vacation where I spent a whole day doing nothing but relaxing, and I have to say I enjoyed it.  Just laying in the sun, drinking virgin daiquiris, with occasional dips into the pool.  And though the Doctor's physique was attracting the majority of attention, I did get a few looks, especially from the deaf British guy who was not at all bad on the eyes himself.

Late in the afternoon the sky grew very dark, and the wind picked up.  The staff started rushing around taking down the large umbrellas, and people quickly began to abandon the pool and head indoors.  We went back to our room and it did rain for awhile. 

The Doctor had spent more time swimming than I had, and with all his time in the pool, he ended up with swimmer's ear in his left ear.  It really bothered him quite a bit the rest of the evening, and nothing he tried was successful at getting the water out.  As for me, I was beginning to realize I had spent too much time in the sun, and even though I had applied a sunscreen with an SPF of 150 a few times over the course of the day, I developed a pretty bad sunburn.  It was a spray on sunscreen, and apparently I hadn't applied it evenly enough, as the burn was sporadic and splotchy.  Some of it was on my upper torso, but the worst of it was on my legs, especially the top and inside of my calves.  The affected areas were beet red, and grew more and more painful as the evening progressed.  Considering the fact I had spent a good part of the day at the clothing optional beach, I was truly fortunate that some of my more delicate areas had been spared . . .

In spite of his swimmer's ear, The Doctor went to the gym for another workout, and then we went to dinner.  We ate in the Italian section of the restaurant that night. 

We got a tomato and cheese appetizer, and The Doctor got a pesto fettuccine dish, while I got the lasagna which he had had the night before.  Although the portions were small, everything was delicious. 

I washed it all down with a few more virgin Strawberry Daiquiris.  Juan, who had been our waiter poolside during the day, also served us that night.  He was very attentive, and it didn't take him long to figure out we didn't drink.  But when he brought me my first Daiquiri at dinner, he put it down with flourish and said "Mucho alcohol!"  It took us both a second to realize he was just kidding.

When we left the restaurant, we could see the hot British deaf guy and his partner having a nice romantic dinner in the gazebo overlooking the ocean.  Apparently they had arranged to be served there, as we could see a waiter tending to them.  In spite of the deaf guy's wandering eyes (at me!), the two of them made a very nice couple.  Earlier in the day at the pool they had often been in each other's arms in the water, and appeared to be very much in love.

On Friday morning (7/20), The Doctor still had water in his ear, and my sunburn felt like my skin was on fire.  Even worse than the pain was how hideous I looked.  I would have preferred an even burn, but mine was more splotches of bright red here and there.  Looking like that, taking off my shirt was out of the question, especially around the guys at Adonis.

We ate breakfast again by the pool.  Our waitress was a pleasant Mexican woman named Victoria.  She took our order, but explained that there was no buffet table that morning; that was only something they did when they were busier and had more guests . . . Apparently the day before was what they considered to be "busy", but now that the opera people were gone, things had slowed down for them . . . While I was in the bathroom, Victoria told The Doctor that when she was not having a "quiet day" she liked to ask the guests where they were from and what they did, but today she was having one of her quiet days, so she didn't ask us anything . . .

Our plan for the day was to visit the ruins of Tulum, but we made a quick stop first at a nearby grocery store to try to find something for The Doctor's swimmer's ear, which was really bothering him.  The store had a good sized pharmacy (or "farmacia"), but we couldn't find anything associated with the ear.  He finally asked the girl at the counter.  She didn't speak English, but he was able to get his point across enough for her to be able to tell him they didn't have any "drops".  I pointed out some Q-tips, and helped him find some rubbing alcohol, and when we got back to the car, he spent several minutes working on his ear with that, but it didn't provide any immediate relief.

The Tulum ruins were just a short drive from Adonis.  When we got there, I dropped my new camera when I got out of the car.  It separated a little along the joining seam at the top, but didn't seem to affect it otherwise.  I did begin to wonder if I had ended the curse of my sunglasses only to start a new one with cameras . . .

I had been to Tulum once on a cruise a few years ago.  It is a modest collection of ruins concentrated in a relatively small area (compared to Chichen Itza), but the location on a cliff overlooking the ocean makes it a beautiful and unique site.  As my guidebook pointed out, while not as impressive as some ruins, the ancient inhabitants must have been very smug with themselves when it came to the view.
 
Having been there once already, I didn't take many pictures.  The Doctor took some, but it didn't take us long at all to walk through the complex.  Once I went to take off my sunglasses - the pair I had bought at Chichen Itza to replace the ones I had given to the young boy - and again the arm broke in half!  I had hoped my deal with the boy had broken my sunglasses curse, but apparently it had not.  And considering I had almost broken my camera too, I was beginning to fear my luck had only gotten worse!

There were several tour groups at Tulum, but I thought I recognized one of the guides as the young man who had been our guide when I had been there previously.  He looked very much like him, and what he was saying when I walked past him sounded almost exactly like something our guide had said to us.  I stopped to watch him to try to figure out if it was in fact him.  He glanced at me once, but kept talking, and then finally looked at me again and said to his group "Do we have a stowaway?  Yes, I think we have a stowaway."  He was referring of course to people who attach themselves to guided groups to get a free tour.  While I admit to having eavesdropped a couple times at Chichen Itza when a guide was within earshot, I never actually followed a group, and none of that had been my attempt now.  I was a bit embarrassed and offended by his comment, which I thought was rude and unnecessary.

Once we had seen all we cared to of the ruins, we descended the wooden stairs down to the beach, which is rated one of the ten most beautiful in the world.  We spent some time in the water, but kept a wary eye on our belongings left on the shore.  Once in Australia The Doctor had everything stolen while he was in the water at Bondi Beach, and ended up having to walk through downtown Sydney to the police station wearing nothing but a Speedo.  Considering how much he likes showing off his physique, I imagine he rather enjoyed that part of the experience, and I am rather sorry I missed it.  In any case, it has left him cautious about leaving things unattended, and the Tulum Beach would have been an easy place to fall victim to such a crime again.

The waves were bigger here than they had been at Isla Hobox, and I almost got swept off my feet a couple times.  The surroundings were beautiful, and it would have been easy to have spent the rest of the day there.  Unfortunately, I wasn't  feeling all that great, and was concerned about making my sunburn worse.  And as lovely as it was here, I think we were both eager to get back to the luxury of Adonis.

(I'm too sexy for this rock!)

We did leave finally, and when we got back to Adonis, I went straight to The Emporium and bought my fourth pair of sunglasses since arriving in Mexico.  I was alone, as The Doctor had run back to the car where he had left his money.  As I was going in, the British couple were coming out.  The attractive deaf guy looked at me as we passed, and after a few paces I turned to look back only to find him turning to look back at me . . . 

Back in our room, The Doctor worked again on trying to get that pesky water out of his ear.  I crashed on the bed and dozed off a little.  When I awoke I told The Doctor I thought I had heat or sun stroke.  I was really feeling lousy.  He was concerned, but not so much but that he decided to go out to lay by the pool.

(The Doctor at the pool . . .)

I joined him after awhile.  He was in the sun of course, but there was no way I was going to do that again.  I was trying to figure out how to put up one of the large umbrellas, when someone came over to help me out.  I thought it was one of the staff at first but it turned out to be Michele, the resort manager.  He was wearing only a swimsuit, a tiny little pair of black shorts, and showing off his pierced nipples AND pierced naval.  He explained it was his day off, and he was spending it relaxing by the pool.  He had seemed to be doing the same the day before, I guess the only difference between a work day and a day off for him was what he wore while lounging poolside. 

After he got the umbrella up, he asked if I wanted anything and I told him a virgin Strawberry Daiquiri would be nice.  Soon Victoria came over with my drink, and was horrified by my sunburn.  I had kept my shirt on and just a regular pair of shorts, because even though I planned on staying out of the sun, I was quite embarrassed by how hideous the sunburn looked, but she could still see how badly burned my calves were.

A little later we ordered lunch.  The Doctor got another of the suspicious tasting veggie burgers which he really loved, and I got some nachos.  I made sure Victoria understood I wanted no meat in the nachos, and no alcohol in my steady flow of Daiquiris.  "No meat, no alcohol", I told her, and she said "That's good!". 

After we ate I dozed off under the umbrella and slept really hard in spite of the loud music.  When I awoke The Doctor was no where to be seen.  I thought maybe he had snuck down to the clothing optional beach to exercise his option without having to worry about me gawking.  There was a small island in the middle of the pool with some small trees on it, and I thought perhaps he was in the water on the other side of the pool out of sight, but he was gone for so long that I guessed that was not the case or it seemed like he would have swam back around eventually.

A bit after I woke up a cute young Mexican guy came swam over.  He introduced himself as David . . . or maybe Michael.  The Doctor had met him the first day in the gym, and described him as Adonis' version of Julie McCoy - a reference to the cruise activities director on "The Love Boat".  He had a very hot, trim, atheletic body, and was very easy on the eyes.  He had a ball with him and told me he was trying to get a water game started but everyone just wanted to relax and no one wanted to play.  He told me they were having a "show" that night at the resort's club at 11:00 and said that I should come.  The way I felt then I wasn't even sure I would still be alive at 11:00! 

He apparently succeeded in getting the game started as I could hear a great deal of shouting and spalshing.  Most of it was on the other side of the little island, but once in awhile it would swing into view at the far end of the pool.  The hot deaf British guy was there with his partner and probably four or five other men.  I am not sure exactly what the object of the game was, but it appeared to be simply to just to try to get the ball away from whoever had it, maybe some sort of Capture The Flag, though I couldn't really tell if there were teams or it was just every man for himself.

Once when the game came into view from behind the island, I was surprised to see Doctor was playing!  Somone was trying to wrestle the ball away from him, and he was putting up a valiant effort to hold on to it.  Another time he again had the ball, and the whole gang seemed to attack him unitl he was in the middle of a cluster of men all grabbing at him . . . more at him then the ball, or so it seemed to me.  And once I saw him one on one with another guy who had him in a bear hug from behind, again under the pretense of getting the ball away from him, but it appeared he had other purposes in mind.  Considering The Doctor has a strict "NO TOUCHING" policy as far as I am concerned, I was just a little jealous that everyone else was getting piece of him while I couldn't.

I stayed at the pool for awhile longer.  The deaf British guy again kept sending me interesting looks, and would frequently float by staring at me pretty intently.  But we exchanged nary a word. 

(Nice view of the pool . . . and the hot deaf guy!)

After it appeared The Doctor had no intention of getting out of the water and rejoining me, I finally gathered my things and went back to the room. 

He returned eventually.  In addition to his water sports activities, he had spent some time talking with Michele.  Michele had told him that he had been critizied for spending so much time out by the pool on his work days, but he said he felt he could get a better sense of what was going on and what needed his attention there than sitting in his office crunching numbers.  He was a little peeved that a former guest had even referred to him in a TripAdvisor.Com review of the resort, saying "Michele the resort manager is pretty worthless".  He had come to the resort to replace the previous manager, someone who was straight, and though not a homophope, really didn't have any insight into gay sensibilities.  Michele had made several changes to make the resort more appealing to gay men, and I believe he told The Doctor the clothing optional beach was one of them.  He asked The Doctor how long we had been together, and The Doctor of course had told him we had known each other for over 25 years, but were just friends, and not a couple.  I hope he made it very clear that that is HIS choice and NOT MINE!!!

He also found out that Mark . . . or David . . . the cute activites director had only been working there for three days.  He talked with him a little too, and Mark was asking him about his workout routine, how often he worked out etc.  He obviousl y was in great awe of The Doctor's body.  He told The Doctor that he wanted to bulk up and put on another 20 or 30 lbs, but both The Doctor and I agreed that he certainly didn't need to do that, and look just fine with his trim, atheletic build.

That night we had dinner at the Asian section of the restaurant.

We ordered a salad with seaweed on it, and got vegetarian sushi rolls for our entree.

Juan was our waiter, and at the end of our meal he brought us a rather lengthy comment/suggestion form to fill out, covering our stay and experience at Adonis.  I am not sure how he knew personally that it was our last night, but it seemed to be something of which he was aware.

During our meal The Doctor said he needed a "reality check" and wanted to know if I was upset over his afternoon frolics in the pool.  I told him, first of all I apparently had no right to be upset, since we are not in a relationship as he is so quick to point out to everyone, and second, it did seem that everyone else gets to touch him except me.  I also explained to him - and he should know this about me by now - that part of my feelings over the pool incident had more to do with my inability to feel comfortable joining in that kind of activity.  Even if I had been feeling better physically, I would not have been as at ease as he in engaging in such carefree social behavior.  He has no trouble at all meeting and interacting with people in any setting, whereas I am far more shy and reticent.  Heck, I couldn't even muster a smile or wave at the deaf guy who had so obviously been cruising me almost since our arrival.  The Doctor had little to say in response, other than that was where he had figured my mind was at.

(View of the pool from our table at the restaurant)

After dinner we took a walk to the end of the promenade and stood a long time just listening to the waves crash on the rocks beneath us.  Lightening was flashing off in the distance, though it never seemed to get any nearer, and closer to us some lightening bugs were doing their best to put on their own display.  It was, in a word, very romantic . . . just without any romance . . .

The night before, he had decided to go for a walk after we had gone to bed and had gone out by himself. In one corner of the resort, he had discovered another army of Leaf Cutter Ants hard at work.  After we watched the lightening for some time, he took me searching for the ants, and with some effort we did find them, though I am afraid we may have stepped on some of their contingent in the process.  We studied them for a bit, and then went back to the room.

I was more than ready to go to bed, and I assumed The Doctor would be too, so I was surprised and a little disappointed when he poked me almost flirtatiously with his water bottle and asked if I was ready to go "clubbing" with him at the resort club.   I certainly was not up for it, but he really wanted to go, so he went by himself, and I called it a night and turned in.

JOURNEY TO ADONIS

(Apologies if you received this as an unedited copy.  This is a cleaner version with pictures.)

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Wednesday morning (7/18) at breakfast I turned on my camera only to find a blank screen.  The Doctor looked at it and said it looked like it had gotten water in, probably the day before during the rainstorm at Chichen Itza.  I felt like I had traded in the curse of the sunglasses for the curse of the camera.

When we checked out of Villas Arqueologicas Chichen Itza, I asked the man at the front desk if there was a Walmart or some place where I could buy a new camera nearby.  He said there were no Walmarts, but that Villadolid,  the next town over on our way to Tulum,  had a store in the center of town that sold cameras.  He also suggested trying the gift shop at the main entrance to Chichen Itza, so we went there first.  They sold film, but no cameras, but we did pick up a couple of souvenirs from the vendor market outside the entrance.

When we got to Villadolid,  we did see a Fuji camera store on the corner.  It took us awhile to find a parking spot;  The Doctor wanted to drop me off, and join me at the store after he had parked, but I didn't relish the idea of going in alone.  After driving around a few minutes, we finally found a spot on a back street, which, although not exactly dangerous looking, didn't look exactly savory either.

We started walking toward the camera store, but on the way I spotted a store called Coppel, which looked like it carried electronics.  We went in, and sure enough there was a camera section along one wall.  I found a couple cameras I liked, but the first sales person who came over didn't speak English.  He walked away, and I thought he had gone to find someone who did speak English, but no one ever came.  We found another clerk, and asked him if he spoke English.  He didn't either, and when I tried to ask if anyone in the store did, he just shook his head.  He went back to the cameras with us anyway, and turned out to be as helpful as he could under the circumstances, opening the display case, and letting us look at the cameras.  When I picked out the one I wanted, he wrote down the information, and took us back to a service desk, gave someone the slip, and indicated we should wait in the checkout line.

When it was our turn the lady asked for my name to type into her computer.  I wrote it down for her, but she couldn't read my writing, so I showed her my driver's license.  For some reason she couldn't seem to see my last name on my license, so she entered me as "FRANKLIN FRANKLIN" in the computer.  We then went to the next counter to pick up the camera.  This clerk did speak a little English, and took the time to take the camera out of the box, show me the warranty, and even program the camera's menu to English for me.  He showed me how to take a picture, and then handed the camera to me to try, so I took his picture.

Finally we were on our way again.  We wanted to find a Cenote that we could swim in, and Alejandra had told us there were two near Villadolid, so we went in search of one of those.  The Doctor was using his GPS again, and I had my phone on, but neither one seemed to be very helpful.  We kept turning down dirt roads that kept getting smaller and smaller, passing very crude and simple homes where the residents stared at us with curiosity, and would usually end up at a dead end.  Finally we abandoned the idea of finding that particular Cenote, and decided we would continue on to Tulum where we knew there were other Cenotes, or if we passed any along the way we would stop then.
 
In trying to get to to Tulum, the Doctor's GPS somehow led us down another dead end road with a church at the end and a lot of children outside, mostly all girls I think.  They too stared at us in surprise.  It looked like some sort of school, or possibly even an orphanage  There was a big sign on the church which said in Spanish "No Photographs".

Finally using the GPS on my phone we got back on track.  We passed a flock of vultures along the side of the road, and I could see they were feasting on the carcass of a dead dog.  I was actually surprised we didn't see more "road kill" dogs, as dogs were everywhere, sometimes even napping in the middle of the road in the smaller towns. 

Just a ways past the dead dog, we saw a sign for Cenote X'Lakaj.  We pulled onto a dirt road that led us to a little house at a dead end. 

A man came out and looked at us questioningly, and I said "Cenote?"  In Spanish he told us how much it cost to get in, which in the end required him pointing to the correct bills in my hand in order to conduct the transaction.  We parked the car next to the only other vehicle in the driveway, a pickup truck with a dog sleeping underneath it. 

We followed a path until it branched off, one way leading to the Cenote, the other to an overlook above it.  From there we could see there was a couple sitting down on the steps leading into the water.

We followed the other path down to it, again coming to another division, one of which led to the "Cueva De La Virgen", which I assume means "Cave of The Virgin".  We walked through what turned out to be a rather short and airy cave, and followed the path a ways out the other side.  We came to what looked like the someone's backyard, and the thought of wandering onto the property of a drug cartel convinced me that we had gone far enough, so we turned back.

As the Cave Of The Virgin was the closest thing to a dressing room, The Doctor went in there to change into his swim suit, and I walked on down the stairs to the Cenote.  The couple were still there, and eventually The Doctor came down and tested the water.  I had decided to wait for him to let me know how deep it was before I put on my bathing suit, and as it turned out it was pretty deep, except for the area right next to the steps, so I opted not to venture in.

The Cenote was truly a beautiful spot, but the water was quite murky, and had a primeval feel to it.  The Doctor told me later that he had no fear swimming with the Whale Sharks and the Devil Rays, but not knowing what might be lurking in the water of the Cenote out there in the woods freaked him out big time.  The fact that the couple weren't getting into the water was not especially reassuring to him either.  Still, he got in and swam around a little.  There was a big thick rope lying across the surface of the water from one side to the other, and he swam out to it, but I saw him quickly back away from it.  He said it was covered with little spiders, and he had no desire to get any closer to it.

Just a short distance from the steps going into the water were another set of steps coming out along one side leading up to a little perch or ledge.  He swam over there and climbed out. 

He called to me that it looked like there was another path coming down to the ledge from above, so I found it and made my way over and watched him swim from there for a few minutes.  Than I had him come up to where I was, and with my new camera we did an impromptu photo shoot, taking a whole lot of "beefcakes" style photos of him in his snug fitting bathing suit.  He seemed to be really getting into it, and I know I was certainly enjoying myself. 

Three young Mexican guys arrived, coming along the back path from where I feared a drug cartel might be set up.  They came down, bringing with them some loud music. The Doctor took another swim, and then we made our way back up the steps.  He went to change again, and was gone so long I began to wonder if he was desecrating the Cave of The Virgins in some way . . .

(Me at Cenote X'Lakaj)

When we got back to the small parking lot, the pickup was gone, and the dog had relocated himself to the shade under our car.  When she saw that she was about to be disturbed, she crawled out and meandered down the road to another shady spot.  I tried to make befriend her, but she only eyed me with lazy suspicion.

Back on the road we traveled a short distance before again realizing we were again off course.  We had to go all the back to Valladolid where we had stopped earlier to buy my camera before getting on the right road, but after that we did pretty well finding our way. 

We stopped at a convenience store to stock up on junk food, and on a whim I bought a lottery scratch ticket.  It was a promotional lottery ticket for the movie "The Avengers".  I scratched off the numbers, and of course had no way of knowing if I had won or not as it was entirely in Spanish, but as I had three matching dollar amounts The Doctor thought it looked like a winner.  I went back in and gave it to the guy and he gave me my jackpot, a grand total of five pesos . . . which is about 37 cents in American currency.  Since that was what I had paid for the ticket, I bought another, but that one was not a winner, so I just kept it for a souvenir.

When we crossed over from Yucatan into Quintana Roo, we went through another of the many check points.  This was the only one at which we were stopped.  The military official asked us where we were headed, and what our nationality was, then waved us on. 

Finally we arrived in Tulum, and without too much trouble, we found our hotel, the Adonis Tulum Resort. 

The three hostels we had stayed at so far, as well as the hotel at Chichen Itza, had all been more than satisfactory and each had had its own charm and unique appeal.  But Adonis was an all inclusive resort, and a gay one at that (but also "straight friendly" so anyone is welcome) so we knew we were going to be in for a treat.  Still, neither of us were prepared for just how nice and luxurious the place was until we finally arrived. 

We had to drive through a gate, where an attendant told us to pull up in front of the main entrance.  There someone took our car and parked it for us while we went in to register.  At the front desk we were offered a cocktail, which of course we both declined.  There was a slight problem, as when I had made the reservation I had somehow made the mistake of only making it for one person.  I became aware of this just a couple days before leaving the states, and had sent an e-mail to the resort to rectify the situation, but never received a response.  The guy at the desk said there would be an additional charge; as it was all inclusive, and all our food and drinks were included, this was to be expected, though he didn't tell us how much  more it would be, and I was concerned it would be much more expensive than we might be comfortable with.  He said someone would contact us the next day with the details.

They needed to see both our ID's, and while The Doctor returned to the car to get his, I asked the desk clerk how business was.  He said it was usually a busy time for them, but they were currently at only 15% occupancy.  He told me the resort had been a family resort until about a year and a half ago, when it became a gay one, and that he had been working there for three months or so. 

After The Doctor returned with his ID, the clerk put black plastic bands on both our wrists to identify us as guests, and another staff person led us to our room and gave us a brief tour of the resort on the way. 

The whole property was breathtakingly beautiful.  Sitting right on the ocean, the resort consisted of several two story villas, each containing eight hotel rooms.  A stunning infinity pool was in the center of the resort, with beach chairs and tables surrounding it, and even a bar with bar stools submerged just below the surface of the water, so one could swim up and get a drink without ever having to leave the pool. 

Just above this bar was the gym/work out center. On the opposite side of the pool was a two story building with a casual dining cafe on the first floor with tables spilling out to the poolside area, and a more elegant restaurant on the second floor.  Also near the pool were four small hot tubs.

Palm trees lined the walkways with comfortable benches and chairs sprinkled throughout the grounds. A nice gazebo was positioned on a rise overlooking the ocean, and a promenade ran along the ocean side of the resort.  Our building was just across a fenced off area that led into the clothing optional beach, though anyone on the promenade had a bird's eye view of this, and it was also clearly visible from the large floor to ceiling windows of the gym.  This beach area had beach chairs, and even a couple of outdoor beds for laying in the sun.  There were a small ocean fed pool here, but the water didn't look very clean in it.  A red flag served as a warning not to enter the ocean as the surf was pretty rough. 

(Clothing optional beach from the promenade)

There was a nice outdoor shower area here, as well as another up by the infinity pool.

Our room was on the second floor of  Villa 5, the Ek Balam Villa. 

The room was spectacular, and had a lovely hot tub in it. 

There was no balcony, but the hot tub area was all windows from the ceiling to half way to the floor, and the center windows could be slid open. 

The bathroom was almost as big as some of the rooms we had stayed in earlier on our trip.  It had two sinks side by side, and a long closet with two pairs of slippers and two bathrobes waiting for us.

It was obvious The Doctor was in love with the room, and for the first time on our trip he unpacked EVERYTHING he had brought and made himself right at home, and I followed suit.  After settling in, we went out and explored the grounds a little more, and then The Doctor decided to go for a work out in the gym.  I stayed in the room and took a shower, and after he returned and showered, we went to dinner.

The Adonis web site had said the restaurants had a "dress casual" dress code, but the guy who had escorted us to our room had told us there was no dress code, just "no sandals".  The restaurant was one large room that had been divided into three  smaller "restaurants", each with its own menu - Mexican, Italian, and Asian - though we were told we could mix and match from the each of the menus if we wanted to.  That night we sat in the Mexican restaurant. 

I ordered quesadillas, while The Doctor ordered lasagna from the Italian menu.  We were both a little surprised at the diminutive size of the portions, though the presentation was quite lovely, and the food delicious.  I also ordered a piece of chocolate cake for dessert.

(The Doctor and his Lasagna . . . )

(. . . and my dessert!)

After dinner we walked a little along the promenade. When we we went back to the room, The Doctor filled the hot tub, which seemed to take forever, and then he soaked in it a long time before we turned in for the night.