Wasting Away in Margaritaville

For those who do not want to read any further, photos can be seen at my Flickr site link.

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WHERE IS MARGARITAVILLE ??

"It's in the tropics somewhere between the Port of Indecision and Southwest of Disorder, but no parallels of latitude or longitude mark the spot exactly. You don't have to be a navigator to get there. Palm trees provide the camouflage. Ocean breezes bring the seaplanes and sailboats, tourists and travelers. Passports are not required. Island music rules. No waiting lines for anything. There is a beach and a thatched roof bar perched on the edge of the turquoise sea where you can always find a bar stool. There are lots of lies and loads of stories. It's a comical concoction that blends together like tequila, salt and limes. Where is Margaritaville? It's in your mind. When you are there, you will know it."

What a fitting prologue to my blog about our recent trip to The Grand Mayan Resort in the Riviera Maya, on the Yucatan Peninsula close to the little town of Playa Del Carmen.

When Arthur lost his job last fall he wanted to go on a destress trip but we had been wafting in indecision. Being somewhat parsimonious and certainly NOT seasoned travellers, we had done nothing, when lo and behold my dear friend Joanne, became our navigator. She invited us to spend a week in her own little Shangri la time share in Mexico and made this a special 60th birthday gift to me. She handled all the arrangements and kept us apprised of the "way things are done" in good old Mexico. Unfortunately her husband Gary was hospitalized the day before the trip and could not go so she became our lone guide and companion and did so in her inimitable plush style..... never leaving a thought unspoken or a glass not refilled!!!!

Since we had different flights Arthur and I had the first day together until Joanne's flight arrived. We rented a car and explored Cancun, one of the most popular tourist areas in Mexico, expecially for the young people.... and this being March break.... glasses were overflowing all down the beach where the above photo was taken. However this beach had been de-sanded in a hurricane a few years back so it was very steep and full of undertows ...... a good place to visit but not a place I would want to stay.

I felt like a princess when we arrived at the Grand Mayan Resort. From the stunning open air lobby to the unbelieveable 32 acres of swimming pools, this was a top class five star resort with all of the amenities and then some.

The rooms were gorgeous, spacious, comfortable and ours had privacy, a beautiful granite kitchen, marble floors, jet tubs, luxuary showers, a private dipping pool on the balcony and a lovely view of the pristine tropical landscape. The service was excellent, the restaurants fantastic and the staff most helpful and pleasant. This was a true oasis unto itself and if Arthur had his way we would have just vegged here all week. It had the palm trees, thatched rooves, ocean breezes, island music, turquoise waters, sailboats, para sailors and unlimited underwater bars dreamed of in the Margaritaville of the mind above.

We accomplished a lot in just one week. The village of Playa Del Carmen was just a 20 minute drive away and what a charmer. This could be considered the New York of the Yuckatan. Once you survive the speed bumps and get parked beside a chicken "farm" in the heart of town, you can enjoy several miles of shopping along the picturesque, tourist hounding 5th Avenue. I was blown away by all the silver stores and since I can rarely get past a jewellry store I only covered about 1/4 of the shopping district!! The guys got shopped out pretty quickly so we joined them later on the public beach where we enjoyed cerveza and a few topless beauties!!! Hounding is putting it mildly. It was great fun buying presents for everyone and if there were two words for Mexico I would say they would be "colour" and "pestering" to buy. I actually found it quite intimidating and would have bought a whole lot more if they would have left me alone to reconnoitre!!!

Arthur's favourite part of the trip was our outing to the world heritage site of the Mayan ruins at Chitzen Itza. Due to our inexperience with the language and dotted roads, we ended up on a two hour detour en route to this famous site so after 5 hours we were very happy to arrive. It was amazing to think that this site was first established in 600 AD and was the thriving religious centre for Mayan culture for over 800 years. It was eerie seeing the cenote where worthy sacrifices such as silver, gold and humans had been made. When wandering through the town square with it's 1000 columns, or the ball arena where the losing side had to sacrifice one of it's members, or gazing at the central 9 tiered pyramid you felt another sort of Margaritaville, a place lost in time with its own story to tell. We wished we had been able to go there a few days later at the spring equinox as we would have been able to see the sunlight reflecting diamonds onto the pyramid in a way that was called the descent of the serpent. Suffice it to say that when you clapped your hands 50 feet from the pyramid, you heard a resounding unearthy echo that made you marvel at the ingenuity of long ago.

We had two other adventures worth mentioning. Joanne and I took a 40 minute ferry ride one day across from Playa Del Carmen to the island of Cozumel, which is famous for it's lovely beaches and amazing diving sites. Joanne and Gary have dived there several times but this time Joanne and I just enjoyed the shopping ambiance in the town of San Miguel where cruise ships harbour and did I mention hounding!!!! I had one man want to charge me a dollar for taking a picture of him standing there with a parrot and someone else wanted to trade some piece of tourist crap for my lovely rainbow watch!!!

Puerto Aventuras is a lovely condo community where people go to enjoy the restaurant ambiance and swim with the dolphins. We spent a lovely afternoon there watching people ride dolphins, and viewing seals, seal lions and legendary herbaceous sea cows called manatees. This lovely harbour was home to pelicans and other colourful birds and iguanas were everywhere!!!

During our last night at the Grand Mayan we attended a special Mexican show and buffet. This included a very entertaining dance and musical extravaganza featuring rope shows, acrobatic feats, toe tapping music and elaborate, sometimes racey costumes and hilarious head dresses. Note the delightful watermelon costume below. In the end the audience was invited up on the stage for a grand finale.

And speaking of grand finale...... I had heart burn for a week.... what with the delicious but spicy mexican food and free flowing wine and margaritas. Ah to return to Mexico one day is in my heart. I can't say I exactly wasted away, having not had the courage yet to get on my scale, but what a great place to relax and retreat to another world, to bask in the sun, to become one with the azure sea, to let your mind be at peace with itself.... for that is the stuff dreams are made of and this trip was indeed a fantasy come true.

Thanks so much to my long time friend Joanne who has been there for my family and I for as long as I can remember.

Follow this link to my Flickr site to see additional photos or check out Jimmy Buffet singing Wasting Away in Margaritaville if you'd like to sign off with a tune in your head. Here's a toast to you all!!!!

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