Back from the Caribbean

I came in last night from Playa del Carmen, sunburned and tired - but rested. I wish there was someway I could bottle the calm I feel after a week of R and R. Sunning, walks on the beach, swimming, snorkeling, shows, dancing, eating, drinking, shopping, writing, and painting. I have never experienced anything quite like the ocean there. I have been to many beaches from Florida, Cape Cod, New Jersey, and California, but this was the BEST. I am now spoiled and can't imaging swimming in anything else. The water was CLEAN, WARM, and TURQUOISE! The fish swam around my feet and I could see many feet below me in the water. I was never cold and swam every moment that I could.

I woke up this morning to a damp cold rainy morning in the Catskills. I am dressed in layers, in careful layers, as I got burned in odd places the last day I was there. The beaches are very European in nature, filled with Italians, French, Germans, Spanish, who sunbathe topless, unlike here in America. I noticed that some of the little French girls do not wear bathing suit tops either. So when in Rome.....use lots of sunscreen, haha.

It was very odd being a minority there. I met many people from all over the world and spent some time with several of them, but it was difficult to communicate when you only speak English and some German. Even though English is an international language, many foreigners speak very little of it. Yet somehow we managed to communicate enough to go out to dinner together, or to the clubs. I made new friends, and we are going to try and email one another. Thank God for all of the dictionaries that are online to help us out. I am going to take a Spanish class somewhere as it is a language spoken by so many people. My students have taught me the curse words, but they did me very little good in Mexico!

The painting is of the beach where we stayed. They have these wonderful woven grass umbrellas that we sat under when the sun got to be too much. The hotel we stayed in had similar thatched roofs too. Playa del Carmen is on Central time, is an hour south of Cancun, is almost directly south of Lousianna, you can view the island of Cozumel from the beach, and is a short flight away from Cuba. It is on the Riviera Maya, the home of many Mayan ruins such as Tulum and Chichen Itza. Though we saw some ruins scattered along where we stayed, we did not take the trips into the jungle to the other ruins as it was so hot. Once you leave the ocean breeze, it becomes oppresively hot and I was into comfort. The ruins will have to be for another time.

Over the next several days I will review a few of the hotels in the area such as Xcaret, the Royal Hideaway, and the Occidental/Allegro Playacar. I will also share the snorkeling adventure, and shopping in Playa's 5th Avenue shops. The airfare is reasonable and if you travel off season, there are many bargins to be found.

I have lots to catch up here, so off to get a start on unpacking, laundry and the like.

mañana, Patti