Friday April 30 2010 Chapter 1 First day Syndrome Just a warning that this will be detailed as I want to remember this trip and also think that it may help newbies on what to expect. I didn't actually go to sleep Thursday night, our flight was at 6:45 am so we left for the airport and picked up the others at 3:30 am. Flight left on time and was a full Boeing 737 carrying 180 passengers. Flight time from Halifax to Cancun was 4 hrs 45 min and we arrived 15 min early . Through customs ,the flight attendants on our plane gave everyone the old forms and the new ones are entirely in spanish so it took a bunch of time to get that switched . Loved the "push the button game" for customs, it's a random check . If it's green , go through, if it's red , you get checked but it's not a body cavity search so don't worry . Got through and met the Nolitours busses out front. Most of our bus was Temptations , which was the last stop, it was ok because the bus was air conditioned and we could buy beer on the bus. Arrived at Temptation around noon , rooms wouldn't be ready till 3 pm . The bellmen took our luggage to hold till the room was ready, luckily we packed some basics in our carry-on luggage to get us by ( sunscreen, bathing suits) We then brought out a $10 bill for Lilianne at the front desk and asked if she could get us a nice room which she assured us she would . Our group then went to the buffet for lunch as we were hungry ! Lorenzo ( he's the best !!) escorted our group to a table for 6 and then got our drink orders while we went up to the buffet. He must have noticed we were new and brought us a round of tequila shots ! We finished up lunch and found a bathroom to change into our swimsuits to hang out at the sexy pool next to the buffet. The drinks were flowing , weather was a bit overcast but that was actually perfect as we wouldn't burn as easily. We had heard that they had some rain the day before I think. Looking back the weather was progressively better each day , overcast the first day 85 , overcast with sunny breaks in the morning on day 2 with more sun in the afternoon and 89, clear skys and sunny for the rest of the week a high of 91 low of 77 . Finally got our room ( # 5523 on the second floor) at 4 pm. Our room had an ocean view down by the luxury speedboats and the beach vollyball court. It was an ideal location because it was quiet at night but a 2 minute walk to the sexy pool or beach. Also of note at night there were security outside on the beach 24/7 in part to make sure no riff raff got on the resort ( it was very quiet on the beach at night) but also I noted that there were some nice boats on the water 3 of which belonged to the owner , his son and daughter (2 were called Mr. Cancun and Mr D .... which had a big round hot tub in the back of the boat) . Back to our room ...one king size bed , shower with 2 shower heads , most of our group were in the surrounding rooms though most were slightly different. The room below us on the 1st floor was identical but had 2 double beds . The room across the hall had a king and the shower had 1 shower head but a big counter vanity along the wall. Another one below had 1 king and 1 shower head ...all slightly different in some way but all equally as nice. I was trying to pace myself (drinking wise) as I knew that it was "Everything Glows" at night and we had a ton of stuff for it. I was unable to make it and crashed after I had been up 40 hours straight and passed out at around 10 pm , missing the glow party. More to come later ...
Chapter 2 - The Beach Vendors and Fair Prices Chapter 2 - The Beach Vendors and Fair Prices OK , thought I'd slide this in there while I remember. The beach vendors are not selling you silver... well at least not the stuff I saw . Found this after the fact and this will probably be a different thread but I'll note it here as it was on my trip. So all those bracelets, bangles, chains etc are alpaca or alpacca, it's also not restricted to the beaches but also the markets. It feels heavy but that doesn't matter . Alpaca is also known as German Silver, but there's no silver in it at all. It is usually 60% copper, 20% nickel, 15% zinc and 5% tin. Here's the easy way to tell , they may be stamped 925 on the back indicating 92.5% or sterling silver but if it also doesn't say MEX or Mexico as well then it's probably fake. There may also be a third marking which is the hallmark , IDing the jeweler. If the vendors are caught with something fake that says 925 MEX or 925 Mexico and it's fake, there's serious consequences. Another easy way to tell is that a man's necklace is between 1 to 1.5 oz. The cost of silver on the market as of May 9th 2010 is $18.46/oz . This is the raw cost before any manufacturing , transportation etc . A necklaces raw cost should be between $20 to $30 minimum just for the cost of the silver alone in the jewelry. If a vendor comes down to a price lower than that , you know it's fake. My wife bought a few things and I feel relieved that we didn't overpay for junk jewelry ( by too much) though we know now that it isn't real . And the cowboy hats and conch shells .... dunno but on Isla Mujerles the conch shells were $1 ea and the straw cowboy hats are $ 12-$15 in the reputable markets that have set costs and don't barter . More to come ...
It was nice meeting you. Hope to see you on future trips. We had a blast and the weather was perfect.
