cancun

dreams, originally uploaded by pr9000.

As I sit here, in my comfy chair with a cup of coffee and some goofy Food Network show in the background, it's 19º F in Chanhassen. A cold front is moving through today, with wind chills somewhere in the -40º F range, for at least two days. There is light snow falling, the driveway needs to be shoveled, and Trotter is going stir crazy because his dad just doesn't want to go play in the backyard.

But one week ago today, it was around 85º F, and I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Room service brought us a delightful breakfast -- the hot chocolate was spiced with cinnamon, even -- and my biggest worry was whether to use a 30 SPF sunscreen or a 45.

You no doubt feel sorry for me. I'll give you time to get some Kleenex.

•••

the view, originally uploaded by pr9000.

We stayed at the Dreams Cancun Resort and Spa, which bills itself, in that quaint English-isn't-our-first-language way, as "Unlimited-Luxury Defined" -- which was about 90 percent true, but who's counting? The view from our room didn't seem real. The Caribbean borders the east of the resort, with the Gulf of Mexico right around the corner to the north. Dreams has the best of both, though the Caribbean was purely for looking, as the waves were just treacherous. We chose a Caribbean view room, and the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks just outside our window was almost hypnotic.

, originally uploaded by pr9000.

The water was just incredible ... I had no idea so many shades of blue existed. And I didn't enhance the water color at all -- that's a pure, RAW capture. Mom and Amina hopped on one of those jetskis and did a tour of the area (that's not them in this picture). I was kind of jealous.

this totally is photoshopped, originally uploaded by pr9000.

Speaking, though, of doctored photos ... Amina and Dad wanted to swim with the dolphins -- Dreams featured this, on site, in a special pool at the center of the resort. I think Dad was very affected by the whole experience; it was all he could talk about for at least a day afterward. They both got to dance with the dolphins and be pushed through the water, with one dolphin at each foot propelling them forward. Mom and I were documenting the whole thing, as we both were convinced that pool was just filled with dolphin poop and thus wanted no part in the fun.

originally uploaded by pr9000.

This is where we spent the majority of our time. We even got Mom a cabana boy ... the waiters brought us waters and Mexican Coca-Cola all day long. It was, for me, the best part of the vacation, though for some reason days still seemed to fly by, even while we did nothing but watch the waves ... 

I like Mexico for many reasons, but what struck me this time: Mexico feels like a great hybrid of American and European cultures. You get the American amenities -- there was a Starbucks within a 10 minute walk -- but lots of little touches of Europe. You'll see cars that aren't sold here; everything's in metric; the stores have awesome foodstuffs you've never seen before; and, on the beach, you see all sorts of different vacationers. European men wearing Speedos, Brazilian women proudly displaying much junk in their trunk, a family of Italians at the buffet getting the pasta chef to make something authentic and garlicky ... You feel at home and a million miles away at the same time.

high contrast mayans, originally uploaded by pr9000.

Dad and I took off to Chichen Izta, to see the Mayan ruins. It was fascinating -- and hot. I can't recall ever feeling such heat in my life. When we lived in St. Louis, we had heat and humidity, which was downright oppressive. But this was an insanely dry heat, which meant it was subtle and kind of sneaked up on you. We managed to brave it for the first half of the tour, but we soon found shade trees more important than our tour guide's explanation of the ruins. 

I couldn't find a way to display in photos how huge this pyramid actually is. I have the photo above as my desktop image, and even on a larger screen it looks so ... small. Santos, our tour guide, did a quick job of explaining that (oddly enough) Mel Gibson kind of stretched the historical truth in "Apocalypto" with all the human sacrificing and whatnot. I'm sure he (Santos, not Gibson) has been asked about it by every American tourist over the past year or so.

mayaland, originally uploaded by pr9000.

We had a siesta at the Mayaland Hotel, which seemed to be a charming tropical oasis situated directly next to the state park housing the ruins ... Dad and I sat in the outside cafe and discussed, among other things, whether European coffee from those Douwe Egberts machines tastes more like ass or piss. Doing some research on the Mayaland brings up reviews like this, so apparently looks can be deceiving.

gull with lighthouse, originally uploaded by pr9000.

The physical beauty of the resort, and the Cancun beaches in general, can't be overstated. As I stated, I didn't know water came in so many shades of blue. The grounds at Dreams were expertly manicured, and the white sand beaches didn't really get hot -- you know how normal beach sand is almost unbearable after being baked in sunlight all day? My bare feet didn't even notice on this sand. The lighthouse above sits at the hinge in the "seven" that makes up the resort zone in Cancun. It runs (on the map below) just to the right of Puerto Juarez, then curves south. Dreams is right there at the point, and has beaches on both the Bahia de Mujeres (I had this wrong originally -- thanks, Alejandro!) and the Caribbean. Zoom in on the map and check it out, as I can't seem to get Google to give me that view embedded in this map.

View Larger Map

I think it's safe to say that we all had a great time. It sure beats the hell out of sub-zero wind chills and, you know, actually working for a living.

mom and dad, originally uploaded by pr9000.