OK OK, I LAG BIG TIME - Puerto Morelos at X-mas

December 25th - December 30th
Puerto Morelos is a cool little place. I won't give the normal daily summary. I have been back for weeks now and the entire vacation has lapsed into that too-much-Dos Equis-haze as do all my Mexico vacations. Please excuse any ranting and long winded-ness. Work is terribly slow and I am tired of looking at my email and stocks. Here are the hi-lights of the trip I suppose.

- Hotel. So I am addicted to http://www.tripadvisor.com/. Everyone should use it to check out what others say about your potential hotel. What I have found is that the $60 a night place gets as highly reviewed as the $500 a night place. Plus I am cheap so maybe I am just deluding myself with the high I get from saving money....but I digress. I picked a hotel that got great reviews, www.http://www.www.caracol-hotel.com/. Cute place, owned by a Swiss couple. NO - when we got there the ownership has changed and two very unenthusiastic Italians were running the place. While the morning espresso rocked and the room and AC were good, there was none of the amazing service or fresh breads for breakfast that everyone raved about - whatever.

- More Hotel. We stayed the last night at Hotel Marviya http://www.marviya.com/. This was a great place. We had a kick ass balcony and view and the room was really big, see photo. Here is the weird thing, the hotel (and Puerto Morelos in general) the place is over-run with French Canadians (FC), all from Montreal. I have never met an FC in my life and here I was surrounded by them. I was so excited to practice my hideous French - at which time they immediately break into English, dammit I thought I sounded good. In any case, one of our Mexican waiters thought I was a Canuck and started speaking French to me. Knowing that he would never detect my heinous mispronunciation and no-conjugation, I spoke French back to him. I was screwed when he stared asking me how to say easy words like "fork" and "straw". I think he thought I was retarded until we told him we were American. He thought we were FCs because were were not overweight......can you believe that.

- Mosquitoes. There are mosquitoes that cover your entire body at exactly 4:30pm. What the hell. I have already experienced this phenomenon at Ilha Bella (see blog entry below for Wednesday, January 10, 2007) and found it to be largely unpleasant. I looked like I had scabies or something when I got home. Thank got for DEET, though the warnings on the bottle really freak you out http://www.environmentalhealth.ca/spring03hazards.html.

- Playa Del Carmen. I think it is HILARIOUS that all the Americans go to the gaudy fake-ness that is Cancun and all the Euros and Canadians go to Playa Del Carmen (PDC). PDC has cobbled streets, restaurants of all types, great cafes and stores - hardy a Mexican Mexico but charming nonetheless. It is filled with espresso drinking Euros looking just-so. Cancun is a walled off nightmare where if you can even find the exit to the street from your hotel you are lucky. Then, if you are lucky enough to make it out you can go to the Outback Steakhouse or Plant Hollywood for some craptastic food. Dave thinks that Cancun gets points for it's beaches. OK, I'll concede Cancun gets a few "luxury" points and "clean beaches" points but that's it.

- Diving & Snorkeling. Snorkeling is fantastic here, though I am not sure how much longer it will be fantastic with all the morons in the water. PET PEEVE PET PEEVE PET PEEVE! If I see one more doughebag touch or kick the coral while snorkeling, I am not responsible for my actions. At least in Cabo Pulmo our dive guy warned us, "you touch the coral and I kick your ass". I'm sorry but people in general are inconsiderate, annoying, and not smart. We did dive the Cenotes, which are cool underwater caves that are all over the Yucatan. I was less than enthused about the dive but Dave was paying and I am a supportive wife (generally, when it suits me). I got cold during the dive, can we please swim faster...... The Aquanauts Dive Shop rules though. Super friendly, good equipment.

Food. Tacos and beers tacos and beers tacos and beers! The rule of thumb holds, eat where the locals eat. It will be good and cheap. 10 tacos for $8 - NICE

- Meg and Mike. This is bad...... My sister and her husband stayed up the beach a bit at the luxury-resort-of-luxury-resorts, Excellence Maya Riviera. Check out the reviews at the link. WOW! All inclusive and super nice. So our hotel was about 2 miles from my sister's hotel. What's nice walk on the beach when there are free drinks to be had at the All-Inclusive. SO each evening we sneaked (snuck?) onto the property and tried to blend in. After a few Mojotos and a $40 tip for the bartenders Humberto and Roberto, were were in like Flynn for the entire week. Granted, we earned our cocktails because the only way to get to and from the resort was to walk on the beach, that's 4 miles everyday people. They sure as hell were not letting riff-raff like Dave and I in at the main security gates.

Puerto Morelos summary: OK beaches, good food, good location for outdoorsey activities, GREAT snorkeling, soon be over-run by over-fed American tourists that can take the easy shuttle from their safe hotel in Cancun.

Christmas in Salt Lake

Amie and I decided to spend Christmas in Salt Lake. We planned to fly into Salt Lake on Friday but due to a small mishap at the airport we ended up driving all the way to Salt Lake instead. No bid deal as we still got in 3 days of skiing before reporting to Patty's house for the Christmas Eve festivities. The actual dinner was good and the present exchange was not without the feeling of forced comradere and and half thought out presents. The best part was playing with the nephews and watching them play on their new tricycles! Ben and Dex each got a new black trike with flames on the sides. Ryan got a cool red race car push rider. Steve was a bit disappointed as Ben didn't seem to either be able or at least interested in riding while Dex took laps around the basement. Steve informed him that he was letting the family down for his lack of riding ability. I'll post pictures soon on my website of the little ones and the trikes.

Amie and I left early Christmas morning to find 4 inches of snow on our way to the airport to join Mike and Meg Warning on their honeymoon in Puerto Morelos Mexico!

SLC - December 19th to 25th

Three fantastic days of skiiing!!!!!!!! That is all there is to say. I did my best to try and forget about work. I have learned an important lesson, don't check your Blackberry on vacation. It causes nothing but anxiety.......stupid work. Thank god I got my bonus before I left. I was about 5 minutes from quitting.

Day One -- was REALLY cold. We skied with Dave's coworker Alex and his friend Alicia. Despite the fact that it was a balmy 10 degrees at Snowbird, we had a great time. There was about 10 inches of new snow, which Snowbird really needed. I tried out my new skis and boots, thank you E-bay. My new balvaca and boot warmers also came in very handy.

Day Two -- Skied with Dave's dad and had a great day. Snow was fresh and it was a bit warmer. However, having fresh snow means that it was snowing all day while we skied. I had the worst fall ever in the powder. I did the ass over head manuver, thank god for all that yoga I do. I lost both my skis in the powder and it took me five minutes of searching through the waste deep powder to find my skiis, fun. That night we went out to Bambara in SLC at the Hotel Monaco. GREAT DINNER! We are so going there again.

Day Three Christmas Eve -- We did a half day of sking and tore ourselves away for dinner at Dave's mom's house. Dave gave the nephews black tricycles with red flames. Hilarous.

CARLSBAD - December 14-16

Friday -
Arrived in San Diego to warm weather! It has been so freakin cold in SF. We saw J&K for a bit then checked into the Best Western - don't laugh it was really nice. Right on the beach!

Saturday -
Jess's shower! So fun! Gorgeous day. I bought some champagne for the party at BV Liquors - oh the underage memories. Lost my voice at the party but it was worth it. Dinner at Vigiluccis with J&K. Excellent restaurant I must say. Dave did the stealth paying of the bill for J&Ks Christmas presy, nice job Dave.

Sunday -
Spent the day in La Jolla after breakfast with Jesse, Katy and Remy. We saw seals and dolphins in the water. So cool. I'd move back if the traffic weren't so hideous and if you didn't have to drive EVERYWHERE. I am spoiled in the Bay Area living right near a cool downtown......

Cabo Pulmo / November 17th - 23rd

Day 1
Arrived at Cabo San Lucas in the late afternoon and met our friends Jesse & Katy (and baby Remy) and Matt & Erin. We stopped at the grocery store for suplies, beer and tequilla, and went straight to Cabo Pulmo and our awesome rental house: www.bajaparadise.com.

Cabo Pulmo is a tiny town 45 minutes northeast of Cabo San Lucas. It is barely a town and more a handful of houses, dive shops, and restaurants. We drove an awesome baja-esque dirt road to get there. I was having flashbacks the entire time to all our high school trips to Rosarito andSan Flipe and the many times we got stuck in the sand in the middle of nowhere..... Our Nissan rental car handled the road marvelously - with me behind the wheel. As soon as we arrived we began the obligatory intro beers and tequila shots and sat on the roof deck and looked at the stars.

Day 2
Dave slept pretty much the ENTIRE day. That's OK because there isn't much to say.
We just sat on the beach, drank beers, read books, snorkeled, and chatted. Katy and I had a great breakfast with Remy at Nancy's, coffee to die for! So fun, thanks Katy - that was one of my favorite parts of the vacation.

Let me just say that the snorkeling is great in Cabo Pulmo! The water temp is warm enough that even I was never cold. We saw all sorts of fish, eels, rays, crabs, pretty good stuff. The water is crystal clear with not a spec of dirt or trash anywhere. The government made the reef system a national park recently. With any luck the area will remain rustic and protected.

Our other friends (and super dive pros) Meg and Marty arrived this day and joined us for the obligatory evening of stargazing, beers, and tequilla.

Day 3
We did a great hike to the Northern point of the cape. From the top of the point we could see into the water and beach below, teeming with fish! After hiking we played in the waves. Then time for naps and dinner at Tito's. Just an exhausting day.

Then - stargazing, beers, and tequilla - yada yada.

Day 4
Field Trip with Erin and Matty to Los Barrilles and the beaches at Punta Arena and Punta Colorado. There is just no one on these beaches and miles of sand and warm water. Somehow I doubt it will stay that way forever, unfortunately. We got a little off course at one point and ended up stuck in the sand in front of some farm house - very dusty, cows, chickens - you get the picture. We all pushed the car and got it going again. I cannot imagine what the farmer must have thought.

We were fortunate enough to find a market along the way for more beer, chips, and avocados!

Day 5
Katy, Dave, Meg and Marty all went diving. I was not feeling like diving (too mellow) so I just sat around the house and snorkeled with Matt and Erin. That night I got super sick. As Dave would put it, I was like a tube of toothpaste with both ends cut off. Oh god that was not fun. Dave got it in the morning and the next day. We were thinking it was some peppers we ate at our amazing taco lunch in Los Barrilles on our field trip the day before.....

Day 6 (Happy Thanksgiving)
Jesse dove with the group while Katy watched Remy this time. I just sat in the hammock due to my stomach issues, though had I not had stomach issues I doubt I would have done much different. Oh the joy of laziness. In the afternoon, me, Dave, Marty & Meg all kayaked out to the point we hiked to the day before where we saw all the fish. Once we were at the point, we hopped in the water snorkeled with about 300,000 (this time I am really not exaggerating) little fish. They were like a giant swarm. When you were in the middle of them you wouldn't see anything below you, just the coolest. I wish I would have had the underwater camera with us. The water was crystal clear and there was not a soul around. You didn't even need a snorkel you could just look over the side of the kayak into the water.

We had a Thanksgiving turkey dinner at Nancy's, a tiny local restaurant run by a 70 year old ex-pat from Chicago. Thanks to Nancy's fuzzy math she under-charged us for the dinners, which made up for the charges for the drinks that we thought were free......no arguing with with a 70 year old lady over this though. Trust me, we tried.

Day 7
We drive to Cabo San Lucas to check it all out since we were all leaving from the airport there about about the same time. I believe Matty said it best about Cabo San Lucas, "This is everything I never want a vacation to be", as we drove by the McDonalds, the harbor with gigantic cruise ships, and the Walmart. I will say that the drive along the coast was lovely and the famous Cabo arches are stunning.

The Moment You Have All Been Waiting For.....

THE REPORT CARD
Dave is taking too long to review it so I am just posting without him.

- Canadian friends (Mary & Peter) who watched our house while we were gone, THANKS so much. A+++++++++++++++++++
- Coming home to an immaculate house with little surprise gifts everywhere. A+++++++++++
(I love Sam's new dog bowls and mat) THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


CHILE
- Missing our connection in Santiago on the way down and being stuck there for a 6 hour tour with our cab driver. C+
- 3 hour boat ride to and from Punta Arenas to the penguin island where we couldn't actually dock because of heavy seas. D
- Finally figuring out the maze of busses to take to get to Torres Del Paine Park (TDP). B-
- TDP National Park. A++++
- Summer weather at TDP National Park. (Amie says C-, Dave says B+ because we never actually got rained on while hiking)
- Having Christmas dinner at the nice hotel in the park while it was raining outside where we were supposed to be camping but didn't because Amie was sick. A
- 16 mile hike the day after Christmas to catch up after sleeping in the hotel. B
- Taking the boat back to the bus station rather than hiking 4 hours in the rain to get there. B+
- Eating overpriced, food and beers with people from all over the world inside the lodge while watching poor campers outside cooking dehydrated noodles in the freezing cold rain. B
- Snooring Germans and French-Tahitias at the lodge. C-


ARGENTINA
- Bueos Aires food (meat, meat, and more meat for dessert) and shopping (gotta love a peso crisis). A+
- Fig season twice this year for Amie! B+
- Buquebus Boat to Colonia, Uruguay (Five different lines with long waits just to get on the damn boat over there, sooooo not worth it). F-
- Linda cutting in line with other Americans in the boat terminal to get us on the boat faster. A
- 5-meat-treat lunch in Colonia (including blood sausage and grilled tripe). B
- John and Linda taking one of our camping packs home for us so we could travel light for the rest of the trip. A
- Afternoon espresso in Buenos Aires everyday, just like Paris. B+
- New Years Dinner: Company = A, Food = C
- Iguassu Falls. A
- Linda laughing lounder than anyone on the entire boat when we passed under the falls and got soaked. B+
- Hotel in Sao Paulo. C-
- City of Sao Paulo. D (only because we ate well there)


BRAZIL
- Hotel in Ilhabela (http://www.pousadapereque.com.br/). B+
- Amie's first Caipirina! A
- Mosquitoes on Ilhabela, Amie looked like she had scabies. D-
- Hotel/Hostel in Paraty with the loud music, yelling family members, no AC, but hey it was cheap...... C-
- Double kiss goodbye from super hot Spanish volleyball player on the beach (I LOVE the double kiss)/ A+
- Amie remebering enough french to ask for bus directions from some Parisians while semi-lost on he way to Paraty. B+
- Hotel Marian in Rio. B (Amie is still bitter about the overall cost and the no free breakfast - there is free breakfast at every hotel on the entire continent)
- Amie and Dave having a mid-trip altercation at a cafe in Rio then using the cafe as a reference point for the rest of the trip, "you know, that store by the cafe where we had the fight". C
- The weak dollar & exchange rates. C
- Brazilians who ALL leave their trash on the beach or throw it overboard while on a boat (and I mean EVERYTHING: cigarette buts, coconuts, plastic, cans, diapers....) F
- Clean up crews from the favelas that are paid to come in and clean the beach at night. B+
- NO ONE speaking english outside of Rio. B/D, cool but sometimes not cool
- Cheap and convenient busses in Rio. A
- Getting off the bus in Downtown Rio (Lapa), taking a photo, stepping over a few people laying on the sidewalk, then realizing we should get right back on the next bus....... C-
- Watchinbg Samba practice with Maggie, Josh, and Dave (all from NYC). B+
- Hotel in Buzios, Luis and Debbie were the best. A+
- Hiking to a beach on our map and getting here only to realize it was a nude beach with a bunch of naked, overweight, really white guys there. C
- Cabo Frio beaches. A
- One of the owners of the hotel in Buzios getting "kidnapped", and then finding out after an hour that it was all a hoax. F