It was nice to get to Sandos and live in luxury after a month of , well, not living in luxury. While I enjoyed every minute (other than the lost debit card incident) it was time to veg for a bit. Having said that, I quickly learned that an all inclusive is no place to spend time alone. Striking up interesting conversations with people can be done, but they tend to come in pairs, and are mostly looking to relax and drink exotic cocktails. Further, this is the beach and I had been away from home for a month, and all the bikinis were getting a little hard to handle. So thankfully, two days after getting here, the cavalry came in the form of my wife Mary Lou, and our close friends Larry and Karen. I had arranged for transportation to pick them up at the airport (courtesy of Larry) so they could get here quickly and start the vacation right away. Upon landing, they couldn't find the driver, but after asking around they finally found one that said he was their man, and produced the company info to prove it. Turns out that in fact this wasn't the guy, they have multiple credentials and use them to trick people into using them as a driver. Live and learn.
As I probably mentioned before, we met Larry and Karen in Punta Cana three years ago, and struck up an immediate and lasting friendship, and have subsequently traveled with them three times. Finding compatible people to travel with is not really that easy. I have seen and heard of many examples where friendships have ended, or at least cooled, because of what works at home doesn't always work on the road. But for whatever reason, it works well for us. We do the usual stuff together, lying around on the beach, drinking, conversation, meals and the odd excursion, but also go our own way when we like without anyone getting their nose out of joint.
The weather all week was perfect, the water warm and the food, drinks and company was excellent. Not alot to talk about day to day, but we did have one memorable night on the Town.
On Thursday night we decided to walk up the beach into the town of Playa del Carmen. That is a 40 minute walk along the front of a series of all inclusive resorts and private residences. When we arrived I brought everyone up to the fountain at the top of the street to wash the sand off their feet in the fountain. I had mine all done and my sandals on while the others had their feet in the water, when the security guard walked up and gave us crap for washing our feet in the fountain. He seemed a bit offended we would do this. Ah well. Lesson 2.
One of the reasons we came in was to try the fish spa that we spotted the previous day. This is done by dangling your feet in an aquarium filled with fish, similar to the ones you see eating algae in fish tanks, and letting them go at your feet for fifteen minutes. The fish secreets some sort of enzyme that dissolves dead and damaged skin on your feet, allowing them to digest it and fill their bellies. If there is reincarnation, hope I don't come back as one of those.
Now my daughter won't even let me put my feet anywhere near her, they are so scaled, so I knew the fish were in for a major feast with me. The young lad running the tanks washes your feet with soap and water, and gives you little hospital booties to wear until you start the treatment. As you lower your feet in, the fish attack, and the initial sensation is like having the bottom of your feet tickled. That subsides quickly and while it feels a little wierd, it is no big deal. When your feet come out, there is a significant difference, it appears to work. They apparently have a full body tank as well, but I'd need a little more info on what you wear before getting in and exposing it all to those hungry mouths.
Next we headed to eat at Karen's restaurant, not our Karen's, but that's the actual name of the place. This was where I first ate at the start of my journey, and if you flip to the start of the blog you can get a review. The meals were all excellent and we all left stuffed and satisfied. Now the thing here is I had a 20% off coupon in my back pocket, and forgot all about it, which would have been a $20 savings.
Although we all were tired at that point, I talked the group into going for a drink at the swing bar, after convincing them it was not a swingers bar, or a schwing bar. It was to be a quiet and uneventful way to finish the evening. But alas, that was not the case. Stereotypes are generally the result of the actions of a few, and most people don't fit into these catagories, but, every now an then you actually run into the prototypical stereotype. Well one was sitting at the bar. He was a very loud and obnoxious, and coming from me that says something, shaved head white male with a thick Boston accent, swearing and convincing everyone to take a look at his girlfriends breasts. She in turn was happy to show them off, and in fact pose for pictures. She yelled to everyone that they were real just before pulling down her top. Bet she had second thoughts when she woke up in the morning.
The final part of the night involved us getting scammed, and I will say happily scammed. Along 5th calle, musicians walk from restaurant to restaurant, offering to play a song for a tip. Generally, we just send them along the way. But then we were approached by five young Mexican girls who would sing us a Christmas carol for a tip. You could see the mother watching over them, and you knew that she was going to collect all the money, but the kids were just so darn cute that we couldn't say no. Each of the girls had a bucket, and we felt compelled to give them all some pesos. This is pure genius, who can say no, and ta boot, you take four times the usual tip.
Fully fed and watered, we took the long walk back along the road and skipped the evening cocktail. Thoroughly enjoyable evening.
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