Cancun - day 1

(quite possibly the worst picture of me EVER!  Dyke much?)

First of all, why the crap am I blogging on vacation? 

Couple of reasons:

1.  It's my journal remember?  I'm just typing it and adding in pictures rather than writing in a notebook.  I want to capture the events as I quickly as I can, because I can't remember CRAP these days.
2.  It's my vacation.  I can do whatever I freakin want.  So yes, I will go to the gym here at the resort bright and early, and yes, I will blog.  Things I enjoy. 
No more judging.

Day 1 started at o-dark-thirty.  I woke up at 4:30 in the morning and feared falling back asleep and missing the alarm so, instead I got up, blogged, FB's, checked email and then the real fun began.

Our cute friend LB took us to the airport and of course we all ALL SMILES!!  So excited !!

Check in was a breeze, security a non-issue and finding our gate was a nice little jaunt.  Once at the gate however, we see that our flight has been delayed 40 minutes.  Niiiiiiiccccceee..   40 extra minutes of waiting.  No worries.  Making chitchat, reading the paper, drinking  a diet coke.  You know.  The important stuff.

We boarded, no issues with the take off, the flight literally flew by (pun totally intended) and before we knew it, we were being told to lock the tray tables, put our seats in the upright position and turn off our electronics.

We landed.  The aiport has been redone since I was there last.  Hurricane Wilma took it's toll, so this was new and re-vamped.  Nice so far as we make our way through a new jetway, down an out of service escalator towards the immigration area.

HOLY SH**

Serious.  It was the most awful thing I had ever seen.  This picture doesn't do it justice.  There were wall to wall bodies, and NO ONE WAS MOVING.  There was no obvious line.  There was no one to say to where to line up or where to stand or what to do.  Just more and more people pressing together.  After about 30 minutes, some small movements began to take place.  Again, there wasn't any signage or directions for lines or what to do, so the crowd just kept moving forward. Bodies filling in gaps, or rather creating gaps as they could   We tried to stick together  But at one point, GB got a little bit ahead  Soon people were cutting in front of us and others as everyone was trying to just move forward.

This is where it got a little heated.  People tried to stop others from "cutting in" but there were no lines established.  Let's just say that for then hour or so, there were heated words amongst the many people packed in there.  Our party was not immune.  If I have learned anything from this, is that my friends and family have each others back.  Truly, I thought there was going to be fist fights, but luckily, they settled for calling us a-holes, giving us dirty looks and telling a few of us that we were a shi**y family.

Once we finally made it through Immigration, we had to get our luggage and then yet more "lines" to get through customs.  Serisouly!  Cancun airport officials did not seem to think it necessary to put at least ONE person there to control the crowd.  Again, it quickly became ugly.  No one would try to conform to lines and it now was every man for himself.  No regard for anyone else.  Luckily, we were spared another riot, but again, we had the misfortune of exchanging heated words with other people who were just as frustrated and tired as we were.

The funnies part of all this?  With the exception of myself and a few others, our group is a bunch of extremely mellow laid back cats.  And NO, I did not instigate ANY OF IT.  Sure I might have chimed in, when I needed to, but don't mess with mi familia.

After 2 1/2 hours from the time our plane touched down, we emerged from the aiport doors to find our transportation ready and waiting for us.  I told the little Mexican man I kinda wanted to kiss him for taking us away from the hell we had just experienced.

We arrived at our resort exhausted and starving.  We checked in, left our bags for the bellhops and headed for the restaurant.
Now, one thing to keep in mind.  The restaurants in Mexico, run on a different time line that the ones in the States.  A mexican minute is the running joke.  Even from the staff themselves.  However, the food was great.

My nephew who is the souz chef at Log Haven was the most adventuresome eater.  I love what he has to teach me about food preparation and presentation.  He was the only one who would eat his raw octopus.

Of course, I got my start of guacomole overload for the week.

After stuffing our faces, the boys headed up to the villa's to coordinate our transportation for tomorrow and some of us when shopping at the market for a few supplies.  Like Diet Coke.

Finally, FINALLY, I was able to brush my teeth, and crawl in bed.  The day was remarkable.  An adventure and memory I will not likely forget.  Looking back on it today, of course we are laughing about it.  But at the time,  I was not only angry at the way people were treating others, but my adrenaline was so pumped I was fearful of a riot in that room of HUNDREDS of angry people.  I was actually afraid.  Even more frustrating was that it has NEVER been like this (in my experience) before, and I am sorely disappointed in Cancun airport officials.

 Nothing like double downing your sleep meds and slipping off to la la land!