Saturday, 31 July 2010
Day 5 - Coco Bongo
Feeling exhausted from all the exercise today, we all went for a nap for a few hours in preparation for tonight. Being a Saturday night we had booked tickets at a club called Coco Bongo's. Being one of the best clubs around in Mexico, it was not to be missed. The club, owned by Jim Carrey(!) is inspired by the film, The Mask and is both a club and a show in one. We had heard it was a little cheesy, who doesn't love a bit of cheese, but also a lot of fun. We splashed out with all inclusive tickets, meaning no queue and 'free' drinks all night.
We pre-drank at the hotel with dinner and headed over to the club in a taxi at 10 as the shows began at 11. We were a little apprehensive as my sister had to be over 18 and we heard you needed ID to get in, although it was easy to get her drinks in the hotel as I just had to order two and take one over to her, getting into a club would be a different matter. It wasn't. I didn't see one person get asked for ID and we lead straight in, with a welcome of a shot of tequila. When we arrived inside, the atmosphere was intense. There were people dancing on the bars, huge TV screens counting down to the start of the show and an incredible range of music being blared out.
Very over excited and very drunk, waiting for the show to begin.
We order as many drinks as we could carry and headed on down to the dance floor. Sad enough to say, my parents did actually join us on this night out, they were just there to watch the show however, so we left them for the night and arranged to meet up outside at 3. It being the first time my sister & I have gone out clubbing together, we went a little overboard with the free drinks. Soon the screen was flashing 10 seconds and the whole club began chanting. When it reached zero, all the lights went out and the music stopped playing, like we were in a black out. The screens were pulled back to reveal a stage where throughout the course of the night, different DJ's, bands and singers miming to well known songs such as Beyonce, Madonna etc performed, alongside flying acrobats and movie clips in between acts.
Mambo No. 5 Act
It was the craziest club I've ever been too and by far one of the best. Never knowing where to look, or what was coming next, with streamers, giant balloons and glow sticks being fired out throughout the night, alongside giant bubble machines and cold air to keep everyone cool. There was also a 'cage' at the front of the stage, where members of the 'audience' would be dragged up to when there were no performers to 'entertain' the crowds, meaning very very drunk girls, in very tiny dresses and short skirts dancing 'provocatively.' What the poor sods didn't realise is a jet of cold air was blasted up from the floor meaning the girls dresses were blown up for all to see, loosing any remaining dignity far behind. I have never seen so many thongs and ass cheeks in one night before.
We were asked a few times, meaning pervy guys that worked there grabbing our hands and trying to lead us up the stairs to the main stage, to go and dance in the 'cage' but we weren't having any of it.
We went on dancing throughout the night to the best range of dance, trance and house music around, when the acts weren't on and mingled with different groups of people.
One of the amazing aerobatic acts
After a few too many experiences of hangovers on holiday and that a mixture of hangover and heat does not mix well, I stopped drinking around 1 and to make sure I could keep an eye on my little sister, who was a little worse for wear. By the end of the night, I was making her down pints of water instead of shots but she was long gone.
The night was soon over & we were heading back to the hotel in a taxi. The journey took a little longer than expected, as we had to keep pulling over as my sister thought she was going to empty her drinks all over the cab driver. Luckily she didn't, until we reached the hotel. We finally collapsed in bed just after 5am after a very very good night.
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Day 4 - Pure Relaxation
The whole experience was lovely, relaxing and some of the time hilarious. For an hour and a half you were given a tour around the spa area whilst trying out the treatments, there was water bed jets, Jacuzzis, saunas, showers with different settings such as 'rain' or showers with different relaxing aromas, Turkish baths and finally a room where you lay on a water bed in the dark, with vibrating massage inside, with relaxing music and stars on the ceiling. Just as I was about to fall asleep we were taken outside a long a cobbled walkway through the 'jungle' onto a secluded beach where we had a half an hour massage which was the most amazing and relaxing experience ever.
After dressing up to the nines, well I wore a black maxi dress with expensive earrings, we had an amazing meal at the Steak House where the steak was cooked to perfection. I soon fell asleep after a few too many glasses of champagne feeling exceptionally full and happy.
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Day 3 - Itinerary
Today we had our induction to the hotel and Mexico with our Thomas Cook rep who told us all about what the hotel and the area had to offer. For once it wasn't a boring meeting that lasted hours and was a waste of time, for once I was really interested and we went on to book lots of excursions. On one of my top things to do whilst on holiday was scuba diving, so we popped into the PADI centre to pick up some brochures. It again was ridiculously expensive - to get your license it cost $450 for four dives, training and a test so I settled on a $99 45 minute dive. Very, very excited indeed!
For the afternoon, we got a Colectivo, which is a type of bus, down to a place called Yal-Ku. The bus system over in Mexico, is rather similar to ours but with a few differences. It's like a big van with 15 seats, you get on, shout when you reach your destination and pay when leaving and it's incredibly cheap. For us to travel from our hotel to Playa Del Carmen which was a twenty five minute taxi ride costing $25, a Coletivo bus costs a mere $3 per person. Bargain!
Anyway, more importantly, Yal-Ku. Yal-ku is a beautiful lagoon, ideal for snorkeling as it is chockablock with tons of different fish. It also has many different statues around the area, which is ideal for someone like my mum who is afraid of water(!) to entertain herself with.Just a few of the many beautiful statues scattered around the lagoon from gods and goddesses to peasants, animals and dancers
Very much looking forward to my beach massage tomorrow and we have also book a place in the Steak house for dinner tomorrow night! This holiday couldn't get much better!
Monday, 26 July 2010
Day 2 - Time To Explore
The hotel was beautiful; our apartments were right by the pool, surrounded by sun loungers and palm trees, complete with a pool bar and volleyball net. There was a restaurant just overlooking the pool with outside seating so we chose to sit outside in the sun and enjoy our first holiday breakfast. As soon as we sat down, we had waiters come and pour us fresh orange juice and coffee and then we were free to roam the breakfast buffet. Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day; it can be hot, cold, savory or sweet and there's so much differentiation in one meal. My eyes lit up at the sight of all the choices. There was a range of fresh fruit including melon, mango, peaches and pears, endless choices of yogurts from peach and strawberry to banana and honey with oatmeal, a selection of breads, hams and cheeses, fresh pastries; donuts, cinnamon buns, pan o chocolats and countless brands of cereals. Then there was the hot food. Crepes, waffles and pancakes, sausages, bacon, eggs - scrambled, fried, boiled, cinnamon toast, baked bean, mushrooms, tomatoes. I just didn't know where to begin. So I had a bit of everything. I was certainly not fit to be seen in a bikini for a few hours.
One of the many pools, this one with a pool bar
All so full, we decided to look around the hotel at the other pools, restaurants and the entertainment programmes. We found a lazy river complete with rubber rings, another three pools, two more buffet restaurants, seven international restaurants including steak house, BBQ and grill, Mexican, Cajun, Creole, Italian, Japanese and Mediterranean - what didn't this place have! The entertainment programme was also amazing with Spanish lessons, cooking & cocktail classes, dancing lessons, yoga, bike rides and the chance to hire snorkeling gear and kayaks. How we were going to cram this all into two weeks was beyond me!
We grabbed lunch at the beach bar which had solely tacos and fajitas, my favourite, and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the sea and lying in the sun. On the way back to our apartment, that's when we saw it. A lizard. About two feet long basking in the sun. We all began taking hundreds of pictures, when we saw another one a few metres along. Then another. No one else seemed to be paying them any attention, but we all found them so fascinating, how often do you see lizards just lying around?!
After a lovely dinner in the main buffet restaurant, my sister & I headed down to the lobby bar to try out the cocktail menu. We decided to slowly work our way through it, beginning with a mojito, then a caiparinha, a glass of champagne and an apple sour martini. Due to the time difference however, once the clock hit 11 we felt as if it was 5 in the morning and headed back to our room. Just outside our room, was a racoon. Having never seen one in real life, as Over The Hedge does not count, it was hard to control our suprise and excitement. And they were so friendly, happy enough to have its photo taken whilst it ate an entire plate of chicken wings. After ten minutes of watching tranfixed upon this poor creature we collapsed in bed.
Sunday, 25 July 2010
What A Holiday
Day 1 - The longest day of my life
Waking up at 4am after just three hours sleep wasn't as difficult as I had speculated. After planning on getting an early night at 10pm, the excitement and anticipation of having a break from everyday life was enough to keep me awake for another three hours, filled with tossing and turning, thinking of the wonders of the ocean, the smell of suntan lotion and an endless supply of food and drink.
My sister Evie in amongst the suitcases
After jumping straight out of bed into the shower, shoving on a fashionable yet comfy ensemble for travelling in and popping my suitcase into the car, I was ready and raring to go. The two hour journey to Gatwick flew by as we all sat and nattered excitedly about what the next few weeks would bring and sang along to the songs on the radio. Leaving the car at a specified car park and taking the bus to the airport we were finally there.
I love everything about airports; the shops and restaurants, the hustle and bustle of people, the range of emotions on peoples faces - a mixture of stress, excitement, boredom, happiness...After checking in and thankfully managing to get seats altogether, there was security. As per usual, my mum wore what she referred to as her 'bling bling' with her whole assortment of bracelets, brooches, rings and necklaces all worn at once (to have more weight allowance in the suitcase for shoes - of course) and my dad's metal hip sent the metal detectors into a tizzy. Amazingly our flight was running on time and for once we didn't have hours and hours to sit around waiting so we headed off to Frankie and Bennys for breakfast as we do every year before vacation. As per usual I ordered my favourite - the full American breakfast - with crispy bacon, sausages, scrambled egg, baked beans, herb potatoes, a side order of toast and two American style pancakes on the side. Oh, and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Just enough to last me a few hours into the plane journey until the Pringles, peanuts and chocolate fingers could be bought from the trolley. Anything but plane food.
In awe of the vending machine that produces ice cream. Not just any ice cream. Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
Suddenly we heard that our plane was now boarding and we scoffed down the rest of our breakfast and ran to the gate. We were over the moon that we were flying with Thomas Cook as for once there was a decent amount of leg room and a TV on the back of every seat. We were even more hyped with the choice of films - New Moon, The Blind Side, Avatar and The Princess And The Frog. Never before have I been so excited about a plane journey. We left our dad to listen to his IPod for the journey whilst my mum, sister and I wept to The Blind Side, laughed at the acting in New Moon and felt like children again watching the magical The Princess and The Frog. Amazingly the ten hour flight flew by and we soon found ourselves descending.
Looking very attractive and at our very best after the ten hour journey
Once we hit the runway though, everything changed. Stepping out into Mexico expecting sunshine we discovered torrential rain. Instead of an easy breezy, pick up our suitcases and get on the coach in twenty minutes, we had a two hour queue for security. Expecting a 45 minute transfer, the time crept from an hour, an hour and a half to just over two hours before reaching our hotel. Sleeping on the coach was a no-no, with the wonderful commentary we received for half that journey bellowed out through a microphone about how the weather may continue like this for the next three days, dampened our moods even more so.
We were thankful when we saw the sign Sirenis, the name of our hotel and soon found ourselves each equipped with our own personal bellboy each towing our suitcases behind us and a drink in hand on arrival. Another bummer was that we had expected my sister to have been given an adult wrist band as we had thought the drinking age in Mexico was 16. It was 18. Like I said, bummer. We were then escorted to a small golf cart style car which took us to our hotel room. When we opened the door we couldn't believe our eyes. The rooms were huge, modern and immaculate. With a jaccuzzi bath, 6 jet shower, fully furnished balcony and complimentry bathrobe and slippers we were in heaven.
After unpacking and feeling shattered yet starving, we headed down to the buffet restaurant. Too tierd to look around the hotel or to appreciate the food on our plates we ate and fell asleep in our individual queen size beds.
Monday, 5 July 2010
Fairwell
Now, off to Mexico for just over two weeks. Over & out.
Friday, 2 July 2010
Sex On Fire
Here are the not most attractive or artistic photos you will ever see but ones that reflect the last few days. Enjoy.