Civilized Cancun

The sun is warm, as is the sand. The beer is cold, and the water is a thousand shades of the most amazing jeweled blue I've ever seen, from sky to sapphire to the royal depths. The white underbellies of planes taking off over the water are tinged blue from the reflection.

We're at the Westin Resort & Spa which is quite removed from the madness of spring break. No disco in the evening, no room parties going on, no Girls Gone Wild try-outs on the beach, no keg-stands which is suiting us quite nicely, thank you.

Getting here wasn't bad. From Houston we had a slight delay, (bummer) which was offset by an upgrade to first class for me (not bummer!). Seeing as how I will probably get more of those down the road, I let Chaz sit up front in my spot. He enjoyed the ride, and back in steerage wasn't too bad, as there wasn't anyone next to me. It was obvious that the plane was "spring break bound" though. Plenty of 'infrequent flyers' that had problems filling out the Mexican immigration forms.

Our arrival in Cancun was heralded by a tropical shower moving over the airport and hotel zone. It passed quickly though, and we were down on the beach in no time at all, exploring the south end of the Hotel zone, aka the Mayan Riviera. Happy hour at the hotel made for an early evening in bed, and an early wakeup to get the primo palapa on the beach.

Saturday on the beach was relaxing and calming. A few beers, a taco, some splashing in the waves, some reading, and snoozing in the sun were the only things on the agenda that we made up as we went along. In the afternoon, the shadow of the hotel crept over our palapa, making it almost chilly in the wind off the water. To say we've seen it, and get a couple of souvenirs, we took the city bus up to see the Disney-esque upper part of the zone, repleat with Senor Frogs, Hard Rock, Bubba Gumps, Rainforest Cafe, and all the prattle and crap that make a 'destination' for people that don't know how to find entertainment in the sky and the sea and the sand. We didn't stick around for the "Playboy Playmate Model Search", but did walk through a plaza, got the souvenirs, and were offered some Mexican prostitutes along with our postcards. Gotta love it.

Having turned slightly crispy on Saturday, today we stuck mostly to the shade of our palapa on the beach, reading and snoozing and watching a Paris Hilton-wannabe and her boyfriend wonder at their two toy chihuahuas in the sand. Tonight a seafood dinner and people watching is on the agenda.