Soaking in That Mexican Sunshine

Colin is excited to head to the beach!

We have returned from our trip to Mexico relaxed and well rested -- and very happy with our decision to head down south for our winter "defrosting session" rather than over to Hawaii. The sunshine was fabulous and temps were in the balmy mid to high 80's. Both the ocean and pool water temps were great!...Not to mention the direct flight is a bit shorter than the haul out to the lovely islands...

We selected a very kid-centric all inclusive resort so that we could all have a fun time. Because of the Central Time zone, Colin woke around 8:30 am (loud outside our hotel window much after that) and we headed down to breakfast and then the beach. We took digging toys and buckets with us, so he enjoyed making many sand creations on the beach, which is huge for him since he wouldn't even walk on sand this time last year. At one point he was rolling on his belly on a sand mound, and we were just amazed at how far he has come!

He was fascinated by the "sales people" roaming the beach to sell their Mexican wares. The big items were hats, dresses, braids for your hair, trinkets carved out of wood or stone, and silver jewelry. We learned how to say , "no thank you" about 50 times a day. And Colin even learned to look them in the eye and say, "No thank you." Boy did they taunt him, though, with the mini toy version of a parasailer with a superman type of figure attached. They would fly around the mini parasailer right above Colin's head and walk around us in a circle, knowing the kid would beg for one. Sorry, Charlie!

The beach snack bar opened at noon, so Colin had a generous snack of fries and either hot dog pizza, a hot dog, or cucumber. Yep, in Mexico they have pizza with sliced hot-dog on it....how much better does it get for a 2 year old? We did then have lunch a few hours later at the buffet, though I got tired of having a tostada with refried beans, chicken, and pico de gallo. I was staying away from seafood and deli meat from their panini sandwiches, so my options were a bit more limited. I've learned at these things to eat their local dishes, as those are the ones they do the best. Creamed poblano pepper is pretty tasty, as is cactus steamed in butter and seasoning (OK, anything in butter can taste OK...)

After an afternoon siesta for the family, we headed to the Pirate Ship themed kids pool, which had water slides galore, including a froggie toddler slide. Colin had fun splashing around in the shallow end of the pool and playing with the water spray coming from the seal's mouth.

A few of the nights we made reservations at their nicer restaurants, including the Italian and Japanese restaurants. They had kids menus at these places, so while we were eating Dubin Mushi soup, California rolls, and Japanese stir-fry, Colin was chowing down on the chicken nuggets and fries, followed by an ice cream dessert. VERY kid friendly, which I can't emphasize enough. No one minded that he brought several toys with us to the restaurant and he got regular high fives from his waiter "amigos."

After dinner we would go sit and watch the moon and stars for a while, look for lizards coming out at night to snack on bugs near lighted windows, and chase Colin around the resort while he made new friends with other hotel guests. I would say we met very few Americans and mostly talked with our friends to the frigid north (Canada). There was also a large population of Mexicans at the resort, as Friday began a 5 day school holiday for them and many from Guadalajara were there on holiday.

Our room was nice but definitely not luxurious, which we have found to be true of similar resorts. It's not like you're hanging out in the room anyhow, so it doesn't really matter. Mexican resorts have crummy mattresses (read: HARD), so Matt bought us some bed cushions and pillows from the local Wal-Mart, making for much better sleep. Colin had his own mini-room off of ours, which was a nook filled with bunk beds. We brought him a PeaPod tent to sleep in and it worked fabulous! Pooh bear, his pillow and buddy, came with us, so he was cozy inside on his little mini air mattress.

Colin's sombrero

Other than some brief outings to nearby shops, we didn't do any excursions. Colin is too young for many of them, and riding around with no seat belt in a taxi in Mexico doesn't seem like the safest way to get around. We were fortunate that we were near the cruise ship terminal and we had a great flea market/Mexican shops nearby to haggle for some tourist items. I got Colin a sombrero and found a nice silver and amethyst necklace for myself. I was successful in negotiating the price of each of those down quite a bit -- it helped that I had limited dollars in my pocket and that I really had no ability to pay more...I didn't have more "on me!" When your feet start walking out the door, suddenly all you have in your pocket is suddenly enough to complete the purchase. I guess it also helps to go on a slow day, as well...