Thursday, January 13. Can’t concentrate at work – too excited!! Hand out paychecks, thanking everyone who’s wishing me a happy vacation, do my Thursday things & we’re out the door at noon! Don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned that Tim’s a machinist at the same place that I work – very convenient! Anyways, get the last minute shopping things done and get home!

Check luggage, pack cameras & film, pack carry-on with overnight necessities. Make sure cats have enough creature comforts till Auntie (my sister Melanie) arrives tonight, give them some extra love & kisses. Make list for Auntie with all the kitty idiosyncrasies that she may have forgotten from last time. Check, check, double check. Are we forgetting anything? Hope not. I always have knots in my stomach at this point…. Calm down, everything’s going to be fine!! E-mail my son to say goodbye, I love you, see you when we get back (you never know).

Our friend Roy, who decided to tag along at the last minute arrives for the drive to the airport Clarion Hotel at Laguardia, where we’re staying tonight. Bye-bye my babies! Be good for Auntie Mel!!

Drive to the airport was quick – no traffic, no problems. Leave the car with Park n Fly and head up to the room. Somewhere along the way I know we ate, but don’t remember where or what! I didn’t really journalize all that stuff!

Settle in the room, open some beers & take out my Laura MapChick Map and my 3” thick folder of stuff that I printed out from the Board. Roy thinks I’m a total lunatic – oh yeah? Just watch me when we hit the airport, wise guy! After poring over some of the stuff & listening to me and Tim talk about some of the stuff we “know” from the Board, he’s getting excited. After a few more beers, and some t.v., Roy starts getting bored... and having a little buzz on, he starts thumbing through the yellow pages of the local phone book and happens upon "Escort Services".... he starts calling, asking for oddities to be delivered to different rooms at the hotel.... we have this all on video and were laughing so hard we almost peed ourselves!! It's almost midnight, so we call it a night – 4:15 a.m. wake up call!

The telephone is ringin’…. Good morning! Yup, we’re up!! Yippee!! Hit the shower like lightning! Don’t think I’ve ever done it with such energy for work! Dress in layers – shorts & tank top under sweats to peel off the minute we land in Cancun. Grab our stuff, get downstairs, hop in the van & we’re at the airport within five minutes. Wow…. BIG line at check-in…. goes by pretty quickly though, and before you know it, we’re boarding. GOODBYE UGLY FRIGID COLD!! Smooth take off, and in an hour and a half we’re dropping off people in Myrtle Beach. Getting closer! We’re off again heading to our last leg. Order a bloody mary & crack open David Lee Roth’s book, “Crazy from the Heat”. Had planned on starting with Motley Crue’s “The Dirt” but Tim snags it first. Oh well, I’ll get it after him.

The book was so entertaining (sarcastic roll of eyes inserted here) that the next thing I knew I was waking up with a stream of drool on my shoulder (pretty girl!) and we’re landing in Fort Lauderdale! YIPPEE!! Disembark, go have a couple of cigarettes and on to our next boarding gate. We sail right through, board, and we’re finally almost there! Just another hour & a half! Now I’m too excited to sleep! Order another bloody mary, a snack and watch the clouds roll by. We hear that familiar change in the plane engine sound, and I peek out the window… hey, THAT'S US!!!

How cool is that!! Pilot comes over the PA and says we’ll be landing soon, sunny & 86 degrees! I’m doing the happy dance in my seat!! Look out again & Cancun is in view

Pinch me!! We’ll really here!! Smooth as silk landing, hop up & whip the sweats off. A little old lady across the aisle from me smiles and says “so that’s how you do it!” I smile back & tell her we figured out that this was the thing to do six trips ago when we had nothing but the sweats on!

De-plane, down to immigration – NO LINE!!!! YIPPEE!!

Run right through, our bags are some of the first off – we are very happy campers! Green Light – YES!!! Even though our flight was a little late arriving (1:20 instead of 1:00), we are outside at the curb at 2:00 p.m.! Tim goes to grab our first cervesas while Roy & I scan the waiting drivers for our sign, repeating polite “no gracias” to all those offering their services…. There! That’s us!! We run over, the guy’s name is Ozzie! We hand him our confirmation, exchange pleasantries and he tells us our driver will be over in just a minute!

Much to our surprise, our ride is not a van but a brand new Lincoln Town Car. SWEEEEET!!! Our driver’s name is Angel and he’s very sociable, telling us about himself, his Japanese girlfriend, where he’s lived and what’s been going on in both Cancun & Isla. A quick and very pleasant ride to the ferry!

We unload, buy our tickets & wait in the sun for the ferry to arrive. We get approached by Brian, a young man from Ireland who’s selling tours – sorry, we’ve done them all & just want to relax this week. He’s cool with that and we chat a bit about how he ended up in Cancun. Amazing the interesting things you learn about people just making small talk!

Ferry’s here, yes yes yes!! We board, climb up top & before you know it, it’s adios Cancun!

A jetskier decides he’s going to race with us…

And I just can’t stop smiling… Isla is slowly coming into view, and the look on Tim’s face as he’s watching almost gives me a tear…

We get off, and just scan the sights everywhere, pointing with familiarity to so many things, some from daytripping, but most, thanks to this Board!! We get our trike guy and it’s just a hop, skip & jump (hard to do on cobblestone) to the Francis Arlene. We give the man $100 pesos, say hola to the front desk, pay for our balance, get key & upstairs we go… 3rd floor room can be tricky lugging heavy suitcases! Ours is room #21, king bed, A/C, fridge. Front balcony faces the street – directly across from the Carmelina and the Chicken Rotisserie place (the smell from this place was incredible all week and unfortunately we never did get to try it ) . Side balcony looks out onto a sandy lot, and looking to the right, the Malecon & the water. Cool!

Grab cigarettes, cameras and we’re off to explore! We walk down Matamoros to the Urban Hostel so that Roy can check in and dump his stuff. He gets a private room for $20/night! We hoof it back to the sandy lot next to Francis Arlene, hit the Malecon and start walking towards the Avalon and Playa Norte. God, it’s so beautiful here!!

Roy does his best “King of the World” pose… you can see from this picture what “partly cloudy” is. The sun was at my back (see my shadow in the sand) but it was cloudy on the other side. The wind was ripping pretty good now, too – it was about 3:30 and a little chilly.

Along the way, we see some really cute Isla doggies and scenery that just makes you catch your breath and smile…

We wind our way along North Beach making mental notes of all the places we’ve read about on the Board. Stop by Buho’s and look around for Bill & Marie, but it was pretty deserted. I was wearing my Marianne button for recognition – no dice.

Keep walking and finally get to Sergio’s. I immediately recognize Ziggy, who’s talking to a couple seated at a table. We walk up, say hello, turn to smile and say hello to the couple & just let out a big yell! It’s Karyn and Phil from the UK!!! Introductions all around, we exchange hugs, sit down and proceed to have a fun conversation, laughs and of course some drinks! We can’t talk fast enough!

It was windy as all hell - Sergio pulled down the plastic tarp "walls" around the palapa, and we still had to move the table 3 times to keep from getting sandblasted.... I had to put my new digital camera under my shirt, as tiny grains of sand were becoming embedded in the little nooks and crannies!!

What a great time and wonderful memory. A sweet little girl taps me on the shoulder to show me the seashells she has for sale. I look, and decide on a pretty one that she’s decorated with green magic marker. I hand her $2, I get a huge smile, a muchas gracias amiga and then she throws her arms around me and I get a huge hug and kiss. O.K., you own me now!

She repeats this with Karyn and now owns her too, I think!

We’re all pretty hungry & Sergio’s kitchen is closed already, so we say our goodbyes & promise to meet up again during the week. Walk up the beach a bit and notice that our first sunset is in the making, so we park ourselves at the wall & wait…

Magnificent!! We watch it melt into Cancun, then turn to cross the street and have a bite at Jax – we’re starving and it’s right there, heard good things about it, so let’s go for it!

We order a couple of cervesas and start scanning the menu – everything looks so good! I decide on the mixed ceviche for an appetizer, and fish tacos for dinner. Tim & Roy are in the mood for a big macho burger and order Jax Burgers. All very good! I wolfed down the ceviche in no time flat, shared a little with Roy, and Tim, who is not a fish eater sampled some and actually liked it! The fish tacos were a little bit of a disappointment, only because I wasn’t expecting strips of breaded fish – tasted a little greasy, but otherwise good.

A dog comes up and makes himself at home next to our table – I can’t resist, so I share some of my tacos with him – he seems to like them, then decides he needs to rest at my feet!

Pleasantly full, we’re tired & decide to head back to the room. Roy decides to head out in search of fun, we say adios! I need a shower – the water pressure is fabulous and plenty of hot water! We can’t seem to figure out why the air conditioner isn’t working, but it’s comfortable enough with the ceiling fan & the screen in the slider open… we sit on the terrace awhile and decide it’s time for ni-nite…. We drift off to sleep with smiles on our faces, in pleasant anticipation of a whole wonderful week ahead! Stay tuned for more!