Hi, my name is JoAnne. I’m an Islaholic.

Rise around 6:30 – I’m tired and feel like crap – full blown head cold is here, decide I need to sleep some more. Finally up at around 8:30, Tim’s not hungry, but I’ve got to have A&G’s Motulenos one more time (did I say thanks for the addiction, Catz?)

Isla starts to wake up and I enjoy people watching while I savor my Mots, coffee and wonderful orange juice. Pay my 45mp, say goodbye and hugs to Leonore. I purposely walk slowly to take in all that I can.

My friend in the info booth near A&Gs sees me coming up the walk, waves and says hola! I stop to say goodbye to him. Earlier in the week, he saw my button from Marianne in NYC and we talked alwhile – he was so taken with the button that I gave it to him – you would have thought it was made of gold by his reaction! I asked him today where it was, as he wasn’t wearing it and he tells me his girlfriend wanted it, so you know how that goes!! We have a laugh & it’s adios, amiga, come see us again soon!

Stop by DigaMe to see if Chris is there, yup, bye, Chris, thanks for all your help, see you in June! Big hug & kiss, back up to the room to make sure Tim’s up. Roy arrives, we get the luggage lined up.

It’s just about 10:00 and I need to run down and see if Balam is open yet. This is the store with the paintings on feathers that I found out about on the board, and have been admiring from outside all week – everytime I’ve been by, they’re closed! MUST GET FEATHER PAINTING!! Nope, not there yet!

On the way back to the room, I see our front desk man at the corner laundry… sniff sniff savor the smell of Ariel… I ask him how to get a tricycle guy for our bags, he says just go down to the ferry and ask a guy to come by – but he’ll do it for me, what time? I tell him 10:45 with much sadness in my voice.

Back upstairs, I see our neighbor across the hall. He sees the suitcases & says “looks like someone’s leaving!” No sh*t Sherlock, rub it in! He’s from IL and leaving tomorrow – tells me he just got off the phone with his son and says it’s snowing there as we speak – they expect more than a foot and it’s headed east to us – he says they always send the best our way… I thank him with a smile, although my mind’s eye middle finger pops up! Great, home to snow! Have a safe trip!

Inside, Roy is flat on his back on the bed, eyes half shut and rolled back in his head. He pulled an all nighter and hasn’t slept in like 36 hours! I’m mulling over the possibility of Tim & I trying to drag a 6’2” 250lb. nearly comatose bag of Lebanese bulk to the ferry – maybe we need another trike? Give him a shake and ask if he’s gonna be ok – yeah, I’ll sleep on the plane. OK, Tim’s on the balcony taking in the last sights & sounds & smells, I tell him trike man will be coming at 10:45 – I’m gonna go back one more time to try and get a feather painting!!

Trek back, YES!! He’s finally open. Decisions, decisions…. I ask prices 5 x 7 450 mp, 4 x 6 350 mp hmmmm….. try bargaining, no dice, fixed prices. I want one, they’re beautiful. Do I want a tropical fish? A Mayan warrior? A likeness of Chichen Itza? Homer Simpson asleep on his back? (Tim would have liked that one) . I finally decide on the Mayan warrior, pay the man the 350 and run back to the room. Show Tim what I got – he likes it! Before you know it, we see trike man from the balcony cycling up to the front…. He’s here, let’s go, wake up Roy!!

Clunk clunk clunk go the bags down the stairs. The maids are folding linens in the courtyard – I have some leftover goodies for kids – crayons, coloring books, puzzles and hair thingies. I stop and ask if they have ninos – Si! I plop down the bag and say this is for your ninos – gracias amiga! Last hugs – see you!! Goodbyes to the front desk, do we need to do anything? Just the key, please… DUH!! Almost forgot, here ya go… perhaps subconsciously I thought if I didn’t turn in the key, we wouldn’t have to leave… Goodbye Francis Arlene!

Trike man is so pleasant, Buenos Dias! Load up and follow him down Abasolo like a funeral pall. Say adios to all the familiar faces we see in our sad path – we’re at the ferry dock. Luggage gone, pay trike man $10, smiles & adios. We now wait for the evil ferry to retrieve us… last pictures, envy the people just arriving… lots of backpackers with huge smiles beginning their adventures.

Time to board… I just want to cry! We pull away and open our last cervesas to mark the end of the trip – raise them to the horizon as Isla disappears….. chat with a woman from D.C. standing next to me and in our small talk learn that her husband is from my home town – his parents still live there! What a small world.

Back at Gran Puerto Cancun, too sad and too tired to haggle for a cab. $20 it is, let’s go. Silence on the way to the airport – none of us wants to leave. Back at CUN, checkin line is long – Roy goes to grab a Subway sub, we kick his luggage along as we drag ours. As we get to the baggage search area, a young man with a Spirit Airlines ID and clipboard approaches us and asks if we’d like to volunteer. For what? If the plane’s overbooked, they’ll put us up for a night, provide dinner, give us 2 R/T tickets to anywhere they fly, good for a year. You’re not trying to hook us into a timeshare are you? Kid says “look at this face, do I look like I’d do that?” OK, sign us up!! Maybe there’s still hope! If they need us, listen for the announcements at boarding.

Go outside, get one last cervesa and sit in the sun awhile. Hit the duty free for cigarettes and go to our gate for boarding. “Attention ladies and gentlemen… thank you for enrolling in our plan. However, all seats are accounted for and your participation will not be necessary today. “ BOO!! We board, silence again… take off, goodbye Isla, see you soon… take care of the pieces of our heart that we left behind!

We get to Ft. Lauderdale on time, but luggage retrieval is a b*tch. The carousel starts, then stops for what seems forever. After about 45 minutes it finally starts to roll. Get bags & through customs no problem… Get to the checkin and they tell us be quick, they’re waiting for us! HUH??? Baggage made us late! Screw it, we’re going out for a cigarette… 5 or 6 power puffs and we go to the gate, board immediately and then wait for almost an hour! I feel a bad mood coming on! As we're boarding, I see the last of the beautiful sunsets through the windows....

Finally taxi for takeoff & we’re up. Snooze a little and we’re in Myrtle Beach, another 45 minutes and we’re off to NYC where it’s 11 degrees! NOOOOO!!

We land, sadness factor x 10. Collect bags, call park n fly and wait… Where are they? We’re freezing – we have our sweats on, but left the jackets in the car…. Go back in and call - they tell us he’s there! OK, where? Wait some more, call again. There is no white Clarion van out here anywhere! They tell us he’s upstairs at departures – HELLOOOOO, we’re arriving!!! It’s late, I don’t feel good and am getting mighty cranky. Haul our crap back upstairs, look around, nada. Roy goes back down to call yet again, and here comes the van! Tim helps load the luggage while I run down to get Roy. Back upstairs, jump in the van… Did I say it’s COLD????

Get to hotel, run inside to warm up while Roy goes to get the car – comes back, we owe another $28 for parking… why?? Didn’t read the fine print. Although we checked in the night before our flight, it still counts toward the days. OK, whatever, I just wanna go home, I’m freezing, I’m tired and did I mention I feel like sh*t from the cold I came down with yesterday????

FINALLY get on the road and we need gas. First station we see in Queens is $2.13 a gallon WHAT????? It was $1.73 when we left! Whatever, just put in enough to get home and let’s GO!

We make good time – home by 1:00 a.m. Have a beer & a shot of tequila to end the vacation. Roy leaves. Kitties are sooo happy to see us – we were expecting the cold shoulder that we’ve become accustomed to, but this time they can’t keep away from us! Answering machine blinking, Home Depot, our carpeting is in for the new family room downstairs… Cindi from work called to say the Company Winter Starlight Ball (politically correct for Xmas Party) has been postponed for Sat. night due to the impending blizzard. By the time we check the week’s mail & e-mails it’s 4:00 a.m. and we need sleep. Kitties jump up to make sleep navigation difficult, but, hey! We’re home!

Rise & shine around noon… still could sleep some more, but need to do laundry and get in touch with the outside world. Call Auntie Mel to see how the kids behaved, everything was groovy…. Look outside & it’s coming down good and already at least 4” has fallen. Tim goes out for the newspaper and I get moving. Check the computer for e-mail, dash off a note to Marianne in NYC to let her know what a hit her buttons were, then to Karyn & Phil to let them know we’re home safely. Check my work computer and delete a week’s worth of Postini Spam – damn!! Good, doesn’t look like I missed anything earth shattering – mostly people wanting to know when I’m going to distribute the W2s.

Unpack, wash clothes, look at CD’s that I downloaded at Chris’… a sigh and a sob! Dump the rest of pics on the camera. Sort our treasures & gifts, catch up on some TV shows that we recorded on the DVR… snow’s really coming down now! Watch the news and learn that all the surrounding airports are closing and canceling flights Guess what? If we had stayed the extra day, we’d be stuck in Myrtle Beach now for God knows how long!! Some times ya gotta thank the Karma!

I check the Isla board and am overwhelmed by the number of messages and trip reports I’ve missed… check out a few – I’ll catch up during the week. I still feel like crap.

Sunday flew by with much the same of Saturday’s activities; Tim went out to snowblow when it finally stopped (we ended up with about 14”). I finished up the laundry and sadly put away all those warm weather clothes that we had just worn last week….

We went from this...

To this....

Back to reality! Work tomorrow… Johnny Carson died. We’re back from our week in paradise. It’s cold now, we’re home, turn up the heat and get warm. Our pets are so happy to have us back – they haven’t left their parking spaces on our empty luggage (that will keep us from going anywhere!) Isla, we’ll be back in June…. Don’t forget us – we won’t forget you!!!

No regrets. The only swimming we did was our snorkeling with Capt. Tony – the water was just a tad too cold with that Norte blowing most of the week, but that’s ok. We made wonderful new friends… Karyn & Phil, Jim & Carmita, Lynne & Wayne, Leo & Trisha, Cookie and Company, Jamqueen, Sandia, Rosie, Tiffany, Chris and so many more. We’ll be back for all the things we wanted to do and didn’t. New things to explore, more food to eat, more friends to meet. More memories to take with us through our short but sweet journey that we call life.

Thank you all on this wonderful board for all the invaluable info that made everything go so smoothly & seem so familiar. Thank you for our new friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime. Thank you Islenos for your warmth, hospitality and friendship – we’ll never forget any of you. With that, my fellow Islaholics, I now pass the pen (or keyboard) on to the next mesmerized visitor and look forward to reading their memories and seeing Isla through their eyes. Adios for now!!

P.S.-there are so many other things I wanted to communicate and accompany with photos.... please feel free to peruse my Webshots site, and if you have any questions about what you see, ask away!! I thank all the little people of Isla for finding joy in my gifts of bubbles, hair thingies, puppets, coloring books, etc..... the looks on your faces and your "gracias amiga" are permanently etched in my heart. I can't waint to return to Isla year after year and see how you all have grown.... and I promise to learn to speak your language, so that we can understand eachother fully, and that I can share our language with you!