Mexico

Hola or hello from Mexico. I feel like we were not really in Mexico but we were, albeit at a luxury resort area called Playa del Carmen near Cancun. Our resort was an all-inclusive kid free paradise and we certainly enjoyed every second. We could not have asked for anything more except for a few more Spanish words in our vocab. This was a chance to rest and relax rather than one of Merryl’s express holidays where we are on the go from daylight to dark. The resort was huge, a massive area of forest with buildings and paths, pools and bars and a beach. There were about 9 restaurants and bars everywhere. The staff were excellent and I would say this is hands down better than our Indonesian/Thai resorts. When we arrived I thought the resort was reminiscent of Fantasy Island, that ol’ TV show from the 70s with Mr. Roarke and Tattoo. I was waiting for Tattoo to find me and ask me what my fantasy was – I did have my Batman gear on hand should the opportunity to be a superhero did arise.

 

There were lots of wildlife in the resort. The most cutest were the little coatimundi or hog-nose coon.  They are related to the racoon.They have a long nose and long tail and there were families of them running around.  There were lots of birds, iguanas and mapaches.

The arrival at Cancun Airport was sheer chaos. Our instructions were to collect our luggage and we’d be met by our driver holding a sign with our name on it. Crikey, we went outside to a mass of about 200 drivers all yelling and waving signs at about 500 other travellers who all had the same instructions. I could not see our names anywhere and after travelling all day and being hit with heat and humidity, it was very frustrating. I eventually called the travel service and with the help of a friendly Mexican next to me translating on the phone, we were found and delivered to our hotel. They have little electric car things (like the airports have) to transport people around and we were overwhelmed at the size of the resort and the many paths. Our room was huge and we backed straight out onto the pool. We had our own little patio with deck chairs and the pool was fairly quiet as the main pool was further away. Wow, it really was special. The other tourists were friendly and we noticed the pleasure of a kid-free resort. We got lost a lot trying to find our way around despite the good signs. You could pick all the newbie's as they were lost too, always reading the maps - exactly like we did.

The beach was lovely, water was nice and somewhere on the far side was Cuba. We hope to visit Cuba before we return home - so many have been and recommend it to visit. The food was fantastic - two restaurants which offered buffets for breakfast for lunch and then a variety to cuisines to choose for dinner...Mexican, Italian, Indonesian, French, Steakhouse. Given our recent good work with slimming down, our tummies were not used to the rich food or the quantity we indulged in. But it was only for a few days so we made the most of it as it would be back to grass and leaves when we return home.

 

We took the shuttle into Player Del Carmen to check out Fifth Avenue which is the shopping strip for tourists - completely nothing like 5th Avenue New York. It was full of rubbish I thought. This was like Phuket with one long street of 40 blocks with tourist trinkets and trash, bars, eating houses and very persistent people wanting to get your attention to sell you anything they could. I had heard this was a good street but it was several hours of nothing and I would not go again. We were actually discouraged by the constant badgering which the locals don't realise pushes people away rather than suck them in.

We took a long day tour to see the Chichen Itza Mayan ruins. As always, seeing historic monuments and wonders is incredible. Courtesy of wiki….Chichen Itza was one of the largest Maya cities and likely to have been one of the mythical great cities. It is now federal property and one of the most visited archaeological sites in Mexico. The layout of the site developed during 750-900 AD. The site includes a large temple, a huge ballcourt and the huge temple of warriors. 

The ancient Maya ballgame called pitz was part of Maya political, religious, and social life. Played with a rubber ball ranging in size from that of a softball to a soccer ball, players would attempt to bounce the ball without using their hands through stone hoops attached to the sides of the ball court. The ball court itself was a focal point of Maya cities and symbolized the city’s wealth and power. I have to say though, the hoop reminded me of a giant lifesaver lollie!!


The ball game goal was to get the ball through the high stone hoop which ended the game. We couldn't fathom how they played without using their hands and getting up to the hoop. The scorer was then taken to the tower where he was given ‘drugs’ to make him unconscious as he was going to heaven, and then they would decapitate him, offering his heart to the gods as sacrifice. (The 'lifesaver' hoop wasn't quite so life-saving after all). The story was extraordinary to hear but this was an honour. I cannot do the story justice here in words but suffice to say, I would not want to play the game let alone score the bloody goal !!

Ball court

Temple of Warriors

Winner dies here

 

Ball court in better shape

 

Ball court hoop - the Lifesaver lollie

You cannot climb the ruins anymore but they are fascinating to view and the guides provide excellent history on the purpose of the buildings and the Mayan beliefs. Everything has a purpose, everything is connected and everything has meaning. The temple aligns with the sun movements and solstices and their drawings and carvings tell so many stories. They were very clever people, knowing the movement of the sun, the number of days and the shadows/light cast on the temple at certain times was all for a reason.

The afternoon of the tour saw us take a quick swim in a cenote which is a natural sinkhole resulting from the collapse of limestone rock which shows the water underneath. There are many (like 1000's) cenotes to swim in Mexico and you can dive or snorkel in some of them. Our cenote was 90m deep and the water was quite cool.

One part of the tour suckered us in to paying $20 each for a Mayan calendar - sometimes not speaking Spanish is expensive. Deb and I had seats apart on the bus given we were last on the bus and we both slept as it was a long morning drive to the ruins. Sadly, I missed the guide telling us about the 'next stop' blah blah blah. We each had to fill out a small piece of paper with our name and date. We got off the bus at a local art work place and were handing over $20 each and the piece of paper for what I thought was entry fee to the art place. Later Deb said it was for this calendar. When they handed out the calendars in the afternoon, I only then realised it was a calendar for our 'birthdate'. The date I wrote on the piece of paper was today's date as I thought it was the art place entry thing. Great, I have a calendar and lots of Mayan info and my horoscope for my birthday that was, TODAY !! Deb laughed and said, didn't I hear the guide saying how lots of people often put Today's date !! I said no, but thanks for telling me by the way.

We managed to run a few mornings which was extremely difficult in the humidity. But falling into the pool at the end made it very worthwhile. I have been trying to convince Deb that this tropical lifestyle is ideal for retirement. We met some lovely people including a couple of Canadian ladies from Toronto who provided good advice for our upcoming road trip to Niagara Falls and Toronto. Another couple from London were very interesting, he was a VP for Starbucks and she in an accomplished author of children's books about animals. 

I managed to sample a few cocktails but I found them quite watered down with the ice. I think this helped my afternoon sleeps so they couldn't have been too weak.

It was a great week of relaxation and Cricket and Macey enjoyed being spoilt by our great friends P&AH - many thanks to them for dog sitting so our pups could stay at home.  

The resort name was Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya and the link is found below. We can highly recommend it and I would easily come back here again rather than try another resort. Many people have been here multiple times so I guess when you're on a good thing, stick to it.

Click here....Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya

adios Mexico !!

  

Aretha Franklin and Allie Ritzenberg

Times are busy at the moment. I’ve enjoyed two huge highlights these past weeks. Firstly, we saw the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin live in concert. I cannot say enough how thrilled I was to see her and hear her sing live. At 75, this lady is every bit of class and special’ness that Motown could produce. I wore my Motown Detroit t-shirt that night. She wore a lovely long white gown with heels and moved quite slowly around the stage. But her voice is as fabulous as it ever was and she is an entertainer. She’s got wit, charm and grace. Her orchestra was magic. She sang for about 90 minutes with a break in the middle and chose a great set of her hits, with Respect as the encore of course. Detroit recently named a street after her, she has 19 Grammys, was the first woman inducted to the US Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and has been performing for 54 years. She IS the Queen of Soul and this is her final tour. Completely lucky to see her and this is one of the great highlights of this US adventure.

 

I also went to the Citi Open tennis for the day. I went last year and missed being with my mate Aussie Bob. I was thinking of him. However this year, a friend invited me along to sit in the suites for the day/night. She is friends with a legend called Allie (Albert) Ritzenberg and he had some tickets so we all went together. It was a great day in comfort and the tennis was good, really good. There were great matches and I got to cheer on Aussie Jordan Thompson who lost in a tie break in the 3^rd set. I was the lone Aussie wolf in the stadium and gave my fellow suite fans something to smile about. Back to Allie, he is 98 and a really kind, generous and interesting man. You can google him on wiki but here is a snapshot as I did my research before meeting him. I have to say it was surreal to hear him talk about all the tennis legends he’s met, played, coached or knows. He talked about Rod Laver, Ken Rosewell and other Australian greats like they were old mates. It really was a great day and experience. I will be sending a lovely bottle or two of Australian wine to thank him – this really was a lucky opportunity for me. The link below is to an interview they did recently. It's well worth watching, very impressive man especially at 98.

Click here...Tennis Channel Interview - Allie Ritzenberg 2017

Here is an extract off wiki about Allie. He and his older brothers were self-taught public parks tennis players growing up in Washington DC. He became the top ranked junior player in the Mid-Atlantic States and one of the premiere U.S. college players as the number one player at the University of Maryland.

Beginning in 1968, with the advent of the “Open” era of tennis, when professional players were allowed to compete again, Ritzenberg entered the competitive tennis arena as a 50-year-old man. Over the course of the next 45 years, he won senior national championships in over a dozen countries. He was also the Senior Asia champion, Senior European champion, ranked as high as number 1 in the Senior International Tennis Federation and a USPTA Senior Champion. Championships. Ritzenberg retired in 2005, as the number 1 world tennis player among men ages 85 and up.

Ritzenberg is considered to be a major contributor to the popularization and democratization of tennis in the United States. Starting in the early 1950s Ritzenberg actively sought to integrate tennis by insisting that Washington area tournaments invite top ranked black athletes, by actively recruiting black members to the clubs with which he was associated, and by assisting black athletes with academic admission to an exclusive boys school in Washington, D.C. He organized tennis exhibitions, invited many of the world’s top players to Washington and played in exhibitions with Althea Gibson, Richard “Pancho” Gonzalez, Billie Jean King, Neale Fraser, Roy Emerson and conducted clinics at mental hospitals and children’s homes, and was instrumental in providing tennis opportunities for the disabled, including wheelchair bound athletes.

During the Kennedy Administration, Ritzenberg taught tennis at St. Albans to a number of politicians. Ritzenberg was called to the White House to give tennis instruction to First Lady Jackie Kennedy and to hit with President JFK. At the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum, Ritzenberg is best known for his extensive tennis collection amassed over 50 years and acknowledged to be the largest, most comprehensive such private collection in the world. "Ranging from the Renaissance through the 1930s, the Albert and Madeleine Ritzenberg Collection covers virtually the entire history of tennis.

We also went to the Smithsonian IMAX again and saw Dunkirk, the movie about the evaculation of the British and French from Dunkirk during WWII. 400,000 men cornered on a beach awaiting rescue by the Navy to get them across the English Channel back to England. I’ve heard some bad reviews of being long, boring etc but I thought it as a good movie. It was a bit slow in parts but overall, the movie portrayed the stress and anxiety of the week long evacuation. It was gut-wrenching, heartbreaking  and stressful watching these soldiers just have freedom taken away from them every minute. It’s an important historic battle and well worth seeing.

We have good friends from Houston visiting for the next week and a few more social engagements. We are getting new neighbours also which will bring new friendships hopefully. The owners have been posted to Mozambique. 

A few random pics below to finish. We've been getting high humidity and lots of rain. The running pic is me after a 12 mile (19k) run when humidity was pretty high. I was drenched. We are off to Mexico in 2 weeks so it will likely be a mojito and swimming blog next time. My sister will be here in a month so I'm excited for the next few months.