Adios Mexico!!!

In other words, "We're Home", and that will officially end our Spanish speaking titles for now. The trip was terrific -- short but great. Considering that we arrived there on Thursday and left very early on Sunday morning, we basically had only two full days there. For a trip with business acquaintances, that's a perfect amount of time. Had we been there with family or friends, I would have liked another two days, at least.

This was my first trip to Mexico and, based on this experience, I would definitely go back. I would very highly recommend the place where we stayed, The Iberostar Grand Paraiso Hotel in Riviera Maya. It's only a year old and there's a lot to be said for a new hotel. Bob even agreed that he would like to go back with the family and, since he's usually so critical, that's quite a compliment coming from him. One of the things that we both noticed was how especially friendly all of the staff were. You couldn't pass anyone without them saying "Hola" and that includes all of the landscapers, beach staff and even the armadillos. As promised, I took some pictures. I know you're all going to complain that there aren't any people in these photos but I took them at the last minute and, since I was the one taking the pictures, it wasn't possible to get myself in them!!
Here's the beautiful beach with a kind of hut-like structure just in case you wanted some shade -- and believe me, you needed to get under the shade as the sun was very, very hot.

This was our room. All of the rooms were quite large and beautiful. I'm not sure if you can see this in the picture but there is a step down from the bedroom area into the sitting room area. One night in the dark, I got up to close the curtains as there was some light filtering in and forgot there was a step there. After sliding on the marble floor, I ended up with quite a bruise. I was just so happy I didn't break my ankle because this fall had "break" written all over it.This was the view from our terrace and this building was one of the many restaurants on the site. The walkway took us directly to the pool and the ocean so it was only about a minute from our room. This was a lovely swing on our terrace. Bob remarked that it was unusually comfortable. I should have taken a picture of Bob while he was "in" the swing but I didn't have the camera handy while he was lounging as I was lounging on the sofa right across from him at the same time.

I made one huge faux pax on this trip and I'm surprised I was so stupid. Since we were going to arrive at the hotel by noon, everyone was telling me to pack a separate carry-on with everything we would need to go to the beach as soon as we got there. So I packed our bathing suits, flip flops, coverup for me and all of our suntan products. What was I thinking?? You can't bring any liquids on a plane or anything in excess of 5 ounces. Needless to say, everything was confiscated by airport security. I was so mad because I'm highly allergic to anything other than Clinique products and was afraid I wasn't going to be able to purchase them there. Fortunately for me, I was able to buy them in the Duty Free shop in Mexico. Unfortunately for me, they were three times what I had paid for them in the states. Well, you live and you learn. I won't make that mistake again but at least I'm comforted in knowing that the airport employees will be using excellent suntan products this summer.

One thing I was very thankful for while I was gone was my DVR. I have it automatically programmed to tape certain daily shows just in case I find out there was a good guest on that I would like to have seen and can then go back and watch it. Well, while I was gone, Oprah interviewed all of the girls from Sex And The City on Thursday and Tom Cruise on Friday. Rachel Ray also devoted an entire show to Rosie O'Donnell. These were three things I would have been disappointed to have missed but thanks to my trusty DVR, I got to watch them all last night.

I can't wait to see the Sex And The City movie which opens on May 30th. Do you hear that Linda and Pat?? We will be there...no excuses. That means no studying Italian for you Linda and no "Wheels On Meals" that day either!! As I'm no longer a Tom Cruise fan, I didn't think much of that interview but was interested to see his home in Telluride. On the other hand, Rosie O'Donnel on the Rachel Ray show was the "old" Rosie from her talk show and not the "political" Rosie as seen on The View. She was really enjoyable to watch as she was there doing crafts and talking about everything else other than politics. It reminded me of how much I loved it when she had her own talk show but I quickly remembered how much I disliked her on The View.

So once again, we're back on solid ground in the Estados Unidos. I'm not sure yet where next year's company trip will be but I'm especially hoping that I win it once again and, more importantly, that Pat wins it as well because it just wasn't as much fun without here there in Mexico. Our next trip is to Vegas on June 5th and we are already counting off the days.