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04-03-2008, 02:28 PM
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04-03-2008, 02:32 PM
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04-03-2008, 02:35 PM
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04-03-2008, 02:53 PM
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__________________
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04-03-2008, 04:11 PM
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Wow!! Now this is one great trip report!! cannot wait for the next installment!!
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04-03-2008, 05:40 PM
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Congratulations on your marriage..as for the trip report, very well done...once you get the pictures thing figured out, you are in for a good report, thank heavens for our digital cameras! We get to save the memories, and not have a ton of bad pictures sitting in envelopes,
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04-03-2008, 05:55 PM
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It took us several trips before we got better informed and broke the habit of asking "how much?" It's just a learning experience.
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I'll take 2, please. Please bring them to me over here. 
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04-04-2008, 09:49 AM
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Easter Sunday 3-23-08
Easter Sunday 3-23-08
Three late nights in a row plus pre-vacation work, readying our jobs for us being gone, preparing ourselves by researching the trip, making all appropriate contacts in Mexico, tending to the details of life absent from the States for 10 days like holding the mail and newspaper, pre-paying bills, tanning to be able to partially withstand the tropical Sun, generally getting extremely pumped for the trip and the late nights living on adrenaline for the first two days in PDC had all taken their toll. As a result, we slept in until 9:45 a.m. The day before we’d asked the Concierge at the Sa ndos about churches for Easter and ties, She called the Catholic Church between Calle 15 & 12. Easter services were at 8, 10, 12, 2 and again at 6 and 8 p.m. We got ready and taxied to the church at 12 and experienced a wonderful service, entirely in Spanish but meaningful nonetheless. After all, how many people can worship internationally on Easer, the greatest Holy Day in Christianity! We did recognize the Lord’s Prayer and Apostles Creed due to their cadence, and we noticed many Anglo families there worshiping despite their lack of Spanish. Many thanks and praise for the gifts He has given us, our children and for our honeymoon trip! This was a great highlight of our time in PDC! In church  Outside   We stopped at the World Famous Tequila Barrel for refreshment and to get out of the increasingly baking sun. I know the TB is world famous, and if you are not sure, their sign should convince you: From the outside:  Convincing signage:  The service was great and so were the refreshments. Our own “barrel” was comfortable and so was the view to the street:   That little doorway was actually the entrance to the Hotel Copa Cobana – we peeked in to see a nice, open courtyard, front desk, some tables and chairs and stairs up to the room(s). Saw some people leaving with their suitcases and briefly lamented the day we’d be in their shoes. We still had a week left! Yay! After a brief stop at a clothing boutique down the street from the tequila Barrel, we headed back to the Sandos to get our suits on for some BRT (beach relaxation time) <3 <3 <3. We’d had no palapa reserved via unique and familiar scented flip-flops, towels or other personally identifiable packed material, but fairly easily managed to find a palapa and chairs near the front for an afternoon of sun and relaxation. Can’t get enough of this:  Or this:  A perchy friend: 
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04-04-2008, 09:49 AM
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Easter Sunday Part 2
Ocean fun:
 I went jogging south all the way to the impassible rocks south of the Sandos! It’s hard to run, walk, jog or otherwise move in sand no matter what you’re wearing on your feet since the sand is soft and absorbs your footfalls easily. As a result, when I was done my legs were more tired than a usual run of that length. Also along this beach are trillions (gazillions?) of seashells for the picking. Kids and adults alike almost deserted beach and shoes full of sand upon return! Mamasita dreamed about printing with the wrong typeset while I was gone (she’s a former graphic artist/designer who worked for a printing company). Whenever I leave a hotel room, I like to bring a key with me and have the other key with the Mrs. Unfortunately at the Sandos, when you pulled that 2nd key out of the in the room keybox, all the electricity shut off. No doubt this is a cost saving measure, but we’d been returning to our room only to find it baking and humid – so much so that mould began to form in areas on the ceiling. (have you noticed how there is very little wood used in construction compared to the States? Unavailability, mould and termites must be the main reasons). Anyway, I got the brilliant idea (after 2 days, mind you) to go get a 3rd key for the room and just leave it in the juice box all the time. This is Tip # 11 on our top ten tips from the beginning of the report ? We went together to get the key and at the lobby, Mama got ice tea – every day they offered fruit drinks, ice tea and champagne to those checking in or any guests who happened to stop by! This day, like most days when we were there, was a red flag day. You can still swim near shore but the waves, surf and undertow are noticeable. Just be cautious and use good judgment and you’ll be OK. Even on red flag days, the breeze felt good and, as always, it’s cooler by the water than inland any day. Red Flag Day – flagpole is directly out from the entrance to the beach and the main beach bar:  Was that a sand crab? ?  We ate supper at the buffet in about 8 minutes flat and headed to the room for a siesta. Then called our friends at the Riu Playacar and arranged the cab-shuttle to town in order to get to the Easter Peep meet at the Beer Bucket. Eddiet56 and Angie the Boss had been pumping everyone up on the Peep meet forum for months and we wanted to go see what these things were all about and meet any other peeps that might be there. What a cool concept: rev up on the Internet for months then meet people in a faraway destination for fun. On the way we had the cabbie stop at the ATM at the Playacar Plaza shopping center, which is on Xaman Ha across the street from the Riu Yucatan and next to the Riu Tequila. We’d shopped a bit there the day before and found mostly high prices but a few bargains (T-shirts $4.99, etc…) There are restrooms there too for public use. Unfortunately since it was Sunday and Easter to boot, this and every other ATM I tried that day was drained. Advice: Get your ATM’ing done Friday or early Saturday. BTW, the banks will charge $4.00 for a withdrawal and $2.00 just to check your balance, so maybe consider bringing most of your cash with you instead of relying on the ATM’s. We asked the taxi driver to take us to the Beer Bucket, and I ignorantly chose not to re-confirm the location on the Map Chick map before leaving the hotel. If I’d have done that, I could have just told the driver to take us to the closest intersection to the Bucket, but nnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooooo. I erroneously assumed that every taxi driver has a built in GPS map system and knows the location of every establishment in the Yucatan. So, ignorant tourista that I am, I asked to be dropped off at the Beer Bucket. My first clue that this wasn’t the thing to do should have been the blank stare I got from the driver as a reply. He dropped us off downtown – somewhere and pointed up the street. Like hand grenades and horseshoes, close counts with taxis too ? Wandering this way…  …and that…  So we did what any other lost people would do – began asking shopkeepers where the Beer Bucket was. Funny how the shopkeepers don’t have that built in GPS-map thingie either. It gave us a chance to get some walking exercising in, as we went back and forth along 5th for a while. Finally I asked a Policeman where it was (imagine that – asking a Policeman where a bar is. I think this is grounds for immediate arrest in some U.S. counties). He told us correctly and a couple blocks later, we were there! Unmistakable signage:  Us:  And Them (forgot the name of the peep in the middle):  Hombres:  And Senoras: 
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04-04-2008, 09:51 AM
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I’d never done this before – exchange posts with people whom I don’t know online and then meet them cold in a foreign country at night in an admittedly less safe place than my hometown, with my wife and two equally sheltered friends along for the adventure. Much to our welcome surprise, we met EddieT56 and the Boss Angie and some other peeps and they were GREAT! We chatted about all kinds of things – our work, homes, kids, school, our home states, football (Go Vikes!) and the conversation was great. EddieT told us about the Doc, the history of this peep meet, some of the other peeps, and a bit about the Bucket itself. PM him for more info – he’s got tons. BTW, beers at the Bucket were 5 for $10.00 US – one of the best buys in Playa!
We met here to mee the Easter Peeps athat Eddie and the Biss Nagie had frearanged dddddddd dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd (I left the above paragraph in because this is what happens when you are up at 1 a.m. on a work night typing your TR and your body collapses into deep sleep. Woke up at 3:47 and decided sleeping in a chair in the sitting position might be good for my chiropractor, but nor for my spine so I went to bed). OK, where was I… Sorry about that. The Bucket is a great place to do this and I highly recommend a peep meet. Check other forums for dates and times, and maybe even chime in before your trip to try and get to know some of the people. The ones we met were all very nice and we enjoyed the adventure and experience. World famous EddieT56 and the Boss Angie – Thanks guys for a great time!:  Have to add this about the restroom at the Bucket – If you are short, like my bride, it’s OK and reasonably clean. If you are taller like me, be prepared to contort as you enter. It also has a somewhat “Clint Eastwood-esque” feel to it (see Fistfull of Dollars). So far, so good:  All were getting sleepy so as the meet wound down, we taxi’d back home and flipped on the TV. Back to the Future II was on (great concept and movie, by the way) – in Spanish. I now realize that there must be easier ways to try and learn the language, which I promised myself I would do before our next trip down. We drifted off to the scene and sounds of Michael J Fox and his nemesis, “Bif” warring it out over the girl en Espanol!
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04-04-2008, 10:03 AM
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04-04-2008, 10:03 AM
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