Saturday, July 10
Departure Day – travel to Mexico
We got off the ship and traveled to Heathrow to catch our flight to Paris. We flew the brand new Airbus A380, which is the biggest plane in the world, seating about 500 people. We met up with Sandy’s cousin Ale at the airport before jumping on the plane to Mexico. The flight was pretty smooth. We arrived at about 9:30PM. Mario and Tico were there to pick us up and get us back to their place for a late night snack of Tacos al Pastor, one of my favorites.
On Sunday we ate barbacoa (barbecue) in the morning. Barbacoa consists of pork tacos with a soup called consume. It is perfect to fix you up after a night out on the town. The afternoon we spent just hanging out with the family. We watched the final world cup match (Spain won over the Dutch 1-0). Tia Elena and family stopped over for a visit.
On Monday, we traveled by bus to Acupulco. It was a comfortable 5 hour ride with air conditioning and a movie. We spent five days eating at 100% natural, relaxing in the pool, and eating seafood, usually at El Amigo Miguel. The second to last day we went to the Cici waterpark and swam with the dolphins. The day started off cloudy and rainy, so we did not bring sun block. By late morning, the clouds disappeared and we all got sun burns. We traveled back on a Friday and went out Friday night with Thalia and Tico for flautas - hard tacos in the shape of flutes, filled with beef or chicken.
On Saturday we traveled to Quareterro. On a good day it takes about 2 hours in the car, but on this day, it took 5 hours due to traffic and construction. We made a quick stop at Wendy’s house and then went to the cousin’s reunion. We got to see Gabo's family and we met all the Quereterro cousins.
Sunday was spent just hanging out in Querretaro. We got hair cuts, followed by barbacoa, followed by walking around the town center in the afternoon. In the evening, I played chess against my nephew Fabian, who is getting very good. At his current rate of improvement, I am guessing that I will not be able to beat him next year.
On Monday we traveled back to Mexico City. After relaxing, we got ready for a night out on the town with Sandy’s parents. Mario took us to the restaurant "Florida" for my new favorite "cabrito" (baby goat). Afterwards, Mario took us to the mall for our Christmas/Birthday/New Year/Cinco de Mayo presents.
On Tuesday, we started the morning at the park with the kids. Later I finally got a workout in. I had been pretty consistent working out on the cruise, but my workouts came to a screeching halt when I arrived in Mexico. I got two workouts in in Acupulco and now this was my third since arriving in Mexico. JP and I spent most of the afternoon constructing a lego motorcycle. We then got ready to go out with Sandy's college friends. We took a 30 min cab ride to the location – the cost was about 6 dollars. Sandy’s college buddies are a great group of guys. I had met two of them two years ago: Abel and Emilio. I concluded at that time that those were two of the funniest guys I had even met. This time around, I met three more and these guys, individually and as a group are some of the funnest people I have ever met. This was one of our best nights in Mexico.
On Wednesday, JP was not feeling well so we went to the local public doctor for a consultation - cost $2 (I love the prices in Mexico). JP was diagnosed with a throat infection, so we got him on antibiotics. In the afternoon, we relaxed. In the evening, we had a night out on the town with Sandy’s school friend Marco Antonia, better known as Maca. I have not seen Maca since the famous bachelor party he through for me 9 years ago - a party of such epic proportion that it probably can never be repeated without serious physical injury. We had a great dinner at a steak house and then did some karaoke afterwards. Maca still has the voice of an opera singer. He was good enough to spare me from taking the stage, but did not have the same mercy on Sandy – but she held her own and it was another great night.
