Shock...

Day 4 - We wake up Sunday morning to the realization that we only have two more breakfasts until we have to get on a plane and head back to Texas. Oh my, decisions - decisions! I was really wanting to try Nativo but we hadn't made it to La Queva del Chango yet this trip - we discussed it and the monkey cave won out.

La Queva del Chango is booming on Sunday mornings, packed with both locals and tourists alike. There was a 20-30 minute wait and I visited with the most delightful 5 year old during our wait. Turns out she lived in New York City and was in Playa trying to escape the cold. Yes, she and everyone else from the good 'ole US of A!

Without going in to too much detail about what happened next I will just say this - about half way through breakfast our trip took a real sharp turn from laid back fun in the sun to dead-stop serious. From this experience we learned the following:

when in tropical climates one should drink a lot of Gatorade to ward off possible dehydration - water does not have the same effect as it does not contain electrolytes and escapes the body quickly

the wait staff and manager of La Queva del Chango are some of the kindest people I have ever met

orange juice with lots of sugar added can help to bring a person out of shock

pure honey can also assist in this effort

very low blood pressure is a symptom of shock

Dr Carlos of Xcaret not only wears great shoes but is a really good doctor

Needless to say with what little you now know about our breakfast at La Queva del Chango we spent the remainder of our day back at the condo napping and if there was any drinking going on it involved shots of Gatorade.

That evening we took a stroll up to Don Mario's for dinner. BIL had the Fettucini Alfredo, The Senor a pizza and I the Caprese Salad. I had recently read some not so flattering things about the food and service at Don Mario's and was very relieved to find that our meal was, as always, fabulous.

Following dinner we headed back to the condo where we sat on the patio and listened to the sound of the surf. As I sat there I said a little prayer and thanked God for the beauty of Playa, for the kindness of its people and for my family whom I love.

to be continued...

Day 2 - a wedding planner, a beach and a little Havana dreaming...

Our second day in Playa we slept a little late, enjoyed the view from our patio and set out about 10:30 to meet with what turned out to be one delightful lady!

Our son and his fiance are planning a July wedding in Playa and asked that we meet with Maria of weddingsinplaya.com. Our assignment was to check out Maria, the proposed wedding venue and sample the venue's culinary offerings.

We met Maria at Fusion for a quick smoothie and then rode with her to The Beach Club at Grand Coral.

Before I tell you about the beach club I must say this, riding with a local in Playa is an adventure. Maybe even more so than riding in a taxi. Also, it should be mentioned that Maria is Italian. And, to quote Maria (imagine hand gestures moving dramatically through the air!), "the Italian in me comes out when I drive".

With this said, Maria took a "shortcut" to avoid the highway construction. The "shortcut" gave us the opportunity to see several Playa sites we had never seen before including a gentleman carrying two chickens by their feet. The chickens had apparently just met their demise and were off to what was surely a large pot of boiling water.

On our return trip I would bet my bottom peso we actually collided with another car. The other driver and Maria exchanged words through sign language without ever slowing down.

Just when I wasn't sure what might happen next our delightful Italian lady gestures to him as only she could and says, "oh, **** off"!

The Senor, brother-in-law and I sat in silence willing ourselves not to laugh. All I could think was, well, all righty then!

Back to the mission at hand...

We found The Beach Club at Grand Coral to be the perfect venue for the upcoming nuptials.


Our report back went something like this:

Maria is (I'll say it again!) delightful!

The venue is spectacular!

The food was muy excelente!

Let the festivities begin!

We spent that afternoon at the beach basking in the beautiful sun, sand and atmosphere that is Playa (oh - and I had a massage!).

The beach was crowded and I enjoyed listening to the various accents from around the world. Dutch, French, German, Spanish, English and some we didn't recognize.

To quote the song, it was a "lovely day...lovely day...lovely day...lovely day"!





We had dinner that evening on the north end at a very cool Cuban restaurant, La Bodequita Del Medio.



The food, the service, the atmosphere and the band were all top notch. La Bodequita Del Medio is now on my "highly suggested" list.

Like most of our nights in Playa we ended up at Fusion...

watching the moon...

and the stars...

listening to the waves...

and trying to solve the worlds problems...