BERMUDA CRUISE

BY TOM BROWN

We needed a break from physical labor and decided a cruise to Bermuda would be good, especially if we could get a round trip from NY.

Three cruise lines do this: Holland America, Norwegian and Celebrity.  Of the three only Holland docks at Hamilton, the Bermuda capital and largest city. The other two dock at the NW end of the island. From there guests can walk to a beach, but must take a ferry of 30 to 45 minutes to Hamilton.

And this takes account of the fact that there are exactly three cruise ship docking spaces in Bermuda!

Also our cruise stopped the first day at the East end of Bermuda, At St. George, where we used tenders to come and go.

Our ship was the Veendam, carrying 1200 passengers, newly refurbished. It has one main dining room, the usual top deck buffet and two specialty restaurants, a steak house/French restaurant and an Italian restaurant.

Boarding was very easy and we were in time for a sit down lunch. We had the usual scenic tour from pier 90 on the Hudson River out to sea, albeit in the rain.  Our cabin was the top class of balcony where there was a sitting area and a balcony that accommodated two chairs and a chaise.

We had anytime dining, meaning you could arrive any time between 5:30 and 9:30.  The specialty restaurants were all reservations only and were booked up before the ship sailed, presumably on line, so we used the main dining room.  We were able to arrive at various times and be seated with a 0 to 15 minute wait.  We were told we could reserve, but when we tried nothing of interest was available.

The food was very good, the wine list was reasonable.

Sadly the entertainment was very weak.  The musical reviews barely had a theme and the so-so magician was the highlight.  There was a sing along piano player at one bar and a string quartet at another the latter playing popular music.

Happily there were places with shade and quiet to sit and read.  Our favorite was on the promenade deck in an old-fashioned wooden deck chair with a footrest.

I went jogging on the Promenade deck which, sadly, prohibited jogging.  But I was never confronted.  There were two other joggers and a few walkers, but that changed on the last day when hundreds walked around the promenade "for the cure".

On the third day we met some friends from Wilton.  They had a deluxe verandah suite that was four times the size of our deluxe verandah. That exposed an aspect of Holland that was somewhat different from other cruises.

--Our friends, who were not loyalty members, went to several cocktail parties with the captain and officers.  We were loyalty members thanks to Princess Cruises, went to a loyalty function, and had no contact with the Captain and officers.  On other lines all loyalty members had contact

--Our friends could get all the reservations they wanted when they wanted, we could not get any.  On other lines we always had some reasonable access to reservations

They had a concierge and VIP lounge, which is OK.

All this said, we enjoyed two dinners in the main dining room and cocktails on their huge balcony, and they made the dinner reservations!

And we did have a pleasant cruise.  The staff was friendly and didn't hassle us.

We did browse the shops and walk around the two towns, took some great photos, especially of the local sailing activity

I finished my big book and Alice met her reading objectives as well.  There were a number of well informed interesting people to chat with.

And it couldn't have been easier to embark (we were on the ship, in our cabin by 12:30) or disembark (we were off the ship and through customs in 10 minutes at 7:45)......and home by 9:15am.

So maybe we would do Bermuda again, maybe Holland again, and at least not rule Holland out.

Dominican Republic

BY TOM BROWN

As past readers know, it the season for our annual visit to the Dominican Republic.  We have a timeshare in a small botique resort on the North Short and a piece of landnthat is an investment property.

We have been coming since 1989 when we made both the purchases and brought my parents and childrren down to see what we had done.

Alot has happened as I will explain.

It is worth making some general remarks about the DR.  Its population is approximattely 12 million.  It shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti; the DR is much more prosperous.  Tourism is very important but the country has other equally important means of earning foreign exchange, namely:

--agriculture, including coffee, sugar, vegetables fruit and rum

--manufactured sewn goods

--advvanced medical services

The country is poor by US standards but relatively rich by island standards.  Many poor enjoy a better life by living in the countryside as landowners or squatters.  They gget along with odd jobs and subsistence farming.  The great weather makes this possible.

Crime is reasonab ly low tThere is not a big police presence, and the police are considered effective.  Tourism police are being seen in important tourist areas to combat petty crime.

Large supermarkets do not have a big penetration, though they do exist in the 3 largest cities.  Small supermarkets that  mostly sell packaged goods are widespread.  Meat, fish, vegetables and fruit are sold my farmer trucks driving through neighborhoods or in very basic specialty shops.

Electricity is in limiited supply so that thereare rolling blackouts for  most.  A new development is that the power company  puts in second sets of lines high on the poles that do not get blacked out to serve groups that always pay their bills.  Otherwise electricity bills are often ignored and many wires are connected to the lines without being metered.

Piped waqter exists for most large and small cities.  There is no potable piped dwater, s o most get their drinking water in 20 liter bottles, which are filled from filtered piped water by small factories or storefront operations.  Most cities have public sewer systems.

Public  transport includes intercity deluxe busses, vans that ply routed where there is demand.  Private transportatiiob is primarily motorbikes or "motos" carrying 1-4 people or unbelievable amounts of cargo.  There are n ots of small trucks.  There are large trucks owned by companies and cars or suvs for the m iddle class and up.

Back to our trip.  We overnighted at the Newark, NJ hilton with a park and fly package,n complete with a dinner served by a Haitian waiter Francois who has been there for a long time.

Then at the am checkin at the airport we had a chunky woman in her 50s dressed in work clothes.  She look at my jpassport and noted that I look good for my age.  Followup convdrsation rervealed that she rreally is a baggage handler who is cross tgrained by continental, and she thinks that bags are easier to deal with than people!.

Nice flight short of four hours.  We got our rrental car and drove to the resort, noting that the roads are in pretty good shape.  The motos were cutting in and out of traffic as usual.  We had our usual welcome from the front desk nmanager, Jose and the general manager Marc. 

We did the usual inspection of rooms, chose one and signed up for the food and drinks plan.

We met with our lawyer regarding our property boundaries.

We had a delicious dinner of grilled dorado, excellent night's sleep and we were ready for action.

At breakfast we met several Dominican couples that were spending a weekend at the hotel, which is a first for us

A day of relaxing, watching the water activity which is mostly scuba and rides on those rubber torpedos, good reading.

The next day was the first jogging day.  Did a circle of downtown.  It looks good, with some new construction combined with a few newly closed businesses.

then in subsequent days I jogged to the eastern part of town and across the beach to the western part of town.  I saw a lot of residential construction that looked like houses for well to do Dominicans.  Also saw wires bypassing the meters to steal electricity and stolen manhole covers, leaving holes in the road, of course.

Then tennis.  There is a very nice private club with clay courts that we go to, complete with ball boys if you want.  Thanks to my injuries last summer and wwinter, it was our first tennis since last summer.

By wednesday we made it to the property, which is 30 miles away.  The highway is good but the issue is the motos. and to some degree the traffic in Cabarete, the wind surfing and kite boarding capital of the world.

In the past we have remarked how much can fit on a moto, from 8 - 10 chicken coops , to two large farm milk cans , to a family of four, to pipes or lumber.  But this time we saw a first for us.  Two men were on a moto.  The man in front was driving.  The man in back and facing forward was holding the two handles of a loaded wheelbarrow behind the moto.  This was a very dangerous improvised trailer that could become a missle if the man in the back let go!

We had the usual emotional greeting from the family that cares for our property.  We are now in the third generation of caretakers, due to two untimely deaths.  They were sad about that, but life goes on.  We visited for a while, paid for the next year's work o n the property and then drove back.

We had a final meeting with the lawyer to sign a limited power of attorney for the lawsuit, but otherwise a relaxing last full day.

The final day was uneventful, got to the airport, turned in the car, no trouble with security and the flight was on time.

So we look forward to returning in a year to a place that is much different from Mexico!

Trip Report Norwegian Cruise Line Western Caribbean March 2011

By Tom Brown

We were attracted to an NCL cruise to the western Caribbean, starting at Orlando and stopping at Cozumel, Guatemala, Belize and Key West.

And since we avoid the risk of flying in the day of the cruise whenever possible, we took the hotel and transfer package, which was at the Hyatt Orlando airport, sitting on top of the terminal..an escalator ride up from baggage claim

Nice room on the top floor, nice rooftop swimming pool for the afternoon, then a nice dinner at a top floor restaurant with a view.

Our bus ride the next day was through the Florida swamps to Port Canaveral.

Easy check in and we were on the ship for lunch.  Then into the room and out to the pool.  Dinner was very good and the show was OK.

Unfortunately the next day, a sea day, was problematic in that we were lost souls not able to find shade or escape the loud music amid the crowds of people.  They had claimed most of the shade for gambling or outdoor buffets or poolside massage. I complained and was told that there was no solution on this ship. 

There was a captains party for past passengers at 1pm.  What a bust!  Poor refreshments and food and only trivia from the captain.

It was a dress up dinner.  Very few dressed up.  OK musical show.

Cozumel for us was a quick survey of the shops, since we have been there before.  We found some great booze prices.

The situation was a little better at the pool until the tours returned in the afternoon.  Good dinner, OK comedian.

Then Guatemala.  Very green uninhabited coastline, protected harbor and we docked at Santo Tomas, which is the most important seaport for Guatemala for exports, being on the Atlantic side.  It is a deep water container port, exporting bananas, coffee and sugar.  Container ships visit every day.

Population is 11 million.  Three ethnic groups: European, African and Mayan Indian.  They mix and intermarry to some extent.  The city was pretty in parts although somewhat faded.  There were upscale parts and poor parts.  To some extent it compares to the DR.

When we asked the guide why it had faded, he commented that 30-40 years ago the country was richer.  The currency has declined in value against the dollar to 1/7 of what it was in that time.

Next was Belize.  Belize city was a tender port due to the shallow water, NCL had subcontracted the tendering to local people, so it was slightly more comfortable than lifeboats and with a lot of local color.

Belize is the former British Honduras colony, now independent and a member of the British commonwealth.  More elegant than Guatemala, though also slightly faded.  The population of the country is a mere 350,000.  It is mostly descendants of slaves with a few white ex administrators or business owners and some Mayan Indians thrown in.

Minimum salary is US$ 3500 per year.  Electricity is double the US rate and therefore dryers and air-conditioning are not affordable.  The typical family has 5 children.

They export mangos, bananas, lobsters, shrimp and fish.  There are some nice hotels in the city and at Ambergis Cay, a nearby island.

We did a city tour and also an airboat ride.  If you do not know, an airboat is a flat bottomed wide boat, propelled by an 6' diameter air propeller, so as to go through very shallow water, sometimes inches deep.  Ear protection against the noise was mandatory.  We would go fast through the marshes, then stop and turn off the motor for explanations. We saw lots of birds that were unusual and two crocodiles (not alligators).  The guide brought some chicken parts and the crocodiles jumped for it.  One of them was 8-12 feet long and created a memorable impression when he jumped!.

After we got back I was on our balcony and was surprised that a security man entered the stateroom and told me that I had not signed in when returning from the tour.  I said I had signed in.  He looked at my cruise card and left.  Ten minutes later he and a colleague were back saying that Alice had not signed in.  I had to find Alice on the pool deck so that they could interrogate her like they did me.  Finally this intrusion ended.  We had actually shown our cards to different people with different computer terminals, so we do not think much of their systems!

Next was a sea day with the same sun and noise problems for us.  But dinner was great and the show was a juggler/philosopher/family historian that we thought was excellent!

Key West was next.  We had a 5 hour stop from 8am till 1pm due to the sailing time to make it back to Port Canaveral the next day.  So our tour started at 8am.  And immigration clearance was at 7am, which involved the inspector matching our faces to our passports and the staff punching our keycards.

Key West is the southernmost point of the 48 states.  It is about 10 square miles including an airport.  It has every inch built on, with small lots and narrow streets, It is mostly low rise with lots of trees and pretty.  A zillion bars and restaurants.  A total surprise is that Key West has thousands of wild chickens roaming the streets, often with baby chicks in tow!

Key West has seen many industries come and go.  Fishing, sponges, sugar cane have all disappeared.  Only the Navy and tourism persist.  Its most famous tourists are perhaps Harry Truman and Ernest Hemingway.

Curiously, when we left we sailed southeast for 2 hours before we turned north.  Something to do with getting in the channel.

There was a delicious BBQ lunch cooked on deck in giant kettle grills.  Another delicious dinner.  Then a show with a comedian that was so tasteless that we walked out!

Disembarkation was fine.  We couldn't make the morning flight so spent the afternoon in the Red Carpet Club awaiting an end of day flight.

We had a good time.  I am sure we will never go on the Norwegian Sun (our ship) again due to the aforementioned issues.  Maybe or maybe not any Norwegian Cruise lines ship.

Alice read a book on her new kindle and the 'Outliers' in hard copy.  I finished a couple of books including the George W. Bush memoirs.  They were very illuminating (good and bad) which I will explain at another time.

Dubai and Persian Gulf

TRIP REPORT DUBAI 2009
(BY TOM BROWN)

We signed on to a COSTA cruise leaving from Dubai with the concept of visiting five different Arab countries or Sheikdoms, touring by day and with the comforts of the cruise ship by night.  We added a two night stay at a hotel in Dubai before the cruise to effect a time adjustment and to interact with people outside of the cruise ship and tour environment.  We made independent air and hotel arrangements with Lufthansa and Intercontinental Hotels using our status earned in the past where possible.  It worked out very well as you will see.

The trip over was via Frankfurt.  It was made nicer by the fact that Lufthansa has recently launched lie flat seats in business class and has invested in new "Senator" lounges in New York and Frankfurt. Reasonable food and drink en route, more personal and caring from Frankfurt to Dubai.  We left New York at 10pm and landed at 11:30pm the next evening Dubai time which is 9 hours ahead of New York. We could not believe the size of the Dubai Airport and the size of the lines of people waiting to clear immigration.  Then after clearing customs we were met by a representative of Intercontinental and were driven to the hotel in a hotel limousine and escorted directly to our suite which comes with my ambassador membership.  The rooms were beautiful but we didn't get to sleep until a technician visited to turn off some of the high tech lights with motion detectors that did not function as intended!

The next morning we awoke to see the full glory of Dubai.  Downtown with its high rises was in the distance and right below us was a marina on one of the inland waterways that connected to the sea.  I went jogging and interacted with some local people on their day off.  Then breakfast in the club. It was a little eerie that some of the guests were dressed extremely casually while others were dressed in their Arab best.  Some of the women were showing only slits of their eyes and hands.

The staff in the club recommended a bus tour where you could hop on and off as much as desired and we moseyed over to the shopping center to get our tickets.  All the world retailing brands seem to be represented including Marks and Spencer, Carrefour and Ikea.

The trip was great.  We saw downtown, the beach area including the Trump Atlantis Hotel, and a shopping center where they have installed skiing in a giant freezer.  The ski operator rents clothing and equipment and people go sledding or skiing or just walk around in the cold on the snow.

If I were to give a short summary of Dubai it would be that it is a rich member of the emirates.  It is highly developed and trying to develop more, though some projects now appear to be on hold.  It has a freeway system and is even building mass transit.  It is the regional tourism capital for both westerners and Arabs.  And its population is 4 million but only 25 - 30 percent are citizens, the rest being workers who can stay as long as they have jobs, mostly from poorer Asian countries like India or the Philippines.

We finished the day with dinner in the club.  We did get to chat with some Arab couples where the women showed all of their faces; one from Kuwait and the other from Abu Dhabi there for the weekend.  They seemed very friendly and normal except for how they dressed.  Perhaps you can guess where this is going....more later.

The next day, Saturday, was extremely lazy.  Breakfast at 11am, then we took a long walk around the property and then got a taxi to the ship at mid afternoon.  Check in was low key and easy and we boarded the ship right away.  The only problem was that we couldn't get into our room until 8pm.  At 630pm we decided to not watch our clocks any more and had a nice dinner in the buffet.  We did get in the cabin shortly after 8pm and it was fine.

Sunday was orientation meetings by language group.  English and Italian were the largest groups followed by German, French, Spanish and Portuguese.  It was a nice relaxing day in the nice warm weather and then the first formal dinner.  Except that only 5 percent of the guests dressed formally.  Really an excellent dinner and great wines were available.  Then a show and off to bed for an early start in Oman the next day.

Oman is on the Indian Ocean side, about 4 million people and very few expatriate workers.  It is a very old country that was conquered by the Portuguese in 1550 and then defeated by the locals in 1650. It had no paved roads or any infrastructure in the 70s, until the son took power from his father, the King. Now it looks quite modern with all you would expect, at least in the capital, Muscat.  We were told that the country has several provinces, some with Bedouins, some only with mining or pumping stations.  We visited the #1 mosque in the country, a museum and a market area downtown The mosque was notable in that it accommodates 5000 worshipers and has a hand made one-piece carpet in each of the men's and women's sections. And it is air conditioned from concealed vents in the very elaborate columns.  It was repeatedly mentioned on the visits that summer temperatures reach 50 degrees Celsius, or 122 Fahrenheit!  We got a great deal on some dates, date syrup and a scarf for Alice.  Then off to the ship, dinner and another show.

Tuesday was an early start for Fujaira, one of the emirates in the UAE.  It looked poorer as we disembarked, and we learned that it is one of the poorer emirates, having had almost none of the tourist oriented development.  The population is slightly more than 100,000. However being on the Indian Ocean side it is a strategic shipping point the UAE oil and mineral wealth, and an insurance policy should Iran decide to close the strait of Hormuz separating the peninsula and Iran.  So it has oil terminal, bulk port and a container port.  It has a peaceful quaintness about it.  The women seemed to dress showing less here.  We visited a museum showing artifacts from ancient days and exhibits of pre-oil discovery life.  Then a fresh market where we saw an incredible variety of fish being offered and a produce market where I got some more dates at a great price.  Then a humble replica of a pre-oil village, with houses built of palm fibers, and finally a 2000 year old reconstructed mosque and a fort that guarded it.

The captain's cocktail party for Costa Club members (past passengers) was an intimate event comparatively with champagne, a band and dancing, with the staff dancing with single women.  We chatted for a while with some French people from the south of France who did not speak any English and then the captain made his appearance giving a moving speech about Costa four times and in four languages.  We then drank a toast and then he chatted with each of us as we were photographed with him.

Wednesday was the Abu Dhabi tour, also early!  Abu Dhabi, on the Persian Gulf side, is the richest emirate of the UAE, presumably with the most oil.  It has recently been beautified and it is quite pretty, albeit much smaller than Dubai.  We saw the Emirates Hotel owned by the government and with a special entrance for heads of state, the cultural center, and a more elaborate reconstructed village.  Our guide was an expatriate who couldn't get over the fact that Abu Dhabi has no house numbers!  There were some interesting very large sculptures along the streets and in the roundabouts.

Then relaxation in the afternoon and a crew show in the evening.  The show was much better than a talent show, quite coherent and themed.

The last tour day was In Bahrain, up north and close to Iraq and Kuwait.  We had a 25 year old Arab man who was a cool cat with full Arab dress and signature sunglasses as our guide.  We visited a very elaborate museum, a mosque (this one accommodates 7000 worshipers) where we got a lecture on Islam and a tour, an ancient fort rebuilt again and again by successive conquerors of Bahrain, ancient burial mounds that have not been disturbed and a camel park where one can mingle with and pet camels.  A camel costs $25,000 these days so it is not a cheap hobby.  The camels were very friendly!

But to be more serious, Bahrain is a much different country from the others.  It has much lower reserves of oil; its first recorded inhabitants were 5000 years ago (The Dilman civilization) but it has no continuity over centuries of residents, because it has been conquered and the old residents wiped out many, many times.  It was a republic that went bad and then had 25 years of martial law, emerging from this in 2002 as a constitutional monarchy.  It only has 1/3 of its population as expatriates.  It is arguably the most modern Arab society we visited in terms of individual freedoms.  And it has lots of tourism and Formula One auto racing. Yet our guide was about to go into an arranged marriage and his wife to be will only show her face when she goes out!

Friday was our day of relaxation before the trip home.  A perfect sunny day and not too hot.  The ship arrived back in Dubai at 1pm.

Saturday was the day of departure. Our reservation with Lufthansa was for a 7am flight.  We left our room at 4:30am hoping that we would find a taxi at the pier.  We did find several.  The big surprise was the line to pick up our passports at 4:30am!  Our flight turned out to be on a business class only flight using a 737 aircraft fitted with approximately 44 lie flat seats.  They take them across the Atlantic from Germany nowadays.  Nice flight as was the 747 flight from Frankfurt.  Home by 11pm.  Great trip!

It seemed appropriate to make some overall comments about the part of the Arab middle east that we saw, including Kuwait which I had seen on an earlier trip.  Needless to say we did not see Iraq or Saudi Arabia.  One can argue that the countries we visited are the moderate Arab states.  In all of them we saw:

--rising prosperity and numbers of the middle class
--rising contribution of women to the economic and political life even as they continue to wear very conservative, traditional dress outside the home
--good views of the US
--relative absence of ghettos
--general absence of terrorist groups
--some democracy coupled with some form of monarchy
--definite government sponsorship of the Islamic faith, including building the mosques, while tolerating other faiths but not allowing conversions from Islam to them

Also there is preoccupation with what to do after the oil is gone.

Then we should make some comments about Islam.

At its core, as we were repeatedly assured, it is very much like Christianity and Judaism and a peaceful religion respectful of and tolerant of other faiths.  Nonetheless it is fundamentalist in our view in that it considers the Koran to be specifically to be followed in today's life, and it is demanding of considerable very specific rituals of observance.  It is universally a state religion where we visited.  And it seems to us that it is easy for the religion to mutate to an anti-western fundamentalism, as it has done in countries other than the ones we have visited on this trip.

We have heard westerners calling for not buying oil from the Arabs so as to not encourage them to be anti western.  It can only be said to this that the Arabs are trying to evolve their lives in the face of a lot of tradition and religious and practical obstacles.  The move away from oil is coming and the Arabs know it.  We should let it play out peacefully and not do anything disruptive.

And finally some comments about Costa Cruises.

Generally we had an excellent experience.  The ship was comfortable, the food very good to excellent, the wine list robust and reasonable and the entertainment generally excellent.  The maitre d' was very helpful with two table changes so we could get the best table for us.  Costa is comparable to Princess in that it has a medium level of service and excellent value for the money spent.  The entertainment was mostly themed shows of song and dance going around the world, very well executed.  They also had an excellent marionette artist and a woman who did acrobatics.  The crew show was also a themed show and excellent.

There were a variety of languages represented and that was handled very well, including information meetings by language group with an assigned counselor for each group.  The English speaking and Italian speaking groups were each about 500 people; then German and French groups of half the size; then a smaller Spanish group and finally a very small Portuguese group.  Most but not all people spoke some English so there was a lot of interaction at that level, and we managed a few conversations in French and Italian.

The ship generally had a good layout.  We thought our cabin was a little small, though with lots of storage and a spacious balcony.  The tours were offered in most languages and were excellent.

So to sum up, the trip was comfortable, informative, entertaining and thought provoking.  It somewhat changed our view of the Arab world.  I guess you couldn't ask for much more!

ACAPULCO, MEXICO

TRIP REPORT by TOM BROWN

We had a fine trip to Acapulco for the week of January 27, 2011.  Just a few adventures to report.

As the date for the trip approached we knew weather would be an issue.

The night before we were to go to the Hilton at Newark Airport (to stay before the early flight) we got another 16 inches of snow on top of the previous 24 inches.   Reports were that virtually all flights were canceled for the day.

As of 11am the day we were to go to the Hilton we had not been plowed, but soon the plow man arrived.   It was wet and difficult to plow uphill so our man elected  to crash into the snow and push until he stalled.   That worked for a while but then he slid into the ditch.   Soon his partner (and father) showed up to pull him out.   By noon the driveway was open.   Also we got a report that our flight was on time for the next morning.

So we left in mid afternoon for Newark on amazingly clear roads.

The plane was on time as was the plane from Houston to Acapulco.   We even arrived early, and even got an ocean view room.   With some fear and trepidation we signed up for a members update tour, starting with breakfast the next morning, with the hostess promising no more that one hour after we finished breakfast.  Pretty standard for a timesharing resort.

Nice Italian Buffet for our first dinner with some foods prepared to order and lots of courses to try.  Also a great piano player.

Our sales rep for Saturday was a bilingual Mexican with family in California.   We explained how satisfied we were.   He said he only had one simple idea that he could explain quickly.   Of course we had questions, which he answered successfully and we ended buying an upgrade.

Negotiating the contract then took several hours considering price and conditions were up for grabs.   We thought we got a good deal, and we saved our prior arrangement for no maintenance fees when we go ourselves.

Finally we got outside on our own and the scene was one of destruction and construction.
--all the Mayan Palace buildings on the right looking from the street have been demolished, to be replaced with taller more luxurious facilities
--the original part of the pool is closed off so it is only the narrow parts of the pool on the left that are in use
--the big cauldron that drops water on unsuspecting guests that are tubing has been taken out
--there is a very large new Mayan Palace resort complete with a huge pool is located about a mile away, inland

The beach scene was pretty much unchanged with the horses, ATV taxis and udrives and of course vendors.

But there was something mysterious.   A roped off area on the beach with palm trees tables and a dance floor.   We asked and were told that it was a "boda" or wedding party of a wealthy family from Mexico City.

In the meantime we went off to the new restaurant at the Mayan Palace for dinner.   The staff there went all out to give us a "cena romantica" or romantic dinner.   They set up a table away from the restaurant by the pool with flares to give us light and lots of service, complete with Santa Alicia (Saint Alice) wine.

Then back to the Grand Mayan.   The wedding guests were just arriving.   They seemed to have dinner at 10pm and at 11pm we went to bed.   At 12:30 am the very loud music woke us up.   We observed the scene, got ear plugs from our travel kit and did get back to sleep.  Almost no evidence of the party when we woke up in the morning and looked out on the beach.

The week unfolded nicely with the same palapa and neighboring people on the beach each day.   One of the people was boasting what a deal he'd gotten, for his upgrade to one level more that ours and we went back to the sales department and they beat his deal.

The people on the beach were recommending a neighborhood restaurant in a very local Mexican neighborhood, so we got a reservation and employed a taxi to take us.   It was a crazy scene very crowded with people, houses and shops crowded together.   The owner lives over the restaurant.   We had a delicious dinner at half the price of the resort.

During the taxi ride we got an earful as to how the bad publicity of the drug wars had kept people away.   And that there was only a problem if you were trying to buy drugs!

Then the snow came to Texas and we got a message that our flights home were canceled. With the help of the concierge we got in touch with Continental and were booked one day later.   The hotel was very cooperative, and let us stay in our room for an extra day for a nominal charge of a day's maintenance fee.

The next day we checked on the flights and they were operational.   At the airport we were told that the Acapulco to Houston flight was late but they hoped that our connection in Houston would still work.

When we got to Houston we had 60 minutes when we got in line at immigration.   It was the biggest crowd ever.   A continental rep pulled us out of line into a shorter one.   After customs we had 10 or 15 minutes and I ran ahead to hold the plane for Alice.   We made the flight and so did some other people after us.

Ironically when we got home we had an email advising us that the flight was not going to wait for us and that we were booked on the 6am Sunday!

We got home at 2am.  You cannot imagine all the snow and ice in Wilton...or Vermont as we found out 3 days later.