Tales of Life with a Girl on the Go

I’m so tired as I write this – our plane landed at 2:30 am on Sunday and we didn’t get home until 4:00 am – but I have to say that our week in Mexico was totally worth it.

When Ken was getting close to the end of his French training, he mentioned going away for a week. It seemed like we’d be jinxing ourselves if we planned anything, though, and so we had this vague plan to go somewhere warm and sunny. Once we got the results from his oral exam, I called a travel agent to get some options and, when Ken’s passport came (early even – an omen to be sure :+), I booked our trip. Five days later, we were being chauffeured to the airport by Uncle Roger (hooray for brothers!) to catch a plane. The temperature was minus 20-something in Ottawa .

We’d bought a Sunwing Vacation package. It was nice to fly in and out of Ottawa direct. The last time we flew through Toronto and I couldn’t bear the thought of doing so with Reid in toe. The Sunwing flight started with a small glass of champagne – which Reid doesn’t like, I learned – and included a hot meal. The meal wasn’t anything fancy but it wasn’t bad and was the first meal I’ve had on a North American flight in a long time.

Ken, Reid and I had seats altogether. Reid was in her car seat – the only kid on the plane in one – which defined her space and gave her arm rests of her own. She never asked to be unbuckled. I think she is so used to being restrained in the car that it didn’t occur to her. Ken was also restrained, though a lot of that is due to the fact that his knees touch the seat in front of him when he sits upright. I, on the other hand, rest my feet on carry-on baggage because my legs are too short.

Reid asked lots of questions about the plane, where we were going and what we’d be doing and then she asked to watch videos on my iPod. Those old-style headphones that I bought when I was pregnant so that she could listen to classical music in utero while I watched tv are earning their price. (And, yes, I realize now how uptight I was when I was pregnant.) Finally, Reid fell asleep in the middle of a video. Just before we landed, we hit turbulence and Reid half-woke, pulling at her ears. I couldn’t convince her to swallow or drink. Poor kid fussed like a baby for a few minutes and fell back asleep.

I lugged Reid off the plane, still sleeping. She is getting very long for me to be carrying. I think that I’m only 40 centimetres taller than Reid, if that. We popped her into her umbrolla stroller, which she is also almost too tall for but given the times for our flights we used it. The lovely people who work at Immigration in Mexico pulled families out of the line to go through faster. What a treat! We found our bags, got a “green light” that sent us through without a Customs inspection and stumbled to our bus. The plus 20 temperatures were a shock to the system but I wasn’t about to complain! Reid woke up for a bit but soon fell asleep and was eventually carried into the resort still asleep.

I suspect Ken had hoped that Reid would sleep in a bit on Sunday and she did if you were considering Ottawa-time instead on Mayan Riviera-time which is an hour earlier. We found our way to the buffet restaurant and ate the first of many outdoor meals. I loved eating outside. There seems less pressure to enforce “restaurant manners” on Reid. When she had finished her meal, she was free to wander the courtyard, checking out the fountain, the trees, the birds and whatever else caught her attention. I tried to convince Ken to have a Bloody Mary or coffee with liqueur in it – I don’t remember ever seeing such options on a buffet – but he wouldn’t let me live vicariously through him. After breakfast, we walked about to get the lay of the land and discovered that there was no access to the water. There were sunbeds set up on sand and then bright orange fences that blocked off an area with mounds of sand and big machines and workers who were moving the sand around and then, finally, there was the water’s edge. The Mexican government is working to rebuild beaches damaged during hurricanes a couple of years ago. Some of the others at the resort were angry but it didn’t seem the sort of thing anyone could control and the pool *was* open. The pool wasn’t heated, though, and seemed a bit cool when you first got in but it was always a welcome cool since the days were so warm. The first day we swam before lunch and after a nap. Reid would have gone back after supper but I was too tired.

On our second day, we went down the road about three or four resorts to our “sister resort”. There had been a rumour that we would be able to access the Caribbean Sea from their beach but it turned out to be false. Still, we built castles on the sand and listened to the waves. We also swam in the pool and ate at their buffet. Ken wasn’t feeling well and went back to our resort after lunch while Reid swam a bit more and relaxed in the hammocks. (Note to self: if ever we move houses, I want to have a hammock.) When we got back to our room, it was clear that Ken was very sick, probably with food poisoning, and so Reid and I made ourselves scarce until bedtime.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 10:39 am and is filed under Pastimes, Vacation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.