Mexico - Day 4

 On the 4th day we woke up our sleepy vacationers a bit early to catch the 9am bus from the resort to Playa Del Carmen (about 15 mins south).  The resort ran several small buses every couple hours back and forth between town and the resort for the low price of 50 pesos each.
On our way to breakfast at the buffet I had to snap a pic of one of the amazing flowers that line the pathways.  (As a side note for anyone like myself who have never experienced a resort, the buffet still entails a waiter to your table that will grab your drinks or any other need which is always nice)

 The bus picked us up just outside of the lobby entrance.  I love the elegance of the lobby and the entire resort.  Even the floors leading up the stairs, through the open halls and into your suite are all this gorgeous.

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 Up until this point I may have hoped to stay in Mexico forever but leaving the resort is always a good reminder of the stark contrast of a third world country.  The streets were lined with trash everywhere.  Lots of shanty make shift homes, laundry hanging to dry everywhere but in it all I absolutely loved the brightly colored buildings and wish I could have captured what I was seeing as we whizzed by at crazy speeds!

 The trouble makers were assigned to sit at the back of the bus together ;)

 As we were driving into the town I was perhaps feeling a bit anxious as to where we were actually going but when we arrived to 5th Ave I was relieved that it was basically the tourist equivalent to downtown Banff.  We were dropped off behind a store and told that basically the ave stretched 4 miles of shops in either direction.  More than we would ever be able to pack into a day.

 I loved the cobble stone streets

 So funny/embarassing story.  The very first shop we popped into was filled with all sorts of adorable touristy stuff. Within a moment my poor mom popped over to see adorable AL in her hat when her purse bumped into a precariously stacked tower of shot glasses sending one to smash on the floor.  The store asked her to pay 50% of the over priced glasses and not a moment later did I show my kids a snow globe that slipped from my hands and smashed on the floor.  Oh the insanity!  I wish we could blame it on the kids but nope it was the moms.  T quickly ushered the kids out of the store while my mom and I paid for our broken wears.

 I had to snap a pic of the man chopping coconuts open with a machete.  We had been given strict instructions by our doctor and our travel immunization nurse to avoid these like the plague since the machetes are so dirty and a huge source of illness.  It was hot and man did drinking from a coconut look refreshing!

 JA got himself a petty sweet wrestling mask!

 The thing that really caught me by surprise in PDC was seeing retail chains like Victoria secret, Bath and Body works, etc when just a few blocks away we had seen complete poverty.

 Second funny story.  I was hoping to get a turquoise/silver pendant on our trip.  Mexico is famous for it's beautiful silver and my mom had brought me back a silver bracelet years ago that I wear almost daily still and my sister had brought me a gorgeous ring I wear often as well.  Anyway, not moments after we broke our items in our first store we walked out and a local man named Carlos came running over.  He was incredibly friendly and asked if we remembered him that he had been our server at the Grand Sunset two nights prior, etc (totally didn't remember him but with 1000s working there it seemed possible).  He said he was just on his day and a half off and chatted like crazy as he whisked us a few stores down to a jewelry store of his cousins that was having a grand opening.  We had fun chatting with them and they got a good kick out of a few pics of life in the frozen north back home.  We bartered back and forth and came up with a canadian price that he rang through in pesos (so tricky getting your head around the conversion of USD and Pesos).  Anyway, I came away with a beautiful necklace that I was sure I'd over paid for. Carlos bid us farewell and said to come visit him working at the pool bar the next day.
Within 30 mins or so it started to sink in that every vendor we passed could see our resort bracelets around our wrists .  Carlos didn't work at the resort and hustled tourists just like us all day long, and I'm pretty sure he is always having a grand opening lol.  The real kicker was getting home to see the credit card statement and realize he over charged me $50 CAD when he rang through the purchase in pesos.  Oh man, it gives us one good story! We might need to have a little chat next year Carlos ;)

 I absolutely loved all the gorgeous tree line streets

 We found lots of little trinkets for the kids and their little friends.  WR cracked me up when he wanted this fan more than anything else he'd come across.  It was hot so I can't blame him!

 After a few hours we toyed with hopping back on the bus to the resort but decided to brave lunch off the resort.  This cute little restaurant was amazing.

 Amazing tortillas and guacamole!

 The vine covered trees growing right up through the patio were so neat.

 And this fruit drink of oranges, pineapple and strawberries all blended up was the absolute best thing I've drank.ever.

 I'm happy to report no one got sick lol.  In fact on our entire trip we didn't have one drop of illness, not even the slightest upset tummy.  Hooray.
We got in a bit more shopping and T bought his mom a beautiful silver bracelet for her birthday.  He got a pretty good deal so had fun bugging me about how badly I got worked over by Carlos.

 AL got a few braids in her hair.  She didn't love the process but still can't be convinced to take them out of her hair.

 We hung out at this little makeshift bar right by our bus pick up stop.  It was so hot and muggy we had to grab a few Fanta pops for the kids to drink.  (side note: the kids were so in love with our mini fridge at the resort that was restocked daily, I'm pretty sure their insides were stained orange for all the Fanta orange pop they drank over the week ;)

 AL looked so pretty here!

 The resort seemed like such a contrast when we arrived back!

 We headed straight to the pool to cool off for a few hours.

 These jetted benched pools were always a favorite place to play.  WR especially loved that he could stand up in them.

 I loved watched a very timid WR become so confident over the week and really improve his ability to swim himself around the pool with no help.

 We finally cleaned up for dinner at the Asian a la carte.

 The kids all blew me away with just how much they ate at this particular dinner.  They ordered off both the kids menu and the asian menu.  I had to snap a pic of WR and his spaghetti.  This kid inhaled spaghetti almost every dinner at the a la cartes.  He loved it lol (it was pretty tasty).  We enjoyed some delicious wonton roup, spring rolls, and various main dishes like chicken chop suey.

 Of course the kids couldn't let a day go by without a trip for ice cream and a little dancing!

Another great day in paradise!