Vacation Story

I have two vacations to record for posterity so I will start with vacation #1.
Cancun Mexico
Frank and I
one week
Planned in the fall...way before we found out that we'd be going back to Cancun
the very next week for work.
My life...so hard.

I just want to share one or two stories from our vacation #1.

Frank and I aren't really the types to do a lot of touristy things.

Tours are informational but usually don't go at the pace we like.

Too slow to arrive, too quick to leave

So we often like to set out on our own and find interesting things.

We rented a car this time so that we felt free to do this.

We looked on a map and Frank saw what looked like a long stretch of beach with no hotels or anything

so he said we would drive that direction and find that beach!

And we did.

Turns out its a long stretch of the most gorgeous beach with amazing soft sand.

and it is a hang out for the locals.

There was a little hut with tables and chairs and umbrellas

and a big menu of fresh foods cooked on their outdoor grill

When we arrived there were hardly any people

but as the day progressed it began to fill with big families and groups of friends.

It was never crowded but there were lots of folks spread around

umbrellas

coolers

dogs

kids

grandparents

it was fun!

And we were the ONLY people there that weren't locals.

I did more "communicating" this vacation than I ever have before.

My vocabulary is sadly lacking

and I'm not all that confident

but I gave it a good effort this time and spoke a lot of spanish.

Frank wanted to order lunch so I had to help him decipher the menu

I ordered him what I thought was a shrimp cocktail

but then I doubted my vocabulary

and I wondered if I ordered him something else.

He has some allergies since the transplant, so I didn't want to get the wrong thing.

So I began to attempt to find out if I really ordered shrimp.

By the time I got done, both the waitress and myself were laughing our heads off.

She ended up handing me her pad of paper and I drew a shrimp

(I am NOT artistic)

she looked at it and laughed and said,"Si!"

and I knew we were ok.

After that she came over and talked to me more...

knowing I was somewhat capable of communication

and willing to laugh at myself in my attempts to talk to her.

Frank ordered a huge amount of food for lunch.

I should have taken a picture.

a big, fresh, fried fish

(yes, eyes and head attached)

lots of homemade tortillas

rice

salad

lots of really amazing homemade tortilla chips

guacamole

and the shrimp cocktail

which turned out to be a large bowl of 

shrimp and something similar to pico-de-gallo

I don't like fish much

or shrimp

So he was pretty much on his own.

I did eat more than my fair share of the tortilla chips though.

So when he was done there was still a lot of food on the table.

She asked us if we didn't like it.

I said that we liked it but it was just too big

(remember I speak like a toddler)

I wished I could explain better but my words leave me when I need them

also true when speaking in English, by the way.

She came back later and says she's sorry about the food.

and I again explain that we liked it

we just couldn't eat it all.

Later, another woman from the restaurant comes over

and tries to speak a little english to us

and is apologizing for the food!

And offering to make us free quesadillas.

She says she realized it was too spicy.

She made it way too hot for us and so she wants to make us something else.

I explained that Frank loves hot stuff 

and he liked it a lot.

Really!

Please believe me

he liked it!

We just got too full.

In the end, I managed to convince them.

and got to speak quite a lot of spanish

probably bad spanish

but still

When we left at the end of the day

we were all smiles

and so were they

though maybe they smiling because they were glad to see the gringos leave their beach