I tried to convince someone else to blog today, but no one cooperated

For this blog, I will post pictures in a way that requires you to scroll. This way, it's more interactive for you. Enjoy.

So today was another one of those days where James, Gianni, and I didn't wake up until like 12:00, so half the day was wasted. The plan for tomorrow involves waking up, getting ready, and heading out by 8. I don't even do this for school anymore, so we'll see how that works out.

Today we drove to Playa del Carmen. James, Gianni and I sat in the backseat and quickly discovered that the middle seat had no seat belt. Godspeed, Jamesie. In all actuality, though, it was a smooth ride--that is, until Oppa didn't notice a speed bump on the highway. By the time he noticed, it was too late to slow down completely, so not only did we create a screeching, movie sound effect-worthy noise, but the three of us in the back bounced up and hit our heads against the ceiling. Good times.

We arrived at Playa del Carmen and wandered around in the sweltering heat for a million years, whlie Umma stopped at every other restaurant asking for conch. During this time, all of us except Halmony were tring to convince Umma to buy a Luchador mask (Mexican Wrestling Mask, Fig. 3A) to add to her mask collection. When I first suggested it, she said, "No, that's silly." We all then proceeded to accuse her of being racist and not appreciating the cultural activity that is Mexican wrestling. At some point, she tried to get help from Oppa by claiming that she wasn't allowed to shop, to which Oppa replied, "Oh no, you can go ahead." It was awesome. She still hasn't gotten one though, and I don't think she's going to. It's a pity because it would have looked great on James' face 24/7. One of the restaurants we walked by was right off the beach, so we got a nice beachy view (Fig. 3B)

After wandering, we came to the conclusion that we weren't going to find conch until we made it to Cozumel, so we ate at a place that had a bar with swings. I had shrimp tacos, Oppa had Pescado Mayan, Gianni had vegetarian quesadilla, James had fish sticks and marinated mushrooms, Uncle Brian had Chicken Mole, Halmony had fried calamari, and Umma had Chile Relenio, and we all shared a plate of nachos and guacamole*. It was good. We were happy (Fig. 3C)

Next, we went to Royal Haciendas, which was a little cheesy, but it had hammocks (Fig. 3D), so we were all content, except Oppa, who fell off his hammock. Umma, Oppa, and I decided to go swim in the beach (Fig. 3E). We were the only people there. No joke. A few minutes later, James decides to join us, and as he's wading into the water, Umma starts shouting so that he can see us and find us easier. I'm not kidding when I say we were the only people in the water, though. I drew a diagram with the help of MS Paint in order to relate to you how empty the beach was (Fig. 3F). True to form, our family has to be the loudest--and often, the only--people in sight.

I think we all got tired of the beach after a little bit, so we headed out. James, Umma, and Uncle Brian swam in the pool for awhile, and then we headed to the car and back to Cancun. I slept through most of the car ride, because I fall asleep anywhere/everywhere, but apparently I missed some woman cursing out some poor man who slowed down to get out of the way or the ambulance and then proceded to honk at the ambulance because it wouldn't get out of her way. I love Mexico and God help us all if we ever need a hospital. Awesome!

Then we went to downtown Cancun to do a little shopping and noticed, that although it was hopping with locals, there were no tourists in sight anywhere. As we drove by the local bar scene and shopping area, which is typically packed, again nothing but empty bars and restaurants and closed down businesses. Pretty sad how the swine flu scare has impacted the local area. Better for us though, less people and more to do.

We all thought pigs would fly before Cancun would be empty.......... O well Swine Flu ha ha ha! ;0)

Tomorrow, we're off to Cozumel in search of the ever elusive flamingos.
Until then,
Mia and Uncle Brian


Fig. 3A:

Fig. 3B:

Fig. 3C:


Fig. 3D:
Fig. 3E:

Fig. 3F**:
*This sentence is an homage to Alea's food blogging :)
**I tried to label everything in this picture, but the version that got posted is far too small to read. The black L is a chair, the red thing is an umbrella, and the little gray dots are people. The big one close to the shore is James, and the little ones farther out are Umma, Oppa, and me.