We had been planning this trip for years. Well not exactly all the details, but the concept. Ever since our first child @sevinwilson graduated from high school, we have had the tradition of taking our recent grad and a friend or three on a little adventure of sorts. For the first trip, we took Sevin and two of his best high school buds on a cruise to the Bahamas. This was a fun time for all, and of course had to be repeated, or at least matched by a trip for each of our subsequent kids (so 8 trips in all). So this is how we came to find ourselves on trip #6, ready to head to Playa del Carmel México with our third son and sixth child, Pace, along with two of his best high school friends, Josh and Barrett.
Everybody was super-excited. Pace had been to Playa del Carmen once before on a family vacation with Les (@sevinwilsonsdad),our other 7 kids (the oldest of which is @sevinwilson himself) and me; but a trip to Mexico at 8 is way different than at 18, if you know what I mean. Neither Josh nor Barrett had been there, so we were all prepared for some fun! Les and I had done a similar trip with our third grad, Season, along with her good friend Morgan (who is now Sevin’s girlfriend too!), our second child, Satori, and @sevinwilson. Usually siblings are not included as one of the “friends,” but Season and Satori had done a “trip-swap,” with a pre-arranged agreement for Season to be included in Satori’s Cruise the preceding year, in exchange for a spot on the next trip! Sevin was an add-on to keep the girls from getting “taken” as they ventured into the Mexican clubs like Coco-Bongo! Anyway, Les and I were feeling like seasoned veterans, and we knew Playa del Carmen was a safe place for the guys to roam down 5th Avenue by themselves, hang at the pool, walk on the beach, and hit the clubs without too much craziness.
What we were not really prepared for was the fact that the weather forecast was actually correct. It just so happened that México was being hit from all sides with storms, including a hurricane in the Pacific and a tropical storm in the Gulf. Yay! I mean it was never really scary weather, but it rained pretty much all day every day. Some of the time it did rain harder than others, as demonstrated by @sevinwilsonsdad, who was moonlighting as a weather reporter on the pool deck of our condo.
Honestly, the boys did not mind the rain at all. In fact, the majority of their days involved spending endless hours in the infinity pool, looking out at the empty beach.
Clearly, it helped to have had the condo pre-stocked with groceries, which included a generous supply of beer, wine, spirits, and mixers.
Even though we knew the supplies were waiting at the condo, we had our pre-arranged driver, Polo, stop at a convenience store for beverages to sustain us for the ride from Cancun to Playa del Carmen. Of course, each of the guys wanted to buy their own six-pack of beer, JUST BECAUSE THEY COULD!
Of course, though 18 is the legal drinking age in Mexico, the ability to see over the counter is a more widespread barometer of age than checking ID, so NOT getting carded was a bit of a letdown. Asi es la vida!
Our condo, Luna Encantada, was perfect. Loaded with food, snacks, drinks and such, three bedrooms, right by the pool overlooking the beach, in view of the ferry port that brings cruise passengers to the mainland from Cozumel, and just steps off of 5th Avenue, the main drag of shops, restaurants, clubs, and activity, we were set. Since we were tired from traveling, and it was raining, we set the guys free to roam and do what they do, while Les and I made ourselves at home, drank some vino, ate chips and salsa, and grilled tomato, queso and avocado sandwiches. After dinner we relaxed on the porch. This was when Les, being @sevinwilsonsdad, felt inclined to share the weather report with the world.
Though Les and I primarily wanted to get away with the guys, we knew they would be on their own a lot, leaving us to do what we wanted. While relaxing without too many obligations is always on the top of our vacation list, we do like to get out and do some active things, as well as immerse ourselves in the culture of our destination. So we managed to walk in the rain every day, talk to the locals with as much Spanish as possible, and even got a day pass to a local gym. Truthfully the gym was awesome, and the upbeat salsa music that was playing got us pumped!
We did get the guys out to a couple of authentic Mexican restaurants for lunch.
By far the coolest restaurant meal was at Axul, which was literally in a cave. We have caverns in North Florida, most notably Marianna Caverns state park. Well this cave was a lot like that, with stalactites and stalagmites and all. But interspersed were tables with white linen and fine china. Apparently, the cave is a national park but the restaurant owner got a special permit to run his restaurant from the park! There was a special room of the cave which was the wine cellar, and our server took us in there to pick our wines for the evening. After dinner we got a tour of the cave. There were little private areas along the path that you could reserve for special occasions. Even those 18 year old guys were scheming their proposals already! This place was amazing!
By the third rainy day, I was determined to find something different for us to do with the guys. I was pretty certain that after the cave dining experience, Which the guys actually followed with an all nighter at the all-inclusive club called Coco Bongo, everything else would be anti-climactic. Also, I really wanted to do an excursion to see some of the Mayan ruins, but the weather was not permitting! I googled “things to do in Playa Del Carmen on a rainy day.“ Several options came up, including the movies, but we were pretty sure they would all be in Spanish and we might go to sleep. We settled on a trip to a Mexican mall.
That May not sound too exciting, but it was truly a cultural experience. The fact that the mall had a casino sealed the deal for the guys. None of them had been in a casino before and so they got a little taste of gambling! I think they enjoyed it and all came out ahead, but I’m pretty sure they’re not addicted yet!
That evening, as we ate our bean dip, you could tell I had hit the bottom of the barrel of rainy day things to do. It’s way too long to bore you with, but I made a 4 minute video of flies doing it “on the fly!” I think I was becoming just one of the 18 year old guys!
Finally, on our last day, The rain slowed up enough to go to Tulum to see the ruins. Everybody agreed that the 45 minute cab ride there and back was worth the trip.
The sun came out on our last day as our driver, Polo, took us on our 45 minute drive to the Cancun airport. You know will be back!.
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This is awesome! We did not really get s chance to talk about the trip since we were both busy when you got back, but this sums it up perfectly! It looks like you all had a blast!!!!
We did! We will share trip stories when you get back from Key West. And maybe have a little a Father’s Day get together since we were in Mexico on the real day!!!!
Yes!! That all sounds like a good idea!!!
Let’s do it!
Ok!!!! Maybe Friday morning??
Sure!
@doctorvicki and @sevenwilsonsdad Ya'll are some cool parents! When you finally get all 8 graduation trips done you two should take a celebratory empty nester trip! lol.
How fun!!! Did the newborns Majesty and Divinity come along, or are they too young for international travel still?
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