Yucatan Mexico 1984

MEXICO

1984

For those of you just joining us, Wendy and I had just finished our pre-vacation in St. Petersburg and were now moving on to more advanced tortures in the Yucatan Penninsula.

We left St. Pete’s and landed in Miami lolling around till our next flight. Wendy asked me how big Merida was. Being the expert and having been there several times before, I replied authoritatively, "About the size of Napanee." We were both surprised when we flew over it as it’s as large as Toronto. We landed there and immediately rented a white Volkswagon. White Volkswagon’s are a natural camouflage of this country. Not surprisingly, the key wouldn’t work so we had to return for another one. I drove and navigated us to a small pharmacy for some precautionary Lomotil and suntan lotion for Wendy. The druggist laughed at me with a Mexican accent. I drove us 15 miles to the ruins of Dzibilchaltun. Unfortunately they closed two hours ago at 5:00. Wendy decided to take her turn at the standard beetle. Then it was my turn again.

The very first bus that ran us off the road, Wendy refused to drive anymore. She was always a fussy child. It was not as traumatic as Wendy makes it out to be. We were driving along when a large greyhound bus came barrelling towards us taking up all of it’s lane and half of ours. As the jungle grows right to the road with no shoulders, there was nowhere to go. Naturally, I kept one hand on the steering wheel but scooted myself over to the safety of the passenger side and drove while sitting on Wendy’s lap. The bus zoomed by with enough room to place a cigarette paper between our two vehicles. It was close enough that it created a vacuum which slammed the little triangular window shut and popped our ears. This worked to my advantage as I was unable to hear the winding down of Wendy’s screams.

I drove us within a mile of Chichenitza where we got a room at the Pyramid Inn…the same place Leif and I slept in my truck eight years ago while a vulture watched us swim in the pool. I guess I’m moving up. We got the usual amenities…one room, two beds, one cockroach. I would have been disappointed if the cockroach had not been there. After a fierce battle, I emerged victorious and tossed the cockroach carcass out the door. We walked downtown to a small restaurant where Wendy had her first taste of Mexican food. At first we were refused service as we were mistaken for Americans who are not always popular – something to do with one of the revolutions. Once we explained we were Canadian, all was well…relatively speaking. As Wendy nibbled on her Tortilla con Omelete, a large passenger bus lost control on the highway and headed right towards our adobe and stick restaurant. Wendy tossed her fork in the air and ran away screaming. No one else appeared to notice the bus, which miraculously regained control and continued on it’s way. Wendy returned. Between trembling mouthfuls of omelette she mumbled "I don’t think I like it here."

We went back to our air conditioned motel and checked out the pool. There was a very large hairy spider in the centre. Wendy said, "I’m not swimming with that thing." I replied, "Why? It’s dead. It’s not going to hurt you." Wendy decided to remove it from the pool first so she found a stick and gave it a prod. The spider seized this opportunity to come to life. It leapt on the stick and tried to run up her sleeve. Wendy was flailing her arms, leaping up and down yelling, "Jesus Christ!!" Years later, Jim Carrey plagerized Wendy’s antics during the bat episode in his movie "When Nature Calls". She is still mad at me to this day. Swimming over for the day, we returned to our room. It was so cold we actually turned off the air conditioning. This was a mistake. 4:00 a.m. turned out to be the hallucinating hour. Wendy woke me up screaming that she had a spider on her face. Seeing as how it was pitch black, I pointed out, "You can’t even see your hand in front of your face so how could you see a spider on your face." She finally saw the logic and went back to bed only to wake me an hour later to tell me that now her face was swollen. "It always looks like that" I said, rolled over and went back to sleep.

At 9:30, Spiderwoman and I sauntered over to the motel restaurant for a breakfast of Spanish French toast. It was the best I’d ever had. We left and drove to the ruins of Chichenitza. It was a million degrees in the shade. We paid our 20 pesos to get in. I bought a guide book for 750 pesos. As the two of us (Mr. & Mrs. Magoo) sauntered towards the main pyramid, we noticed a plethora of army jeeps, motorcycles, limousines and police cars. There seemed to be a lot of mysterious people hanging about in dark glasses. Suddenly, things started to happen. Jeeps and motorbikes were racing around, people were yelling at us to get back and then a group of soldiers began firing their rifles and guns at the motorcade. Wendy and I could be found crouched down behind some ancient rubble. "I really hate it here – can we go home now" said Wendy. Eventually some soldiers came over and explained that they were actors making a major movie called "Return of the Snake". Once that was sorted out we got to meet some of the actors who were quite friendly. One of them stuck a helmet on Wendy’s head and invited us back to Merida to his apartment. Actually, I don’t believe I was invited. We continued on with our exploration of the past while car chases and rifle shooting went on all around us…very much like it was 500 years ago during the heyday of the Mayans.


WENDY SURVEYS CHICHENITZA	WE BEGIN TO GET NERVOUS	TEMPLE OF THE BEARDED MAN


THE GRADUAL CLIMB UP	VIEW OF CENOTE FROM EL CASTILLO	EL CASTILLO FROM TEMPLE OF WARRIORS

It was so hot we planned our every move from coke stand to coke stand. We stayed from 10-4. At one point, Wendy was so tired after climbing El Castillo that she lay inside on the floor at the top. I was amazed, as Wendy hates bugs of all kinds and they were several crawling all over her. I mentioned this fact to her. She remained unmoved and seemed delirious as she replied, "I don’t really care." I finally enticed her back down telling her about the coke stand near the cenote less than half a mile away. We barely made it there before dying of thirst. I got us some cokes. Wendy was slouched over beside an open garbage can. Bees were swarming all around her. I pointed this out and suggested we move. Wendy said, "I don’t care – maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll be deathly allergic and they’ll sting me." If nothing else, Mexico mellows one out and teaches acceptance.


EL CARACOL, CHICHENITZA	WENDY JUST AFTER THE BEE EPISODE	TYPICAL DAY AT THE RUINS


MANY BATS IN HERE	WENDY THINKING OF BATS	THE BLACK SHEEP

I drove us to Cancun. Somewhere along the way we got lost. I was driving the top beetle speed of 94mph just so we could get a breeze, when the road ended with no warning. I cranked the steering wheel to the right and we managed to slide sideways to a stop just before hitting some jungle trees. This seemed to strengthen Wendy’s resolve not to drive. We retraced our tracks and finally ended up in Cancun. As we drove back and forth looking for a cheap hotel the 4 lanes merged into two (with no warning) as we went over a bridge and we almost had a head on collision with an oncoming car. It’s an interesting experience driving down here. We picked the Hotel Presidente Villa for \\$20 a night – each! Wendy is a bad influence on me when it comes to spending money. I’ll have to admit it was pretty nice. It had beds for 4 and a kitchenette. No cockroaches. I couldn’t believe it. I like things to remain the same. I don’t like change. We had avocados and steak in the hotel restaurant. We splurged but left a small tip – it’s expected of us…after all we’re Canadian. Went back to our room. The fan didn’t work. Another hot night. We tried to phone home but the phones were not working. My faith in Mexico was restored.


THE BEACH AT CANCUN	FIGHTING THE CROWDS FOR SPACE	ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE

Got up and went down to the beach. It was beautiful and deserted. The sand is pure white and you sink right in. We went swimming but had to be careful of the undertow as the waves were big enough to surf in. Later we swam in the pool and had drinks in the pool lounge which had underwater bar stools. We laid out in the sun for an hour then returned to our room and packed.


FIGHTING THE UNDERTOW	WENDY PEERS FROM HER LOFT

I drove us to Puerto Morelo where we had some not too great quesadillas. We checked a few hotels but passed on them. At Tulum we drove along a trail that was not really passable by car. It went along the beach and through some palm trees. Here I found what I thought was an excellent place to spend the night. There were several cabanas – round Mayan stick huts with thatched roofs and a piece of foam on a cement slab bed. You could see through the stick walls…and they only wanted \\$1.50 a night – Excellent! It was a dream come true for me. I’d stumbled on a gold mine. Unfortunately, Wendy had other plans and in her panicky state, made me drive away to check out real hotels. One we had to pass up as she mumbled, "the walls are dirty…but I’ll keep it in mind – at least it has walls."

Finally Wendy chose one at Akumal for 5700 P. The price astounded me but I felt much better once I found the customary cockroach. There was also a bonus bug which crawled out of Wendy’s packsack. It may have been a carrion bug. "Carry on my wayward bug" (a song by Kansas). I killed the cockroach three times – it kept pretending to die then would take off as soon as my back was turned. We had a supper of Aztec soup and shrimp cocktail at the local restaurant. Hanging around Wendy, I tend to feel like a rich tourist…if only my wallet matched her tastes. Later we walked to a small store which we learned later was off limits to the likes of us rich people. We bought their last coke for 25P – they are normally 60P. Every day we would check back but I think they kept them hidden as there was a tourist store across the road that they didn’t want to upset. We went back to our room which like the cabana’s, had a poured cement slab bed with a mattress but the price was a zillion times more. Here’s a tip for all you Yucatan travellers. Try not to kick your concrete bed with your shins.


OUR CEMENT SLAB BEDS	THE ALIEN AUTOPSY	FLOTSAM

Got up and went to the beach. It is much the same as at Cancun. Beautiful and deserted. It seemed exactly as Stephen’s had described it so many years ago in his book "Incidents of Travel". We walked to the next hotel and got a room there as it was cheaper. It was still being built and they pretended it was completely booked. We went swimming, then returned to our old hotel for more shrimp cocktails. We checked out and went to our new place. The bellhop had a pink shirt so we nicknamed him "Pinky." He insisted on carrying all our stuff and showing us to our room. We didn’t like the room so he toted everything to another one. We liked the first one better. He was fast becoming unamused with us. We gave him enough of a tip to buy ? of a coke. This motel is 6900 P. Wendy will be the death of my wallet. Earlier, she lost her glasses on the beach. Someone was kind enough to turn them in. Wendy seemed disappointed to get them back. I think it might have been her insurance plan against driving. Our sliding door had no lock so I rescued a stick from a woodpile and using my knife I whittled it into the shape of a bar and placed it on the base so it could not be opened. Someone has probably stolen my patent and is making many pesos as I type.

After we were settled in, we drove 10 miles to the ruins of Tulum. Wendy was impressed and said it was her favourite spot. The Caribbean Sea was at it’s best as we swam below El Castillo. We ate at the little fly restaurant where several years before Leif and I had been refused service as we smelled of burnt coconuts…don’t ask. There was a dog skulking around so Wendy fed him scraps while a cat under our table hissed at him and hunted for rats. We returned to our hotel and went for a night swim in the pool…but not before Wendy did a thorough check for tarantulas and sharks. Later we had avocados for supper in the motel restaurant which was a screened in porch right on the beach. While some restaurants have exotic animals, this one went overboard. They had two vultures in a cage sitting on a perch overlooking our table. It was a little unnerving to say the least.


RUINS AT TULUM	THE CLIFFS OF TULUM	WENDY RESTS IN THE PALM SHADE


WENDY SWIMS BELOW THE RUINS	EL CASTILLO, TULUM

Wendy couldn’t get the salt out of the shaker so she unscrewed the cap. Of course she neglected to tell me so that when my turn came the cap fell into my avocado along with several million grains of salt. "Now look what you’ve done" I said in irritation. Wendy was on a different plane and assumed I meant the mess. "I didn’t do that", she said. "I suppose the waiter did it then" I replied sarcastically. To even out the evening I meant to request a side order of guayavas which are a tasty little fruit. Unfortunately I asked for guayaveras which is a type of shirt. The waiter, although obliging, seemed puzzled. The beach was lit up with coal oil lanterns and surrounded by palm trees – once again Stephen’s description came to mind. We returned to our room with the unpleasant aftertaste of shirt.

Got up at 7:30. Wendy jumped in the pool. We were going to visit the ruins at Coba but Wendy refused to go as it was too hot. When I left she was standing in the pool up to her neck starting a book. During the 30 mile drive there, I saw zero cars (and only 2 on the way back). It was pretty jungley. I did see a family of anteaters, a million butterflies and some snakes. The ruins reminded me of Tikal. It was very hot and I walked about 6 miles visiting different areas. It rained once while I was at the top of one ruin. I watched two deadly green vipers fighting one another…probably over me. Very little is restored and there were no soft drink vendors inside so I only had one coke in three hours. I raced back to Akumal at 140kph. It was very hard to keep the beetle on the road with the unpredictable Yucatan winds but at least I had no worries about police.


AN ARTIST TAKES ON THE COBA RUINS	VIEW FROM NOHUCH MUL	THE RUINS AT COBA

Wendy was right where I’d left her although I noticed she was on her last chapter. I dragged her out of the pool and we had quesadillas and avocados for lunch. Then we went back to the pool to swim and tan for the rest of the day. Wendy must have had a touch of heat stroke as I was able to convince her to drive us to Chetumal for supper. Here we encountered a small crimp in our plans – they had no restaurant.

I ran into one of my friends from Coba. He wanted us to share a cabana with him. Wendy refused. He asked where we were staying. Wendy later told me that I turned bright red and hung my head in embarrassment before naming our hotel. We played with a crab on the beach then at 7:00 I finally talked Wendy into searching for the ruins of Xcaret. The dirt road was a ruin and it was pitch black. There is not much in the way of hydro in this area. "Let’s go back to the motel – we can’t see anything anyway", said Wendy. "We’re almost there" I said not knowing where we were at all. After two miles, the trail ended at a small Mayan hut. The door was open and our headlights lit up the family inside trying to eat their candle lit supper around a table. I paid for both of us insisting to Wendy that it was "my treat". Our hosts gave us directions by pointing randomly into the jungle. We felt our way along a path until Wendy finally said, "This is crazy, we can’t see a thing – I don’t want to fall into a cenote. I’m not going any farther." "All right" I said, "you wait here and I’ll go on ahead and have a look." I ran off before she could respond. The moon came out just before I stumbled into the cenote. There was a lagoon so I took some time exposures and checked out the ruins. Finally I retraced my steps and found Wendy who was slightly annoyed. "Where have you been – Something has been stalking me – I think it’s a wild pig! They still practice black magic down here don’t they! Get me out of here!" The babbling continued on our jog back to the car.

NIGHT TIME EXPOSURE AT THE BLUE LAGOON

We drove to the small fishing village of Playa Del Carmen and had a pizza. We were told that here was the only phone in 40 miles of any direction. Great! A phone finally. We were supposed to call our parents days ago. I inquired as to it’s whereabouts and we were led up a hill to a telephone pole. I was instructed for fifteen minutes how to crawl up the pole through a maze of wires, and to put two of the wires together while holding a handset and making sure that none of the other wires touched my body. The instructions became more complicated and even more dangerous. "Do you understand what you have to do?" I asked Wendy. Strangely enough, she had lost interest in making any phone calls tonight.

We had a club soda as that’s all they had. "I hate club soda" said Wendy between swallows. We went windowless shopping around the town. We entered a hut. I was trying to explain to the proprietor that I wanted to buy a Mexican flag. Everytime I raised my arms to show her how large I wanted it she would grab my arms and bring them back down to my sides. I was puzzled until Wendy finally pointed out a large fan that was turning a mile a minute just above my head. The people here are much shorter than I. We bought my mother a \\$6 U.S. blanket (and one for myself) and a $9 U.S. shirt for my father not unlike the one we had for supper last night.

We left, accidently speeding past a military installation. A machine gun festooned guard blew his whistle at us but we were gone. From what I understood later, speeding in military zones is an offence not tolerated and sometimes leads to gunplay. We got back to our popular resort where we have yet to see another occupant besides ourselves. I killed the token cockroach and we retired for the evening.

Got up at 7:30 and wandered over to our old hotel for breakfast. It was a buffet of flies on fruit, flies on bacon, flies on eggs and flies on orange juice. We sampled all and a coke then drove to Xelha where Pinky had urged us to go. We owe him a debt of gratitude. Without a doubt, it was the best place I had ever been swimming. It’s a giant series of lagoons that go on for miles with about 20 feet of crystal clear water and a base of pure white sand. The water temperature is perfect and it is also a fish sanctuary. True, there are some dangerous fish in there and crocodiles occasionally make their appearance…but at the time we were naﶥ and didn’t know any of this. Of course we suspected, as things are never as idyllic as they seem in Mexico. Before swimming we watched a giant grouper who was hiding in a cave adjoining the lagoon. We could look down through a hole in the rocks but whenever he saw us, he’d move out of sight.

There was no place to stash my cameras or Wendy’s purse, so we took turns swimming and looking after each other’s loot. It was 90 pesos to get in and we rented masks and snorkels. Pinky showed up and adjusted Wendy’s mask for her. There were multi-coloured fish which if you ventured too close would turn and chase you. They were only 6" long but we had no idea what they were so we swam for our lives. Swimming underwater between islands was like going through a cave. At one point, I swam ? mile away to the other side. As I neared the far wall I decided to swim the last 100’ underwater. As I neared where I thought the shore would be I spied a gray wall and thought "this is it". Then I realised, the wall was moving. Fear set in as I realised this was not a wall but a school of 9 fish the size of dolphins. To this day I don’t know if they were giant tuna or a species of shark. I did not hang around to do a comparison study. I was back to spell Wendy in no time at all. "You should go see the fish out where I was", I told Wendy as she slipped into the lagoon. I watched Wendy’s blue snorkel pass between two islands heading in the general direction of where I just came from. Suddenly her head shot up and the serene calm was broken by a single yell "Jesus Christ!!" Apparently she had spotted my fish. It is interesting to note that with wide flippers and enough adrenalin, one can actually walk on the water, although it is more of a lumbering run. "Pretty big fish, aren’t they? Hey, where are you going?" I said as Wendy began dressing. She paused long enough to conk me over the head with her purse full of pesos. I returned our gear and caught up to my disgruntled sister at the car. "We’ve got just enough time to go to the Akumal Tiger Cave. Pinky gave me directions." Until that time, I had never heard the word "Yippee" uttered with such a lack of enthusiasm. "What are you going to do to me there…use me for tiger bait?" Wendy’s sarcasm always makes me chuckle.


XELHA LAGOON	THE GIANT GROUPER	WENDY PREPARES TO SNORKEL

No one in the area seemed to have heard of the Tiger Cave although it was marked on my map. It turned out to be another beautiful lagoon and I did stumble on some small ruins off in the bush. There were no paths and no people. We decided not to swim as that would have been anticlimactic. We returned to our hotel and had the usual avocados and shrimp cocktails. Wendy was tired and I noticed that whenever she slumped down in her chair, the two caged vultures would renew their interest in her. Back at our room we read our books and went to bed. "Wasn’t that fun today?" I said as I turned out the light but I think Wendy was already asleep as there was no reply.

Got up and placed a towel on the floor then emptied all my camera equipment on it and worked for an hour cleaning them. I had just finished when the maid whipped open the door and disregarding me, swept her dust pile onto my equipment. I started over. Wendy and I packed and loaded the car. Just walking the 100 feet to the lot was taxing it was so hot. It tired Wendy out enough that she retired to her spot at the deep end of the pool and read her book till noon. We paid our bill, leaving Pinky our address just in case he made enough in tips to pop up to Ontario some day.

A few short miles into our journey we spotted a truck upside down off the road in the jungle. I was in awe as it was actually hung up in the top of a tree. A Mayan was by the side of the road wearing a blood splattered shirt and flagging us down. Although I had not mentioned this to Wendy for fear of alarming her even more than usual, I had recently read that the Vanilla Road was an area full of bandits and they had many tricks to try on unsuspecting tourists. The government in its wisdom, released convicts (known as Chicleros) into the area on a work program. Here they used their machetes to cut chicle from trees which are sold as the main ingredient in gum. Unfortunately, some preferred hacking tourists rather than gum.

I zoomed on by pulling over when I was 500’ past. "What are you doing" asked Wendy. "Why didn’t you stop". "I was suspicious it might be some kind of ploy" I replied as the limping victim began his trek to our car. "Why…do you think he had a crane place his truck up in a tree, then splatter himself with fake blood…to do what…sell us some bananas?!" Our squabbling was interrupted by a meek tapping at the window. I rolled the window down half an inch keeping a wary eye. I waved him away and said we would be right with him. Wendy and I continued our discussion. There was another tap on the window, "por favor, senor." "Oh, for Pete’s sake" I said. "All right!" I interrogated him through my slit until I was satisfied he meant no harm, then offered him a ride to the hospital. He declined the offer saying the equivalent of "never mind" as he shook his head, and holding his stomach, stumbled back to his tree/truck. It’s a mystery why he flagged us down. Perhaps he thought he’d rather take his chances with internal bleeding than with us. Maybe he’d read a similar book on how tourists take advantage of Mayan bandits. We set off and Wendy finally made me reveal the reason I was reluctant to stop. She paled and didn’t speak for the next hour. It was quite pleasant.

Near Tulum we stopped for gas. The proprietor’s wife had several exotic animals. Wendy said, "Would you ask if I can pet his wife’s monkey". I decided it would be an unwise course of action to attempt that translation. Wendy eventually set off on her own and was able to get her way through the use of hand gestures.

From there we went on to Valladolid where we bought the usual tourist junk. While walking around we discovered a cenote in the centre of the town square. It was excellent. It had approximately 200’ cliffs with algae covered water. We followed some stone steps downwards and through a cave. Little kids were diving off the cliffs and fishing. One little boy was carrying a tray full of goodies. Wendy, having a relapse and thinking she was at Marineland, asked if that was fish food she could buy to feed the fish. He was upset and said they were cookies his mother had made. Then, of course, we had to buy some from him. Wendy retreated from her faux pas. We left there.


WENDY HUGS THE WALLS	VALLADOLID CENOTE	LOOKING OUT FROM CAVE

By then I had the cenote bug and spotted a sign for another one five miles down a dusty trail. Darkness fell just as we arrived. I had to bribe the gatekeeper with fish food cookies to let us in. Wendy followed reluctantly behind me as I felt my way along a path. When I nearly walked off the edge of a cliff Wendy had enough and said, "This is ridiculous – why am I following you around in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere…I’m heading back to the car." She would have gone too, if I hadn’t pointed out that she didn’t know how to get back. Suddenly I stumbled down some stairs that led into a cave. "Come on", I said. We rounded a corner in the pitch black cave and suddenly there we were in an electrically lit cavern. It was beautiful with stalagmites and stalagtites everywhere enhanced by different coloured floodlights. I left Wendy standing by the underground pool and set off in a hydroless area hoping to see more. As I felt my way along in the blackness, my feet suddenly shot out from under me and I found myself dangling in midair…the only thing holding me was my camera strap which caught on a rocky projection. "Help me, I’m falling!" I yelled to Wendy. I could faintly hear her sympathetic voice from the next cavern, "Forget it – I’m not going in there." I could see that my future rested entirely on myself. Hoping my strap wouldn’t let go, I pivoted myself around until I was able to get hold of what I hoped would be a sturdy stalagmite. I crawled back onto my ledge and rested for a while then headed back. "What kept you?" asked Wendy. The owner appeared out of nowhere and told me I should stay away from that area mentioning something about bottomless pits. I asked if we could swim in the cave and he nodded his head. Wendy seemed reluctant to swim in a cave at night so I went in alone. It seemed every time I swam past the area cordoned off with rope, the owner would flap his hands and spew forth some rapid Mexican which I couldn’t make out. Eventually Wendy became annoyed with me and yelled, "I can’t speak Spanish but even I know he doesn’t want you to swim in that area." Later he told me that that section of the pool was still under exploration and the bottom had yet to be found. We left the caverns of darkness.

At Merida, I got us lost. We ended up staying in a very ritzi hotel. Wendy wasn’t feeling well so I went to the restaurant alone. It was in a courtyard filled with mature jungle trees lit by candles. Very spooky. I had a grilled cheese and a coke and brought the same back for Wendy. She declined. Our room even had a tv. We watched Magnum in Spanish. It was amusing – they gave Tom Selleck a more manly voice. "Isn’t this great" I said as I munched on Wendy’s sandwich. Went to sleep to the gentle moaning of Wendy. I have no idea where we are in Merida and worse than that, no idea where the airport is.

Got up at 6:00 a.m. and packed. We set out for the airport asking directions as we went. Everyone pointed us in a different direction and it was only by driving around the whole city that we accidentally stumbled onto the airport. I had to pay \\$3000 pesos for our car rental by Mastercard as the money changing booth had not yet opened. Our car was thoroughly checked over. There was a problem when the jack could not be found and they wanted to charge us for it. I finally discovered it wedged into an area where they are probably still working trying to extract it. This was no doubt caused by "vibradores" which are the Mexican version of speed bumps. They are strategically placed rounded rocks embedded into the highway where you least expect it. Our plane was 2 hours late so we amused ourselves by spending every last cent we had on chocolate bars. If you have never had a Mexican chocolate bar, count yourself lucky. They are quite different as sugar is not well-refined down south. We departed on our plane with absolutely no money. There was a stop-off in Cozumel where we learned that we owed departure tax. Fortunately they accepted traveller’s cheques.

WENDY APPEARS TO BE IN A HURRY TO LEAVE

At Miami it was pouring rain as we disembarked, but this did not deter Wendy from kissing the ground and shouting gleefully, "I’m alive, I’m alive!!!" We phoned our Uncle Paul who invited us to spend the night at their place in Fort Lauderdale. We took a limo there for \\$10 each. We paid by traveller’s cheques again so the poor driver got no tip. We didn’t feel sorry for him as he had been complaining all the way about how poorly Canadian’s tip. We didn’t want to let our countrymen down. We had supper with the Brownings. Wendy made them nervous by telling them tales of the cockroaches we’d seen. Aunt Sandy made us leave our bags and clothes outside. As she said while spraying an antiseptic mist around us, "I’m sure you’ll be much more comfortable in our clothes once you’ve had a shower." We watched tv all night and slept on the sofa.

Got up and played trivia with cousin Kelly then cousin Chris picked us up and the 4 of us went out for lunch. We had a good time, although Kelly wasn’t amused when the waitress brought her the kiddies menu. Back at the condo we laid out and swam by the pool all afternoon. At one point, Wendy sprang from her chair yelling, "I’ve got to go" and sprinted towards the bathroom. I had never seen her run that fast before. To this day she has never really recovered. Years later she discovered that she was infected with some kind of bug which damaged her immune system. She now has life-threatening heart problems, unaccountable fainting spells and a team of doctors who are still puzzling over her case. It’s all very amusing when you think of it…but that’s another story.

After some home made cookies, Chris drove us to the airport where we had an uneventful flight to Syracuse. We had talked to our mother earlier who said she would meet us there with two friends, Lloyd and possibly Bonnie. The two of us placed a bet as to whether Bonnie would be there. I said she would and put a Mexican chocolate bar on it. Apparently we were quite dark as none of our greeters recognised us as we walked right by. Lloyd was not amused as we were both darker than his Pakistanian complexion. I ran over and gave Bonnie a big hug yelling, "Thank you…I won, I won!!" Later as I ate my reward, with Wendy sneering in the background, I wondered who had really won.