Wrap up of Mexico Trip

 We arrived home on Dec 4th.

My tablet failed on the Tuesday (Nov 28th) and updating the blog was difficult. I had made "notes" on the iphone and uploaded for the family to read but nothing posted here.

We did some more planning and updating regarding Mom's passing (via text).

The final day with family (Wed Nov 29th) went smoothly and the afternoon return trip to the airport went off without a hitch. After the family left to go through airport security Hector, Tete, and Ruben (there to say good bye as well)  and ourselves went back to Hector's place. We heard later that Nathan had food poisoning and the plane ride back was horrible for him. 

Our four full days in Puerto Morelos were very nice with a couple of trips and meals at the local beach; a trip to Chichen Itza which went well, until on the way back we realized we were going to run out of gas on the highway. According to the vehicle gas monitoring we made it back to Valladolid (where we had supper) with ONE kilometre of gas left in tank!

We also took a trip over to Cozumel, and after a ferry ride to the island we rented a car for a few hours to tour around.

We had a day trip to Cancun and Hector drove us around the hotel zone. Huge!

Hector has a new Ford Territory SUV with most of the bells and whistles. I loved the navigation system!

We had a wonderful time in those four days and on Monday Dec 4th it was our turn to return to the airport. Our flight was delayed by an hour and came close to not going at all as the plane had issues. We arrived home at midnight with Lisa picking us up. Thank you Lisa!

Monday

 After going back and forth about heading back home early to help out the family dealing with the loss of Mom, Caro and decided to stay until our scheduled return on Dec 4th. Pat and Dad had told us there was no reason to come back anyway.

We had a typical day at the beach and pool with family members coming and going as they wished.

Tonight Mike's family, Lisa, Caro and I went to the Mexican specialty restaurant. 

The meal was pretty good.

Caro and I walked back  via the beachfront walk; probably a kilometer-this is huge resort and honestly tòo big

And good news from Vanessa

For the Record Sunday Nov 26/2023

 Today started off like any other day here at resort with beach and pool as needed.

At 2 PM I called Dad to ask how he was doing.Turns out Mom went into hospital yesterday and Dad didn't have an update for me. I contacted Pat and Sam with Pat Facetiming from the hospital.

It is obvious Mom was in very poor condition and the outlook was  grim.

We had a previously scheduled family meal together at the Japanese specialty restaurant. 

Pat Facetimed me again with more grim news and some time later  with another FaceTime session from the hospital we called the kids into the room and with Pat placing the phone near Mom's ear they all said some words to their grandma.

Mom died shortly after 10 PM eastern time (Cancun time), We were on FaceTime when the doctor pronounced Mom's passing.

Huge thanks to Pat and her family for holding the camera and allowing everybody at our end to witness our communal loss.

Saturday

 Today we waited for Ruben,Tete and Hector to come (Lisa had gifted them the day pass for resort entry).

Because of the large amount of people here at the resort I knew that standing in line at 0900 for catamaran sailing reservations would be necessary so off I  went. Meanwhile Lisa grabbed seven beach chairs and placed them in our usual area. There would be someone from the family there throughout the day to make sure nothing happened to our stuff. We haven't heard of, or seen anything to indicate a beach theft, or "reallocation " of beach chairs however with so many people in our group today I didn't want to take any chances as we would need them all.

The day passed in typical fashion with kids and grandkids coming and going as beach time, hunger, and nap requirements changed priorities.

I was watching and hoping for a bit of wind to occur and by 1600 there were whispers of wind so Caro, Hector and Ruben went,

 

Overall the sail was a bust. Bad luck : (

Later, most of us were  together at the pool. I really enjoyed my time there ( I think I have only been in the ocean once this trip).

Hector drove Vanessa,Michelle and Lisa to the nearby Chedraui store for various medicines for all the kids and ,snacks/ noodle cups  for Vanessa (she is having problems finding food she likes right now because of her pregnancy), 

After a very late buffet meal with the just us "oldies" we said "good bye" for now until we see them next Wednesday

The kids had a game of tile rummy going on in our room upon our return so that was nice to see.

Beach day again

 After a great sleep last night I got up and went first thing to book an afternoon catamaran time slot. Upon returning to our beach area I found three  unclaimed beach chairs and a prime spot on the beach for the family so miracle of miracles the wifi was strong enough for me to send out a text to all the family,  It wasn't long before all the family showed up.

After a couple hours on the beach various families/adults went for lunch before we all headed back to our rooms for quiet time,

In mid afternoon Vanessa, Nathan and I went for a sail with Caro staying behind looking after Beckett,

Hannah and Will are still suffering with heatstroke/colds so Caro and Lisa were helping Mike and Michelle as needed,

(Random photo of stunning Beach at this resort)

For supper Lisa, Caro and I headed to the seafood restaurant. It was good but we enjoyed last night's better.

After supper we spent some time at the pool with Vanessa and family before coming back to the room for tile rummy (Lisa, Vanessa, Mike,Nathan, Caro and I all playing at various times)

A Great day in Paradise

 Today,we spent the morning on the beach. The routine seems to be, beach in the morning, followed later in the afternoon by pool time.

First thing this morning (at 0520) Caro was texted by Mike asking if she could take Rachie, which of course Caro did. Mike's family is getting very shortchanged on sleep because our little monkey is FULL OF NON STOP ENERGY. Apparently they walked , and walked, and walked. I have to take Caro's word for it as I stayed in bed and went back to sleep!

After a breakfast with some of the family a spot was found on the beach where the next two ish hours were spent with everyone except me enjoying the ocean and lounge chairs. I, instead, went walkiing to the far end of the Barcelo resort grounds to see what there was to see.  Lots of beach and other Barcelo hotels!

After some time had gone by Mike,Michelle and I went to the water sports area where we went sailing on a small catamaran boat ( with a Barcelo employee doing the sailing for us). I had previously booked the time slot with the only cost being a tip to the captain for taking us out.

Mike's kids were with Caro and Lisa for a good chunk of the afternoon. Due to the overwhelmed wi-fi our ability to communicate by texting was extremely limited. I believe that the hotel is very full due to a lot of Americans coming down here on their Thanksgiving break. Anyway we eventually caught up with each other at the pool near our rooms.

Supper tonight was at the specialty Brazil restaurant (which was really a pasta and  steak house). The food was amazing and service great. All of us made it there with Nathan being a real trooper as he is suffering through a cold. 

Look at the size of my ribeye steak!

After supper we settled down in our rooms for a bit before Caro,Lisa,Vanessa and I walked to the Maya Market (the Barcelo shopping center). It was a nice walk, enjoying the beautiful evening breeze and wonderful 25 degree night time temperatures.

Another awesome day!!

Wednesday in Porto Morelos

 I had a lousy night but was able to sleep in until about 0715. Caro stated that she ws up at 0500 and went to watch the sunrise at 0600.

Our transportation picked us up at 0900 (same Sprinter type van with driver as picked us up at airport last Sunday night)

The drive to Puerto Morelos took quite a while with lots of traffic and some occasional flow stoppages.

We got to Hector's place and met with Hector,Tete and Ruben. Some of the family went shopping while the others stayed behind just chatting.

Upon returning from shopping we were happy to see Mirna (Hector's girlfriend)

Fernando,Edu and Fercho then arrived from Play del Carmen where they are vacationing.

Hector had arranged  for a taco food truck to bring over and prepare a complete taco meal. Everyone loved the food with Nathan and the grandkids enjoying this type of traditional Mexican Fiesta for the first time,

Afterwards Fercho toòk Mike and family to the local beach for a break from the busy family goings on.

While they were gone Vanessa noticed some monkees in the trees nearby. I got a nice photo,

Just before our return ride showed up we snapped a few photos of the family. Unfortunately there is a reflection in the photo but that is the best shot there is.

Tuesday, Mexican family arrives.

 Today was a special day for us as Hector,Tete and Ruben came to visit. It cost them $US 125 each (!!!) for a day pass. Holy Cow!

We passed the day either in the pool or at the ocean. The heat got to various people at times but all in all it was a great day

At 1700 hours we had a photographer booked for family photos which were taken either at the beach or at a scenic building  on site.

We were able to take some photos with our iphones however the photo of the family group will have to wait until we buy one from the photographer

Most of the family were able to make supper (Nathan and Beckett down for the count).

We sat around the buffet table for almost two hours and then carried on our conversations in our room with Lisa and Vanessa joining us.

Around 2130 we walked the guests back to Hector's car in the parking lot. Tomorrow we are going to see them in Puerto Morelos at Hector's house.

Monday First day at Resort

 Today was a day of discovery as we all looked around the resort with the grandkids enjoying various pools and the ocean.

All the kids had too much excitement and heat at various times and needed naps, or time away from everyone else. Considering the long day yesterday and the long,hot day today they were really good!

Meals were more or less spent together at buffets ; there are three here serving different types of foods and open at different times of the day,

Lisa and I watched Monday night football in her room while Caro, Vanessa,Nathan and Michelle went to the 2130 show. Lisa and I had the monitor for Beckett. Mike crashed with his kids. Honestly we are all tired.

First photo is from yesterday on the plane

The resort is stunning and we will have a wonderful time here I am sure

Cancun Nov 19/2023

 For several months we have been planning for our whole family to come to Cancun. Michelle selected Barcelo Maya Palace near Tulum ( a five star kid friendly resort).

We all came down on the same Westjet flight, direct from Edmonton and at about 5:45 PM local time we were on the ground.

After quite a bit of waiting everyone retrieved their luggage and so we went to the appropriate location to get our private transportation. Before leaving the area we asked the driver to please take us to another part of the airport where Hector,Tete and Ruben were waiting to be introduced to Nathan and all the grandkids (they had met the rest of our kids on other trips).

After lots of hugs and kisses we said our temporary goodbyes and were off to the resort.

First impressions are WOW! What a place! We are in the section that allows us access to all of the  various hotels,restaraunts and facilities. The people in the other sections cannot come to our area (apparently).

We arrived quite late so with everyone quite hungry (and getting very tired) so we quickly found the buffet.

After that it was lights out for everyone!

 

Home Again

 Sunday night

We were up about 8 AM and lazed around for a while before going to the motel continental breakfast.

Shortly before 10 AM we went to the Remington Carriage Museum. After spending two enjoyable hours there we gassed up and left town at noon. I forgot to take photos so snagged this one off the net.

We drove through beautiful pasture lands (Blood Reserve) and continued until Nanton where we stopped at Tim Horton's for lunch (yummy new menu items!).

We drove through Calgary using Deerfoot Trail (very quick as it is Sunday) with our next stop at about 3:40 PM  at Veronica and Serge's place, "just for a coffee break". Two hours (plus) later after being fed another meal by Veronica we were on our way!

Caro drove the remainder of the way home with us pulling into the driveway at 8:20 PM.

Waterton Park

 After a great night in Pincher Creek we ate our breakfast at A+W and by 10 AM we were in Waterton Park. I had forgotten to bring my park pass however the fellow at the park gate said I could keep today's paid receipt and within thirty days take it to another national park office where, along with my yearly park pass, show today's receipt and get reimbursed. Excellent!

Today was stunningly beautiful and according to a guide we had later on in the day this weather was exceptionally good. 

We started our hiking by heading up to Cameron Lake where we walked the west side as far as we could before the trail ended. It was beautiful.

This was a 3.4 km round trip hike over rooted dirt path with occasional muddy spots to deal with.

From the parking lot there we also completed a 1 km round trip hike to Akamina Lake.

On the drive back to town we took the opportunity to stop and read the information on Western Canada's first commercially viable oil well. Really interesting.

At Waterton town site we had a snack type lunch and then headed over to the marina to catch the 2 PM boat trip on the big lake; we had purchased these tickets earlier in the day which was probably a good thing as even though the town itself is not crowded the boat seemed quite full. We were just able to get seats on the top (open) deck.

After a beautiful blue sky, nice temperature, and some great guide commentary our one hour, 15 minute boat tour ended and we were back in town.

More hiking followed at Cameron Falls in town followed by walking around just viewing things,

Tonight we had a great supper and are in Cardston enjoying a bottle of bubbly (courtesy of Mike and Michelle).

The drives in this part of the province are simply the best! We love all the beautiful vistas and endless changes of scenery. An example (taken this morning) gives an idea but the photo simply cannot do the scenery justice!

It seems like,time and time again, we have a great day when travelling.

Another Road Trip

 We left town about 9:15,heading to the south of the province.

Caro drove to Olds at which point we gassed up, ate lunch at Tim Horton/Wendy's and I took over.

We had decided to drive southward down highway 22 which is slower but the scenery is beautiful.

While going though Black Diamond I missed the turn to continue on highway 22. It turned out for the best as at Okotoks  we saw the glacier erratic rock (I haven't seen that in decades). Another missed turnoff and we ended up on highway 2A to High River which was interesting as we went by a huge series of solar panels near the Cargill facility.

We finally got to our main stop of the day at 1600 hours. Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump was really good. I remember being there many years ago however my memories of it were faint therefore today was like seeing it for the first time again. We had one hour to visit before closing time and that turned out to be pretty much all we needed.

Upon leaving the Jump site we headed directly west (and later south) on a secondary highway that was mostly gravel (but not bad to drive on). We ended up going through a shower or two before entering an area FULL of power producing wind turbines. COOL!!

Our stop for the night was Pincher Creek. I hadn't really checked prices ahead of time so we were very surprised to see $250/night costs. Caro suggested we try a motel that looked "OK" but wasn't on Hotels.com or Booking.com. The sign on the counter inside the office said "no vacancy" however we hit the jackpot as a guest had just cancelled a minute before so we got the room at a very reasonable rate of $118. The room is perfect for us tonight.

We ate at the Chinese food place we had eaten at many years ago and had LOVED then. There was no difference with this visit. The place was packed and it was buffet night with a wonderful selection. OMG, another spectacular meal at the Bright Pearl!

Caro remembers us camping at the local campground.We drove around but I remember nothing. Caro remembered the laundry/office building. The place is pretty run down now.

A great day today!

Peace River to home

We left Peace River at 0930.

The fields of canola were stunningly beautiful with mile after mile of yellow.

First stop of the day was Winagami Lake Provincial Park. where I was able to point out to Caro various locations of some memories I had. Really though, it was was so long ago (almost 50 years) that things have changed quite a bit.

Next was a drive by of the farming area where Glen Buchta lived while we were in high school. The farmhouse is gone and it was impossible to tell exactly where it had been.

High Prairie was next on my list. We drove around town quite a bit as I showed Caro where many of the stories that Glen Buchta and I talk about (when we are all together) occurred.

It used to be a red colour (if I remember properly)

The school is still there as well

I think we probably spent somewhere around an hour driving around town talking about some of my memories.

In early afternoon went to Grouard. I wanted to show Caro the bridge where I caught a huge jack fish in about 1974. I don't recall ever being in the town itself so we drove through it. The 120 year old church had been burned by arsonists earlier in the year and as of the day I write this (July 10/2023) two middle aged men from High Prairie are due in court for this offense.

The drive back home seemed long. I was very surprised how prosperous Slave Lake has become. There is a very large shopping district on the highway across from town. 

We popped into Edmonton to Costco to pick up some items before stopping at a Five Guys burger place for our last vacation meal before heading home.

Grand Cache to Peace River

 After a hotel supplied breakfast we started our planned hiking. We got to the first trail head of an interesting hike to a couple of waterfalls but there was no real parking (that we felt comfortable with ) so we ended up going back to the Sulphur Gates area where we were last night. This time we headed out on a rocky trail down along side the Smokey River. We followed a tiny creek off the main trail where the following photo was taken.

After this we headed back into town to walk some of the local in-town trails. One trail had a magnificent view. Just behind where I took this photo is a home with a large second story balcony. I mentioned to the home owner that he had a million dollar view and he agreed.

We were on the highway north bound around noon. After a quick stop in Grande Prairie we continued up to Dunvegan Crossing. This was a great stop as we took a tour at the Provincial Park there. Very informative and well worth the time. We got there quite late so although we could have easily spent more time looking around we had to carry on.

We got to our planned stopping point of Peace River where, due to fire evacuee's being lodged in our preferred hotels up on the top the river bank we ended up downtown in a less desirable motel location.

Interestingly Caro decided to take a walk to a park area near by so I sat in a chair in the open doorway of our room so I could hear if Caro was having any "issues" with anyone. She ended up coming back relatively quickly due to some unsavory characters lurking around. As I watched her walking back towards our room a 30-35 year old lady came up and asked if she could come inside my room to have a "chat". Hmmm- I don't think so! Just then Caro showed up so the lady started talking to her about the scenery in the area.

Our motel had a restaurant in it so I had Chinese food (AWESOME) and Caro had liver and onions (just plain "yuck" in my opinion!).

Grande Cache road trip

 It was time for a road trip so we decided to do a trip, starting at Grande Cache (we had never been there before).

Caro drove to Edson where we gassed up. After a further stop in Hinton I took over driving.

We had a very nice 4 hour drive and were looking forward to doing some hiking in the area. About ten minutes before arriving in Grande Cache (somewhere around 3:30 PM) the clouds opened up and a major rain storm hit.

We went first to the wonderful (highly recommended) tourist information centre. It had some great information of the area as well as some wonderful exhibits of taxidermy. I particularly loved this painting.

Because of the rain we checked into our hotel; waited an hour for the rain to stop, then headed a short ways out of town to the top attraction in the area called Sulphur Gates. This viewpoint is located high above the joining of two rivers. It really is beautiful

Supper was at a recommended Chinese food restaurant. Yummy!

Due to rain showers all around town we decided to stay in our room for the evening.

South America wrap up

 We were up at 0400 and after a small snack we were on the hotel shuttle at 0530.

Our Air Canada check in went smoothly. We usually use the airport check-in individual screens except this time we chatted with a check-in lady. For us there doesn't seem to be any advantage to checking in any earlier than this (i.e we don't find using 24 hours ahead with the app gets us better seats or anything). We usually use carry on only baggage which means (in most places) we can just check in at the machine, print off paper boarding passes and then going straight to security. I have found that if the machine doesn't want to see ID then the airline will need to verify it. This happened to some people in Bogota ( in the boarding gate area Air Canada called them up to confirm ID)

The immigration check out was an funny experience. We had noticed that there were two lines for immigration with one line not being able to see the other. Naturally we took the shorter line and it wasn't until we had shuffled up to the immigration room entry door that we realized we were in the line for Colombians.  Oops! No one had said anything to us (and we had our Canadian passports clearly visible). It was a lucky break for us as the other line was being held up by some security as our line proceeded into the immigration area.

Immigration and security took only 35 minutes and by 0640 we were at the boarding gate waiting for our 0900 flight.

The flight left a few minutes late.

We had some beautiful views (especially the Bahamas!)

The flight to Montreal was smooth and I saw a lot of the east coast of United States before we landed.

Immigration and customs was very efficient (especially as we used machines to enter the country and declare any purchases). We had a quick couple of questions with an officer and then we were officially home!

Security wasn't perfectly smooth but not too bad.

After a few hours wait we were on the plane and on our way home. Lisa picked us up at 10:30 PM.

Final day in Bogota

 Today we skipped breakfast, caught a taxi and went to the famous Funicular Monserrate here in Bogota. We knew we had to be early because the ride (and view) up the mountain is extremely popular and line-ups of two hours or more happens.

We were there before 10 AM and were riding the Funicular train in a couple of minutes.

The view at the top is wonderful.

The first photo is a panorama photo  of Bogota while the second is a close-up of the downtown area.

While up the mountain we ate a light breakfast at a neat little cafe. We sat outside in the nice crisp mountain air. The view of the city below was obscured by trees however that was very nice too!

The following photo is the opposite direction from the city view.

We went back down the mountain shortly after 11 AM and once down we walked to the Candelaria part of the city. This is the old part and contains the central plaza, government buildings and MANY people going on their daily lives.

We walked for quite a while exploring the old streets, venturing into churches etc.

The high-light of this area is a world class museum, El Museo de Oro ( the Gold Museum). This museum is world class for a reason! It contains a vast selection of gold and other metal ornaments crafted by the indigenous people here over the last 2000-2500 years. There were SO many photos I could have taken. Below is a selection.

We were getting tired after all that walking so we found a restaurant downtown and had a beer while sharing a meal of fried fish ( with rice etc.)

We had a mad man taxi driver getting back. How we didn't get into fender benders or cause an accident is a tribute to how well the driver knows the length of his car ( and how many centimetres he is away from other vehicles) and the fact that it seems everyone is half nuts on the streets. The motorcycles all drive between cars making three lanes of traffic where only two lanes exist.

Tonight at 7 PM we have reserved 2 spots (out of four available ) for an hour long visit to the hot tub. Hopefully we will be alone ( but I doubt it).

Tomorrow we are supposed to be at the airport at 0500. 

Bogota

 Our ride picked us up at 0530, right on schedule. We saw only a couple of taxis and later on in the morning Caro overhead a fellow passenger commenting on how difficult it was to get to the Airport.

Once inside the terminal I grabbed a couple of seats at a coffee bar table while Caro went to get us  something to drink and eat for our breakfast.

We weren't at that table more than a couple of minutes before Caro wanted to move as she could faintly smell vomit there ( I was completely oblivious to the smell).

A short time later we were through security (very fast and efficient) and once we were at the boarding gate we waited three hours for our flight.

We took off on time and once airborne we got a nice view of the city. Unfortunately I didn't get a super photo but in the photo below you can see the tall buildings on the left side.

An hour later we were coming in to Bogota and I got this photo of the MANY greenhouses in the area.

 

Thee were lots of taxis at the airport and we took one to our hotel.

We were three hours early for check-in so we went to the hotel restaurant buffet lunch which was pretty good ( and very popular by the amount of people there).

We checked with the front desk and they said the taxi disruption that we experienced in Cartagena was actually nation wide. The desk people weren't really sure if there continued to be any problems with traffic (or taxi's) in the downtown (there were still lots of traffic police on the main road in front of the hotel) so we decided to stick around here until the morning at which time we will check again.

We walked a couple of kilometres to a new shopping mall where we checked out all three levels of shops. 

We were back at 3 PM for check-in ( and picking up our luggage which was in hotel safe storage).

We didn't do much but relax in our room after that.

Final night in Cartagena

 The hotel provided breakfast was simple but tasty.

We had a 10 AM walking tour so at about 9 AM started meandering our way through the streets in this area. 

After some initial confusion getting together with tour guide we headed out.

Our two hour walk around the old city was super interesting learning many interesting facts and the history of the old city.

There was another tour we could take at 1 PM so we had an hour to eat something. We lucked out and found a nice place that shortly after we got there became completely full (and it was a big place). It was a delicious meal at good prices.

Our 1 PM tour turned out to be one that stopped at numerous hotels to pick up more people. It took a long time to do so but we got to see a lot of the area south of us where all the big buildings are.

We stopped at a photo op location where a couple of large shoes sculptures are. Apparently it is a "must see" spot as there was a line up with everyone taking photos. I took a photo of Caro there.

I wanted to see the fort and was very happy when we spent an hour touring it. There were some great views.

Here is a view of the skyline.

Having major trouble with tablet. This photo is out of order. It is looking up at the fort.

Had a nice meal at a local Italian place near here.

Got back to the hotel and found out that tomorrow there will be NO Taxi service at all. Oh SH_T!!!! It is some kind of demonstration. We explained to the front desk guy our dilemma and asked if he could drive us himself ( and we of course would pay  "whatever"). He couldn't go but he talked to his uncle who will be picking us up at 0530 ( 2 1/2 hours before we were going to get a taxi) . I don't know if we are paying huge money or not, we have to get to the airport!