I turned 60 years old on February 14th 2022. I was tripping about my “advanced age” (smile) for a minute because it suddenly hit me that I more likely then not have more years behind me then I have in front of me…
However, on the flip side, I consider my age to be a blessing because not everyone lives to the ripe old age of 60.
And to truly celebrate this milestone birthday, as well as our 10th year love anniversary, me and my boo embarked on a much needed and long overdue vacation to Cancun, Mexico. My travel agent Karen booked our stay at an Adults -Only, All-Inclusive Iberostar resort. We upgraded to an oceanfront junior suite on the 13th floor which had a spiral staircase on the bottom deck leading up to the top deck which featured a hot tub, an outdoor shower plus a small table and two lounge chairs. It was so cozy looking especially at night when the warm ocean breezes slid into our room.
And this is how we spent our days on the beach right outside our Junior Suite:
On our 2nd night at the resort, we met, conversed for 5 minutes and subsequently had dinner together at an American Bistro with this couple from Southern Virginia. They had been married for 40 years and told us over dinner that although they were no longer working for a living, they had not “retired” but rather re-set. I’m going to use that term when I officially ‘retire'(smile). Anyway, towards the end of the night, they shared with us that their next vacation stop was at a semi-nude beach in the islands…
La Parilla Restaurant (steakhouse) on our 3rd night was where we received a cheesecake after our dinner with Happy 10th Anniversary written on it…this was a big surprise to us although we did recall our lovely waiter asking us if we were celebrating anything special that night…
We missed the reservations we made for the Japanese restaurant on our 4th night because we got caught up in downtown Cancun at La Isla Shopping Village. This village was a super wide open indoor/outdoor market consisting of retail clothing stores, souvenir shops, restaurants, travel excursion booths and much, much more. We were solicited by a man on the street who worked for one of the travel agencies and he sold us on a speedboat and snorkeling tour that costs $150 (including the snorkeling gear) and left the dock everyday at 9am, 12noon and 3pm. We agreed it was a good deal and returned the very next day to take advantage of it.
The most memorable dinner of all was on our 5th night – A private dinner for 2 with special menu and upgraded wine (courtesy of Quinn/Panzer Travel Agency at a resort restaurant of our choice). We chose La Horma, a gourmet restaurant where the wait staff literally treated us like a King and Queen the minute we walked through the doors. They were quite literally tripping over themselves as they sat us at a table with a view of the ocean. Plus they anticipated all of our needs, fed us way too much food – James had sushi appetizers with breaded shrimp, crostini bread topped with veggies, meaty beef tacos with ceviche and for his entree: flank steak and sides. I ordered off the menu – I chose linguini with pesto sauce topped with parmesan cheese which looked as good as it tasted. I also devoured the hot crusty rolls with olive oil and parmesan cheese. In recognition of our 10th year love anniversary, I received beautiful roses from our waiter.
I stopped drinking alcohol almost 2 years back when the Pandemic first started so I probably lost money to the resort since for beverages I threw back grapefruit juice, mineral water, beet juice, coffee, expresso, virgin strawberry daiquiris, green juice and bottled waters (smile).
Our 6th and final day consisted of breakfast outdoors at the resort (now sporting our street clothes) and waiting on the emailed results of our Covid tests which, of course, were negative.
We caught our airport shuttle the designated 3 hours before our flight and mentally prepared ourselves for the trip back to Connecticut.
