Off to a bigger resort

It was kind of sad to leave Allegro Playacar. It was such a nice place and the next resort -- the Gran Flamenco Xcaret -- sounded overwhelming. Sure enough, after a five minute cab ride south, we were greeted by the sight of the huge open-air lobby. It was impressive, though.

These macaws just sat on their perches all day in the lobby.

A river runs through it.

Shops and guest rooms line the river. They even had a Mayan torchlight ceremony come down the river one evening to greet new guests.

The kids found fish food dispensers and loved watching the water boil with hungry fish when they threw the food in. There was a little girl there, maybe nine years old, who thought it would be fun to have the fish nibble her fingers. She yelped, pulled back a bloody finger, and went crying to her parents. After that the fish didn't seem as interested in the food but would follow the kids as they walked along the river's edge.

We were met in the lobby by friendly Julissa. who finalized the arrangements. As we were signing in, we were filmed by a guy from the BBC who was making some kind of travel documentary. He assured us we wouldn't end up in anything "salacious." Which is good, I guess. Maybe I should look that word up to find out for sure.

We went inside to stow our stuff. The common area was open-air though mostly covered so the floor didn't get too slick after a rain. Our room was nice, a fairly typical hotel room. The shower had a door (bonus), but no seal of any kind so the bathroom floor always got soaked.

Outside our room there was a little park with deer in it. The balcony was great for drying our clothes, too, which we washed in the sink 'cause they had the same $5 per shirt laundry lunacy here.

There was a nice pool right outside our building with a sloped bottom that simulated a beach. Great for the kids, especially Baby.

Most of the time we sat around the next pool, though, which had a restaurant with a swim-up bar underneath. The Kids' Club was right beside the pool, too.

There were always a lot of rowdy younger folks at the swim-up bar. Some not so young. One guy in his 30s waded back not long after lunchtime exclaiming, "Mom! I am SO drunk!" His mom wasn't that impressed, though. After climbing out of the pool two or three times, he sat back in a deck chair.

"There was a guy there filming me. He said I'm going to be on BBC. BBC! You have to remember that, Mom: B - B - C. That's Bourbon, Bourbon..." A long pause here as he tried to come up with a drink that started with "C." Eventually he gave up on that and instead opted to pass out and throw up beside the deck chair.