Sunday, April 16, 2006

After I had some wonderful sleep, the 3 other visitors for the week arrived
mid-day on Sunday.  Dan, Amanda, and Natalie arrived in Cancun and John
picked them up.  They took up the spare bedroom with an additional air-bed.
John and Libby were very kind and let Raf and I take over their room, and
they slept on a futon in the living room until they could later borrow the
place of an out-of-town neighbor.  Libby warned us to keep the doors of each
room closed when we left because their cat, Mindy, might freak out a little
with this many guests.



On the way to lunch, we talked to several of our relatives gathered for
Easter back home in Chicago over our Nextel walkie-talkies.  It was great to
talk to them since we couldn't be there.  Then we ate lunch at Playa Maya,
a place right on the beach, sitting in the shade.  I had some 
delicious chicken fajitas and a margarita.  Before the plates 
were cleared though, I was presented with another food challenge 
though!  Natalie ordered squid and she had a little bit left over.  
Dan and Amanda said they'd try it if I did, so we all
ate some.  I'd describe it as a squishy white ring with a garlic flavor to
it.  It wasn't too bad but not something I'd order soon.  Raf then joked
that the part of the squid we just ate was the "squid anus," followed by an
eruption of laughter from the rest of the table!  After lunch, we all
relaxed on the beach and did some swimming.  It was just another hot and
sunny day in Playa.  In other words, awesome!



Next, we went back home where Mindy had left a kitty-surprise for the new
guests who left their door open!  Yuck!  We chilled for a while and got
ready for dinner.  Soon we met up with Paul and Donia and ate at Chicago Don
Jose's where I enjoyed a steak enchilada.  After that we went to one of John
and Libby's favorite new hangouts, DJ's.  We all met DJ, who is a really
cool guy (also from Chicago) that moved down to Playa several years ago.
He's part-owner of the place and is a HUGE Cubs fan.  We'd watch parts of a
few Cubs games while we were hanging out there throughout the week.  I
believe we also first met Antonio around this time.  Antonio is one of John
and Libby's Mexican friends who lives in the area.  The first thing I
remember is that he text-messaged John with lyrics from "My Humps" by Black
Eyes Peas.  That would be his theme music for the rest of the week as he'd
sing it on a couple occasions.  It was hilarious each time with his accent
but he does a good job!



Then the plan was to head across the street to Santanera.  Although it was a
well-decorated place, it was not very happening inside or on the outdoor
roof portion this particular night.  I think this was the 1 place we paid a
cover charge which didn't include any drinks with it.  Libby stayed behind
at DJ's, soon causing Amanda and Natalie to worry about her.  Meanwhile,
Donia had so much fun hanging out with us the last 2 days so she started
professing her love for several of us (including me).  She almost loved
Natalie and Libby as much as me.  LOL!  She also kept trying to convince Raf
and I to hit on some of the girls there.  But her most famous line was "Can
I tell you a really great story?"  Raf pointed out to her she was setting
expectations too high starting off every story that way!  She was an
eccentric, very entertaining lady.  Anyway, after a couple drinks there we
bolted out to 'rescue' Libby from DJ's!  Finally we all went to Mambocafe,
which was a decent-sized club that had a raised stage with a Mexican band
playing Salsa-type music and lots of people dancing by it.  We stayed for a
while and I think most of our group (about 9-10 people at the time) enjoyed
it and danced a little.



Then all of us came back to John and Libby's place.  John wanted to finish
off a bottle of Patron Tequila.  It wasn't the good Patron because we all
agreed it was pretty nasty (thus why John was trying to kill off the
bottle).  It definitely didn't agree well with Dan's stomach because it came
right back up!  A couple people then went to sleep, but Raf, John, Donia,
Antonio, and I went up to the roof where there was a hammock.  We talked for
a bit and Donia showed off her massaging skills (she gave me a great
shoulder massage).  John was talking about a great butt massage he had once
and then Antonio wanted one, saying to Donia, "You do my butt next?"  We all
laughed so much it hurt!  Antonio asked if his English was correct, and we
said yes it was close but it was funny in the way he said it and because it
could be taken out of context.  Another hilarious thing that happened was
when Donia said Antonio was very attractive.  He didn't know what to say for
a second or two and then he just said "I am" in his normal voice and accent.
You probably had to be there but it was really funny the way it happened!
We kept repeating that response for all sorts of things throughout the week.
For example:  "Are you hungry?"  [Long pause.]  "I am."  Hah!  Well that was
about it for the night.  It was time to get some sleep.

View pictures for the day here.