CANCUN, MEXICO & XCARET (AUGUST 1995)

When I was around 12 years old, my parents had taken my brother and I on our first plane ride trip ever. They had decided on Cancun Mexico. We stayed at the Oasis Resort, which had BEAUTIFUL sparkling pools which surrounded the hotel like a moat. I also remember the peacocks and iguanas free to roam the grounds as the guests just went about their day. They had many activities to help you enjoy your stay, such as water aerobics, volleyball, and the swim up bar, which made frozen virgin drinks so even kids could take advantage of the tropical treats (Hey, we were 10 & 12 at the time!), and also hair brading. They had little shows that took place at nighttime, we went to a couple of those, and in the morning we would enjoy a delicious mexican breakfast buffet, complete with fresh fruit, eggs, & refried beans. I must’ve had refried beans for breakfast every day we were there! We enjoyed the resort probably just as much as the time we spent off of the resort.

We did a few things off of the resort, that I would’ve never imagined I would conquer at such a young age! One of the days, we had decided to go snorkling in the Caribbean Sea. I remember on the boat ride out to the middle of NOWHERE, the guy who drove the boat had this rope that he had tied to the front of the boat. He let us ride on the hood of the boat (probably was not the best idea), as long as we held on to the rope. The craziest part was, our parents actually let us, and that is extremely surprising, being what a worry wart our mother is.

My father did sit on the front of the boat with us. I remember the guy driving the boat, telling us that there were crocodiles in the water, to scare us. What a jerk! We finally got to the middle of nowhere in the caribbean sea and put on our life vests and snorkles. I remember being very afraid that there were sharks nearby, but the tour guide insisted that they weren’t around that area, but still you just never know! My parents got some pretty cool pictures of the coral and schools of brightly colored fish. I remember my mother getting pretty cut up on her ankles from the sharp coral. There was another couple who rode out there with us, they were a bit older. A nice lady & a bald guy with a huge skull and crossbones tattoo covering his back. I don’t remember their names, but they were very nice.

Another thing we did off the resort, was the XCaret Park, where we snorkled through caves with the fish, and swam with dolphins. I remember being a bit scared, I have never experienced anything like swimming with a dolphin before!  We also visited some old Mayan temples, which were AWESOME! I remember that day being SO much fun!
I also remember riding a bus at some point, and going to a theater to see the Mexican Ballet (Ballet Folklorico Nacional de Mexico). Another night we also went out to the marketplace where I bought silver ring with Abalone inlay (I lost it later that year, when I put it in my pocket to do a backflip on a friend’s lawn) 🙁 . We also bought a mexican blanket, and some green malachite flake aztec warrior statues and wall plaques. I remember going to dinner that night by the marketplace, where my parents warned us not to drink the water for fear of Montezuma’s Revenge. I’m sure you all know what that is ! We were serenaded by a mariachi band with “Besame Mucho”.

A few other things I remember about this trip, was buying some worry dolls in our hotel gift shop. Also they played some awesome music by the pool during water aerobics. My brother loved it so much, that the DJ there made my brother a mixtape of some of the songs. I remember some of the songs they played were “Gimme Dolla!”, “Don’t want no short short man”, & “The Macarena”. The Macarena was HUGE in Mexico at this time. About a few months after we got back from our trip, the song finally made its way over to the US, and it was a HUGE HIT. My brother and I thought we were so cool cuz we already knew it!
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One thing I remember about the whole trip , was that everywhere we went and my dad paid for stuff with his credit card, the cashier would look at him and say, “Rosario? Who is Rosario?” And he would say, “I am Rosario!”. This went on repeatedly for almost our whole trip. We did not understand why he kept getting questioned about his name. Finally my parents had asked why they were so curious to know who Rosario was everytime he went to use his credit card. We had thought maybe it was a famous political figure of some sort. It was no such thing, and actually proved to be a bit more embarrassing…. They said “Señor, Rosario is a woman’s name”…