Playa del Carmen, Mexico - Day 6 - Thursday, October 27, 2011

Today was STORM DAY - the day that the hurricane blew in.

The first thing we did when we got up this morning was head to breakast. Today I had an omelet with mushrooms, onions and cheese and Mr. Sass had the poblano omelet. We also had the fresh juice, of course...watermelon and orange (so good). All guests were served during a limited 1-2 hour window inside the restaurant. No outside dining was available, for obvious reasons.


It was cloudy in the morning, but the beach was still pretty with all the beautiful, muted shades of gray. It was breezy, but not really that windy considering a hurricane was coming.



After breakfast, we decided we should go to the Mega supermarket to get some non-perishable food, just to be on the safe side (in case we got trapped somewhere). We already had a good supply of water, so we didn't need that. We also wanted to get a pair of sandals for Mr. Sass because his sneakers were bothering his feet. Mr. Sassy also wanted to get some liquor - because really - how can a person get through a hurricane without a nice cocktail ;) Mr. Sass was disappointed to learn that no liquor sales are permitted during hurricanes. We later found out that this law is in place because the Mexican government feels it is important for everyone to have their wits about them in an emergency situation. Makes sense to me, but I can tell you Mr. Sass was none too pleased.

We had to laugh on our way to the Mega. We passed by a restaurant with this sign:

This really gave me the sillies. "REAL" Mexican tacos? In MEXICO!??? Imagine that!

At the Mega, we got some peanut butter and crackers and other easy-to-store things, but no luck with the sandals. We also stopped at Walmart (yes, there is a Walmart in Playa del Carmen if you can believe it). Their shoes sucked so no sandals for Mr. Sass.

Back at the hotel, we were both feeling exhausted and both our feet were bothering us so we lied down and took a nap. This video shows what it was like on our patio at this time...I love the sounds of the tropical birds and you can hear the occasional gusts of wind from the approaching storm.



There was some confusion about the storm because the hotel staff kept delivering printed updates about how things would proceed at the hotel and they seemed to conflict with each other. The reason for the conflicts is that the storm was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm today, and the hotel deals with each type of storm in a different way. One notice said they would bring us breakfast, but then it turned out breakfast was served in the restaurant. They also said they would deliver meals to us in our room, so we had concerns about making sure our meals did not contain meat and we placed an order for a vegetarian lunch. But then we learned that lunch was being be served in the restaurant. So at lunch time, we walked to the restaurant, but ran into Rogelio who was delivering our meals to the room (since we had requested them). No worries. We took our boxed meals to the bar and hung out there and ate our lunches out of the styrofoam containers.

For lunch we both got the Mexican platters which had an assortment of delicious Mexican things. Since the weather was pretty crappy and getting worse by the minute, the bar was pretty packed with guests. Many of them had their laptops (there is wireless access in the bar area) so they were watching the storm updates on the internet.

There really wasn't much we could do today because the weather kept getting worse and worse with periodic downpours. It was a miserable day, weather-wise, so all we could do was hang in the hotel room. By 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. it was pretty bad and the storm was in full force by 6:00 or 7:00 p.m. Here's a pic I took of Mr. Sassy on the beach before we headed back to the room.

We went back to the hotel room and talked about whether we should stay put or move to that room in town that we had booked. We had already packed our bags, but we decided that since the storm was downgraded, we would just stay put. We lost $50 on the room at Elefante, but it was worth it to know we had the option to leave if it had gotten really bad.

Mr. Sass went to the bar and brought us back a couple of cocktails at 2-for-1 cocktail hour and the rest of day and night we stayed in the room. I stayed in the room and read and Mr. Sass spent most of the evening on the porch listening to his IPod and having cocktails (the man really knows how to make the best of a bad situation). The guests in the room next to us apparently hooked up with a bunch of other guests and were having a loud (and I have to say, annoying) party in their room with most of the action happening on their patio, about 10 feet from us. They must have been playing some kind of drinking game because they were whooping and hollering full volume ALL. FREAKING. NIGHT. I am talking for HOURS.

You can hear the beginnings of their party in this video, but it got way worse later in the evening, the more drunk they got.



I was bored shitless because I had already read all my good books and didn't like the ones that were left and there was no t.v. or computer in the room, so I basically lied on the bed and stared at the wall all night. I didn't want to bother Mr. Sass because each time I checked on him, he seemed to be having fun grooving to his IPod in the storm (go figure). I went to sleep around 8:00 p.m. and Mr. Sass came to bed an hour or so later.