Layoff in Mexico!
Feb. 25th, 2024 02:15 pmI saw many pilots but most were busy, either heading somewhere with purpose or on their phones. But one pilot actually walked through his passengers to say hello. I thought, someone so personable must have trading cards! And so he did!

Now, I already have an A220 card, but this one is a different year and so the design is different. Cool!
My flight was fine, I watched Kubo and the Two Strings which was a "just ok" story with an interesting animation style.
At the Orlando airport I found another random pilot kind of strolling around, who gave me this card:

Also a duplicate of a plane I already have, but different year and different design.
Here's a side-by-side: the card on the left is from 2016 and the one on the right was released in 2022.

The backs. Notice how the same model of plane has changed over the years.

Jameson came to get me and take me home, and we talked the whole way back, mostly about him finishing his grad program and waiting with intense anxiety for a response from Disney about the corporate job he applied for. It's the hardest thing in the world, to wait.
At home I felt overwhelmed with all the cleaning and packing that I felt needed to be done right NOW. But we were going to see our friend Lea perform, so I held back and only wiped down the kitchen counters, cringed at the guest bathroom (there was mold ON the seat, gag) and did a load of laundry. And opened all of my mail! There was quite a lot because I'd ordered an extra pair of black pants, some supplies for our Mexico vacation...and this HUGE sandwich cookie pillow!

It came all the way from an Etsy seller in Ukraine, beautifully packaged in purple crepe paper stamped with the seller's logo.


You can buy something like this on Amazon as well, from (probably) a Chinese seller, but I like to support small business and it was clear from her photos that the quality would be good. It's fluffy and wonderful to hold, and my favorite part is that the cookies and the cream have two different densities of stuffing, so that the cookies feel stiff while the cream is soft and "fluffy." Cannot wait to curl up and watch TV with this!!
After dinner we drove downtown to The Ren theater to watch Lea perform in "Highlights from RENT", part of a "Musical Mondays" series.

We had a drink each and enjoyed hearing top hits from the popular Broadway show. Lea did a fantastic job, she was one of the top two who performed imo (she was playing as Maureen.) After the show and some socializing we left to get a good sleep, for the next day would be quite busy.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, I woke up moderately early and had breakfast, then when Jameson got up to hit the gym I cleaned both bathrooms, vacuumed, and mopped the tile floors. I wanted to do more cleaning but there really wouldn't be enough time, so the rest would have to wait. When Jameson got back I did some packing for Mexico, while simultaneously re-packing for tour...but only partially because some of the stuff that I use for tour I'm bringing to Mexico. You know?
After lunch we went grocery shopping together, picking up Eat Fresco meals for an easy dishes-free dinner and loading up on medications, tolietries, and other things we thought we might need. I got some hydration multipliers and granola bars "just in case," Jameson got travel Tylenol and Pepto for the same reason. We have a lot of stuff that we probably won't need (a travel towel each, waterproof passport bags, etc) but better safe than sorry.
Back home Jameson finished up work while I finished packing and did little things around the house like take out the trash and recycling, change some air filters, and water the plants. We had our prepped meals for dinner and chilled out...and that was that.
Tomorrow...Mexico.
---------------------------------------------------------------
We got up early for our flight, I was excited and nervous!
I’ve never flown Frontier before, and thank god. What a chaotic mess compared to regular airlines. I’d had the wherewithal to buy Jameson and I seats and carry-on luggage (yes, you need to buy those separately) so at least we weren’t among the poor saps trying to scramble for the last seats. But apparently in addition, a digital boarding pass is not enough, you NEED a physical, printed pass. Not knowing this, we waited in the boarding line and then had to step out of line to get the pass, then back to the back of the queue. It turned out that this had to do with a new biometric scanning system that they pushed us through/tested on us, which perhaps can't accept QR codes?
At the jet bridge I asked the flight attendant about trading cards, because Frontier does their own version of that though it’s really for kids. It highlights the animals on the planes’ tails, rather than info about the planes. This stewardess was really enthusiastic and gave me quite a lot of cards, including a holiday-special polar bear and a vacation-special grizzly!

The flight was smooth and shorter than I expected, and I loved looking out the window at the clear turquoise waters as we landed. Customs was equally easy, just a biometric scan and a sniff from a narcotics pup.
Then we were in Mexico! We found our assigned shuttle and boarded it, and were at our hotel in just about 40 minutes. Had a drink in our hands just three minutes after that. A piña colada.


Our room was fine…nothing special imo, but if you don’t stay in hotels often it would feel swank I’m sure.

We unpacked and had a snack (the buffet was closed but they do put out nachos and hot dogs and such between meals) and then just wandered. We found the batting cages, and saw iguanas and coati!


When my siblings arrived (Kate, Raven, my brother Jonah, and his girlfriend Danielle) we met up with them and made plans for dinner. Before that we all walked over to the beach together to check it out.

Photo op, of course. This is the first time I've been with ALL of my bio-siblings in years.

And Jameson and I got one together as well. I have a stupid face on but he looks cute anyway :)

Dinner was...an experience. We went to the Italian restaurant, and it was clear that something wasn't right: we only saw two servers for the whole restaurant, and either because of that or additional issues in the kitchen, everything was coming out soooooooo slowly. We had to wait 30 minutes to be seated, then didn't get our appetizers until an HOUR later!! Not exaggerating. The food was "ok" but they messed up several orders and forgot some dishes (since it's all-inclusive we didn't deeply care but, c'mon.) By the time we escaped we'd been in there for nearly three hours with very little to show for it.
Still, we got to have drinks and catch up with each other, so it wasn't a total waste.
-------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, Jameson and I went to the breakfast buffet. It was awesome! A great selection of Mexican traditional breakfast foods like chilaquiles, burritos, plantains, ripe guava, sweet breads, and so much more. We discovered these lovely little red plums only slightly larger than cherries, which I hope to find stateside. They had stewed fruit as well seasoned in anise and other spices, and of course fresh cut fruit. It turns out Mexican cottage cheese is not nearly as salty as the American kind, and I enjoyed it immensely. And don't get me started on the sweetbreads. mini conchas, croissants, churro twists, guava-filled brioche rolls...it was heaven.


After breakfast we met up with my siblings and we all hit the beach.

The water was somewhat cold, so we mostly relaxed with drinks and books, taking occasional dips to cool off. Jameson, Kate, Raven, and Danielle got burnt pretty badly; Jonah and I (despite being the palest by far) did not. Though there weren't many shells, there were interesting things to find like large chunks of coral (we kept bruising our feet on these in the water) and this stripey, spiky caterpillar.


For lunch we voted to hit a nearby taco stand rather than the hotel buffet, and DAMN were those tacos good! Homemade corn tortillas, roasted on a griddle, are the bomb-diggety. I got a pollo taco with veg, cactus strips, misc veg, and salsa verde. The others got burritos or tacos in misc flavors, and everyone raved over their food. Way better than the Italian catastrophe we'd had for dinner!
Eventually we moved to the pool, which was also nice and where we discovered they pour somewhat stronger drinks! They made their mango margaritas with Tajin on the rim and Jameson was SOLD on that; they also add Tajin to their Bloody Mary drinks so now I expect Jameson will go out and buy Tajin first thing when we return home, he was so enamored :p We also discovered that people who brought their own cups/thermoses were treated to HUGE pours of liquor before the rest of the beverage was poured in. Note to self for next time!
For dinner we went with a teppanyaki option (because we could SEE the food being prepared in front of us and would know how long it would take, lol) and it was not only fast but quite good! I had the snapper and salmon combo. The chef was extremely skillful and put on a great show for us; rice went flying everywhere as everyone at the table got a chance to catch a little rice ball in their mouths (about 50% success rate!)
Before our meal we were served a sushi "small plate" that was both delicious and beautiful.

And whether you wanted drinks or not, as soon as your glass was half empty someone would come refill it. All-inclusive indeed!
Nicely buzzed and full of food, we wandered over to the "main square" where it was "Mexican night!"

There were fun little games set up, like a skee-ball sort of thing with marbles, a ring-a-peg, and a ridiculous "horse racing" game that we all tried and lost! Here are Kate, myself, and Jameson losing (CLICK HERE to watch)
We stuck around for a mariachi performance (my video was not very good so it is not here, sorry) and then called it a night, because half our group was doing a caving expedition tomorrow!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday Jameson and I were up bright and early to enjoy the breakfast buffet again, before meeting Raven and Kate in the lobby. We rode a shuttle to Rio Secreto, a nature reserve and underground river about two miles from our hotel.
I do not have many pictures of this excursion because we had to stow all of our belongings in lockers, and the only photos allowed were by a professional photographer selling them at $30 EACH. We all agreed early on that this would be a trip for our memories.
When we arrived we were assigned a tour guide who spoke English, along with another group of four ladies from the UK. We were given an opportunity to use restrooms or have a snack for about 10 minutes, then we were hustled onto a large bus with lots of other people, which then took us on a VERY bumpy and wild ride through the jungle for about 15 minutes. This was tough on me because the bus was airborne often and that dropping sensation is what triggers my motion sickness, so I had to put my head down. But it was even worse for Raven, who for some unknown reason had bought a scalding hot cup of coffee at the snack stand and had not gotten a lid, but had boarded the bus with it anyway. After a frantic search of my bag (during which time Raven was desperately trying to keep her hands from being burnt by hot flying coffee) I came up with a small ziplock and some napkins, so she was able to survive the journey with just mild leakage and burns. But WHY, Raven, omg.
At the entrance to Rio Secreto we were all given water shoes, a helmet with a headlight, a wetsuit, a life jacket, and a key to a locker to stow our belongings. Before donning the suits we had to take an ice-cold shower, because they do not want sunscreen or bug repellent or whatnot in their underground river. The wetsuits were damp and uncomfortable, but once they were on and we were marching through the jungle we quickly forgot how squelchy they were.
Before entering the cave system, a Mayan shaman performed a ceremony to "allow us passage through the underworld." It was nice, perhaps a little touristy/hokey but a good reminder that we are VISITORS here, who should observe respectfully and not try to take, touch, or tamper with anything.
Then we turned around and were face to face with the entrance to the "underworld." A gash in the earth, a black gaping maw that was pitch black inside. It was intimidating...but on we went, down a steep wooden staircase and into the cool dark cave.
It was dead silent, the water was clearer than clear, and the space was absolutely massive, like a cathedral full of stalactites and stalagmites and ancient rock and coral formations. As we made our way single file, sometimes on dry ground and sometimes up to our waists in water, our guide described how the mineral-laden water had dripped slowly to create the delicate formations that we were seeing. She told us that each stalactite was hollow and made of limestone (illustrated by putting her flashlight up to a stalactite so we could see how transparent it was) and showed us the structure of the coral that made up much of the cave's ground.
Some stock images from the Rio Secreto site and the 'net:


Because we had opted out of the Tulum ruins excursion, we were the first group to enter the cave and thus there were some creatures around who had not yet been disturbed. Our guide pointed out catfish, who had eyes and were black-pigmented; and we also saw a blind white fish sitting in a still pool of clear water. There were large cave crickets with vestigial eyes and antennae three times as long as their bodies, and tiny sand-grain-sized shrimp which our guide said were the only source of nutrients for many of the creatures living in the caves. There were bats of course, but we didn't see any.
At one point our guide asked us to turn off our headlamps and also turned off her flashlight. We closed our eyes and waited about 30 seconds, for our eyes to adjust. Then we opened our eyes...to blackness. Could not see our hands in front of our faces. The darkness in the cave is so absolute, there is nothing like it on the surface. That was really cool to experience!
Partway through the tour we entered an area where we'd be swimming for several minutes. The water felt cold at first, but I let a little into my wetsuit to create a layer of warm water from my body heat, and that helped immensely. We paddled through an area where the stalactites and ceiling were very close to touching our heads, with the water up to our chests, but you could still see for yards and yards between the stalactites coming down to meet the clear water, and the effect was magical and not at all claustrophobic.
We came to a large pool where our guide instructed us to form a circle and hold hands. Then we leaned back in the water, all lights off, and "meditated" for probably about five minutes in the total dark and silence. It was simultaneously freaky and peaceful. Jameson later said he'd love to have a room just like that, to get the best sleep of his life :) If the water had not been so cold I could have relaxed more, but as it was it was an unforgettable experience.
We swam a bit more, and our guide pointed out interesting rock formations, especially one that looked like a massive fat crocodile looming from the shadows of a cave offshoot. We speculated about the first people to explore this cave...how they probably only had candles or dim lanterns, and what a formation like that must have seemed like with limited light from a flickering flame. How brave those first explorers were!
Soon we were back on dry land and exiting the "underworld" through a beautiful cenote, the sunlight streaming through the natural sinkhole and thick tree roots like ropes trailing down into the darkness of the cave.

(photo courtesy colemanconcierge)
From here we had to do a bit of walking in the jungle, which was a bummer because mosquitoes and our extremities were unprotected (I got a bite directly in the middle of my forehead) but I'll be the summer months are significantly worse. A short walk took us back to the locker area, where we peeled off our wetsuits and turned everything back in, showered once more, got dressed, and rode a shuttle to the gift shop and restaurant. We were each given a small shot of xtabentun, a honey-anise liqueur that is a specialty of the Yucatan and is believed to have Mayan origins. It was QUITE good.
We were given the option to buy photos that had been taken by the professional photographer, and we looked through them and enjoyed them, but at THIRTY DOLLARS EACH it was just way, way too much, even to justify one photo.
For lunch we had a simple buffet of stewed chicken or pork, steamed vegetables, cactus, lime soup, refreshing hibiscus tea, and rice pudding. There were also tortillas being made fresh in front of us, and those were FANTASTIC.


There was a small lagoon with water lilies and a very protective (yet very small) alligator.


We enjoyed our meal and a little rest before getting a shuttle back to our hotel.
What an awesome, magical experience! I'm so glad that Raven pushed for us to do an excursion, it was well worth it.
We all went our separate ways and napped or chilled until dinnertime...our final meal together in Mexico.
We decided to try Aroma, the "upscale" restaurant.


The food was the best we'd had for the entire stay.
I had beef tatake cubes with chili and passion fruit drizzle,
duck confit with dried fig sauce and sweet potato maple syrup hash,
and a small chocolate-and-gelee cake with peach puree.
The last picture is of Kate's tuna medallions (not sure what the side is for that.)




Everyone very much enjoyed their food. The highlights were a three-corn soup in a lobster-based broth (it was incredibly flavorful!) and Kate's perfectly seared tuna medallions, which she let us all try. We talked about so much: family stuff, our individual journeys, how our lives are going now. We got to know Jonah's girlfriend (none of us had met her until now) and hear Jameson talk about his hopes for the future. We had a really lovely time together. After dinner we went to the bar next door to listen to a jazz band and have drinks, and took these photos.
What a fricking wonderful family I have. What an amazing group of human beings.


Then it was time to say goodbye. Kate, Raven, Jonah, and Danielle had an early flight, so we knew we might not see them the next morning. Hugs all around, then off to bed.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, Jameson and I got to enjoy the breakfast buffet one last time. We packed our things and checked out, leaving an overall glowing review (the one "bad thing" that we had to mention was the service at the Italian restaurant) then hopped the shuttle to the airport. MX airport is CRAZY, and if it's like that in February I can't imagine what it's like during peak season. We had a lot of time before our flight so had a nice sit-down meal at Wolfgang Puck's: here is my mahi-mahi with rice, plantain chips, and salsa verde.

Before boarding we had a passport check. Jameson and I were in an exit row and had lots of lovely leg room. But we had a bunch of screaming children on our flight, plus four adults who seemed to share one brain cell between them and just WOULD NOT SIT DOWN, we actually got delayed to take off because they kept getting up to stand in the aisle and chat!! WTF!!
But finally we were on our way, and soon enough we were landing at MCO.
I've never been through international customs before, but it was very easy. We followed signage to a sort of security area where we were directed to an agent, who looked at our documents and asked if we had anything to declare. I declared my snacks, confirming that I had no produce or meats...and that was it. They didn't even search my stuff (a dog did have a good sniff.) We found Jameson's car and rode home through the awful I-4 traffic, stopping at Target along the way for small items and dinner.
At home I had a present waiting for me: a box from my sister Kayle and her kids! Full of Asian treats :)
I am especially excited for the coffee candies, which are supposed to act as replacements for actual coffee when you're in a bind.

I did a load of laundry and did some packing, but was too tired for much else. We went to bed early, exhausted but happy and fulfilled from our wonderful little adventure. I really, really hope that we get to do something like this again, maybe as an annual thing.
---------------------------------------------------------------
I'll write about Sunday as part of the next post, since it was mostly just packing and prep to go back on tour (geez, no time at all at home!)
Next up, Tulsa Oklahoma.