Travels with The Rayman

What a great vacation.  We had one cool day, the rest were around 78 and it was wonderful.  Curly hair from humidity, a tough golf course for humility, and many days of relaxation for harmony.

Yesterday we played golf for the third time on that dragon of a course.  Ray had one of his worst scores ever and I played lights out (read good).  Needless to say, I had a great time!!!  The game the group played was individual stroke play and I came in first for the women!!!  I won $40!!!  How fun was that?

We followed up play with cocktails before dinner.  The hotel was having a party on the patio to recognize the employees of the resort.  Part of it included very nice looking men in colorful blouses dancing the salsa.  Ray was off procuring drinks and one of the guys came up to me and dragged me out on the dance “floor”.  He taught me to salsa, sort of.  All our friends got a kick out of it and so did I.  Poor Ray missed all the excitement.  We had our drinks and then moved on to the restaurant where we were a bit on the loud side and demonstrative!!   We were at Le Gourmet.  We probably would have fit in better at Schooner’s Saloon.  Oh, well.

Health update.  Ruth had a terrible rash over much of her body.  May have been caused by an allergic reaction to the antibiotic she was taking for her root canal that she had the late afternoon before she left to Mexico.  Or it could have been an allergic reaction to the antibiotic that she was taking for her sinus infection.  Did I mention that she is one tough cookie?   No matter.  She had a rash all over.  And yet and still, she soldiered on and played golf, drank, ate, partied.  If it was me, I’d been in bed, heavily doped and in all probability sucking my thumb.

Today we played golf at a par 3 course, 9 holes.   Sometimes in life things happen that words just don’t do justice to.  Describing how fabulous some chocolate tastes is an example.  You just can’t capture the essence of the experience in words.  Or if you see a horrible accident.  It’s something that words cannot capture really.  Well, my golf course experience today was something like that … I started out with a 6 on a par three.  Okay.  That can happen.  By the time I got to the 9th hole, it was very humid and very warm.  Clothes were sticking, things were slipping and sliding.  Anyway, as I took a practice swing, the club just slipped out of my hand and went whirling (picture a loose helicopter rotor) up into the air and flew about 40 yards.  What a hoot.  Not sure anything like that has even “happened” to me like that before.  I’m sure I could remember if it had.  So, I sheepishly trotted out and retrieved the club,  took another practice swing, addressed the ball, and hit a shot that ended up about 3 inches from the hole.  None of us could believe it!!!  My writing does not even come close to the hilarity of the event.  Believe me!!  Oh, you do?

It was a good ending to a great golf vacation.  Something to fantasize about.  Well, fantasize might not be the word here.  Perhaps fondly hold in my mind, or picture over and over again.  Or perhaps to just tell to everyone I know…But I digress.

This was a great trip except for the air travel.   Captain Boom and the motley crew will be flying in tomorrow to whisk (we hope) away the group.  All the food, drinks, entertainment was included.  The weather terrific.  No bugs.  Lots of iguanas.  No lightening.  Lots of night time rain (as we slept).  Our bill today was left at our door.  We owed $7.80 for the week, something about a ecological tax which we happily paid.  Friendly Mexican people doing everything they could to make our vacation exceptional.  OH, we did have to pay for golf carts but we knew that going in.  And there was no way could walk this course.  Way too much real estate between holes.  And I suppose we should in all fairness (full disclosure here), mention the three dozen balls that Ray lost in the jungle.  (perhaps a slight exaggeration).  About the only complaint I had was the temperature of the water in the swimming pool because to get a drink at the swim up bar, you had to freeze your gonads to get there.  Didn’t stop many though.  The guys from Saskatchewan didn’t mind at all.  They were just grateful that they weren’t hanging off those telephone poles in 30 degree below zero weather.  Nope, that water temperature didn’t bother them in the least.  But the princess, well, what can I say?

So, to all those people that regarded us as having lost our minds for booking this vacation, you were right in one respect…the air travel.  But in all other respects, it was just about perfect!!!  And did I mention the guacamole?  Yummy!!!

When the wake up call arrived, we were not happy to answer but answer we did.  Needed to get going as our starting time was 8:24.  You can just imagine the enthusiasm we displayed as we dragged ourselves out of bed.

Golfers love talking about their games.  After the round, they gather around usually with beer or gin and tonics and relive all their bad shots.  Good shots are very soon forgotten…it is really those bad shots that get all the discussion.  And a count of lost balls invariably is included in the synopsis of their game.  Many golfers don’t ever really hear the other person’s description because they themselves are so traumatized, their minds wander as they think about how they are going to describe that horrible score on 7.  You know the one where you had a great drive followed by a series of really rotten shots.  Like pushing the ball into the jungle, taking an unplayable lie, knocking the next shot into the bunker (sand), taking two to get out because of the large overlapping lip, flying the green because you have no clue how to control a sand shot, really.  Chipping on and three putting.  And you are really trying to put the worst spin on the story so that you prove to all that you really, really, really had the worst hole played that day.  Like there was even a contest!!

But I digress.   We were all tired as hell and didn’t play good.  That’s all ye know, that is all ye need to know.

Followed golf up with a dip in the pool, a couple of drinks, great Mexican food for lunch, a 30 minute nap, a cocktail party and as far as I know they are all still down by the pool getting blitzed.  I’m here chronicling the day.

The resort here is huge.  It sits on the edge of the Caribbean and sports a healthy and robust tide.  Sleeping will be pleasant with the sound of the surf, the rustle of palms and a sweet breeze to keep things comfortable.  My favorite feature is a swim up bar which I hope to frequent tomorrow.

By the way, the picture is an iguana that is “gumming” an apple core that we fed it.  Iguanas abound.

As do these little folks.  They are coatis.  Look like marsupials, raccoons, and something else combined.  Non threatening and will steal snacks out of your golf cart.

Well, here we sit on the tarmac at the San Antonio airport.  The stop was being made so that we could refuel on our way to Cancun because big golfers have big golf clubs and big golf bags and big everything.  The weight was too heavy for the plane to fly non-stop.  Bummer.  So, the stop was necessary for fuel.  We needed more gas, so to speak.

Thing is, this trip is arranged by a tour operator called ITL.  This is the second trip we have done, last year being our first.  Well, ITL had contracted with Alaska Airlines up until this year.  They changed to Sky King.  Let me just say, if you get the opportunity to book with Sky King, run the other way.  Rumor has it that they transport NFL teams etc.  Don’t believe it.  Those guys wouldn’t put up with outfit in a New York minute.  So what, pray tell, happened?

Three words.  Navy fighter pilot.  Oh, read a few more words.  Read old plane.  Read small 737.  Read old plane.  Oh, I already mentioned that.  The fighter pilot took the 737 in for a landing that the old plane didn’t appreciate…read bounced with a thud upon contacting the tarmac.  End result?  A broken strut and a 5 or 6 hour delay while the part could be located (in FL), trucked to the airport (the van driver got lost, what?  Didn’t he have GPS?), the repair made.  For the first 3 hours we were stuck on the old bird.  Sitting on the tarmac.  Finally, aware that they’d be in big trouble if they didn’t let us off the plane, they arranged for a free meal (not to exceed $10) and ride to the terminal with a van that seated about 8 people.  Realizing that it would take a great deal of time shuttling us, they arranged for a second bigger van.  It still took a long time.  We invaded the terminal and ate and drank and then we sat and sat and sat waiting for the plane to arrive at the Gate 9 for the continuation of our flight.  The flight from San Antonio to Cancun took 2 1/2 hours plus we lost 2 hours.  Then after Customs (which the Mexicans take very seriously), we faced a 1 1/2 hour bus ride to the resort which is actually just north of Tulum.  We arrived in one piece at our room about 1 a.m., 11 p.m. CA time.  Given that we got up at 4:30 a.m. in Oakland, it was by any account a very long day.

Our friends Tom and Ruth were worse off.  One of their bags went missing for a time.  And then they were selected as the ones to have security rummage through every piece of luggage that they brought.  By this time all the nice big busses were gone, and they found themselves with mothers with small children, and the elderly that moved slowed and they were transported in a rickety old van that held 15.  Not what they envisioned as the start of a perfect vacation.  Oh, well.  At least we all got here safe but unsound!!

We played golf today.  It was warm and beautiful.  Heading home we stopped b the grocery store to buy some yogurt, bananas, fennel (for a pasta dish we were making for dinner) and boxed wine (feeling a bit overextended from xmas!)

Got home, cleaned up and I took a nap while Ray did his number puzzle.  Then we started dinner.  He got out the pine nuts, I measured the raisins and then I went to cut the fennel.  Horror of horrors.  I mistakenly bought leeks.  Eeekkkk, it a leek!!

Looked in my cookbook and found a recipe using leeks that required things we had on hand so that was good.  But how in the world does one buy leeks when they are shopping for fennel?  and not know it until it’s time to use it?  Oh, I worry about myself!!

But I digress.  The recipe called for white wine.  All the white wine was down two floors.  Ray went to get it.  I found some cheese (I needed Parmigiana).  I grated it.  As I was grating, Ray came trudging up the stairs and announced that the wine closet was locked.  So he had to come all the way up to get the key and head back down again.  Which he did while mumbling.  The recipe called for parsley.  We had dead and dying parsley in the refrig but Ray rescued enough for our dish.  We needed penne.  No penne.  However, there were shells.  We used shells.  The cheese I grated didn’t taste like the right kind.  Ray found a block of the right kind.  More cheese got grated.  The recipe called for 1/2 cup wine but we were making only a half recipe.  He poured 1/2 instead of 1/4.  When I mentioned it, he said, just throw it away.  I objected.  Two hours after dinner, I think it is still sitting there (the unused portion).   Despite our efforts, dinner was ready.  We each at a bowl.  Ray went back for more.  I had forgotten to turn off the heat.  So, it had developed a “crust”.  However, it wasn’t burnt and the extra “cooking” may have enhanced it (or not).

So, that was our making of the dinner.  What a hoot!!

So, we were zumming down the freeway (actually heading north on 101) and Ray said, “the sky looks forboding” and I said, “yes, but at least it isn’t raining”.  Immediately, the drops started to hit the windshield.  Then the drops turned into very big plops and then all hell broke loose!!

We were on the way to Carmel on Xmas day to cook and eat with our friends, Carol and Bob.

Well, it is Saturday and it has been raining cats and dogs all day.  For those whole live in CA, you know what an unusual event that can be.  Our average rainfall in December is about 3 1/2 inches.  This storm may dump 5 inches.  Very exciting.

Having said that I wanted to do something I’ve put off for a long time.  Read my great great grandfather Dresser’s account of coming to CA from Beloit, Wisconsin during the gold rush.  As a backdrop, I heard from the family that these letters to and from William Dresser and his wife Sarah were located in the Bancroft Library in Berkeley.  So a few years ago, I paid a visit to the Bancroft Library and arranged to receive copies of  both the handwritten original letters along with the transcriptions of said letters.

It is so interesting that I thought I would share with you one of the letters (the most interesting thus far).  It’s all about the Indians.  Enjoy.