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Back from vacation

By Daniel Shaviro

We returned yesterday from a week in the Iberostar Tucan in Playa del Carmen, Mexico (near Cancun but much quieter). A pleasant week on a family resort that mixed the idyllic with, I suppose, the tired (such as some of the all-you-can-eat buffets). At my age, the real good news is avoiding injury (from sunburn, being smashed by waves, testing my elbow tendonitis, etc.) and not gaining weight despite the all-you-can-eat buffets. As Oscar Wilde said, "I can resist anything except temptation," but luckily the desserts and fried foods don't even tempt me any more. Leaving aside the enormous quantities of fresh papaya that I consumed, but which apparently didn't add to my waistline.

One of the Iberostar's best features is the wildlife living on the property - howler monkeys that I got to see daily after stumbling on their PM hangout site in the canopy, big iguanas, peculiar rodents that might be capybaras, and some beautiful though exceptionally pompous peacocks that were strutting around the pathways and in one case decided to challenge me. (I held my ground, figuring that I weigh more.) Best activity was letting waves wash me onto a surfbreaking structure resembling rock but actually a canvas filled with sand. Very slippery in spots where algae had grown onto it.

In the picture here I'm in the background, having ridden a wave onto the structure but not having yet been washed off. (This apparently was the day I decided not to stand up any more before the waves got me - there's only so much pounding you can take at age 50 plus.)

Second picture is one of the local beastie residents whose favorite AM sunning site we discovered. You can see that he or she is sitting on top of another iguana's tail.

Today (Sunday), things are not quite so idyllic. I'm in my office reading literally hundreds of pages for work (appointments committee, etc.) that I decided not to trouble myself with while in Mexico. Or rather, I am finding a way not to read them at the moment.

Full post as published by Start Making Sense on March 23, 2008 (boomark / email).