We arose at the ungodly hour of 3:30am to get into the car and go to the airport. The only thing that could rouse us is the promise that, in a few short hours, we’d be in sunny Mexico, on the Mayan Riviera, sipping frosty Banana Republics out of large glasses at the Barcelo.

We made it to the airport with no problem — it is always amazing to see the amount of traffic on the streets at that hour — after stopping by McDonald’s for a breakfast of McGriddles (God smiled the day McGriddles were invented).

Our plane was on time and full. The young man in the seat next to Drew smelled like he hadn’t been home all night, and his actions (getting up to puke three times before we even took off) confirmed the suspicion.

The carrier, USA3000, is quite impressive. They provide a juice service, a full breakfast (a sausage-egg-and-cheese muffin with a fruit cup), beverage service, delicious snack cakes near the end of the flight, and free headsets for the in-flight movie (HOUSE OF D on the way there and HOOT on the way home). The fact that our headset jacks didn’t work did little to dampen our impression of the airline. We rested as much as the puking row-mate would permit until the plane landed.

At the baggage claim, we met Buddy & Jenny when Buddy asked if Drew worked at Keebler (Drew was wearing a thrift-store Keebler shirt) and we struck up a conversation. Customs was a breeze and we were on the bus in no time. After a long wait, during which we met Dawn & Jon and ran into Jenny & Buddy, our bus took off for our resort. An uneventful 90 minutes later, the bus arrived at the Barcelo and we stepped off into the tropical beauty of the place. There are loads of photos in our gallery of the resort and grounds from our previous trip to Mexico.

Our room wasn’t going to be ready until 3:00, so we accepted our wristbands (which identify us as guests of the resort) and wandered around the resort. We had lunch in the buffet and took a walk around, finally ending up at the dive shop where we were happily surprised to see Edgar, who had been our dive guide when we were there two years ago. He was preparing to go on vacation (to answer the question I’m sure you’re asking — “Where do people who work in paradise go for vacation?” — the answer is Scotland), so we didn’t get to dive with him this time.

We finally got our room, room 5388, around 3:00 — the third floor of Sayil, which is the best building to be in if you’re a diver because it’s the closest to the dive shop in the ‘low rent’ district (the old section of the resort), so it’s inexpensive and convenient. I think even more ideal might be something in the 5120-30 range, but 5388 is still good — it’s at the far end away from the beach and walking the length of the building time & again each day gets tiring. We learned that the resort was only 4% occupied this week (a nice surprise for us since we really like low season without the crowds), and in fact one of the new buildings was completely closed down and without any occupants — the lights were off and everything — so we wondered why it took so long to get our room ready. Ah well. Once we got in, we found the room to be cold and comfortable, just like usual. We called down for a mattress topper (the resort will throw a 2-inch foam pad on their rock hard mattress if you ask) and set to getting settled in.

After unpacking and getting organized, we headed back to the dive shop to plan our dives. We planned to do a total of four dives in two days — not a lot of diving, but we had something else in mind, too… We watched a Whale Shark video and, in a staggering display of spontaneity, Wendy & I decided to sign up to snorkel on Tuesday with Whale Sharks. We then headed to the newly-reconstructed pier (it was a rickety wooden thing before and is now a concrete beauty) for a bit of swimming, then to the lobby bar where I had my first-and-last michelada, an awful combination of beer, lime juice, worchestershire sauce, and salt & pepper. If you think it sounds bad, it tasted even worse than it sounds. Truly nasty.

We had dinner at the Italian-themed buffet with Buddy & Jenny, then hit the sack by 9:30.