Here, lizard, lizard

So Cancun was TOTALLY fabulous. As you can imagine. White sandy beaches. Turquoise and jade green water. Marvelous food.

Well. When you eat HERE, all your food tastes good.

Oceanside restaurant a Zoetry Paraiso de la Bonita, Riveria Maya


And when you wake up to a view like this?

View from a suite at Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach, Punta Cancun


Every morning is filled with endless joy.

And when you have your own PRIVATE POOL to swim in?

Plunge pool outside suite at Zoetry Paraiso de la Bonita, Riveria Maya


Please. Could life GET any better?

There was just one TINY problem. Actually. Not so tiny.

Lizards. Iguanas to be exact.

When we first arrived at our resort in Riviera Maya, my new best friend, Debbie, and I were strolling down the path to our rooms. Surrounded by lush jungle vegetation and huge, bright colored flowers. The twitter and caw of the jungle birds. The warm Caribbean sun bathed our faces and the purr of the surf filled the air and CRAP! What was that? Something just ran across the path in front of us. There may have been some profanities uttered. There may have been some dancing around. In fact. There may have been some actual shrieking.

It disappeared into the jungle. And we calmed down. One lizard. Not that big. How bad could this be? It would be FINE. Then I came out of the room to go to lunch and saw him.

As you can see, he was very arrogant. If he could have spoken, it would have been something like "Hey, beyotch. You EYEBALLING ME? Who LIVES HERE? I do. That's who. Don't you be EYEBALLING ME. Because you know what. I know HOW TO GET IN YOUR ROOM. And I can run ACROSS YOUR FEET when you get up at night to go to the bathroom".

Not that this ever happened. However. It was my worst nightmare. As you can see, I paused long enough to take his picture and I kept reassuring myself that he's not that big. There's probably not that many of them.

And then.

I was walking back to the room. And I saw him. He was not in a windowsill. Because he would not have FIT IN A WINDOWSILL. He was stretched across the sidewalk. Now, I am here to tell you that I do not have a picture of him. Because it is difficult to take a picture when you are frantically backing up, sweating and loudly screaming. But I managed to find a picture online just to give you an idea of how big he was.

He did not look at me. He did not need to look at me. Because he knew the power that was him. And he knew that I was backing up. And I would not bother him.

Then we were lolling out by the pool one morning. And really? I think "lolling" is a great word. Don't you? Everyone should loll on their vacations. So we were lolling in our lounge chairs and we heard a rustle in the grass and we turned around and we saw this.



That? Oh, that's an iguana TEARING INTO A BABY BIRD. Which luckily was already dead. I think. He whipped his head back and forth and gave us the evil eye the whole time he was gulping that thing down. And we all went EEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!!

The worst story I heard all week was when the person in charge of catering found out how skeeved I was by the iguanas and laughingly told us that they would not hurt you (theoretically, I knew this but it did not help) and shared a story about how she was meeting with a group in the oceanside restaurant and felt something scratch her leg (wait for it) and looked down and an iguana was walking by, brushing her leg. AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!

You better believe I kept my eyes open in that restaurant the rest of the week. It did not keep me from eating. Not REMOTELY. But I kept my eyes open.

The very last morning after breakfast, I headed back to my room to finish packing and get ready to leave. On the path away from the restaurant sat a huge iguana, lazing in the sun. He filled the entire sidewalk. He glanced up at me knowingly and gave me a lazy, smart ass grin. OK. Maybe that was my imagination.

But I still found another route to my room.

Wouldn't you?

Packing For Cancun Or The Post Where You Find Out How Truly Anal I Really Am

So, I wrote about my Cancun trip here but I had also mentioned that I was going to share with you what I packed for the trip after I meandered onto another topic here. I got everything laundered, organized and mostly packed this past weekend even though I am not leaving for another week because.

Well.

Because I am a tad OCD. And I admit it. One of my friends at school was leaving on a trip to the beach the day after school was out and she had not packed a thing. The day before the trip. I got all a-flutter just thinking about the situation. If I was not completely packed and organized the day before a trip? The world would COME TO AN END. So. All packed and organized. And here is what I am taking.

This is what I'm wearing to the airport. White capris, bright turquoise racer-back top and a thin, white blouse open on top. I always like to have something I can slip on or off, depending on how cold the airport or airplane might be. When I arrive in Cancun, I'll just slip that sheer top into my bag and with my white pants and light top, I will be ready for the hot weather. And the pool. And the beach. And OMG I think I am having an excitement attack. Is there such a thing? There TOTALLY should be.

I have flat white sandals I am wearing which will go with other outfits as well. The turquoise top could also match the black capris I am taking, as well as the khaki shorts. And the sheer white blouse can go over the black and white sundress I am wearing one night in case it is chilly.


We will have dinner out four nights and I'm not sure if they will be dressy or not so I am taking two dresses and tops to dress up my black or white capris. Here's the two dresses. I'm taking dressy black sandals which will match either dress and will also match either pair of capris.

I figure out everything I am going to wear with an outfit, from jewelry to underwear and put that in the suitcase with the outfit. Because it would be a catastrophe BEYOND PROPORTION to not have the right earrings for the outfit.


I'm taking two pairs of capris - black and white.

If I wear a dressy top and sandals with them, they will be fine for dinner out.

Or I can dress them down to wear during the day.

All of the tops I am taking can be worn with either black or white.

I'm only taking one pair of casual shorts, since I want to look a little more professional when we are touring properties. I chose khaki because I can wear any of my tops with them. I'm packing three bright colored tank tops which will match the shorts or the capris. They can be worn singly or layered and I could even wear the black one over my bathing suit if I need to.

Bathing suit, coverup, cute black straw hat. Ready for the beach!

Silky short nightgown and matching robe. I would not have been quite so well coordinated but I thought I was sharing a room with a stranger and did not want to shock them with my hot flash-induced nudity. I think the robe will come in handy to throw on while I do my hair, etc.

And finally. Because I will NEVER be caught without food while traveling again like the time Tom and I cockily thought we would eat at the airport on the way home from Puerto Vallarta and just about starved when we were hustled through the conncting airport because our flight was late. We literally went 12 hours without food. When we got to the airport in Lexington, we fell on a chocolate bar from the vending machine like a pack of ravening coyotes. Never again.


And there you have it. I'm ready to go. You can read all about the trip on my travel blog when I return or check Twitter for some live tweeting. Hopefully.

If I can get my new Blackberry Storm to cooperate. Because she does think I'm rather an idiot.