My Spring Break in Mexico

As I was exchanging some emails with my American family prior to leaving Italy, they told me that they were planning to go to Mexico for Spring Break. It was June and we had plenty of time to talk about it since it was going to happen only in March of the following year. But time literally flew and after Halloween, Thanksgiving came, then Christmas and New Year.

Packing

Here I am packing for my trip. I need a new swimming suit, I need at least two in case the other is wet. No problem, we run to Walmart and Target to get one, does not matter what the brand is. It just needs to fit me and to be nice. Done, as I bought one I put it in my luggage and then I continued packing. Flip flops, I don't have comfortable flip flops I can walk around the resort with. I also bought a pair, as well as some collar shirts for parties and formal dinners. My advice for packing is putting things you really need in the backpack because you never know if your bag does not make it to your connecting flight or (in the worst case scenario) if they lose it (it happened to people I know and it would suck). Everything else can go in the checked bag.

Departure day

We arrive at DIA all ready to check in and my American parents tell my host brother and I that we were going to fly in first class. First Class, wow. As my American parents have been in Playa Del Carmen before and had to fly into Cancun with a layover in Texas this is what we did this time as well. Truth is, there is not a straight flight from Denver to Cancun and we did not know it. But that is okay, we landed in Dallas, spent some time there and then boarded the new plane which flew us to Mexico. "Hot! ", this is all we could say, it was literally so hot that I could see the heat in the air. Very humid, but fun for me to see signals in Spanish. I felt like if I was in Italy for some reason.

Our driver took us straight to the resort from the airport and... the resort was already amazing from the outside. You could not really see anything yet, but the entrance was very cool. As the van drives through this narrow street we arrive at the gate and enter to check in. The front desk was on the side and the view there was of the infinite pool was breathtaking. I felt like if I was in a movie. I remember watching a "My Wife And Kids" episode where they were in Hawaii and this just looked like that. We had two rooms which were connected by a door. Our balconies were facing the ocean and it was so amazing I could not stop observing it. It felt like if we were in a tiny village where you could do everything. There was a teen room for every kid to come and play PlayStation, Wii, pool and drink some smoothies. The swimming pools would light up with different colors at night.

Food in Mexico

Everything was included, when I say everything I mean it: one time my American brother and I ordered a hamburger at one in the morning and it arrived in a few minutes from the kitchen. The restaurant where we used to get our breakfast offered a huge buffet so it was always so yummy to eat there. I usually had lunch with my brother while our parents would eat elsewhere; we would eat dinner together, which was usually more formal.

Day trip to Playa Del Carmen

One of the exchange students who stayed at my American parents' before me, Fer, is Mexican and she and her parents joined us in Playa Del Carmen for lunch. From our resort we took a bus and arrived into town no later than thirty minutes after. We tried to get in contact with Fer and after we did we tried to find a good place to eat something. One of the things I found out on exchange is that I love Mexican food. So it was really hard having to choose only one entree when the menu was like:

• Nachos
• Enchiladas
• Quesadillas
• Chimichangas
• etc.

After lunch we visited the city, which is a nice little coast city and then we headed back to out resort. It was sad to say goodbye to Fer because she is very nice and so is her family.

(Señor Frog's is a store like Hard Rock Café, more or less. Do not really know hot to explain but it is famous in Mexico, lol).

Memorable Spring Break things

Between dinners at the beach, formal meals, swimming and tanning time flew and it was almost time for us to go back to Colorado. But we still needed to do something memorable, something that we could talk about years from now and say "Hey do you remember that we did this in Mexico back in 2015? ".

My American dad and brother went scuba diving in the ocean, I decided not go to. But once they came back they told me I also had to do something, so I used the fly-board. It was one of the funniest things I have ever done. It is really hard for me to explain how it works, but I think that the picture speaks for itself. It looks easy but I guarantee that they told us it is not. It is hard to balance yourself and raise instead of falling into the water and being pushed around. I was actually pretty good, and not because I say it but because the guy on the jetski told me. He started doing it two months earlier for work but he felt like he was not that good still.

March 21st arrived and, for us, there was no time left. Woke up at six in the morning, saw the sun rising and had some breakfast at Azul and then emptied our hotel room. Our journey back to Colorful Colorado began and after a layover in Texas, we arrived home. I was sad to leave but I was beyond excited for my upcoming trip to New York City.

- Cristian

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