here we go again

By day, the "sky infinity pool" looks like this:

See, sky + infinity pool = sky infinity pool

By night, it looks exactly like this, only much darker. (Trust me, we could hardly see anything.) We became a little restless after our feast and birthday pie . . . and, we had the false bullet-proofness (I know, not in Webster's, just bare with me please) that comes with one or two, too many, adult beverages, little sleep and the teenage perception that nothing could hurt or stop us! Okay, we were pretty drunk.

[As an aside, I must say that this was almost the only night we drank way too much. We celebrated beyond our means on the last night as well, but you'll have to keep reading to get the skinny on that night.]

Where was I, oh yes, we were bullet-proof. Only with alcohol, right? We were old moms in Mexico . . . where was the shame and the common sense? . . . back in Houston, with the man with two cowboy hats! ANYWAY . . . we got a little restless, egged on by our thirst for adventure and the cocktails, and decided, unanimously, to "check out the sky pool." Never mind that it was closed. I have no idea how long it had been closed, but it was plenty dark and there was a locked gate . . .

Path to the sky infinity pool (gate at the top on the left)

Close your eyes, and picture the three of us, sneaking, ever so loudly (of course we thought we were being quiet) up this hill, in the middle of the night. I was bare footed, we all had the last cocktail in hand, (you know, the one responsible for the courage that was enabling this hike) and were heading for what we thought would be the beautiful, moonlit infinity pool. At the top of this hill was an iron gate that rested beneath the little red roof. It was tall and completely blocked the opening. However, to the left of the gate, was a 3 foot wall that ran up the hill and wrapped around the walkway, all the way up to the top, where one would reach the pool deck (during daytime hours of operation). The way I saw it, that was our way in.

[As another aside, when I was younger, my favorite TV show was MacGyver.  I didn't just like MacGyver, I wanted to be MacGyver . . . that may be a slight misrepresentation, I wanted to emulate MacGyver's exceptional problem-solving skills. My two life-long friends had long ago accepted this peculiar aspect of my personality, so it was no surprise to them when I suggested our next move. Here, in the dark, with just the right amount of liquid courage running through my veins, heart pounding, I said, "let's just go around the gate!"]

At this moment, I'm 44 days shy of turning 50 years old and before I know it, I'm climbing up onto this  rock wall, wiggling around the iron supports, connected to the locked, iron gate, designed to KEEP PEOPLE OUT, and happily landing on the other side. I look at my friends and say, "come on, it's easy!" Well, it was . . . both Samantha and Charlotte eased over the wall and around the iron gate, just like I had,  then we all made our way to the pool deck. We chose chase lounges that offered what we thought was the best view, of what felt like, the top of the world. Moments passed as we took in the beauty and the breeze and the total serenity . . .  EVERYTHING was right with the world; at least for a few minutes everything was right! Then, all of a sudden, we saw a tall shape moving up the walkway on the other side of the pool. It looked like a man, headed our way. All three of us lay there frozen, scared to death. This moving silhouette, approached our lounges, but stopped short of reaching our position. Oddly, it seemed like he didn't see us. In one fluid motion, he poured something into the pool and then, as quietly as he had invaded our little hide-away, he walked back around the pool deck from where he had entered. Once he disappeared out of sight, we breathed a collective sigh of relief. Truthfully, there was something so exhilarating about being somewhere off limits. Once we thought he was gone, we couldn't keep from giggling and sharing the thrill this experience had given us. We were still a bit scared, but we hadn't gotten caught; how had he not seen us? 

What came next was BAD. Before we could enjoy the sheer decadence of our actions, another tall silhouette came rushing up the same walkway as our last invader, only this guy had a flashlight and he was running! RUNNING? OMG, we were busted. Did we sit there to await what was sure to happen as a consequence? NO . . . we RAN back down the walkway to the gate, the LOCKED GATE. Yep, we were busted. 

Out of breath, this shadow caught up with us as we hit the dead end and realized we had no where to go. I must admit that what happened next is a little fuzzy. I remember Samantha asking if we were going to be sent to Mexican jail, I don't remember Charlotte saying anything . . . which was probably the most prudent way to react . . . I just remember a flurry of voices, all ours, explaining that we were 50 year old moms, celebrating our birthdays, away from home, our trip had already been delayed, we just wanted to see the sky pool and . . . the poor guy probably thought we were crazy, not drunk. After all the explanations were given, he told us to go back to our room, and stay there. Stupidly, I remember asking him if he wanted us to climb back out the way we came in. He simply pushed the gate open and we hurried back down the hill to our building. Inside room 2053, we thanked God and the Mexican police for our freedom, and shamefully, we poured one last cocktail for the night! I think? 

To be continued . . .

[One last aside: remember in our namesake movie, Charlotte had a little accident on the way back to their room . . . let's just say our Charlotte had a similar experience escaping from the resort security; thankfully it was #1 not #2]

This "cocktail" napkin says it all