living life large

This is the life we were meant to live . . .

Don't get me wrong, we love our lives, but this picture says it all! Hopefully, you the reader, haven't just stumbled upon this BLOG and have NO idea what is going on. If that is the case, please STOP reading and go back to the beginning. You will thank me later!

Where was I, oh yes, living life large, and indeed we were. This morning was the beginning of our third day. So far, we have enjoyed the sky infinity pool (legally and illegally), downtown Cabo, and now we were venturing out to yet another pool, the lower infinity pool. But first, we, or actually I should say, I,  had a little problem that was becoming a painful nuisance. 

The following discussion is not suitable for 
children or men, so skip down to the next paragraph, please  .  .  .

Whether you are 50 or 25, many women live with changes in their bowel movements when they travel or deviate from their day-to-day routine. I have been cursed with such a fate since I can remember. I don't let it get the best of me; I try to always be prepared! Why then was I NOT prepared on this trip? It's a mystery .  .  .  What isn't a mystery is how my lifelong friends bailed me out yet again. We did wake up early this morning, but I was beginning to feel like I had swallowed a bowling ball and it had decided to take up residence somewhere between my stomach and, well, let's just say the end of the lane! To say I was miserable was an understatement. The almost poetic irony here is that most people that travel to Mexico worry about the opposite problem. So when my two best lifelong friends went in search for something to relieve my congestion, the pharmacist looked bewildered. (I'm trying to be delicate which is hard when the topic is poop or the lack thereof) He had many over-the-counter remedies to stop what I was in urgent need of starting. He had one remedy available, so out of sheer desperation, they bought it. (in real life, Charlotte is a nurse, so I was in good hands)  It was called Agiolax. The instructions were in Spanish and unlike all medicine purchased from a pharmacy in the United States, there was no expiration date, and we certainly couldn't tell if the ingredients were listed because every word was in Spanish. The pharmacist instructed them on the proper dosage (was he really a pharmacist?) and we all decided that the risk outweighed the potential for relief. It was to be mixed with liquid, any liquid, so they prepared my gritty cocktail and I choked it down. Yuck! There was no guarantee and if it worked, it could take hours  .  .  .  so we did what strong, group therapy women do, we packed our incidental bag, put our bathing suits on and found the closest lounges we could to the public facility at the lower infinity pool.

Como esta Agiolax? Comforting!

Back to our story .  .  .  Day three would end up being the day we left moderation in the room. Honestly, I don't think the outcome was choreographed, but we did manage to do everything in excess. I was able to forget about my misery once I knew the cure was in sight. Plus, Samantha and Charlotte kept me laughing for hours. There is absolutely no way I can put into words all the fun we had, plus we had many adult beverages throughout the day so my memory is a little fuzzy in spots. We accomplished several things: got plenty of sun, ate by the pool, took lots of fun pictures (especially the one of us together with our matching towels), made some new friends, were very entertaining, bonded with Roberto, took advantage of another "Happy Hour", reunited with the security guard from the sky infinity pool and I even found some relief. Take a look at our day in pictures:

Lower infinity pool

Our view at the pool

Anne sharing Carrie's towel

Charlotte relaxing

The girls hanging out on the float

Anne's turn

First round of margaritas - Anne is splurging!

Where's Charlotte and Anne?

Our favorite waiter Roberto

Swim-up bar that we never had to swim to
thanks to Roberto!

Yep, Ephram the security guard, and he's smiling!

Serious, back on duty Ephram

All good things must come to an end . . .

What a day! Reuniting with Ephram was HUGE! We found out that he thought we were pretty funny and posed no threat to security. We also hadn't been placed on a resort watch list, as we had feared. We enjoyed this infinity pool's happy hour a little too much, but thanks to Roberto, we could actually walk back to room 2053. (Instead of bringing us the standard 2 for 1 drinks during happy hour, he encouraged us to order 2 drinks which meant we would only get 4 at a time, not 6. That way each of us had a drink, even Anne. She decided early on that she would be the designated grownup so we ended up sharing her drink.) It was also a good thing Roberto suggested we eat lunch  .  .  .  too bad he didn't suggest reapplying our sunscreen. By the pictures, you can see that we spent a lot of time hanging on to the raft Charlotte bought in town. Our sunscreen was waterproof, but not all-day-in-the-water proof! It was official, we were now those people that we had snickered at (at the same time feeling sorry for) who had stupidly not kept up with sunscreen application. We were fried! Once we realized the splotchy, reddish-purple, burned tint to our skin, we decided it was medicinally necessary to keep the buzz we were feeling. (REMEMBER THE DISCLAIMER PLEASE) 

Why is it that skin doesn't burn uniformly  .  .  .  perhaps to draw attention to your stupidity so the deep feelings of regret and shame will possibly prevent further stupidity during future sun opportunities  .  .  .  anyway, we made it back to our room safely and did keep the buzz going for a little while. We were in bed very early, as Charlotte and I feel asleep during the movie we were watching. The pain set in sometime during the middle of the night; we awoke the next morning to the profound realization that we were all going to peel!

Group Therapy 2011, Cabo

To be continued  .  .  .