¡Ay, Caramba!

That was my thought as we landed back in Minneapolis, after a week of paradise in Mexico.  Since last week was President's Day, we decided to take a break from the "lovely" Minnesota winter and take the kids to Playa del Carmen a week of sun, sea and siesta!  That meant us pulling the kids from school for 4 days vs 5.  We left last Saturday in what was a somewhat auspicious beginning.

Our flight was set to leave at 10am and we were there well in advance of the 2 hours recommended, only to be greeted with a check in line that stretched from here to Nebraska!  Note to self...when given the opportunity to check in online...DO IT!  The line, while long, moved quickly and we made it to check in with JUST enough time to race through security to our gate...only to have to wait as the plane was being readied for the trip.  So we were about an hour and a half late taking off, which was no big deal.  We were on our way to MEXICO!

We arrived in Cancun about an hour late and needed to take a bus from the flight line to the terminal were a mass of humanity greeted us at immigration.  Seriously.  I have NEVER seen anything like that in all my concert going, black Friday battling, crowd pushing days.  EVER.  It wouldn't have been bad if there was some rhyme or reason to how these travelers were to get through this mass of people, but there wasn't.  After standing for about 10 minutes without moving, we moved to another spot.  Only to find that there WAS a spot where people eventually funneled into a maze of roped off lines.  BUT..this funneled two separate masses into one line in two different spots.  And if you were not in one of those two spots, woe be unto you.

You can call me Woe.

We finally made it into a roped area only to have (according to a line stander) airport security come and take down the ropes that held people back, causing a rush of people who in effect "budged" in front of all the others who had been standing not moving for an hour and a half (not that I was counting...ahem).  So, it took us almost 2 hours JUST to get through immigration.  Luckily, customs was quick and easy and we were soon on our way to our hotel...just a short hop, skip and an hour drive away.

Luckily, our driver aimed to please...and he stopped so we could grab "refreshments".

Our adventure had begun, somewhat unexpectedly, but I decided to look at it optimistically...things could only get better.  And they did!