As we made our way back to New Jersey and Maryland, my daughter Sheema saw a T-shirt at Cancun Airport, Mexico, which said “Stay calm, you are on the fun side of Trump’s border wall Cancun”. This not only captured the spirit of our very short trip to Cancun but also our mood as we returned to hear the impeachment acquittal news. And as if to remind us of that, each of us had a negative experience to get us ready for real life back home: bringing Cancun airport food on the plane, for which we had a half-hour delay at Newark Airport customs; leaving one wallet in the back seat of the airline seat, which was recovered by United Airlines thankfully; getting 4 hour delay for a 4-hour flight; etc. Welcome to the world of no fun after 4 days of total hedonism; although frankly, I welcome the moderation and simplicity of regular routines, and relish the post vacation reentry period.
Going on luxury vacations creates internal conflict too, as we get treated like royalty and remind ourselves that the workers who make this possible have to go back to the reality of a poor economy at the end of the day. I was reading on the plane that deaths in Mexico were in the tens of thousands due to gang violence which is due to extreme poverty; that is one reason we did not leave the resort, plus we had very little time anyway. Having just seen the movie “The Last Face” about 2 volunteer doctors in Africa which also depicted similar poverty and gang violence there, I reminded myself that while we have a lot of work to do in fixing our global institutions and systems, we also have to allow ourselves the luxury of a well-deserved break with no guilt, especially when it is my twins’ birthday celebration trip! And hopefully the tourism industry does help those economies as well. And so I did!
Being in Cancun was like tasting paradise – the loveliest weather with the most caressing sunshine, palm-trees with coconuts swaying in the breeze, soothing sounds of the ocean and tropical birds all around us and the most exquisitely landscaped property sprawling with wings and wings of spacious rooms and balconies, each with a hammock and a view of the ocean. Getting up early in the morning to greet the sunrise was the best part, and then walking on the beach while Nyla was enjoying her total freedom to run and fall and play!
As we got to the Moon Palace resort (which I would highly recommend), imagine our surprise as we started to hear live Arabic music wafting on the ocean breeze being played poolside – one of 9 interconnected pools- with the whole Caribbean sea as a beautiful backdrop. People were dancing in the pool, some were belly-dancing or doing debke for the crowd poolside and hookahs were blowing smoke everywhere. Did we take a plane to Dubai, we thought, and laughed at our amazing luck, as we all enjoy Arabic music! Apparently, Moon Palace was hosting the second Arab Music Festival of the Americas. We loved people watching- some women wearing hijabs but most in revealing bathing suits by day and 5 inch heels and Gucci handbags by night. Over the next few days, we ate everything in sight- the food is plenty, high quality and served 24 hours a day. On Sunday night, most of the Americans converged to the famous big bar at Moon Palace where a giant TV was broadcasting the Super Bowl. Our short weekend ended, with our darker skin to tell the tale of so much fun in the sun, and most importantly much appreciation for having so much uninterrupted family time together. Only the next time, we will have to bring the whole clan!
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