SOAR is the name of the incentive trip that Darla wins each year. No one could tell me what the acronym SOAR stands for so I decided it is Sales Oriented Achievement Reward. We left Wednesday morning at 6 AM, flew to Dallas and then on to Cancun, arriving about 4 PM. We collected our bags and were met by a van driver who drove us the 50 minutes to the resort, which is past Playa Del Carmen and about 10 minutes from Tulum. We were very impressed with the architecture and grounds. There are over 3000 rooms on the property. The amazing thing to us is that our room had a two person Jacuzzi, a bar and a fully stocked refrigerator. The resort is all-inclusive and Darla and I gave them a good run for the money. We would meet the members of Darla's team for drinks each night before dinner and sample mudslides and Brandy Alexanders and Colorado Bulldogs and other exotic drinks. We were able to get a table for sixteen in La Huerta the second night of our stay. The hostess said that she would seat us at four different tables for four and I talked the Manager into taking care of us, picking out a spot away from the other guests for our party and putting all 16 of us at a single table setting. The manager even had his bartender prepare Mayan coffee for us, which is a blend of coffee, honey liqueur and ice cream served in a sugar crusted glass rim and prepared in a flaming liqueur that is poured from the glass back into a pitcher and back into the glass with the lights turned down and the show in full effect.
Darla and I would meet other nights for drinks, but then steal off on our own to try different restaurants. They had twelve restaurants from a steak house to Italian, Mexican, Sushi, Mediterranean, and Polynesian. Our favorite restaurant was the steakhouse with a choice of rib eye, top sirloin, New York, Filet Mignon, kebabs, etc. They cooked the meat over coals and it was excellent. The Mexican was good and we enjoyed the Italian as well. There are certain things the Mexican people do well: meats, pastries, juices, peppers, etc and some they do bad: chocolate, milk, butter, cheeses, and breads. The restaurants were largely buffet at breakfast and lunch and sit down for dinner. Darla and I would get fresh omelette's, pancakes, waffles, etc for breakfast cooked on the grill. The buffet food was largely tasteless and unappetizing. For lunch we would do salads, tortillas and burritos as well as hamburgers, chicken sandwiches and steak sandwiches cooked to order. We would ignore most of the buffets again due to a sameness and unappetizing display.
Darla and I did take an ATV tour in Playa Del Carmen that took us on a two hour ride through the jungle and to the beach. When we took the ATV tour in Hawaii, we had a half hour riding lesson where the instructors "certified" us ready to ride. In Mexico, they had us get on, showed us how to put the bike in neutral, start it and off we went. We were put with a group of Canadians, a family of 8 from Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver Island that had met in Cancun for vacation. They had 14 in total, but only eight on the ATV tour. They had 80 year old parents that had gone para sailing the day before, so this family was tough. We went through a cave in the jungle that had stalactite and stalagmites, fruit bats, a huge roots of the trees of the jungle on the cave floor, one of them an anaconda root, which is thick and long like the snake. It was very interesting. As we exited the cave on the opposite side of where we entered the guide told us to be careful of pumas and that he'd point out their tracks. Several of the ladies got a bit concerned and he admitted that there were also Nike tracks, Adidas tracks, even Converse tracks. The trail was very rocky and I had to stand on the four wheeler ( A Grizzly 350) as the pounding on my back was too much. We finally got out of the hills and down to the beach and the trail became sandy and smooth. After two stops to swim, we took off for the compound which was two miles away. The lead guide was flying and I was right behind him spinning and sliding through the turns as we drove upwards of 50 MPH. Finally, we stopped to wait on the group behind us and they were a good 5 minutes behind. I have to hand it to Darla, she was right there on my tail the whole way. It was alot of fun and we decided to ATV rather than go on the visit to the Mayan Ruins.
Darla decided to go rogue Saturday night and skip the closing ceremonies. It rained Saturday and we were confined to our room with trips to the bar and meals in between. We met the gang for drinks and then headed back to the room to watch the Dallas playoff game. I had told Darla that this was her trip and that I'd gladly miss the game, but she wanted me to be able to see it and it was a great win for the Cowboys Saturday night. We went to the steakhouse Saturday at half time and then ordered room service dessert.
Darla definitely has issues with direction and she was completely turned around at the resort. There are two sides, the Spa side (adults only) and the Palace side for families. We would usually hit the beach on the Palace side and eat lunch there at Manducas. She would blindly follow me and admit she had no idea where we were at any time. On Friday night we decided to go to The Hacienda Mexican restaurant. I was ready before her and wanted to get some air so told her I'd meet her outside. Unfortunately, I walked to the ocean side and listened to the waves and looked at the lights on the water. She came out to meet me and turned in the other direction and walked to the front of the resort ( a pretty good hike). I walked back to the room wondering what was taking so long and she was gone. I knew then I was in trouble. She came back seething, telling me that "my game of hiding when she didn't know where the Hell she was wasn't funny". Her reaction was unfortunately funny to me which didn't help the situation at all.
We got home at 11:00 PM last night and I'm tired today as we were on central time in Cancun. I made it through the day of work and look forward to a good night's sleep in my own bed tonight.
Darla and I are off to Napa this weekend leaving Friday morning for my retreat at Silverado Country Club and Spa with the insurance board that I serve on. Alicia will be married Saturday and we will stay over at the Marriott in Napa Saturday night. I'm sure I'll watch the Dallas game Sunday morning in the sports bar.
I hope you are all well. It is good to be home, if only for a few days, See I am like my father. Be safe and healthy in the New Year and God Bless. Ciao.
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