Cancun July 7-10 2004
I recieved some great news in April of 2004.  I had won a trip for 2 to Cancun in a contest held by my company Martin & Bayley(who own the store I work in, Huck's Convenience store.)  My name was drawn out of over 700 names of people who had all made 100 percent on their mystery shops.(People are hired by the company to visit the stores in the chain to see how well stores and their clerks are doing their jobs).

I never win anything, so I was in a bit of a state of shock when I got the news.  When it finally sunk in, I was excited!!  I asked my sister Lori to be my guest.

The trip took place on July 7, 2004.  We flew from St. Louis on Alligiant Airlines and arrived in Cancun at 2:45 pm.  We were taken by bus(picked up by the Apple Tour Representitives, who were the travel agents for the trip) to our Hotel(Riu Cancun).  We were told that the RIU Cancun was the TALLEST hotel in Cancun.  The hotel was absolutely BEAUTIFUL......we luckily were located on the top floor(Room 1533), I say "lucky" as we were treated to one of the best views from our balcony.

After a quick change of clothes, we headed for the downstairs to explore our hotel(M &B spared no expense for this trip.....it was all-inclusive)..there were several places to eat and always a great view of the Carribean Sea.....which is breathtakingly stunning!....
....There's a lot of places to shop in Canun and American money is welcome, so if you don't want to exchange currency, you don't have to......where we were located in Cancun, there were several malls and most places were a walk away, but you can take a taxi or a bus to get anywhere there.......we chose to walk......

Our first night there we walked to the Plaza Forum, where Coco Bongo's, The Rain Forest Cafe' and The Hard Rock Cafe' were located.....my sister wanted to shop at the Harley Davidson Shop(my brother-in-law is a Harley Rider), and I was excited to visit the Hard Rock Cafe'...there were also various T-shirt shops and souvenier shops.....in addition to Johnny Rocket's and a grocery store.....PLUS there was an internet cafe' where you could check your email for 2 dollars per 20 minutes......the mall is 3 floors high......

We also stopped at The Mexican Outlet, various flea market booths  and the Plaza Caracol(another shopping mall), which was just across the street from Hotel Riu........
One of the "dangers" of walking....you might run into an unwanted native of Cancun....we noticed this sign on our last night at Cancun after walking this route for 3 days.........
The movie Cocktail was filmed here, with Tom Cruise....we didn't go in, but walked passed it several times......
The Plaza Forum....
My favorite part of the trip, by far, was a visit to Chichen Itza.  The tour was set up by Apple Vacations the day before we left.  We took a bus down the road to PAT O'Brian's EARLY Friday July 9, 2004 to eat breakfast and board a bus to Chichen Itza, which was a 2 hour or so ride.  The bus was very comfortable and the tour guide, named Angel, was FANTASTIC and the bus driver, Eduardo, provided us with a very smooth ride!  Angel knew his stuff very well and was funny and personable...he obviously had a passion for this area.....

Angel warned us of the heat when we finally stopped.....he said it would probably be 107 degrees with 100 percent humidity......however we were spared as a rainstorm hit and the weather, although rainy, was very comfortable........

After they Pyramids we were taken to Ik Kil, a hidden well, were we were permitted to swim, the water was VERY deep(I didn't swim)....located by the well was a great restaraunt with fantastic food!
Angel, the tour guide(facing the camera)
Saturday July 10, 2004 was our last day in Cancun, we checked out of the hotel at 11 am and boarded the plane home by 1 pm.......we arrived in St. Louis that evening and was back in Christopher by 9 pm.......it was a FANTASTIC trip and one that I'll never forget!
One last look at Cancun, thanks to our wonderful airline pilot!
The well at IK KIL and the restaraunt(below)
(above) After Angel's informative tour of Chichen Itza, the clouds really rolled in.....just SECONDS after this picture was taken two lightening bolts shot out of those clouds.too bad I didn't capture them in the picture.
Leonard in the Carribean!
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