Theme Night Parties - SEVENTH NIGHT: PIRATE NIGHT

Because this was the eve of our last day at Hidden Beach, we decided we’d take a trip into Playa Del Carmen to do a little shopping. I wanted to bring a few souvenirs back from Mexico for certain individuals (and a few items for ourselves as well) and heard this was the best spot to do so. My husband was hesitant to leave the compound, I thought his reasons were due to the news reports we’d heard of drug cartels, kidnappings and various other sordid news stories. Since I had been in Mexico many times before and had some knowledge of Spanish language, I truly felt no apprehension over venturing out for a little bit of shopping. I reassured him of all these things, when he responded with, “It’s not because of that, I just hate to have to put clothes on for the entire day”. I guess I should have known!

We were going to hire a taxi to take us into the city, but after conversing with some of the other guests, found we could get a free shuttle ride through Lomas Travel if we took a tour of the Lapis Jewelry Factory, then they would take us on to Playa Del Carmen, treat us to a free lunch and we would have a couple of hours to shop or sightsee.

Before we left the compound we told a few of our new found friends where we were going. Our friends Shirley & Jerry tried to dissuade us from going, Shirley said, “Don’t go darlin’, stay here and play with us”. She was so adorable with her Texas drawl, but we told her not to worry, we’d be back in a few hours. Well, let’s just say it all started out well. The driver was there on time at the front gate and the drive to the highly overpriced jewelry factory went smoothly and we were promptly picked up and taken into town as promised (after turning down their many attempts to tempt us into purchasing the pretty but expensive jewelry). 

We arrived at the restaurant where we were told to return to for shuttle pick up at 5:30 p.m. We walked around to various stores and shopped for pretty pareos, tequila, and a few other mementos. We returned to our designated pick up site and ate our free tacos accompanied with a $3.00 soda which was not included. It had begun to rain so we were glad we had returned before it hit hard and poured down upon us.

We waited a little nervously for our shuttle (or should I say I was nervously waiting, my husband kept saying it would be okay) because a good many of them were coming and going and I felt a little anxiety over catching the right one. We waited for quite a while and finally got onto our shuttle bus. Now this is where things got a little confused. There were a few other couples taking this shuttle along with us (where we had been the only passengers going on our way to the shops) and the driver stopped at various resorts to drop off passengers. The first stop on the resort trail was Hard Rock Hotel. After the driver dropped the first couple off, he asked us if we were going to Hidden Beach. We said yes, and the driver began to drive around, and around, and around the compound of Hard Rock Hotel. We weren’t sure what he was looking for, I thought possibly another passenger drop off, but when he began stopping and asking people, “Hidden Beach?” I understood he was lost! I tried to explain which direction he needed to take to get there, but he either didn’t understand me or wasn’t listening. At this point in our journey, when I’d become convinced that this had turned into Gilligan’s adventure (you know, “A three hour tour, three hour tour…”), our driver finally went back to the front gate of the resort and asked them for directions to Hidden Beach. Ah, the light came on, and off we went. It was around 7:30 when we finally got back to our resort and we hurried to dress for the final theme night party: Pirates matey!

We had great pirate costumes, and I felt these were the best costumes of all we’d purchased. Mark’s pirate was great with his beard and all his accessories. I saw many attractive costumes and I admired them very much, but I was very surprised by how well my costume was received. The night was great fun and I think we danced more on this night than we had on any of the other nights. Energy levels were high and the staff had decorated the banquet room beautifully. We had a marvelous band playing our dance music on this evening and it was just the best night. We were all well aware of the clock counting down, knowing soon the carriage would turn back into a pumpkin. Maybe this was part of the dynamics behind the energy present on this evening or maybe we’d become more comfortable and acquainted with each other by now, but I can’t think of a party I’ve enjoyed so much.

 

Oh, and the final night’s costume competition, they decided to run it a little differently this time. Previously the winner had been determined by the applause meter method. On this night they had a team of judges and each voted on their choice for best costume. Another difference, my husband ended up being the only man in the competition and each contestant was a single entry. I don’t know how it happened, but somehow I ended up the winner of the competition. I won a bottle of tequila as my prize and had the honor of knowing I was voted a winner by my friends. I’m hoping those friends will be returning next year when we have our trip booked.

With the dance winding down, we left and returned to our room to change out of our costumes. We went for our last evening swim and walked down to the beach to enjoy viewing the glow of the moon over the ocean. We returned to the palapa beds and cuddled together listening to the waves lapping in against the shoreline. The relaxing sounds, warm tickling breeze and beautiful memories lulled us into a sweet sleep. We weren’t sure how long we slept before being awoken by staff members moving furniture and cleaning up the resort grounds. We returned to our room, having had full intentions of packing up our suitcases so we would be able to relax the next morning before leaving the resort. We did not do that however, we snuggled in under the blankets and slipped into our final night of sleep at Hidden Beach.

We arose early the next morning and went to breakfast. We decided we would take one last swim before leaving our tropical paradise. After our swim we walked down to the beach and stood looking out over the beautiful ocean view bemoaning having to leave it. We returned to our room, packed our bags and did a once over to make sure we had gathered all our belongings. We returned to the dining area for most of the guests were now there as we wanted to say our last goodbyes to all. We exchanged addresses, hugs and kisses, and promised to keep in touch. With that we called the front desk and told them our luggage was ready to be picked up. As we walked toward the gate we turned around for one last look. We said goodbye to Hidden Beach, but promised we’d return. It was definitely a trip we’ll never forget.

AZNudistCouple

At the Houston Airport on our flight home waiting for our connecting flight to Phoenix.