A trip to Mexico in FB Status Updates and Photos

It's been a long time since I've been entirely offline for 8 full days and I have to say it was really nice. That said, I found myself either missing the narrative mode of Facebook status updates or feeling so lazy that all the writing I could muster was a sentence or two. By the end of the trip, these little SU's captured the week pretty well. There are more photos in the 4 Shots series past this and also on my flickr site.

Heidi is watching her meeting run into its third hour; it's 6PM, the meeting's still going and her trip to Mexico taunts her

Heidi awoke to more snow and an ice-encrusted car. She is more than ready for this trip

Heidi is in the Detroit Airport and learning how to say "Detroit is in the Eastern Time Zone" in three languages.

Heidi doesn't think this trip is real until her plane neighbour says "look... it's the Caribbean."

Heidi and Dale were upgraded to the honeymoon suite with a giant balcony. Sweet.


Heidi is watching pelicans from her balcony

Heidi could try to describe the colour of the sea but you'd never believe her


Heidi is filled with wonder and gratitude

Heidi woke up not knowing where she was but the first thing she saw was the Caribbean Sea. It still seemed like a dream.

Heidi and Dale learn that they have a beach butler named Perla. They like her.

Heidi's toes are happy to see sunshine.


Heidi has no idea what time it is. Heidi realizes she doesn't really care.

Heidi is reading a great novel (The Space Between Us) in a setting that looks like a postcard

Heidi and Dale were told at the airport, "if something seems too good to be true, it probably is." This all seems too good to be true but it's real.


Heidi is thrilled to have spent the day on the beach without getting a speck of a sunburn

Heidi is delighted that today's towels are folded into the shape of an elephant


Heidi notes that Clive Cussler novels outweigh Dan Brown novels. No Ken Follett sightings yet.

Heidi is staring novel # 2: Andrew Taylor's Bleeding Heart Square


Heidi is tempted to swim through the river-y pool that snakes through the resort while singing "It's a small world after all."


Heidi tells Dale the above and he replies, "I wish you would. I have my video camera."

Heidi cannot stop cringing at that man's sunburn. Front AND back. She had one of those when she was 15 and had to sleep sitting up for several days. This may explain her paranoia about sunburns.

Heidi is in love with pelicans


Heidi notes that she still remains sunburn-free and would become a fan of Trader Joe's sunscreen on Facebook if there were such a group

Heidi had her first Ken Follett sighting and wants to tell JW. It's in Spanish.


Heidi is delighted to see today's towels folded into a swan/ heart shape for Valentine's Day. The elephant is still there.


Heidi is amazed by the fish that swim around her feet

Heidi imagines that there will probably come a day when she thinks "it's time to go home" but she is pretty incredulous that that day will come


Heidi thinks this is might be paradise.

Heidi enjoyed Paella Day at lunch. She now has George Costanza's mother's voice in her head saying "What I am supposed to do with all this paella?"

Heidi had a dream that she was nominated for a Grammy for her album with Buddy Miller and they won. No one was more surprised than Heidi. Buddy, however, said, "nahh... I knew you had it in you."

Heidi likes the above dream better than the ones she was having the week before. The most pathetic of these included waking with a start because misfortune had befallen a volume in the Reference collection. Sigh.

Heidi is amazed/ disturbed at how quickly she slouched into slothdom and somewhat appalled at easy it is to do nothing


Heidi is starting novel #3, Tony Parson's My Favourite Wife

Heidi knows she should stop wincing at other people's sunburns. "Oh, wear sunscreen pale countryman!" She also knows giving him the nickname "The Rock Lobster" isn't very nice.

Heidi notes that Dan Brown might be edging out Clive Cussler as beach reading. Stephenie Meyer, Sarah Palin and Heidegger are tied. Ken Follett has vanished.

Heidi is doing some math to figure out if she could afford to stay here forever; all signs point to no.


Heidi and Dale watched a wedding on the beach. She told Dale, "this is where Colin Firth and I would get married." Dale said, "I see..."

Heidi just got back from wading in the sea and is filled with pure, uncomplicated, unconditional bliss.


Heidi is resisting writing a status update that has the following words in it: Detroit, snow, Heidi, DKNY linen sundress, slingback kitten heels and tee-hee

Heidi was laughed at during breakfast for saying "I wonder if someone signed Johnny Damon."

Heidi was just informed that what was funny about the above was her "outrage" that USA Today did not have any baseball coverage. Heidi raises an eyebrow learning her outrage is funny.

Heidi, still, however, would really like to know if someone signed Johnny Damon.

Heidi is starting Day 4 without a sunburn; Rock Lobster is taking sunburn to whole new levels.

Heidi's towels were shaped into a mermaid-y kind of creature today.


Heidi bets you have no idea how much work it is to stay this lily/pasty/freakishly white. She is clearly descended from people who lived under constant cloud cover.

Heidi is bound and determined that the only thing red about her this trip will be her cherry red swimsuit and the occasional strawberry daiquiri.

Heidi has got to the point where a half day excursion to Tulum and a half hour massage seem like a packed couple of days. She is grateful for that feeling.


Heidi read the hotel rules and is amused to learn that "excessive noise, provoking of arguments or quarrels, introduction of musicians or animals" are not permitted

Heidi and Dale just got back from an excursion to Tulum and it was so great. The water is a colour that defies description.


Heidi saw her first iguana in the wild today

Heidi used to think that bad pop songs of the 80s never died but rather they simply moved to Belgium. Listening to Air Supply, Spandau Ballet and Foreigner on the bus to Tulum, Heidi realizes some also live in the Yucatán Peninsula.

Heidi overheard this about iguanas: "When we were in St Thomas, they warned you that if you had your toenails painted red, iguanas would think they were berries and bite your toes right off. Mine were painted bright red and I took that polish _right_ off." Heidi's Coco-motion painted toes wriggled happily knowing they were safe in shoes.


Heidi still doesn't know if someone signed Johnny Damon. USA Today (her only available news source) said nothing about it but did tell her when the Tigers pitchers and catchers report. There was also a story about Curtis starting with the Yankees. Heidi may or may not have said something about that made Dale laugh but she won't repeat it.

Heidi just got back from a walk in the water where fish swam around her feet and pelicans swooped overhead. Smiling, Dale asked, "happy?" Heidi shook her head and said "No, I'm whatever's two rungs above happy."

Heidi really loves the staff here; they're all so interesting and kind.

Heidi's towels were folded into a porcine type animal today. She now has a collection of 3 towel animals.


Heidi realizes that the knot that's been living in her back for 18 months has left town.

Heidi is starting novel #4, The Redemption of Alexander Seaton.

Heidi just saw someone gallop by on a horse. Either the man or the horse was wearing a long yellow cape. Either way, it was cool.


Heidi can't bring herself to say a word that starts with H and rhymes with roam nor a word that starts with W and rhymes with kirk.

Heidi could, as Dale just suggested, stay here and pursue a career as a luchador

Heidi would call her self Nacho Librarian if she were to become a luchador. She would gain a reputation as "the most organized and punctual luchador."

Heidi imagines her luchador self saying "Catalogue THIS senor!"

Heidi imagines she would also apologize for her luchador-ean impudence. That's just what Canadians do. Even when they're luchadors.

Heidi wishes Cogeco offered a Mariachi digital music channel. She's growing quite fond of it.

Heidi's towels were folded into a rabbit-like shape. These are really amazing.


Heidi's favourite dessert is called The Trilogy: three small saucers of almond mousse, apples with pink pepper sauce, and rosemary ice cream. It was suggested by her favourite waiter Fernando.

Fernando is evidently the favourite waiter of a burly Hemingway-esque man. It's his last night here and he gives Fernando a big bear hug and says "Oh, Fernando... I'm going to miss you!"

Heidi is also going to miss Fernando and everyone else here. But she's still not thinking about the H and W words.

Heidi should stop referring to their departure day as "D-day"


Heidi wants to take her room, her balcony, her room's beach bed, the sea, the sun and some towel creatures home with her.

Heidi is fighting tears the entire morning of D-day; when she tells one of the concierges that they'll be back, she says, "You have an appointment to come back."

Heidi remains full of wonder and gratitude for an amazing week


Heidi, on the plane back, remembers the advice, "if something seems too good to be true, it probably is" and wonders if she dreamed the whole week.

Heidi smiles when US Customs says, with sincerity, "welcome back" and while it's dark and cold outside, it's still sort of nice to hear "Detroit is in the Eastern Time Zone" in 3 languages.