Caribbean vacation at Capitan Lafitte

When my grandson, Harry, was only two months old, I went with Teri, Mark and Harry to Capitan Lafitte which is a small resort about 45 minutes south of Cancun. It was rather secluded and perfect for us. We were right on the beach with only a few steps to the water. There was a small outdoor bar with Victor, the bartender, who was very nice. We spent some time there with Victor. We arrived during a monsoon or something similar, and the next morning at 4:45am we awakened to flooding in our rooms. So we mopped for a while.

One of the photos above is of Mark letting Harry test the water in the pool. Harry did quite well at the resort – I didn’t take Teri out of the house until she was 3 months old, but things are different these days apparently! I baby-sat one afternoon and lay on the bed with Harry who was busy with his pacifier. I read to him from my book, “Looking for Mr. Goodbar,” which was written by Judith Rossner about a 28-year old, prim school teacher in New York City in 1973 who was very proper during the day and at night would cruise the bars, looking for the perfect man she called “Mr. Goodbar.” After sex, she’d kick him out – no one could ever spend the night. But Richard Gere came over – not really Richard, he was just in the movie – and became enraged when he couldn’t stay the night, so he hit her over the head with a lamp, smothered her and stabbed her. Before that happened, I think she maybe thought he was “the one.” But not the right one obviously. Harry seemed to enjoy the story, and maybe someday he’ll see the movie. I certainly hope so. After book time, I showered while Harry sat in his carry seat right by the shower so I could watch him. I found my notes from that trip where I wrote, “I showered while Harry watched – he liked it.”

One day we drove to Tulum where we saw some ancient Mayan ruins. On the way there, we were stopped by Federales, the sinister-looking cops carrying rifles, who are all over that area. I guess that’s the one road that goes to Belize and has much drug traffic. Fortunately, they didn’t arrest us, but they gave me a scare. The ruins were big and impressive, and I could hardly believe I was actually there. Mark had rented a Volkswagen – they have no other cars in that part of the country as far as I could tell. It was fine except for the fact that it wouldn’t go in reverse, so Mark had to push it each time we had to back up! I assume all Volkswagens are not like that.

One day we went to Coba to see some ancient pyramids. But we got there right at closing time so couldn’t see much. We did see Iglesia, the second tallest pyramid there. I’d never seen anything like it. One of the pictures above is of Teri feeding Harry on the steps of Iglesia. To get to Coba, you turn west off the highway and go 30 miles perfectly straight without a single turn. We went over a couple “sleeping policeman” speed bumps - one that we hadn’t noticed. We hit it at about 40 mph and Harry and I almost went through the roof of the car! We saw men on bikes carrying guns, dirty little villages with hogs and dogs in the road, vultures everywhere, and when we slowed down once, a little girl threw a stick in the window at me – I still have it. We were in an entirely different culture, one that I had never before visited. It made me feel very fortunate for what we have at home. When we were going to leave Coba, it turned out the keys were locked in the car and we had no way to get in. There were people all around us, but not many spoke English. We went into a little store, and they finally knew what we were talking about and said they’d help. So back out by the car, I was holding Harry and all these little kids kept crowding me and wanting to touch him. I jumped around and didn’t want anyone touching him! He was too young and little, and no one was going to touch him if I had anything to say about it. Finally, we got into the car and got out of there. I don’t think Mark had to back up that time.

The day came for us to leave, so we went to the bar and said good-bye to Victor and had our final drinks. It was a wonderful vacation, and Harry survived it all. It’s too bad he can’t remember any of it.