I awoke early on December 22 and sent a message via the “family” WhatsApp chat.  I was going to the beach at 8:00 – would anyone join me?  It was an almost cloudless morning.  Cuba lay due east, just over the horizon, 100 miles away.  The color of the waves was turquoise.  The beach had been “groomed” and I walked at the edge, where the water had smoothed the sand. After a while, Paul met me.  We spoke for a few moments, then he continued onward, jogging down the beach.  I returned to the hotel room, and then Bridget and I went to the buffet and had breakfast on the balcony. 

While most of the family played at the beach, Carl and I went into Cancún.  A few days earlier I had expressed interest in buying a straw fedora, and he had found a place in Cancún called “Sombrero Loco.”  Sadly, the kind of “artisanal” hat I had in mind was not there.  At the Libreria Porrua on Avenida Tulum Carl bought the works of Sor Juana and I was eyeing the Commentarios Reales of Garcilaso de la Vega.  Then we went back to the Alltra.

The family was at the beach.  Lilah had an inner tube and was playing in the ocean with Paul.  Jet-skiers skimmed over the waves.  There were a pair of boats, 100 yards off the coast, that towed para-sailors – individuals, twosomes, and even families – on what looked like an inflatable airborne couch high in the sky.  Bridget and I sat in the shade while different members of our extended family swam, emerged from the water, grabbed a drink and a taco, and returned to the waves.

We gathered for dinner at “Azul,” the Asian restaurant at the Alltra.  We were delighted with our first day under the Caribbean sun in the turquoise waters.   Lilah had had such an active day at the beach that she fell asleep over her dinner.  It was good that she slept soundly because the next day was going to be an adventure: our visit to Chichén Itzá.