Hubby and I both have some pretty heavy pain issues between the two of us so some days are just slower than others and we understand and plan for that. Today was one of those mornings. I was moving so very slow. We spent the morning getting around for the pool slowly and watching some tv. We found a fun new competitive show on Netflix where they have to recreate popular snacks and then create their own using the popular ones as inspiration. It was an entertaining way to spend a rough morning.

Eventually we made it down to the preferred pool and ran into one of the couples were enjoy talking with. It was her birthday so we got to wish her a happy birthday and chit chat for awhile. The pool was a little chilly pier than normal for this time of day but not too bad. Bar service was a bit slow but that’s ok too – we were moving in slow motion today. I did manage to get a mudslide before turning in for the morning. After a bit (far sooner than I wanted) we were headed back to the room. My hip and back were just too much to handle in a public setting.

Back in the room we just relaxed and watched more of our newfound show until we both fell asleep. After a short nap we got around and headed to the lunch buffet. This was the first time having lunch at the buffet and it did not disappoint. Hubby absolutely loved the burgers and the cook was so kind to hunt down some premium cheese for him too! I enjoyed the abundance of different fajita meats and other regionally seasoned meats. I had civeche for the first time as well. I tried it three ways: octopus, scallops and shrimp. The shrimp and octopus civeche were good. The scallops one wasn’t bad but it was almost flavorless. The scallops taste was lost to the cucumber. The cold mussels were tasty too. They had a large variety of cheese, fruits, veggies, and cold meats as well. Their taquitos (they could have been flautas) were very good. I was too full to try the stir fry but I hear it is amazing.

Back to the room for some more r & r. Hubby got a little work done in preparation of the meeting he has to have tomorrow and I played some cheese phone games for a little bit. Other than that we both slept a bit. At 5::30 we headed down for dinner. The plan was super early dinner to then have a super late return at our favorite restaurant since they won’t be open tomorrow (our last night). We were also going to go to the circus show at the main pool and watch the harp music outside near the restaurants. That plan fell through fast. we arrived at Mercure and the wait time was an hour and a half. YIKES! However, this is our last night to eat at our favorite spot so we took our buzzer and headed to the preferred lounge. While we waited we had a couple of small plate appetizers and I tried a chocolate martini for the first time. Our favorite bar tender was there, Maria. She is always attentive and pleasant. She also makes real good drinks and has fantastic taste in food! Everything she has suggested to us has been great. After about an hour we went to check with Mercure since they’ve forgotten us in the past. We had to wait about 30 more minutes. It felt like tonight’s hostess was new at the task. She wasn’t handing buzzers out anymore and seemed a bit frazzled.

Finally we were seated outside (unfortunately inside was still full). Our table had a great view of the little market shops that were set up for the night. For drinks we stuck with water and tomato juice. Service was slow and our waiter didn’t show any personality nor did he hardly speak. He would approach the table to just look at us which was odd. Thankfully we know the drill so we just rolled with it. Hubby had scallops, salmon and beef fillet and I had scallops, shrimp and beef fillet. We have been coming to this restaurant all week and we noticed the food was different tonight. A different chef for sure! Scallops were tasty but had some green stuff that was a bit oily on top of it. I just voided the green stuff. Hubby tasted it once. The shrimp were spot on as they had been all week. The salmon was good. This chef certainly knew what extra sauce meant. The beef fillet cooks were off. Mine was over and hubby’s under. They were still ok just not up to par with how it had been all week. The potatoes that accompanied the fillets were not good. They were supposed to have blue cheese incorporated in for a rounded flavor but instead there was a small pile of blue cheese on the end of the pile of potatoes. This leaves the guest mixing it in and the blue cheese is raw instead of incorporated in. I am a fan of blue cheese and even to me this was too pungent of a use for this type of cheese. Hubby was bummed because he doesn’t usually care for potatoes or blue cheese and he absolutely loved these all week. Overall I think the mosquitos probably ate better than us from me alone. All in all food satisfied us but it was not the highlight of our stay by any means.

After supper we headed down to the little market and did a little shopping. Most of the vendors were not pushy but a few of them were. The pushy ones did not get our business. I picked up some Mexican vanilla, a set of 3 carved monkeys and a Christmas gift for one my our children. The prices are high targeting tourists so if you visit the pop up shops – be sure to haggle. I got $30 USD off of the vanilla and the $6 off of the monkeys and $35 off of the Christmas gift. If you are using credit card – make sure you know the exchange rate because receipts show mexican pesos not USD.

Because of the long wait for service we didn’t make it to the circus show or a late night last nibble at Mercure. We headed back to the room and turned in for the night.