Mexico - The quiet pool, the beach pool, Sunset and Michael Jackson - Post 5

Tuesday 12th November

Thankfully the sun shone today after yesterday's wet weather.  It was the usual breakfast at Torote, then a swim in the 'quieter' pool as it has become known to us.

At 11am we had our departure meeting with our fabulous Tui reps Isobel and Sue in preparation for Thursday when our time in this wonderful hotel and stunning corner of the world comes to an end. The hotel management were there too keen to get feedback from this first cohort from the UK. 

None of us had anything negative to say. We've been made to feel incredibly welcome, there's something for everyone in terms of entertainment and food and the staff are truly amazing! 

I'm honestly lost for words to describe just how many people do so much to make this place as wonderful as it is and always with a smile on their faces...There are far too many behind the scenes roles to cover but from first thing in the morning to last thing at night (and possibly even through the night) we have seen grounds people keeping the grass and trees tidy, the outdoor pathways being mopped to keep them clean,  pool cleaners scrubbing inside the pool as well as the edges of the pool and collecting leaves and bugs in their nets and checking the pool chemical levels are correct. There are the towel hut staff,  the room cleaners, bar staff, entertainers, fitness instructors, toilet cleaners, restaurant staff, cooks and chefs, lifeguards, security guards and many many more people involved to make things run as smoothly as they do and I'm in total awe of them.  

We snapped this pic from the tennis courts where it felt like a teeny glimpse of "behind the scenes" - These are just a few members of staff waiting for a coach home. If you can imagine this extrapolated many times over to get an idea of the number of staff involved in this place. It's truly humbling that so many people work so hard to keep this place running as well as it does.   

Even the reps from other travel companies have always been friendly towards us when we've walked past them. 

We then headed to the pool by the beach for a while before lunch. 

Thankfully my scraped skin on my thumbs had stopped oozing overnight so didn't cause me too many problems today. I still feel silly about how that was caused by scrubbing the laundry and perhaps may teach me to take a proper break when on holiday in future rather than insist on doing certain chores!

After lunch it was over to the waterslides for a bit and then back to the quiet pool again where the kids seemed happy to play for ages. 

We tried to head towards the beach in time to catch sunset and only really caught the end of it. Hopefully tomorrow we will remember to get there a bit earlier. Thankfully those massive cruise ships had moved on today so we could admire the stunning view again.

After dinner we were keen to catch the Michael Jackson tribute show. My late mum was a massive Michael Jackson fan and so I grew up admiring him also. We were all really enjoying it until J decided it was all too much for him to cope with and once again our lives became ruled by autism. I don't want to re-live the awfulness of the evening again but suffice to say that we never get a break from autism, not even on holiday.

Today was also the first day I stopped commenting on the number of cacti there are here in Mexico.  From the moment we arrived, I was amazed at seeing cacti growing roadside on the way from airport to hotel and then all around the hotel grounds. Every few minutes I would go "Wow look at that cactus". I suppose it is because of the tiny succulents we grow as houseplants in the UK of only 2 or 3 cm tall being what we are used to seeing, and here in contrast they are 2 to 3 metres tall.