By Bob Van Leer

  (CANCUN, MEXICO, Sunday, July 25, 2004) - We arrived in this Mexican resort city yesterday evening after a delayed trip from Dallas. Cancun is a city of about 200,000 people on the Caribbean Sea. We are not staying directly in the city, but at the Barcelo' Maya Beach Resort about 60 miles south. The trip is a gathering of members of my family. We try to get together somewhere every few years. We enjoy one another's company. There are 16 of us so far with two to arrive tomorrow and this should be the party for this gathering.

  The older generation is myself and wife, Betty, my two sisters, June Pallardy and Ruth Chiodini, of St. Louis, both widows, and some of our descendants.  Attending from Portland, OR, are two of our children: Sherry Wills and husband, Scott; and Sally Shuey, husband Dave, and children Jordan and Maya. Sherry, Sally and Dave were all raised in Gold Beach. Betty and I drove to Portland Friday to stay with Sally and were up before 4:00 a.m. Saturday to catch an American Airlines plane to Dallas-Fort Worth. There we boarded a second American plane for the flight to Cancun.

   But after boarding, a hydraulic leak was found and we had to disembark and wait while the airline found another plane. They did and we reboarded for an uneventful flight to Cancun but arrived three hours late. After the usual confusion at the airport, we were taken by van to the resort after 9:00 p.m. with just time for dinner before the restaurant closed at 10:00. The resort is larger than we had expected and distances between our room and other facilities are in the hundreds of yards. Sunday, July 25, was a day of rest, sleeping late and then looking over the many hotel facilities. Most of what we do at the resort is part of a package. Meals and drinks are included.

   Monday, July 26, we were bused about a dozen miles north to the community of Playa del Carmen, which is about 40 miles south of Cancun. We spent our time on a shopping street lined with shops selling tourist goods along with many restaurants and bars. Business at Playa del Carmen was not really overwhelming, but good. This is not at all bad because this is the low season here, similar to January in Gold Beach. The tourist shops had all the usual merchandise, T-shirts, ceramics, jewelry, wood masks and plaster wall hangings.

  The temperature was in the 90s and the humidity saturated. Coming out of an air-conditioned shop to street weather, my glasses would fog up. We returned to our hotel, Barcelo' Maya Beach, about 4:00 p.m. and many of us proceeded directly to the pool to cool off. It is really a series of pools for adults and children. The adult pool has an unusual feature, a swim up bar. This was the first time I had a drink at a really wet bar. The bar is a few inches out of water, but the bar stools are under water. The water temperature is like a warm bath so it was quite comfortable. This evening the last two of our party, my niece and nephew Dave and Debby Robison of Asheville, North Carolina, are to join us and tomorrow we are planning to visit Maya ruins.