The ‘All Inclusive’ experience

There are two fancy resorts located at the end of our beach, the popular Iberostar and the fairly new La Tranquila. The latter has a large sign on the beachfront offering a free margarita and a day pass, so we tried our luck their first. Walking in off the beach we were met with the biggest pool I have ever seen, with absolutely nobody in it. It went on and on, it even included seats and fire pits. We made the long trek past more and more pools right up into the main reception area (which also had an indoor pool) and were met by a staff member. She showed us the price list (cheapest room $400/night) and invited us to come back tomorrow to listen to a presentation and receive our free day pass (no mention of the free margarita). We thanked her for her time and headed out, enjoying a sneaky swim on the way. Perhaps we would have more luck at the Iberostar, we figured there would be more people so it would be easier for us to blend in. We marched in to the pool area off the beach, Damon storming on ahead with the belief that he would be less obvious as a single. We arrived at the pool only to see Damon in there, cocktail in hand! Katie was quick to join him whilst Hayden, Kyle and I found an empty chair for our belongings taking care to hide our wristband-free wrists. After a short while (and seeing Katie also with a cocktail), we jumped in a joined them. Hayden and I swam up to the bar and ordered mojitos, all the while with our hands underwater. We joined the others feeling rather chuffed at our free drinks. After round two we noticed a security guard over by the bar and thought we had been caught out, but it turns out he was just there to keep an eye on the loud mouthed guy who kept hurling abuse at the bar staff to turn the music up. You see, we had found ourselves smack in the middle of Spring Break for the over 35s! There was not one Mexican to be seen other than those working tirelessly behind the bar, restocking towels or advertising pool volleyball, bingo and Zumba! We made a few new friends, some noticing our lack of wristbands and curious of our story, and some just commenting that they too had removed theirs due to discomfort. We tipped the barmen, they poured shots for happy hour and everyone was happy. Well almost everyone, there were clearly a few patrons who had gone too hard too early and were a little worse for wear come 4pm. We enjoyed the pool until our fingers and toes resembled prunes, and we had longed stopped caring about trying to hide our bare wrists. One friendly Canadian who had figured us out (who has been to the resort several times and removes his wristband because when he visits the small towns he doesn’t want to look like a ‘resort dick’) informed us that if we wanted to eat we need to do it a the buffet, all other restaurants check your name and room number. That information in tow we headed for the buffet. Unfortunately, the sign very clearly stated that you needed to be dry and in possession of footwear. As beach bums from down the way, we did not meet this criteria and thought it best not to try and push our luck any further and head back down the beach to ‘home’.
Please note there are no photos as we were in the pool the whole time. Sorry.