Adrian's flying to Calgary tonight and I'm staying in Halifax. Adrian's got a good doctor and other specialist care in Calgary so heads back a few times a year for check ups and what not. Gives him a chance to see family while he's there too! I often go with him but this time I'm staying behind. I'm having some surgery tomorrow - nothing major. A laparoscopic hysterectomy so should be home by Saturday. Never a dull moment for the two of us!
​Adrian's staying in this small but nice condo in downtown Calgary!

Made it - after a night in Montreal all the Hilton Garden Inn, compliments of Air Canada, we finally arrived home. 
Fun Fact - finally you can buy duty free and bring it home when traveling with just carry-on luggage, even when changing airports. Very excited to have been able to bring some vanilla home this trip - next trip something more exciting for sure!!

Sadly, Halifax airport was pretty much shut down so we had another day in the sun. Busy day, changing plans and hotels. We had to move to a hotel near the airport. Before we moved we returned the the other restaurant across the street, 19.5 Restaurant by Joe, for breakfast. We both had french toast - not as good as Mateus but okay. Then we packed and headed to the City Suites, only a few minutes from the airport. Turns out the hotel is across the street from "Go" an outlet mall, complete with lovely outdoor bar, food court and lots of shopping as well as stuff for kids. We indulged in an afternoon Aperol Spritz before returning to the hotel for a few hours by the pool. While the City Suites is a nice hotel it's restaurant left a lot to be desired so we opted for the Food Court in the Go Mall instead. Now back in our room, with our fingers and toes crossed that we fly out tomorrow. Our plane is coming from Montreal so we're hopeful it will arrive tonight and we'll at least get back as far as Montreal tomorrow.

Today was our last visit to the clinic - remembered to get a pick of the van and Carlos picking us up. Adrian is continuing to bruise but is feeling better everyday. After his final check-up and an adjustment to his bite with his temporary teeth we returned to our hotel. 
​The Cyan Hotel is located on the hotel strip, oceanside and is well priced. It's clean and the staff are reasonably friendly but we wouldn't stay here again. The internet doesn't really work in our rooms, the TV has all kinds of stuff such as Disney and Netflix but they don't work due to the poor internet. The restaurant has ver limited food choices and strange hours and the drinks are super expensive - two Aperol Spritz were $27.90 Canadian. By far my biggest complaint though is the music - the interior of the hotel is a square with an open air lobby/bar area in the middle.and the rooms opening into this centre square. Sounds lovely but they play the same music over and over in the lobby all day and you can hear it while in your room with the door closed. Times like this, I envy Adrian's poor hearing! While the hotel is on the beach, this end of the strip is a bit rough, with lots of red flags indicating it's unsafe to swim. I'm not a big wave girl and Adrian doesn't like the water - although he did swim with me today! He does love me!! We walked to the far end of the peninsula where the water is more sheltered and there aren't any big waves - worth the walk for a lovely calm swim and some fish sightings.
We've already scoped out a hotel for our next visit - in early October - Beach Scapes is pretty affordable, on a more sheltered section of the beach and more "in town" so we can walk to restaurants and grocery stores. It's also closer to the clinic so we won't lose an hour a day or more to travel.

I am the planner and therefore the worrier of our team. So I have been concerned about the weather at home and the prospect of our flight being cancelled tomorrow. Holding out for a miracle right now. 

We decided NOT to repeat our big walk and find a new place for dinner instead returning to Navios! Delicious food right across the street from our hotel!

Lazy morning - overcast so we decided to catch up on email, banking and other mundane things. Carlos picked us up at 1:50 for Adrian's 2:30pm follow-up appointment. All is well - he's recovering well. The swelling is going down a bit and the bruising is coming out now. Bruised cheeks and two black eyes on the way.
After our appointment we took a long walk on the beach before heading to Navios again for dinner. We had an exceptional meal - at least I did. The mushroom, scallop and shrimp truffle risotto was to die for - Adrian had lime soup - he's still struggling to eat. He did manage to share some of my risotto though. We also had a creme caramel and tropical tapioca pudding for desert. Felt a bit like practicing for the old folks home, but Adrian could eat the soft but delicious treats.
​The restaurant is fabulous and even had some live entertainment tonight.

Adrian woke up in a pretty good mood this morning - very swollen but not much bruising - yet. The pain meds he was prescribed work well except for the last hour or so. Adrian had a liquid breakfast and then he spent the morning relaxing by the pool while I swam. I the early afternoon we ventured across the street to a little restaurant overlooking the lagoon. We each had the shrimp pasta and Adrian managed to eat most of it - slow process so we enjoyed a couple hours here before returning to the hotel for a nap. Pretty lazy day - but Adrian seems to be recovering well and by the end of the day the swelling was beginning to subside. We have a follow-up appt tomorrow afternoon where we'll get the official word on his progress.

These next two photos show some of the amazing technology the clinic has. They x-ray often to check on work and make sure things are going as planned. The second photo shows Adrian after his teeth have been removed and before the temporary crowns were installed. 

After a good night sleep, breakfast a wonderful swim (me) and a few hours by the pool we're back at the dental clinic. Our driver picked us up at 2pm for Adrian's 2:30 appt. Today's the big day, surgery to extract his damaged implant and other teeth, plus the temporary bridge install. The surgery is carried out in the same building, on the same floor but in a different suite. This suite has a larger waiting room for folks like me. It also has awesome internet - way better than our hotel. 

First dental day! Our driver, Carlos, picked us up at 8:25 am and delivered us to the clinic for our 9am appt. We were at the clinic for just over 3 hours. It's a state of the art clinic with amazing x-ray and other equipment. They staff were friendly and took the time to explain everything to Adrian. He has more decay and bone loss than we realized so the go forward plan changed a bit. All the options were clearly articulated and once a plan was in place the work began. Adrian had two temporary crowns installed with the more extensive work scheduled for tomorrow. 
At the end of the consult we were driven back to the hotel - arriving about 1pm. Then we went for a wonderful lunch - shrimp pasta with green sauce. We spent what was left of the afternoon by the pool, followed by a walk on the beach. Got our pictures taken by the obligatory Cancun2024 sign!

We decided to go for a walk to find a restaurant for dinner. The walk turned into a bit of an adventure - we ended up walking about 5km. before we found a restaurant, which we grabbed without much thought.  The food was good but not worth the very high prices - however neither of us was up for walking further on. The bread was a bit like a yorkshire pudding, delicious and served with three levels of heat! We managed to wear off our dessert - which was a lovely carrot cake (about the size of a 1/4 of a whole cake) on the 5km walk home. Needless to say we slept well 

We've been enjoying the quirkiness of Mexico - our first room in the hotel was 5110 and it was on the first floor. Our second room is 6205 - you guessed it, it's on the second floor. I ordered dessert at the restaurant for us to share - you can't really tell in the picture but Adrian's plate was significantly bigger than mine - ultimately the cake was so big we couldn't eat it all. 
Funny how something as simple as a photo opp can be a draw - this restaurant had an angel - see Angel Adrian - and I heard someone remark that they had to get their annual angel photo. Neat idea - similar to the photo opp The Teazer put out this year for the Father Christmas Festival.

We flew in a day early (Sunday) for our dental vacation - the clinic requires 5 days for this visit and we didn't want to risk not getting here due to weather. Would have completely defeated the purpose if we'd traveled all this way and couldn't complete the dental work.
Today is a bonus day - although we had to check out of our hotel room (booked for one night at the last minute) and we have to wait to check into our room for the week. Our fingers are crossed for a balcony,  love spending the evening on a balcony. 
This morning we walked the beach before breakfast and then walked the sidewalk afterwards. We're on the hotel strip but seemingly not near much (maybe why the hotel was so affordable) anyway this afternoon we'll spend by the pool and then check-in again and see what we can find for dinner. Weather is warm but not too hot, nice breeze. 

Spent the afternoon by the pool ad checked into our new room (no balcony) at 4pm. We quickly changed and took a nice long walk before ending up at Navios a Mexica Fusion Seafood restaurant on the lagoon. Fabulous meal. Adrian had shrimp wrapped in bacon served on a salt rock and I had coconut shrimp with a mango sauce served in a coconut. Great bonus day!