As I mentioned a post or so back this year I was given two weeks for Spring Break instead of our typical one week. The second week I headed to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico for a week of sun and fun.
Amy and I arrived at the Cancun airport in the wee hours of the morning. We were bussed to our hotel to find out that a room wasn't going to be available for us until mid day (it was 5:30 am!). Obviously we weren't too pleased but we made the best of the situation. With luggage stored and bathing suits on under our clothing we headed to the beach chairs for a nap until the sun came out. Thankfully by noon we had our "official room" and so we were able to settle a bit more.
The resort was clean and the staff super friendly. The buffet had a good selection of fresh and not so fresh foods (ie very fried). The bartenders were friendly too so all was good. I got right into reading (which I love to do but rarely make the time to do in my busy Vancouver life). I walked the beach most days too but almost always forgot to take my camera. Amy took part in a few more of the "included" activities. I did enjoy their boogie boards and took in a bit of stretching, yoga, salsa lessons, and botchie ball.
We were close enough to walk into Playa Del Carmen but we only did it a couple of times each.
Amy at her windsurfing lesson.
Me at the beach
Because we were at an all inclusive resort we had a couple of traditions we tried to stick to each day. These included daily chips, salsa, and avocado dips, and multiple mango margarita's from our favourite beach bartender Carlos. (I had another favourite bar tender in the lobby bar too).
Part of our daily afternoon snack
On Tuesday we went to our first restaurant on the resort for dinner. Amy and I had already had a few too many margaritis by the time we got to the restaurant but it didn't really matter. We had a fabulous time and had the best waiter ever. As you can see from the pictures below it was a Mexican restaurant. While in Mexico we also ate at a Mediteranian, Italian, and Mayan restaurant.
After dinner we headed to the stage to catch the show. It was MEXICO night so it was a Mexican theme show.
The Mexican Show
While at the show we met two travellers from Argentina Luciana and Lisandro. We met them because Amy was really wanting to Salsa dance. She's a good Salsa dancer and after taking the Salsa dance lesson with me in the afternoon - which really wasn't anything close to real Salsa - she wanted to really dance. I saw this guy (Lisandro) on his own and asked him if he could Salsa dance. He said, "yes" and a new friend was made. Plans were made to head to the disco after the live show. Drinks continued to flow. As soon as we got into the disco Amy was off dancing with one of the guys who worked for the resort. She was dancing up a storm and it was great to see. I don't think the guy new what had hit him!!
Amy and Luciana
Amy dancing up a storm
Amy, Lisandro, Me, and Luciana
The next day we did an afternoon evening Mayan ruins and cultural tour. We checked out the ruins at Coba. We chose Coba because we could actually climb it. We also got to ride around the area from ruin to ruin.
Mayan ruins at Coba
Ancient Mayan ball game.
Me on my bike checking out ruins.
Highest pyramid.
View from the Top
Looking down the stairs from the top.
Amy and I at the top.
Amy and I safely at the bottom
From there we headed to a small shack for a Mayan pottery lesson. The Mayan kids in the class were super cute and very willing to help us out. The young boy was so eager to help me out that he took my clay out of my hand and created what he felt I should create. It was too funny. Needless to say I didn't leave with any new Mayan pottery.
From the pottery class we had a traditional Mayan dinner. We then drove to a cave (Sonotae) to watch traditional Mayan dancers and listen to their music.
Amy and I were both glad we took Wednesday to do our Mayan adventure because the weather wasn't all that great. The rest of the week has warm and sunny with the odd cloud or gust of wind. I managed to read all the books I had brought, and borrowed one from Amy too. By Saturday I was out of books and actually a bit bored. I'm so used to running from place to place that to spend a week doing almost nothing wasn't easy for me. I'm glad I did it though as it was pretty crazy finishing a very stressful teaching year in Australia, pack up my Aussie home, fly back to Vancouver, get my personal items back into my apartment, and head right back to work with out the usual summer vacation to decompress.
Anyhow, here are a few more pictures from my walks on the beach near Playa Del Carmen. My favourite was seeing the Inukshuk in Mexico. Obviously a Canadian had put it there. Happy Spring everyone. I'm heading into report card writing time so I can't promise much action here. In the mean time though I'll keep thinking about my Mexican adventure.
Looking back at my resort from the beach.
A little piece of heaven.
The Inukshuk
No comments:
Post a Comment