Mexico 2006

As requested by the lovely Kristin, I shall finally sit down and write about our trip to Mexico. First of all, I have to say that our flight times definitely were a bonus when factoring in how much time you actually get to spend at your resort. We traveled at night 1:30 am flight from Edmonton (which actually left at 2:30). We were at our resort by noonish as the drive was about an hour and a half. The highways are much better than ours here in Saskatchewan....and they have some very nice charter buses, so there was no nervousness on our travels for me...plus I slept some of the way. And when we left Mexico, our flight wasn't until 11:20 pm, so we didn't have to leave the resort until 6:30 pm...We had a whole extra day there!

It is a massive resort that is actually 3 in one, all created by the Gran Bahia Principe group. Ours, the Coba resort, just opened in November of 2005. It is behind one of the others-so not beachfront, but only a ten minute walk. Or if we preferred, we could catch one of the little buses that went straight to the beach. Our room was beautiful and after looking around, I have decided that ceramic tile and marble tile must be inexpensive in Mexico as it was everywhere! The foliage was gorgeous...there were 'Birds of Paradise' flowers everywhere I looked. They are one of my favorite flowers!

Saturday the 11th was my birthday. It was a gorgeous sunny day, about 27 degrees, and not a lot of wind. Tim and I had breakfast, which let me tell you...I have to rave about the food after I tell you about this day...and then we grabbed our snorkel gear and headed for the beach. At this particular location, there is a very large reef right off of the beach. You pretty much walk six feet into the water, put on your gear, put your face in the water-and fish everywhere! I found it so neat that the water is so clear and that there are lots of little (some big) colored fish swimming all around me. That was pretty much the most fun thing I have ever done on my birthday. We had lunch and then chose a spot by the pool and layed in the sun and read. It was so nice...and the pools are beautiful! We had a lovely supper that night at one of the a la cartes. We were allowed four of these during our stay and there were about 11 different restaurants to choose from. I'd have to say that at all of them, the food was equal or better than any place in Saskatoon. Heck, ever the buffet blew us away. At breakfast, you could have made to order omelets, waffles, pancakes, fruit, cereal (Tim loves Cocoa Crispies...basically chocolate rice crispies...and they aren't sold here!) They had milkshakes and basically any kind of breakfast meat you might want. I do not think that a buffet really exists in this town that would match the "Kukulcan" Very nice....it's a wonder we both didn't gain 20 pounds?!

Valentine's day began with a 30 minute massage outside on the deck at the spa...pretty nice! Another great day by the pool and a wonderful steak dinner...couldn't have been more perfect! On one of these nights...can't quite remember which one, we went to one of the shows. They were pretty well done...things like 'Broadway', 'Cats', 'Illusion'...on this particular night, It was Michael Jackson. All of the singing was Michael Jackson recordings and then they lip synched, but the costuming and the dancing were spectacular...honestly, the guy impersonating Michael was perfect...it was like being at a concert (back in 1996 when he wasn't quite so weird...)

We did have some cooler weather for about 3 of the days...kind of depressing until we found out that it was -40 degrees here...OUCH!! I think that we would go in March next time as many of the locals said that March is usually perfect. It was quite windy while we were there which made ocean playing not an option most days....but it still looked really nice!

On Thursday, it rained...so we took a cab into Playa Del Carmen and shopped the famous 5th avenue. There were some amazing little stores...lots of jewelry stores with things that I have only seen in In Style magazine. I know that I should have bought something, especially as you could basically offer them thirty percent of the price and as long as you took out your cash, it would be sold...but unfortunately, I wasn't in a buying mood. Next time...

Playa Del Carmen is right on the beach. Tim and I decided next time we go to Mexico, we will fly to Cancun and then stay at a hotel in Playa and go on adventures everyday. There is some amazing snorkeling close by and pyramid ruins that we would like to see. By the end of the trip,we were ready to come home and see the kiddies. We also found that we got a little bored by the end as we both like to 'do' things. But, this time, this was exactly what we needed. We spent lots of time laying in the sun, or sitting in the lobby drinking coffee just talking. It was a fabulous holiday that was perfect...It was the honeymoon we had never been on...

Now...some random pictures...