What Happens In Mexico ...

Another Vacation? Another Holiday? If I hear that one more time I will scream! Hey you guys, with no kids and 3 weeks vacation we can pretty much take anytime (within reason of course I can hear my boss Simon say), do you blame us? We love to visit the hot spots!

This time Greg and I went all out. We were very fortunate to find an excellent deal on Selloff Vacations. com for a week in the Mayan Riveria (Mexico) at the 5 star Barcelo' Maya Caribe all inclusive resort. This was by far the best resort we have ever been to and will definitely go back again soon. Greg says May '07 (yes, he loved it that much!) and I said whoaaa ... I want to pick a date that we can invite our friends to join us next year.

Back to my story. The bad news happened to and from the resort so I will tell it quick and get it over with. Even though we checked before we left, once we arrived at the airport (3 hours early) our plane was delayed 1.5 hours. To think I could have slept in a bit longer. There was another plane that was scheduled to leave 10 minutes before us to Cancun and they left on time. How frustrating. Once we arrived we felt the humidity as soon as we got off the plane and my hair went frizzzz. Dodging the Mexicans who wanted us to buy time shares or carry our bags to where we were going (ha ha, we have done this before :) we found out way to our bus to take us to our resort but not before we bought our traditional 2 beers at the beer stand in the parking lot for the trip. We knew they would be $5 US but didn't mind too much because it would be the last time we were paying for a drink all week. As our bus went to 3 other resorts before they dropped us off an hour and a half later all we wanted to do was check in a get something to eat. It had already been a long day. Unfortunately on our way back to the airport at the end of the trip it was another 1.5 hours and stops at the 3 resorts and our driver had fallen asleep at the wheel and almost gone off the road. Scary, right?

OK, enough bad news. We checked in and got to our nice room with a big tub and safe and personal mini bar. They restocked the minibar with beer, pop, large bottles of water, chocolate and peanuts at no charge every day. It was nice to be able to have a cold drink anytime you wanted. The beds were hard and the pillows very comfy. Our view was nice and Greg spent a lot of time on the balcony reading (and waiting for me to wake up :)

We made our way down to the buffet and were very surprised and thinking we were a little underdressed when we were greeted and seated in a huge open room with tablecloths and centerpieces. Our serving staff we very neat and tidy in black and white outfits. Very classy. We ordered a couple of beers .. hey, Corona has a dark beer called Corona Extra, did you know that? The food was fantastic. The best daily buffet we have ever had. Every night was a different theme such as International night, Oriental night, Italian night and the carvings of food and ice sculptures as well as the presentation of food was excellent!

Click on the pictures below to enhance the picture. Yummy shrimp, dessert table, bananas flambee', seafood jambalaya, ice sculpture and a tequila bar!

These help yourself tequila bars were set up in the lobby and both buffets! Each night the buffet had a different theme. The pictures below are from the Oriental and Italian night presentations.

Fun food artwork included bread alligators and watermelon donkeys :)

Wandering around the huge resort we came across many fun activities available to us. A large chess set, basketball and tennis courts, ping pong tables and mini golf. Of course there was beach volleyball (which Greg did a lot of until he cut his toe) and water aerobics in the pool (which I did none of .. hey, I'm on holidays!). Speaking of the pool, we spent most of our days there, Greg in the hammock and me on the padded lounge chairs ... it had a nice big fountain that you could sit under and let the water fall over your head and a big round tub area that shot up bubbles from the floor. It was nice to sit there and let the bubbles massage your legs and back while we sipped the daquiri or rum punch just retrieved from the swim up bar.

The beautiful beach that had warm, soft clean sand and the ocean was warm and very shallow. We walked out pretty far before we reached the reef and even then it was quite shallow. We didn't see as many fish as we did when we were in Cuba but Greg tells me there were a fair amount by the dock which was a little further down the beach.

The Mexican artwork was very nice as well and we took quite a few pictures of the many statues and fountains around the resort. There was a beautiful outdoor cathedral and many shops at the connecting sister resort next door. Playa del Carmen is about 20 minutes away and if you wanted a great shopping and exploring day, this was the place to do it. Other than the on site shops that sold the same items as in PdC for twice the price, there was a small hut set up for a few artisans and ladies who would braid your hair .. for a price :) No one approached you on the beach to buy buy buy their wares which was a nice change from other resorts in Mexico we have been to. Click on the link to view the pictures of "Around the Resort". Click on the first picture then scroll using the blue "next" arrows. http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/terriqueenofclubs/album?.dir=/ac44scd

Most places we have visited have had just ok nightly shows. I think our favorite was the first trip we went to at Hoguin in Cuba, until this trip. The nightly shows at Barcelo Maya Caribe we outstanding! The dancing a little weak but the singing, costumes and variety of the shows was fantastic. The best we have ever seen! Click on the link below to see the pictures we took.

http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/terriqueenofclubs/album?.dir=/c015scd

Now that we are home safe and sound and Greg is planning our next resort vacation, we look back and remember the great week we had and our new friends we met and had wonderful dinners and pool time with, thanks Pat & Linda, Carmine and Lisa!

Hopefully it you enjoyed my frustrating attempt to put this blog together, it only took me 2 weeks! :) I am sure that the next one (which will be the Sisterhood Celebration in Las Vegas in November) won't take me as long.

Love and best wishes,

Terri and Greg