Geo and I went to Mexico!
We packed our bags and hopped a plane to Playa Del Carmen. Hitting the heat after an east coast Canadian winter was such a blessing. Our plan: relax. If anyone knows me well, I am terrible at relaxing. But I tried really hard. We stayed at the Grand Sunset Princess All Suites and Spa. Yes, this is a massive name and it‘s property mirrors the Grand Riviera Princess All Suites and Spa. Guests have access to pretty much all of the same things. It was a massive resort and we walked a lot.
It took us a few days to figure out the resort life. The resort provided 9 restaurants, 19 bars (including a 24-hour sports bar), and 2 massive buffet’s with an overwhelming amount of choices! We spent our first afternoon doing a full recce of the resort landscape. And yup. They had all the things an inclusive should! Our favourite find was the taco stand by one of the many pools. I am drooling just thinking about it.
We ate dinner at the buffet the first two nights and on our third we ventured to one of the restaurants. We quickly found out that we needed to make a reservation and had to dress nicely. Like I said, it took us a few days to figure out the resort life.
Our second day we booked a couples massage and it was heaven. I opted for the deep tissue. The massage therapist dug so deep into my back that I wanted to tap. And I almost did until I realized that I was not doing Jiu Jitsu..
My favourite days were spent on the beach laying in the sun beside Geo while he read his graphic novel in the shade he could find. We scattered our lounging with dips in the ocean and snacking on tortilla chips with guacamole. I found entertainment on the beach watching cute little Coati’s scavenging for food and drinks. Coati’s are Mexican raccoons.
We booked one excursion mid week to see Cobá and climb the ancient ruin, Nohoch Mul Pyramid. In the Maya language Cobá means “water stirred by wind.” Following our wandering around the crumbling ruins of Cobá we were then taken to a modern Mayan town. Here we did the shortest canoe trip to a couple ziplines, ziplined, walked across a bridge over an open air cenote, and then repelled into a deep cenote. This was my favourite experience of the day. A cenote is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath. There are over 6000 different cenotes in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Five facts on cenotes.
It was absolutely stunning. The water was cool and fresh and when you looked up you could see sleeping bats and long tree roots hanging form the earth above down to the water. To get out we could be hoisted back up by 5 to 6 men or we could climb the rope ladder. I did the latter. Once everyone dried off we hiked back to the village and enjoyed a great local meal and were bused back to the resort. I need to learn to listen because I assumed the green salsa was the mild one and the red salsa was the hot. Nope!
Other than that we only left the resort for a morning in Playa Del Camen to walk their famous long shopping street, Quintana Roo. It was very hot, we were offered a ton of trips to Cozumel and drugs, and I found some ‘locion de calamina’ to help with my heat rash. 🔥 I also took some pictures of plants, shadows, and soft light:
We had one great drunken pool day. It was unexpected, but hey, the best ones always are! We finished breakfast and headed for the pool. The sky clouded over and it started to downpour. We took cover under the restaurant entrance thinking it might pass over and when it didn’t, we chose to hop into the pool and sit at the swim up pool bar because the hut above covered us form the rain. The water was warmer than standing outside. We ended up meeting a couple from Quebec! And of course we started drinking and ended up spending the whole day in that pool and left absolutely hammered. In a resort that has over 3000 employees, you can imagine the amount of guests occupying the rooms. But there was no one outside except for the 4 us, in the pool, with our bartender and new friend, Juan! We were in bed by 6pm that night. Great sleep!
All and all we relaxed. We ate. We caught up on sleep. We read. We swam. We did everything together. It was lovely. Very different from our other trips. Geo & I left with full bellies and happy hearts.
Thank you Mexico. 🙏🏼
Scroll down for some more pics and my ‘Insta Story’ from the week.
Our week summed up in my ‘Insta Story’:
Our Tips for Resort Life in Mexico:
1. Prior to arriving in Mexico make sure to bring smaller currency for service tips: waiters, bartenders, cleaning staff, etc. Lots of American 1’s or 20 paso bills.
2. Book reservations for restaurants.
3. Spend some time surveying the whole buffet because you don’t want to fill up and miss out something good!
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