Mahekal

We had been working towards a couple's get away for awhile.  It's not that we haven't enjoyed vacations with our kids, but after being in the trenches of parenting and business owning we needed a break.  We left everything behind and set out for an adventure, just the two of us.

Saying goodbye to the ice and cold of winter.  We had a non-stop flight to Cancun.

Prior to our trip, Brent spent countless hours researching resorts and places to stay while in the Cancun/Riveria Maya area.  He finally narrowed in on Mahekal (I got a little irritated with all of his searching.  If it were me, I would have looked at a few options and booked our week.  That's the difference between us.)  Mahekal had wonderful reviews and was a small little resort with palapas and friendly service and good food.  He was a bit disappointed when after booking, learned that a disco-tech/electronic music festival was going on  during the exact same dates we were.  We decided to split the time since we  didn't know how much bumping and thumping we could take.

We did our share of walking.  There was a shopping district not far from where we were staying.  You could find anything there.  It was super touristy and worldly, but we did get awesome massages the first day there.  It was so relaxing.

On Sunday we walked to the chapel that was under construction.  Luckily, there was another family their that had a taxi to take them to the temporary meeting place.  They were nice enough to let us hop it.  The hymns were sung without accompaniment.  Listening to the entire meeting in Spanish took me back the the days in the Spanish Branch.

During church it started pouring.

We decided to catch a taxi back instead of wade through the streets.

I cannot do Mahekal justice.  It was muy tranquilo.  The offered wonderful buffets for breakfast and dinner.

The reception area and dining hall were both open air pavilions.  It was the only place for wifi, so people would congregate to check in with the outside world.

I enjoyed seeing poinsettias growing in their planters.

On Monday we decided to walk down the beach to see what it was all about.  The seaweed was thick and a real problem.  There were several crews working in front of all the different resorts to remove it.  They actually dug pits and buried it.  It true Mexico fashion, there was a lot of man power to get the job down.  Something that you wouldn't get people to do back in the states.  There would have to be some kind of equipment to take of the problem here.

It didn't matter what time it was in the day, there was always some sort of party going on in conjunction with the music festival.

We stopped for an authentic 'Mexican' meal and it was quite disappointing.

 The location was great.

The best food we had was at a place called AquaChiles.  They had lots of different sauces to try and it was fresh and flavorful.

Along the beach, there were two places that ferry went across to Cozumel.  At the southern most ferry, it was quite built up for the tourists.  We had our first taste of the Mayan culture and music.

There were vendors selling cups of fresh fruit for $1.50.  We used dollars the entire time and never exchanged for pesos.  It was generally 13/14 pesos to the dollar.

I usually just did the math on my phone, but after awhile it started messing with our minds.  There was one instance when we ended up paying more than we ever should have for some personalized bracelets.  We had to chalk it up since we walked past 5 other bracelet makers that offered to make them for 1/2 of what we paid.  Live and let learn.

Xcaret

We moved locations down farther south to Gran Occidental Xcaret.  The resort itself was so-so.  Nothing was super nice or luxurious for sure.  The food was mediocre and staff okay.  There were some paths that we walked frequently where monkeys were playing around.  We enjoyed that.  The obvious reason for choosing this property is for the proximity to Xcaret, an eco-arechaeological park.

The hotel offered boat rides to the park, but we were never patient enough to ride on one.

There was a lot to see and do in the park.  Our first day, we tried to visit many of the free shows and enjoy the flora and fauna.  I especially enjoyed the butterfly pavilion.  It was such a relaxing place and there were tons of butterflies.

Another fun exhibit was the sea turtle one.  I got in trouble for not removing Brent's hat when I took the picture, but we managed.

And you know Brent's fascination ever since swimming with the stingrays on our honeymoon.

View of one of the cenotes, or underground river.  They were salt water and really neat to swim through.  You went through tunnel and waterfalls.  We took our snorkels and had a lot of fun looking at the fish.  It was our first real experience snorkeling.  There were a lot of fish to look at.

They had greenhouses with orchids and bromeliads.  They propagate and raise them there on site, something the plant geek in me enjoyed.

Voladores, or flying men.

The bearded men

Equestrian Show

Mexico Spectacular

In the evening there is a show, depicting Mexico's rich history.    It begins with the Mayans playing their games (one where they try to bounce a ball off their hips into a hoop and the other similar to hockey but with a ball of fire.)

It moves to the Spanish conquest and their Catholic roots.

On to the revolution.

And then highlighted different regions of Mexico with their traditional costume, music, and dance.  The mariachi never disappoint.  We enjoyed the performance so much that we went two different nights.  It is quite a production involving some 300 cast members, horses, macaws, and pyrotechnics.

The only time we got in the pool was to try out scuba diving.  The first time under we both about freaked out, but then we both calmed down and got our breathing figured out.

The last day, we ventured out into the ocean for more snorkeling.  We swam all around and enjoyed the relaxation for just kicking around and viewing the underwater world.  Brent was in for the surprise of his trip when he got with yards of the biggest sting ray he's ever seen.  Dalanie had given Brent an underwater camera.  It was a total transition to go back to film- boy have cameras evolved over the last 20 years.  Not many of the pictures turned out, but he did get a decent picture of the stingray.