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Yucatan Peninsula Journal December 14 -27, 2012 |
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Ying and
I decided to go the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico for Christmas after learning
how difficult it would be to get Ying a visa to visit Argentina.
The hoopla surrounding the end of the Mayan Calendar on December 21,
2012 and the fact the neither of us had been to this part of Mexico made it
intriguing, but when our friends and neighbors suggested we go with them to
their timeshare in Cancun, we jumped at the opportunity.
We left
at 4:30 AM on the morning of my birthday and drove to the airport where I
parked at a long term lot and took a bus the terminals.
Our flight was on-time with a two-hour layover in Houston.
We arrived at the Cancun airport a little after 6:00 PM where I
learned that the flat-rate taxi ride from the airport to The
Moon Palace Resort (a 6-mile trip)
was $55! We arrived quickly,
were greeted and checked-in to the Moon Grand, newest of three sections of
this 2200+ room mega-resort. In
the twilight we were thrilled to have outstanding views of Mayan ruins from
our porch, but realized the next morning that these were new sections of the
hotel under construction. We
decided to move to the Nizuc section of the hotel with a room that faces the
pool and sea.
We spent
our first full day in Cancun lounging by the pool and exploring the resort.
Moon Palace is one of a half-dozen resorts owned by Palace Resorts.
As an all-inclusive resort, all meals, drinks and many activities are
free. We will be here for six
nights and then move to another Palace property about an hour south of here
where we will be joined by our friends, the Javaras’s.
Sunday we spent a couple hours listening to the time-share pitch in
the morning, then were picked up by one of Ying’s classmates who lives in
Cancun and spent the afternoon with her family and another couple at their
home.
Ying and
Marisol Garcia were classmates in France.
After obtaining her degree, Marisol moved back to Mexico and landed a
job in Cancun in the tourist industry.
She married a few years ago to Edmundo and they have a beautiful son
named Matthis.
As a
reward for sitting through the two-hour timeshare presentation, we were
given two tickets to Xplor, a unique
venue of activities about an hour south of where we are staying.
At 8:30 AM Monday we were picked up and bussed to the park where
Tuesday
we had breakfast at the Sunrise Lobby and then walked back to our room.
We sat by the pool for a few hours and then headed over to the spa
for massages which we had scheduled before dinner.
We ate at La Trattoria which is an Italian restaurant in the same
building as the spa. The
service was excellent.
Wednesday was our last full day at Moon Palace.
In the morning we walked over to Sunrise for breakfast and then
walked back to get in some exercise.
On
December 20th, we checked out of Moon Palace and took a taxi an
hour south to Adventura Cove
where we met up with our friends Adam & Georgia Javaras.
Arriving at lunchtime, we ate overlooking the sea, but then had to
wait several hours in the bar as our room was not ready.
We finally checked into a presidential suite, a two-bedroom apartment
with a large living room and dining area.
We spent almost 90 minutes with the concierge booking various
excursions and spa appointments, then went to an outdoor Mexican dinner show
featuring dancing and lots of liquor.
According to the Mayan Calendar, Friday, December 21, 2012 is the end of the
world. The exact time is
unclear, but some believe it will end at 12:00 AM, and others believe it
will end at 11:11 AM. Several
years ago, folks in the tourist business got together and decided that what
the Mayan’s really meant several thousand years ago when they wrote their
calendar was that this date should be the end of an era, and also the
beginning of a new era. As I
write this, both deadlines have already passed, so I guess we are now in a
new era.
We sat
through another time-share presentation this morning.
They really don’t like people to say no, and if I thought we needed
to come to this area every year for the rest of our lives, it would be a
good deal, but we turned them down.
Ying had a couple of spa appointments and I had a massage in the
afternoon. Eva, the five year
old daughter of our friends seems perfectly happy to spend all day in the
kids club. Every couple of
hours, one of her parents checks up on her, and she never wants to leave.
This resort is divided into two main sections; Adventura Cove is for
families, while Adventura Spa is for couples.
Children are not allowed on the spa side.
We had dinner Friday at La Hacienda.
The next
day we left the resort and took a taxi 30KM north to Playa del Carmen where
we boarded a ferry which took us over to
Cozumel Island for the
day. The sea was very rough, so
much so that two strands of the mooring rope holding the ferry to the dock
snapped while we were boarding, sending the crew into a panic.
The six foot waves came at us broadside as we crossed to the island
making the trip quite nauseating.
When we arrived around 11:30AM, we rented a Jeep and drove to the
southern tip of the island where we had lunch at the Palancar Beach Club.
We
continued in our Jeep around the island, stopping at a bar named Bob
Marley’s Place, and then again at Mezcalitos where Ying danced on the bar.
Sunday
our friends went to Xplor and Ying and I went to
Xcaret, another large tourist park about
10 minutes from our hotel.
Xcaret blends Mayan Culture with local fauna and some swimming to create a
place where people can spend the whole day.
We started off renting swim fins and masks and proceeded to snorkel
from one end of the park to the other.
The river was mostly underground,
We
continued in the afternoon to see dolphins, rays, sharks, turtles, puma,
jaguars and butterflies. At
4:00PM we were in the Mayan Village to watch a Mayan ceremony featuring
angry dancing. In the evening
we went to the large indoor arena where we saw a wonderful show depicting
the history of the area, from the original inhabitants, to the Spanish
conquerors, to the present day.
The highlight of the show was an actual game of
ōllamaliztli, the Mesoamerican
ball game. Players use their
elbows, hips, heads and knees to pass a 6-7 pound solid rubber ball through
a stone circle. During the
first game, one team scored two points and the other only one.
In the second game, the lights were turned off and the ball lit on
fire and the teams played the game in the dark with a fire ball.
The show lasted two hours with lots of music and dancing and was well
worth the price of admission alone.
On Christmas Eve, we awoke to hear that Eva, the 5 year old daughter of our
friends, enjoyed her trip to Xplor so much, that she went on no fewer than
21 zip lines. Ying and I had
been exhausted after only nine.
Today we went to
Chechen Itza
for the day. The ruins are
three hours away by bus, but the time is used by the guide to explain the
wonderful souvenirs we can purchase at the “official gift shop” which is
connected to the place we will stop for lunch.
We were allotted 45 minutes for shopping, and were not allowed in to
the restaurant until we had spent the full 45 minutes in the gift shop.
Lunch was typical Mexican fare, rice, beans & salsa.
We arrived at Chechen Itza at 1:30PM.
Ying & Georgia had spa appointments in the afternoon so Adam and I went to
the pool. Upon returning to out
room, we discovered that our room keys would not work.
This is the fifth time in six days our room keys have failed to work.
The staff usually shows up within 10-15 minutes to open the door, but
the problem has not been fixed.
Adam & Georgia, who are members of the
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Edmundo
prepared an excellent barbeque at their home and invited another couple who
work in the immigration field to join us.
Santa
arrived during the night and Eva was excited that he was able to find her
here in Mexico.
vacation
club here, vow never to return.