As I mentioned in my previous post, the Professor and I were safely tucked away in Cancun when hurrican Sandy hit New Jersey. Frankly, lounging around the pool was a far better way to weather the aftermath of the hurricane than suffering through the reality of having no heat, no water and no lights (not to mention the shortage of gas) for almost 7 days. As it was, we experienced those difficulties for a few short days when we returned and we are very grateful that nothing worse happened to our house or property.
I have to say thatour Cancun experience was one of the best getaway we've ever had. 4 close friends joined us and that meant a lot of gabbing and laughter and just general good times. We stayed at a great resort, the Villa Del Palmar Cancun. It was about 40 minutes outside the city of Cancun so we were disappointed that some of the restaurants and nightspots weren't as available as we had hoped, but as you can see from the photos, we didn't suffer too much....
Our room was on the top floor and provided an expansive view of the resort and the sea beyond. Each day was in the low to mid-80s, low humidity, nice sea breeze...heaven!
We spent most of our time around the pool (Mango-Tangos were the drink of choice) I tried jet skiing (my first time) that was a rush. I think the jet ski was controlling me more than the other way around as I whipped over the choppy water. I'll definitely be trying that again!
I tried the spa once and that was absolutely amazing. You enter the spa by going down the stairs by lobby and it is tucked away under palapas with lots of lush landscaping to mute the sounds above. I felt transported to some lush jungle getaway. I had chosen to try a body wrap and was taken through a trio of pre-wrap activities meant to realax the muscles (first was a steam shower, then a cold plunge (maybe 5 seconds max) then the hot tub followed by a warm, herbal-scented pillow around my neck as I relaxed on a lounge chair waiting to be whisked away for my wrap.) Heaven, absolute heaven!
We'd stroll the beach then return the pool and order mango-tangos all afternoon (mine were mostly virgin. Don't like to get too dehydated - tanning is hard work....)The resort was far from full ...it's only about a year old and like I mentioned before, it is a bit of a drive to get to Cancun proper. If you're looking for a quiet getaway, this place was it. There were different activites in the evening (karaoke contest, fiesta, casino night etc.) if you wanted evening diversions and the staff was very accomodating and helpful.
All the food you wanted if you were using the all inclusive plan too. The food was very good. Probably not 5 star dining but that didn't dim our appetites.
The infinity pool was an adults only pool surrounding by lounging cabanas. A nice romantic place to spend a lazy afternoon.
We watched CNN reporting the approaching hurricane as it moved from Jamaica up towards the US East Coast. We thought it would veer eastward and not hit the coast (as has happened many times before) but this time it slammed New Jersey hard.
A lot of folks had to extend their stay at the resort since flights were all canceled for a couple days. Not a bad place to get stranded.
Wednesday we headed for Tuluum - a small Mayan city about 2 hours south of Cancun. It doesn't have the big Mayan pyramid like one sees in the travel posters but the ruins were interesting and it had a fabulous site overlooking the sea.
We spent about two hours at the site taking lots of pictures. Our guide was pretty informative (when I understood what he was saying). Later afternoon, we headed back to the hotel to take a nap - because we were going into Cancun to take in a little of the night life. Not a big partier but I was assured that the night club would not disappoint. Ok, ok, I'm coming....
We arrived at 11PM when the show started and left about 3:30am. What a night! What a club! WOW... There was dancing, drinking and a sort of a cross between a Vegas nightclub and Circus Soleil. The music was ramped up, bodies gyrating, huge pair of movie screens to watch the action and if things seemed to calm down, there would be a cannonball full of confetti, streamers and balloons that would rain down on everyone. It was the highlight of the trip. Cancun = Coco Bongo - it was an experience to say the least.
The next day we were off to Isla Mujeres - the ferry terminal was about a five minute walk down the beach from the hotel - the ride itself was about 30 minutes. When we arrived, there were taxis and vendors offering golf carts to rent for the day - we went with two golf carts to carry our group and off we went to explore the island.
The island is not very large but it was lovely. The camera went pffft so I didn't get the pictures I thought we'd get (sorry about that). We had lunch at a small restaurant on the beach that served a shrimp cocktail that tasted soo fresh and wonderful that I inhaled the whole thing and ready to order another one but then my fish tacos arrived and I inhaled those too. I was being Ms. Piggy but it was for a very good reason - I loved every bite.
After lunch, we hopped on our golf carts again and headed toward the most southern tip of the island which is supposedly the most southern point on Mexico's east coast with more Mayan ruins and of course gorgeous views of the Carribean sea.
There's a lovely looking restaurant at the point that I would like to try if we ever return. I definitely could see spending a few months on the island - a super retreat and a place that I could get a lot of writing done....sort of Hemingway but in Mexcio rather than Key West.
We returned on the 4:30 ferry and quickly changed and went down to the pool to have a last mango-tango. Our vacation was coming to a close and reality was setting in...we weren't sure if we'd find the house damaged from the hurricane and I was anxious to find out - though I could have been coaxed to linger a few days until the power was restored but we had our final goodbye dinner (at the Japanese restaruant at the resort - everyone's favorite restaurant at least for our group - how rare is it that everyone likes the same thing? Weird.
'Til later
"When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money." - Susan Heller
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