I'm Baaack

[DonnaT]

Hi all, back from our daughter's wedding/vacation.

Had a great time, mostly. I reckon there's bound to be some little problems.

The trip into Cancun was uneventful. A tour group van picked a few of us up at the airport to take us to our hotels. So, there were about four stops to different hotels before getting to ours (Gran Porto Real in Playa del Carmen).

When we turned off the main road to head for the beach, it was like, uh oh, what did we get into.

The hotel was very nice, but lacked some things you'd expect to be in place for a 5 star resort. For example, a sister hotel across the street The Royal Playa Del Carmen), an adults only hotel, had daily newsletters for all the days activities. We had nothing, not even a dedicated tv channel, to list the activities.

I checked the pool out first thing, and there was a sign posted saying hours of operation were 7am to 9pm. The next morning I went out at 7 to swim laps, and asked the guy who was cleaning it if it was ok to swim now. Getting the ok, I dove in and after 15 minutes some manager comes around saying to pool was closed. Then he apparently removed the 7 from the sign.

Anyway, the wedding was great, even if the DJ did manage to keep my daughter's iPod with the dance music.

My wife and I took care of our grandson, Preston, for several days, which was fun. Took him swimming and got him to jump from the edge into my arms quite easily, for a 14 month old baby. My daughter had bought him a float that looked like a boat, which I soon found out tipped over very easily if he leaned to the side too far.

A pretty good storm rolled in Sunday night, leaving stinking sea weed on the beach. The hotel had a big crew out cleaning it, but the smell was overwhelming even when we left Wed. morning. The storm brought out the bugs too, so had to buy some Off.

The beach was quite disappointing near the hotel. Not much of one really. And where there was a better spot, many tour and fishing boats were tied to shore line. One had to walk further down to find a good spot, or go over behind the Royal. That alone puts me off from recommending the place.

We took a ferry over to Cozumel island on a Sunday. My wife collects Hard Rock pins, and wanted one from there, but due to the number of visitors, they had none in stock. We didn't try exploring the island, however.

Tuesday we visited Chitchen Itza, one of the Mayan ruins in the Yucatan. One hot and humid trip. The great pyramid, "El Castillo", was impressive. A bit disappointing that they now have it roped off and you can't go inside.

Afterwards we cooled off in one of the cenotes (sink holes) which was underground with a number of stalactites, bats and even fish.

My tan doesn't fit the cold weather we returned to in D.C.

Images are posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/11075169490 ... exicoTrip#

[Carol Ann]

First off welcome back Donna, second thanks for the info.
From all that information I believe I will stay home as Cancun is build up to be the place to go.

Now I am so happy you had a great time with the kids, life is short enjoy what you can.

[DonnaT]

Thanks Carol.

More images at

http://picasaweb.google.com/11075169490 ... aDelCarmen#

http://picasaweb.google.com/11075169490 ... DelCarmen2#

[Rony]

Donna T
Cozumel, has a great beach and underwater park, for snorkeling just about 10 minutes south of the ferry landing by cab.

Rony

[Anita]

Sounds like it was a great time, Donna. Preston sounds like a brave little feller, and he trusts that you'll catch him just fine. Lots of hiking to find a good beach, yes?

[Absaroka]

Presumably the wedding was a success. Congratulations and all that.

Rony is right. The underwater park at Cozumel is great. The town there is nice too, with some good music. It lacks the industrial poverty of places like Acapulco.

Zari

[KimberlyS]

Glad you had a good safe trip. Good to have you back.

[Virginia]

Glad your back! Thanks for the pictures, even given some of your mentioned shortcomings it looks like everyone had a good time.

I especially like the underground swimming pool!

One question that I have is did you feel safe over all or was there anything or place that gave you concerns?

Love ya,

Virginia

[DonnaT]

Thanks everbody.

Beaches weren't really that far to get to, and one could go right behind the hotel if one wanted.

I felt safe, and really didn't even think about the troubles going on in other locations.

It could be concerning when passing by a high end jewelry store and seeing the police with their machine guns.

There were also military patrols on some of the back roads. I think they did random traffic stops to check vehicles.

But no real concerns. Just enjoyed the time there.

[Leeza]

Donna, glad you enjoyed and welcome back.

Leeza

[Kyra]

Hi Donna,
It's good you had a safe trip. We're glad you're back. Nice pics. Thanks for sharing.

Hugs,
Kyra