Mexico we go 2012 - Part one

April 20, 2012

It's 6:00 a.m. and I'm on a plane bound for Dallas. Jeff is sitting beside me getting settled in. The kids are (hopefully) still sleeping, snuggled in their bed at Grandma and Grandpa's house, which will be their home for the next seven days. Dallas is not our final stop. Once we are there we will quickly change planes and fly on to the Cancun airport. That still is not our final destination. We are headed to the Riviera Maya so we will have to take a van ride 1.5 hours south of Cancun. It's a long day of travel, especially since we had to get up this morning at 2:45 a.m. to get to the airport by the required 2 hours ahead of time, but hopefully we will still get to enjoy a little sunshine today!

Why are we headed to Mexico? Jeff and I never really had a honeymoon so we decided to go all out to celebrate our 10th anniversary this year. After a lot of research and debates on the safety of Mexico we decided on an all-inclusive resort in Akumal, Quintana Roo. It's our first all-inclusive - our method of travel usually tends to be the off-the-beaten-path kind - but for the price (and the safety) we couldn't pass it up.

I try to sleep but I forgot my travel pillow and am not very comfortable. Plus, I have a little travel anxiety. This is only our second trip without the boys and I am always very anxious about being up in the air. Every time we touch down is a relief. I don't like to think about the big "What if?" that all parents must face when they leave their children behind on vacation, but I do. We have taken every precaution so the kids are protected in case something were to happen to us.

I think of them now as the clouds pass by my window. We tucked them in last night at Grandma's house so the last thing they felt before they went to bed was our arms hugging them tight and our lips kissing them on their cheeks. Nicholas had his moment the night before - he cried and clung to me when I laid down with him. He didn't want us to leave him. Michael seemed alright with us leaving, so much so that I told him to give his brother some extra loving for us. Before we left I placed a family photo into each of the boys' lunchboxes, wrote a special message on the back, and sealed it with a lipstick kiss. I hope this is enough to get them through the week.

2:30 pm (central time)
We are driving along Highway 307 in Quintana Roo, Mexico, getting closer to our resort in the town of Akumal. After spending 5 hours on a plane, close to one hour in the line for customs, and another on the bus, Jeff and I are both ready to just get there already! We are famished since there was no food served on our plane and we didn't have time to grab a bite to eat in between flights. All we have had to eat today is a banana and a granola bar. When we landed the clouds were dark and heavy. They have since let loose with very heavy rain. I hope this is not a foreshadowing of what our weather will be like while we're here.

The road that we're traveling on is flanked with billboards in Spanish and a tiny hut/house/business here and there. Every so often, however, something gigantic springs up to announce yet another resort - letters, pyramids, fountains, etc. Our resort is one of the last on the strip, yet I am still amazed when I see this giant arched wall loom ahead announcing that we have arrived at the Gran Bahia Principe complex of resorts (and because I am unprepared I don't have my camera ready to take a picture of it).

The sun peeks out as we make our way to the lobby of our resort - the Gran Bahia Principe Sian Kaan, the newest one of four in the complex. We are greeted by a bellhop dressed all in white and wearing a Banana-Republic style hat. He takes our luggage and directs us to the front desk where we are greeted with a friendly "Hola!" by the concierge. We are given a white envelope that contains our dinner reservations (which I made beforehand) and our room keys. He shows us a map of the resort and explains that, as guests of the exclusive Sian Kaan, we have the privilege of eating at any of the other three resorts (Coba, Akumal, and Tulum) as well as our own. Our resort has its' own private beach too but we can use any of the other resorts' beaches too. Since it's an all-inclusive we can eat and drink as much as we want.

We follow the bellhop to our room. According to the hotel website the Sian Kaan is a smaller, more modern  property than its sister resorts. I've yet to see the other resorts up close but so far the website is correct. The whole lobby area is open with a sit-down bar to the right and an open air bar to the left. The buildings house three stories of rooms - the top floor has its own penthouse with jacuzzi tub, the middle floor has a small balcony, and the bottom floor has a jacuzzi tub cleverly hidden by tall palms. The architecture of the buildings is not what you'd expect in Mexico - the buildings are simply white stucco with wooden vigas. They look pretty against the (now) blue sky though.

Our buidling is near the lobby and across from one of the three pools, but our room faces the "jungle" so it has a lot of privacy. On the bed sits intertwined towels in the shape of two swans - an example of the exquisite towel art that I had heard about on Tripadvisor.com. There'll be lots of time for unpacking later. Right now food is our number one priority. We quickly change out of our grubby travel clothes and into our bathing suits and coverup and make our way to the buffet restaurant.

This buffet is like no other buffet I've ever been to in my life. The area of food that's available is seriously as big as the main floor of my ranch house back in Michigan. There's a sushi bar, hot entrees like chicken and pork, Mexican specialties, rice, beans, fruit, breads, and a dessert aisle that goes on forever! I don't want to go too overboard because it's so late in the day and our dinner reservation is just 4 short hours away. I opt for the Mexican chicken dish and fill my plate with rice, corn chips, lots of fresh guacamole, and salsa.

Jeff at the buffet

Jeff and I sit down and fill ourselves with the first real sustenance we've had all day. The food is so good and I'm not just saying that because I'm so hungry! In Mexico I find that there's no such thing as mild salsa and even medium is hard to find. I tried the Salsa Molcajate, which is a chunky mixture of tomatoes, onions, and peppers. It gives me hiccups right away because one of the peppers I ate is a habanero. Luckily I have plenty of guacamole to cool my palate. Jeff cools his mouth with lots of Mexican beer, the Dos XX kind that is served at our resort. The guacamole here is fresh and tasty. I'm famous for my homemade guacamole and Jeff thinks that this is as good as mine! I'm not sure if this is a testament to my guacamole being authentic or to the restaurant's ability to satisfy our picky palates.

When our bellies are full it's off to the beach. The Sian Kaan is not right off the beach, which initially when I was doing my research caused me to overlook the resort. However, thanks to my travel agent Laurie and Tripadvisor.com, I learned that the beach is only a 5-minute tram ride away. We only have to wait a minute or so before the extended golf cart that is our ride pulls up in the driveway of the lobby.

"Sian Kaan beach!" calls the driver. We board the tram and away we go. Our resort is actually across the highway from its sisters, but a bridge has been built over the road so that getting to the beach (and the other resorts) is quick and easy. As we ride I let all the anxiety of the day slip away and just enjoy the ride, the jungle breeze, and the warm sun. It's good to be back in Mexico!
                                                                                               
We are dropped off at the Sian Kaan private beach, which is distinguished by its black recliner chairs. We grab some towels and a margarita at our beach bar and go find a few empty chairs. Our view is exquisite and I just can't get enough. The mixture of blues and greens and blue-greens of the water set against the backdrop of the blue Caribbean sky is breathtaking. The sun is strong here and it does a good job of warming me to the bone. I could lay here all day and soak it up (and I will over the next week), but I want to get into that water!

I am struck by how cold the water is. It's definitely not as cold as our Lake Michigan but it sure isn't the bathwater warm I was expecting. There are lots of coral rocks in the water so we have to be careful of our footing. Some reviews on Tripadvisor had warned us about this (some made it sound like the beach was unusable because of this), but it's not a deal breaker to us. Once we are out deeper in the water the rocks taper off to fine sand.

I am enjoying the feel of the cool salt water against my hot skin and the relaxing sound of the waves when out of the corner of my eye I see a giant fish swim by. I swear it's about 1.5 feet long and has large fins. Anyone who knows me knows that one of my greatest fears is fish - I just don't like sharing a space with them, but I try not to get too freaked out. However, as it swims by me on the way to a man who has breadcrumbs, I get a little panicked and jump on Jeff's back. From now on I will steer clear of anyone who feeds the fish.

6:30 p.m.
We are showered and ready to go to dinner. I'm a little surprised that I'm not tired yet. Perhaps the cat nap that I had on the bus helped to take the edge off, or perhaps the combination of sun and sea was that invigorating. We discovered that neither of us gets cell phone service and so can't call the boys, but we are close enough to the lobby to be able to piggyback onto their wi-fi. I send a quick e-mail to everyone letting them know we arrived safe and sound, then we head to the lobby to catch our tram.

We are dining tonight at Tequila, the only Mexican-themed restaurant in the complex. I'm hoping to get some authentic cuisine. I order chicken mole with mexican rice and Jeff orders the pork medallions with orange sauce. While we wait for our food to arrive we sip on margaritas and listen to an in-house mariachi band. They eventually travel over to our table and sing us a song. Soon our food arrives. It is good but not anything different that that I couldn't get back home.

After dinner we make our way over to the Tulum resort's ampitheater to check out the evening entertainment. It's an acrobatic show made up of 5 people - a Mexican version of a circus family troupe? We are amazed most by the older woman whose thighs are so muscular they look like they could crush someone. The feats these people do are amazing but the performance is slow and kind of flat. Certainly not Vegas-style entertainment. We then go check out the other nightlife in the Hacienda Dona Isabel, a complex that houses shops, a few bars, and a disco that opens at midnight. It's only 10:00 so nothing's really going on yet.

The day of travel is beginning to wear on us and we're getting tired so we head back to our resort. We arrive just in time to catch the last few tunes by the man/woman duo who sings lounge-type music at the outdoor bar in the lobby. We sit through an ABBA song and a Whitney Houston song before deciding the music is not really our style. We bought Ipod speakers at the airport via a Best Buy automatic kiosk and can entertain ourselves with better music in our room!

It's been a long day. On tomorrow's agenda is nothing but catching some rays and swimming in the ocean. And perhaps trying out some of those beach drinks with cool names like Coco Banana and El Mar!!