Vacation to Mexico Riviera Maya

We had a great trip to the Mexican Mayan Riviera. We stayed at a lovely resort called the Paradisus, its about 30 minutes south of Cancun. The resort was beautiful. It’s decorated like Mayan ruins; the lobby and salon area were under a spetacular post and beam thatch roof. It was a good place to hang out in the shade and watch the pool action. Our room was really nice -- no thatch roof there! We spent allot of time out at the pool or at the beach - regardless I was always tucked in under a cabana. We managed to spend 7 days in the tropical sun, and never get a sun burn! We went through 4 bottles of 70 SPF and i lived in my UV swim shirt! You won't see too many pictures from either because the camera doesn’t like sand and water.

No we didn't just eat all the time; I just happened to have the camera with me at most meals! Both girls developed a taste for new drinks - not RUM. Caroline likes Limonoda she thought it was lemon-aid but its made with limes. Catherine loves a non-alcholic Mudslide; she exercized her right to walk up to any bar and ask for one frequently.

We did a side trip to Play Del Carmen - it’s a 'developing' town - mostly sleepy with one main tourist strip down the middle. It’s where Catherine got her hair braided, Caroline got a doll, Debbie got a shot, and I got hot! That area was really hit hard by the hurricane - most of the resorts were badly damaged, and the area was still recovering.

Back at the resort there were activities going all the time water aerobics, drink making, cooking lessons (making guacamole) etc. Caroline wanted to go to the kids club - it had games and activities all day from 9-9. We let her got for about an hour. She had a good time, but its a family vacation - no need to park the kids with a baby sitter. You'll see several meals where we are eating in a Cabana. I learned that for a small tip, we could get a private table outside the resturant in a cabana over the water - it was our favorite place to eat, even though it was warm. At night there was 'vegas' style entertainment - more like high school productions - we saw about 5 of the performances - they were something fun to do after dinner.

We took another day trip to an area about an hour south to Xel-ha (Shell-ha). Xel-ha is south of Tulum. It’s beautiful, easily the high point of the trip. At Shell-ha a tropical rain forest feeds a river that flows into a lagoon adjoining the Caribbean. We tubed the river – which wound through the mangrove forest on its way to the lagoon. The water was brilliant blue-green. There were fish all along the way. Amazingly enough the headwater was really cool, got nicely warm as you got closer to the lagoon. We snorkeled on and off the entire way, and went all the way to the sea. There were huge sergeant fish swimming all around us; the girls had a good time spotting them and having me try to touch one. We had so much fun that Catherine and I went back and snorkeled the whole way again. Then we kicked back in the hammocks and visited with the parrots. I'd highly recommend a visit here. You really can spend more than a day - they have dolphin shows, and many trails, and many places to snorkel.
Caroline continued her habit of trying to be 50 feet away from us - it was stressful - with so many people and so much water, we were constantly chasing here.

It was warm during our stay, so usually by noon or so I was ready for a siesta and Caroline was ready to eat. Instead of eating in one of the restaurants, Caroline and I exercised room service on most days - so she could eat and watch cartoons and I could read. I found the room service menu was amazing - and had things not always in the restaurants. I did my best to eat my weight in Cerviche and Guacamole - Caroline loved the pizza. Catherine also got hooked, but she'd wanted to with mom at the pool.

We learned some interesting things - there are about 61 cultures presently in Mexico. The area we were in was mostly Maya. The Maya had a complex social structure long before the Europeans came to the new world. The Maya people are small - most under 5 feet - the Europeans must have looked like giants riding horses. They have large archeological sites all around like Tulum etc. The Mexican people were delightful - and will do most any thing for a small tip! Stay tuned for more pictures, debbie has a lot of flim, and I'll scan in the good ones. We had a great time.