Mexico

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Well, I have just returned from my first all inclusive Mexico holiday. Wow, what a treat! Camille and I decided to celebrate her upcoming divorce in the best way we knew how - fun and sun! Se we headed to Cancun/Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

Before we left, we spent about a month looking at different all inclusive sites. We knew we wanted to have a place that had 24 room service, all inclusive, and waiter service on the beach. A week before leaving, we found the Valentin Imperial Maya resort that met all of our requirements and then some. It was an adult only place, which suited us more than fine to not have children running everywhere. It was a bit of a couples style resort, but we did not mind, because the cliente were more mature and really nice.

The staff of the resort went out of their way to make us feel welcome and special. I mentioned to the front desk when we arrived, the purpose of our visit and they up graded us to a swim up room. Our balcony was less than ten feet from a beautiful horseshow shaped pool, with German and David, our pool boys, manning the bar about twenty meters away. There was another, bigger pool not far from our room, with two swim up bars, waiter service, three islands, and activities going on throughout the day. The beach was a private beach with palapas and Mirelena and Jazziel ready to ensure we didn’t go thirsty.

The first day we arrived, Saturday, we sat poolside for most of the day. In the evening we went to one of the seven a la carte restaurants, the Lobster Pot, where we had one of the best steaks I have had in a long time, along with a lobster tail. After dinner we walked over to the outside plaza where a mock casino was set up. We were handed $4,000 in play money each and headed to the blackjack table. In a short time we accumulated about $80,000 in shared money. Of course it was just play money, but we were happy with our luck nonetheless. The overall winner ended up winning a massage, but it was around $170,000 or something like that. After the casino we walked over to the stage room where we caught the Las Vegas show and met the entertainment director. The next day when he saw us at the pool he invited us back to his house for a party with the staff. We went for a little while, played some poker and danced salsa, but came home fairly early.

Monday we decided to take a cab to Playa del Carmen and catch the ferry to Cozumel. We were contemplating renting scooters and riding around the island, but by the time we got to the island it was around 1:30 in the afternoon and the ferry home was either 5 pm or 8. Considering we had not had lunch yet and wanted to be back at the hotel for the fire dancing show that night, we decided to go to a restaurant that Camille’s old roommate, Friat, had recommended. The directions he has given us were to get off the boat, head to the right and walk about ten minutes. It is a peach colored building, called Hotel Barracuda. The restaurant in just past the main entrance and is called No Name. You have to go down a bit of an alley, just head on down, don’t be shy. So that was what we did. We walked into this patio bar, with a swim up pool, overlooking the ocean. The day was incredibly hot, so we were very happy to have the ocean breeze. After lunch and watching our spring breakers do body shots and belly flop into the swim up pool, we thought a dip in the ocean was in order. The water was amazingly warm and fun.

That night, the resort put on a Caribbean themed buffet dinner by the main pool, with dancers and lots of amazing food. We were set at a table where we met a really nice couple, Trent and Mary. Funnily enough, there were visiting from Campbell River. Locals! We sat with them and went to the show room and watched the fire dancing show. All I could do was think about Willow the whole time!

We had divided our time to have one day leave the resort, the next day do something. Tuesday, as it turned out, was our stay at the resort day! Yay! It was beach day. I got up at 7:30 am and went to get us seats on the beach with a palapa. Every spot was already reserved, even though I was the only one on the beach. Needless to say, I just moved someone’s towel and decided that ownership was nine tenths the law. A little after 12 pm someone showed up wanting their seats. I told them I had been there all morning and I didn’t see their swimsuits, because they were not there, only a towel. He later admitted to having reserved the seats at 11 pm the night before. I did not feel guilty for taking them.

That night we met up with Trent and Mary for dinner at the Italian restaurant and after dinner when to the disco in the Plaza. There we met Freddy and Amber, a wonderful couple from Toronto. Next thing you knew, it was about 2 in the morning and we were still dancing away. We had lined up a car rental for the next day, so we called it a night.

Wednesday morning we woke up with a few cobwebs in our brains, but good nonetheless. By the time we got ourselves going, showered and eaten it was close to 2 in the afternoon - you would be shocked at how tiring relaxing can be! We drove out to Tulum, a Mayan Ruin fortress that is located on a cliff over looking the ocean. It was really beautiful and made for a great afternoon. After we walked around the ruins, we drove through the town of Tulum and then back to the resort. After eating dinner, we went to the Plaza to meet up with Freddy and Amber for a night cap.

Thursday was our resort day, but also that night we were booked for the party hopper tour. When we woke up, we were feeling extra lazy and decided to order room service for lunch and sit by the pool in our private area. Plus, our favorite pool boy was working, David and he came over and talked to us regularly. That night, we got ready for the tour, and hit up the Mexican fiesta buffet that was set up for dinner. There was games, cotton candy, ice sculptures and a Mariachi band playing with a beautiful backdrop, not too mention a giant Mexican buffet dinner.

The party hopper tour was a great way to go out to the clubs. We were set up to go to Carlos N’ Charlies, Senior Frogs, and Cocobongo, in respective order. When we arrived in Playa del Carmen, our guide for the night, Robyn introduced herself as our everything - she was our waitress, bartender, bathroom finder, hair holder, if need be. It cost us $80, which included transportation, VIP entrance in every place, and all of our drinks - yes shots of tequila included 😉 Carlos N’ Charlies was our first stop, a good starting point. Senior Frogs was an interesting place. I went up to the bar for a shot of tequila, no shot glasses necessary, just a pouring of the bottle in my mouth. I did this as I watched a girl tied to the ceiling in stir-ups and being spun as fast as possible.

Cocobongo was a real treat. We walked past a long line to be escorted to our own section on the third balcony. The place was three tiers tall with a large bar in the centre, housing a two foot wide bar that acted as a dance floor. The most impressive part was the Las Vegas style show stage. It was located parallel to the second floor and had Vegas style shows going on all night long. We walked in just as Mambo number five was starting. It was followed by a Brazilian dance show, a Beetlejuice parody, a Beyonce show, Madonna, Freddy Mercury, Guns N’ Roses, Elvis, Spiderman and the Green Goblin flying down to the bottom centre bar, the Mask, and I am sure I am missing others. The shows went on all night and were really impressive. The tour headed back at 2:30, but Camille and I were having so much fun, we decided to cab it home and made it back a little after 5 in the morning - definitely a good time.

The next day we had made plans to meet Trent and Mary on the beach to spend our last day at the resort with them  Trent was nice enough to remind us for half the day that it was our last and how he did not envy us, lol. We went to the Hacienda Mexican themed restaurant for dinner and caught the circus show, where we also met Freddy and Amber. Trent and Mary decided to head to bed early that night and Camille, Freddy, Amber and I headed to the plaza for dancing and drinks. Considering it was our last night, we decided to make the most of it. We danced until the disco ended and then the four of us, with two newcomers that we met, Jen and Mark, decided to go to the rooms, raid the mini bars for beer and head to the beach for some late night swimming. The moon was so full that it really made for a great time. We were not in the water for more than ten minutes though when the hotel staff came and made us get out. Camille really had to go to the bathroom though and didn’t in the time that we were in the water. I told her to go back in, and she was aided by Freddy and Mark. Unfortunately, going to the bathroom with two guys holding your hand is not the easiest thing to do, hehe. I fended off the guards though and it all worked out. They were really nice and just making sure that we were safe. He even offered to allow me to continue swimming, but by then we decided to just hang on the beach and soak up the moonrays.

The only complaint that we had was the next morning, ok really, two hours later. We had arranged a wake up call and bell boy service for our room for 6:30, considering out bus was leaving for the airport at 6:50. I didn’t end up waking up until 6:40, rushed around, grabbed my things and phoned to find out where the bell boy was. Somehow we got missed on the list, and then missed our bus. The hotel ended up paying for a taxi for us to the to the airport and it ended up working out alright. Our flight was less than desirable though. I had not slept much, had a bit of a stressful morning and was really looking forward to getting in my seat and falling asleep - hmmm, how could this go wrong. Well, as it turned out, our seats were in the middle, last row of an emergency exit, right next to the bathroom. The exit doors kept our row, and our row only, freezing cold, the seats didn’t recline and we had to have people standing next to us for the majority of the flight. I was so frustrated and tired that all I wanted to do was cry. I talked to the stewardess and there were no other seats to switch to, so we were stuck. When they came around they offered us free beverages, anything we wanted, but I was not there. We had some complementary snack though. In the second half of the flight, when my entire body had gone painfully numb, Camille and I decided to take up the flight attendant on her offer of free booze. Next thing you knew, but my third mini bottle of wine, I was feeling a little more comfortable. There was another girl in our row, our age from Kitsilano and we just had ourselves a little party and it ended much better.

Now I am home, sitting on the BC Ferries, heading to the island for a long time coming visit with my mom! I sure miss her! As for my next adventure - right now it is in the wild streets of Vancouver looking for a job. If not, somewhere else. We’ll see.

Leslie

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Photos

First night dinner at the Lobster Pot
Best steak!

No Name bar/restaurant in Cozumel
Please note no dress code necessary