Resort Vibes

Playa Del Carmen
Resort R&R

I decided there is no way I’m going to risk injuring my leg any more with a snorkel trip, so I opted to stay at the resort today while Andrea, Sydney, and Elisabeth headed off on a snorkel trip that we had already paid for. (Catherine stayed behind as well because she wasn’t feeling well). I guess it all worked out, because about 30 minutes later everyone had returned because the snorkel trip had been cancelled due to rough waters and a murky reef.
It was nice to enjoy a full day of R&R at the resort. I wasn’t much fun as I just stayed on my lounge chair resting and icing my leg. We decided to hang out at the “old person” pool. That was the name we gave it because unlike the other pools, there wasn’t any loud music or water volleyball games going on. There also weren’t any resort entertainers trying to get the crowd to have a pool dance party. We liked the quiet and “old” people just relaxing and reading. The pool was also perfect for my leg as I could get in and walk around in the water which felt nice.

We spent all afternoon outside enjoying the all-inclusive food - we drank pina coladas, nachos, ice cream, treats, and more. For dinner we decided to eat at the resort steak house. It was in an open restaurant near the beach and had a nice breeze. I liked the ambiance. The food was OK, but the chocolate dessert was awesome! It was fun to sit around with the girls at a “fancy” dinner and just relax. I’m not a big fan of resorts - but they are convenient. We capped off our night with some card games in our hotel room. 

Mayan Temple Tour

 Playa Del Carmen

Tulum * Chichen Itza * Cenote

Our day started early with an 8:00 a.m. pick up from an LDS tour company - Alma Tours. We met our guide Luis who would be our escort for the next 12 hours.

After a comparatively short 30-minute ride to Tulum we meet up with another 8 travelers for our morning tour of this seaside Mayan town. This seaside town must have been the Riveria of the Mayan civilization back in its day. It is beautiful and has great view of the ocean. The ocean provided a natural barrier from invaders. We learned that this civilization was still habituated by the Mayans when the Spaniards arrived and conquered the country.

It was a long 2 1/2-hour drive to Chichen Itza from Tulum, but before entering the site we stopped a local roadside restaurant to authentic food. Very yummy! The spices and flavors are familiar and yet still taste foreign. Maybe because Mexico is our closest neighbor, and we eat lots of Mexican food when at home.

The guide took a very clever rout through the Chichen Itza site. We came to the main temple through a side area which made of a nice grand entrance to the large temple site. The large temple site was flat with the huge temple in the middle surrounded by buildings on most sides. It was very impressive. A total of 91 stairs up each side of the temple and 1 final step on top symbolizing the 365 days of the year. It’s amazing to think of what this temple pyramid might have looked like at its peak and interesting to think of the people that might have lived in its shadows.

We toured the main sights and tried to comprehend why human sacrifice could be such an important part of their religious traditions. One particular building had the skulls of the killed as part of the decor on the walls. Because we visited both Tulum and Chichen Itza in one day, we only visited the main complex of the site and not the outer courtyards. We probably should have skipped the cenote and stayed at the site because at the cenote, Lara jumped in (like everyone else) and pulled her hamstring - so bad that getting out of the water, and then walking back up the stairs was extremely painful and difficult. It wasn’t a reckless move on Lara’s part, but maybe something that is beyond her age at this point. Either way, it was fun in the moment but was not worth the pain of landing wrong and the risk of ruining the rest of the summer sabbatical.

"Down in Mexico"

Playa Del Carmen 

Church * Cozumel

We did our best today to make it feel like a Sunday. We were up early, dressed and pressed, and ready for church. We took a quick 10-minute taxi ride into Playa Del Carmen and arrived at 8:50 a.m. - 10 minutes before church started. There was 1 lonely car in the parking lot. Gratefully when we walked in there were a few people in the chapel and one other family visiting from Utah. 

The meeting started on time, but a member of the bishopric showed up 15 minutes late and didn’t worry about walking to take his place on the stand, during the Sacrament song. Welcome to Mexico. It was fast and testimony meeting which made the gospel topics a bit easier to understand, except that most people are still wearing masks which made it hard to hear. It was kinda cute - as soon as the sacrament was over, people jumped to their feet and headed to the stand to share their testimonies. There was not a pause in testimonies for the entire meeting.

We decide to stay for Sunday School. We’re studying the Old Testament right now which is hard enough in English, let alone in a different language. I gave up rather quickly trying to follow along and ended up just reading a conference talk on my phone.

After church we decided to get adventurous and headed into Playa Del Carmen for an authentic Mexican lunch. It took some convincing of Andrea that we wouldn’t get sick (and honestly, I didn’t know if we would or wouldn’t), but we found a local dive that was perfect and yummy! I read the reviews on-line and ordered the pozole. A chicken and beef soup with pasta and beans. It reminded me of a tortilla soup back home.

We enjoyed a quick walk through the center of town down to the Ferry dock where we purchased our tickets to Cozumel and were talked into pre-purchasing our scooter rentals for the afternoon. There is a lot of commerce going on in Mexico - it’s quite honestly exhausting. I had reserved some scooters for the afternoon already, but this guy had a good sell, so I canceled my reservation and went with the salesman I met at the pier.

After a short Ferry ride to Cozumel, we made our way to the scooter rental shop and rented 3 scooters. It didn’t take long for Andrea to turn over the driving of her scooter to Catherine (such trust)! I drove our scooter with Sydney. I’m not sure I’ve ever driving a scooter before, so it was a bit intimidating maneuvering the streets to get out of town and having a passenger on the back was tricky. We probably didn’t clear 30 km/hr until we were well out of town. I also stayed in the “bike” lane for longer than I should have just to be away front the cars.

It would have been nice to have some extra time on Cozumel to stop at the beaches, swim, and explore. Rather we had a goal of circling the island so only had a few minutes to stop at the southernmost tip to use the bathroom and grab some water. There was a little “watering hole” that looked like it could have been out of a movie. I enjoyed the ride back up the eastern side of the island best. The road was more open, and I could see the ocean while we road.

We timed the ride perfectly and were back on the boat by 5:45 for our journey back to the mainland.  We were bushed and retired early tonight. Not sure why riding a scooter felt like I’d spent 2 hours on a horse, but my legs were tired.

The beautiful beach

 Playa Del Carmen

We didn’t make any big plans for today; we knew that we would all need some R&R after a hectic last week of school and work and busy time getting all the last-minute things ready for our trip. After sleeping in and breakfast we headed to the beach. We managed to find some lounge chairs under a palm tree, but there were some little gnats that kept bothering us so we decided being by the pool would be best. Sydney and Lara took advantage of the free kayaks and headed out to the open waters to enjoy the ocean and the sun. There aren’t big waves, so we found it easy to maneuver. The pool was nice, and despite some cheesy dancers from the resort trying to get the crowd into a dance party, we enjoyed eating nachos and swimming, napping, reading, and relaxing. It was great.

After dinner ate at the Italian restaurant, we didn’t even stay up late to play games - still too tied to do much, so we went to be early.

Tired and ready for some R&R

Today official starts our summer sabbatical. Sydney and Lara are heading to Mexico for a quick senior trip and Eric and Charlie are heading to Peru tomorrow to visit some of Eric’s mission cities. Sydney rolled in last night around 3:00 a.m. after a night at the Senior graduation party and we were at the airport by 8:00 a.m. for our flight. Good thing she can sleep all day.

We arrived at our resort to check-in, have some dinner, wander around a go to sleep after a long day of traveling. We are staying at an all-inclusive resort, the Riu Yucatàn, just a couple of miles from the Playa del Carmen town. It’s nice that it’s all inclusive, it will make the vacation easier on everyone. We enjoyed a nice dinner at the “International Buffet” followed by a walk around the resort where we heard howler monkeys in the trees. They sounded like someone was dying. Luckily, we ran into some guests that explained what we were hearing.