Last month my boyfriend and I wanted to go somewhere for our 10 year anniversary. Yes 10 years! We didn't have any specific place in mind we knew we just wanted to get up and go. I was thinking more of a bed and breakfast, some place in New England and he was thinking more of a lay on the beach and have drinks kind of vacation. I was looking everywhere for a vacation that was decently priced. I'm all about the budget over here. Since the end of June is pretty much high season for everyone in the US all the bed and breakfasts I was looking at were all booked up the specific weekend I wanted to go. Everything on Cheap Caribbean was over budget. I was starting to get discouraged. Then one day before I went to work I checked out
Expedia Last Minute deals. They had a deal to the
Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda All Inclusive in Riveria Maya for $675 pp for 5 days the exact weekend I was looking for. I hopped on the deal right away. Within the next hour it was already sold out! This was going to be my second time in Mexico and Angel's first. More about my first time down there in another post.
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| Shhhh Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open. |
We got on the first flight out of New York that morning and arrived at Cancun International Airport super early. If you have ever been to Cancun International you'll know that they have a million Time Sharesque people waiting at the exit of the gates waiting to talk your ear off. Since we arrived so early and check-in time wasn't until the afternoon we decided to have a chat with one of representatives. I'm glad that we did. If you have time to spare while you are in Mexico then I say that it doesn't hurt to go on one of these tours. The representative told us that if we went to the Mayan Palace we could get a big discount on the tours we wanted to go to. Which was true because our hotel was selling the same tours for a lot more money. We made an appointment for the next day to go to this Time Share like meeting which we knew we had absolutely no interesting buying. We were comped car service from our hotel to the Mayan Palace and back. Once we got there we were comped a breakfast buffet which was very good. Lots of options to choose from. I definitely was stuffed during the tour. We checked out what they were trying to sell and listened to their pitches. That's when it got a little bit annoying. We told the first girl we weren't interested, then her boss came over and lowered the price, then after more Nos, they sent us to another guy, then ANOTHER one. That's when I put my foot down. I was zoning in and out and I just flat out said look I'm unless you're going to give me a free apartment I'm not putting any money down. The representative looked so shocked but I mean they weren't listening so I had to get a little rude. But anyways after that we booked our excursions for a fraction of the price and got a free bottle of tequila for our anniversary. So yea if you have free time and want to book cheap excursions then I would suggest going to one of these time share like meetings but just remember BE FIRM when telling them no or they'll keep you there forever!
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| Chichen Itza during low season. Simply amazing! |
One place I have been wanting to visit for the longest time was visit
Chichen Itza. Now I can officially say that I can cross it off my bucket list. I previously read that June is probably one of the worst times of the year to go because the heat is unbearable. I was very lucky in that the day that we went it was supposed to rain. I was discourage in taking the trip during rainy season but from reading other people's experiences they said Mexico has a more of a Florida type of rain. 20 mins here and then sunshine. It didn't rain while I was actually at Chichen Itza just a lot of overcast so the heat wasn't too bad. Also since so many people are discouraged to go to
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| Everyone needs to experience a cenote. |
Chichen during June it was practically empty while we were there. It was an amazing experience! Usually when you see pictures you see a million people in the background and to see it completely bare was breathtaking. I wish we could've climbed the pyramid to the top but they have long since put a stop to that due to people stealing the rocks and graffitiing the place. It's dumb people like that that ruin it for everyone else! The trip to Chichen Itza from Riveria Maya is a very long bus ride but definitely worth it if you are interested in experiencing history and culture. During our day trip we also got to visit a Mayan town have have an authentic mayan lunch. We walked around the town for a little bit and walked into a really old church. I only went in the church for a few minutes because there was a wedding taking place! The authentic lunch was good. The only downside was that they had a bunch of lime sitting in a bowl of water. I wanted to put the lime juice all over my food but I knew that since we were off our resort I should stay away from the water. My boyfriend on the other hand chose not to heed my warnings and by the time we got back to NY he had a stomach virus for a week and a half. You've heard the warnings, if you're not at your resort don't drink the water! The other part of our tour was to go swimming in a cenote. If you haven't done it before put that on your to-do list next time you are in Mexico. The cenote was an amazing experience but very cold! We also got to go to a tequila museum and do some tequila tastings. Yes it was an all day tour but worth every penny!
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Angel and I at Chichen Itza. One of the 7 New Wonders of the World!
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We did one other excursion while we were in Mexico. I wanted to visit Tulum or Coba but my boyfriend was convinced that we should check out
Xcaret. At first I was very apprehensive. I thought it was going to be like a Mexican Disneyland. I wanted to experience the culture not something inauthentic. Yea I put my foot in my mouth. Xcaret was pretty awesome. It was a huge eco-park not a theme park that I was expecting. The place was absolutely huge! We couldn't cover the whole park in one day. We did get to experience a lot of awesome parts of the park. We started off in the aviary. You can get right up in there with the birds. The best part of the park was the underground river. It's basically like a really long lazy river without the tube. Since it's underground there are some parts when you are in a cave and it's pitch black. Freaky! Another really nice touch to the park was this river ride. It's about 15 minutes long and they ask you to be completely silent. They just want you to observe nature. It was spectacular. You just hear the water flowing, see the fish swimming, and the crabs shuffling around. My other favorite parts of the park is the butterfly garden and the natural pools. Like I said the park is extremely huge. At one point we just went to lay in some hammocks to recoup some energy. At the end of the day they have this huge show in the theatre. Try not to get there too late. You want to have good seats. It's an open air theatre so it gets really hot. If you make it out to Xcaret the night show is not to be missed. It is a great end to a great day.
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| Taking a breaking from exploring Xcaret |
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| Just hanging out pool side |
The rest of the time Angel and I spent time at our hotel. We got an all inclusive so we might as well take advantage. Since it's low season over there the pool was empty most of the time and getting drinks were really fast. The food was good and the service was excellent. The day we went to Chichen Itza I actually left my safe open. Most of my cash, our cellphones, and our passports were right there in the open. When we got back to the hotel there was just a little note that said we had left our safe open and they closed it and to call the front dest when we got back. When we got the safe open everything was there. Not a dollar was missing! I thought the food was good. My favorite restaurant was the seafood restaurant. The grouper melted in your mouth like butter! You just have to remember to make reservations the day before. Don't forget to stop by the swing bar or the bungalows by the beach! The only negative I really have about the hotel is that the beach sucks. The water is pretty brown and you can see sand bags lining up the beach. I wasn't too upset since the pool was nice enough and you can get drinks in a snap.
I enjoyed Mexico and I can definitely see myself returning in the future. On my list for when I return is to check out the ancient port city of Tulum and the metropolis that used to be Coba. (You can still climb the pyramids over there!)
One place I have been wanting to visit for the longest time was visit Chichen Itza. Now I can officially say that I can cross it off my bucket list. I previously read that June is probably one of the worst times of the year to go because the heat is unbearable. I was very lucky in that the day that we went it was supposed to rain. I was discourage in taking the trip during rainy season but from reading other people's experiences they said Mexico has a more of a Florida type of rain. 20 mins here and then sunshine. It didn't rain while I was actually at Chichen Itza just a lot of overcast so the heat wasn't too bad. Also since so many people are discouraged to go to 
We did one other excursion while we were in Mexico. I wanted to visit Tulum or Coba but my boyfriend was convinced that we should check out Xcaret. At first I was very apprehensive. I thought it was going to be like a Mexican Disneyland. I wanted to experience the culture not something inauthentic. Yea I put my foot in my mouth. Xcaret was pretty awesome. It was a huge eco-park not a theme park that I was expecting. The place was absolutely huge! We couldn't cover the whole park in one day. We did get to experience a lot of awesome parts of the park. We started off in the aviary. You can get right up in there with the birds. The best part of the park was the underground river. It's basically like a really long lazy river without the tube. Since it's underground there are some parts when you are in a cave and it's pitch black. Freaky! Another really nice touch to the park was this river ride. It's about 15 minutes long and they ask you to be completely silent. They just want you to observe nature. It was spectacular. You just hear the water flowing, see the fish swimming, and the crabs shuffling around. My other favorite parts of the park is the butterfly garden and the natural pools. Like I said the park is extremely huge. At one point we just went to lay in some hammocks to recoup some energy. At the end of the day they have this huge show in the theatre. Try not to get there too late. You want to have good seats. It's an open air theatre so it gets really hot. If you make it out to Xcaret the night show is not to be missed. It is a great end to a great day.
