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| Relaxing, All-Inclusive Style, in the Mexican Caribbean | |
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02/17/07 - Playa del Carmen, MX Living the good life, all-inclusive style, at the very pleasant yet un-Mexican Secrets Capri Riviera Cancun resort |
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For the grand finale of our "final hurrah in Mexico" Yucatan
trip, prior to our return on a more or less permanent basis to
the US, we thought it would be nice to spend a few days with no
scheduling, no logistical details, no decisions, no driving and
navigating, etc, etc - just lots of eating, drinking and
lounging. Scott had found a deal (of course) on the
internet at the highly-rated, adults-only, all-inclusive resort,
Secrets Capri, and decided to reserve us an ocean-view
room for 5 days. We arrived at the very well-maintained,
highly-groomed and vaguely tropical-looking resort via taxi
shuttle on Monday afternoon. Located south of Cancun and
just north of Playa del Carmen on Mexico's lovely Caribbean
coast, one is forced to ask oneself, "is this really Mexico?"
Although the palatial lobby, where we were met with a delightful
welcome glass of champagne upon entering, was beautiful and
grand, it (and the rest of the resort, for the most part) really
looked more like Florida than Mexico or even authentic
Caribbean. But that was ok with us. We've seen
Mexico, after all! We just want to chill! With
champagne in hand, we were ushered to a reception desk, and
after a rather unpleasant snafu with our reservation (Cheap
Tickets really fell down on this one!), we were escorted to our
room and left to raid the (included!) mini bar and order
(included!) room service. "Aaahhh, we could get used to
this," we agreed, with confident, knowing smiles. From that point on, we proceeded to do nothing for the duration of our stay but lounge around the pool and under the palapas on the beach, while the gracious and immaculately uniformed waiters served us tropical, fruity drinks, beer and food - all included! Even though the beach town of Playa de Carmen was just up the road, we never left the resort - we were having too much fun doing nothing! The beach fronting Secrets was beautiful, with white sugary sand and clean, warm, blue waters - great for long walks, which we took daily. We dined on seafood and steaks at the open-air restaurants most afternoons and evenings, but also had delicious sushi and teppanaki at the indoor Pan-Asian restaurant. Although we sampled the room service on our terrace a couple of times, the buffet restaurant was excellent for breakfast; Caroline squealed with joy and delight at the pre-peeled grapefruit sections and gorged on smoked salmon and trout, while Scott took full advantage of the omelette station and the selection of fresh squeezed juices that they do so well here in Mexico. Despite a couple of obnoxious groups vacationing during our stay (one group chowed down on chicken wings in the hot tub while another pair of 'ladies' insisted on smoking in the pool!) and the uninspired (and un-tropical!) decor in our room, we met some nice people and fully enjoyed the luxury, novelty and complete ease of our first and probably last (as we typically prefer to spend our money on more authentic, cultural and/or adventurous travel) all-inclusive experience. Now, back to San Miguel! |
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| Some Final Fun in Merida | |
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02/11/07 - Merida, MX Shopping at the mercado and taking in more of Merida's free entertainment |
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This town has oh-so-much going on... Just about every night,
there are city sponsored free events - movies, theater, dancing,
music and festivals. Friday night we made our way out to
Baile Merida, where a band plays salsa music in one of
the plazas for the mostly older folks (and us?) to dance to. Some
of those old Mexicans have some moves! Then last night we
went to the Noche Mexicana, a festival with several
performances (our 3rd of the week) that really packed in a
crowd. Although we were only there a short time, we heard
a marimba band from Chiapas play, a female mariachi singing ranchero music,
and saw a group that came down from Monterrey to do some Mexican
polka dancing - the highlight of the evening!
Earlier in the day yesterday, we also spent some quality time at the mercado, sampling some more Yucatecan cuisine and finally picking up some guayabera shirts (see 2/06/07 entry). Scott is now looking like a local - and while dancing, his "Latin movement" has perceptibly improved. It's raining today, so we decided not to do the city sponsored bicycling event, where each Sunday they shut down many of the downtown streets for cycling... Thinking about taking in a movie, then maybe some reading. We leave tomorrow for Playa del Carmen - hoping to get some sun there! Oh, and we sold our condo in San Miguel de Allende yesterday! Our realtor let us know via email, and we faxed over our signed version of the purchase agreement last night... Only on the market for a week - a great feeling to be done with that already! |
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| What? Cold Beer and Free Snacks??!! We're in! | |
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02/10/07 - Merida, MX Taking in a little local cultural flavor by checking out the new-style cantinas |
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After a couple of early mornings and busy days, we were happy to
lounge by the pool with our books, after stepping out for a
quick breakfast of fresh fruit, eggs and Nescafe (surprise! - we
thought we were getting coffee...) and a brief visit to the
Macay modern art museum. But when the afternoon clouds
rolled in, we were a little hungry for a late lunch and decided
to check out the cantina scene here in town. Although as
recently as 10 years ago, cantinas were rather rough and
disreputable bars where the only women allowed in were
prostitutes, we had read in a local tourist paper that the
new-style cantinas were simply a good place for a beer and a
cheap lunch, popular with local couples and families.
Always on the lookout for a good deal and an interesting
cultural experience, we thought we'd better check it out.
When we walked in the door at El Lucero del Alba, we saw a combination of a super no-frills Denny's and a VFW hall, with a large bar area in the front. It appears that this cantina, at least, remains popular with a male clientele; when we entered, it was somewhat crowded and there were only 3 tables of mixed groups. Although Caroline initially felt a bit daunted by the bar area that was entirely filled with men, mostly over the age of 40 or 50, we forged ahead and sat down at a table. Once seated, we proceeded to enjoy our beers (a Michelada for Caroline) and free botanas (snacks) served to us by a pleasant, chubby young woman stumbling around on her high heels who looked like she could have been a prostitute in a previous life. Understandably, she was chattier with her tables of male customers, sitting down with them or stopping by to pour beer for them out of their pitchers, while the shoe shine man and boys selling candy and cigarettes hawked their wares around the room. But the beer was cold and the snacks, while mysterious to us gringos, were tasty and filling enough to make a lunch out of it. Success! |
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| Beaches, Ruins, & Enjoying the City | |
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02/08/07 - Merida-Progresso-Chichen Itza, MX Spending time in and around Merida |
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We woke up early on Wednesday to take the home tour sponsored by the local gringo community here in Merida, but it ended up being cancelled due to an ill tour guide. So with all of this seldom seen early daytime on our hands, we decided to drive out to the coast. We headed for Progresso, due north of Merida and on the north tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. After reading that it was kind of ugly and industrial, we had very low expectations that were almost necessarily surpassed upon arriving at a pretty and fairly quiet beach where the Gulf of Mexico meets the Caribbean Sea. It is home to the longest pier in Mexico (5km!), at the end of which, the cruise ships dock. We took a pleasant walk down the concrete boardwalk and on the beach itself and had a fresh seafood lunch under a thatch-roof palapa nestled in the sand before heading back toward Merida. On the way back, we took a detour to see the Mayan ruins at Dzibilchaltun and the cenote there. A cenote is a sink-hole (typically looking like a lake or giant well), of which there are hundreds (thousands?) throughout the Yucatan, fed by underground rivers. Caroline had read in our (aging) Lonely Planet guide book that it was great for swimming and she, being very hot and sweaty (almost a given here in the Yucatan), became obsessed with going for a swim. After flying through the interesting museum and ruins, we reached the cenote just before closing time only to find a lily-pad and biting fish-filled pond! Caroline decided to wait and go for a swim back in the lovely (and clean) hotel pool. But at least the nearly deserted ruins here were an interesting warm-up for our trip to Chichen Itza the next day. The ruins at Chichen Itza were, of course, very impressive, and amazingly well-kept, although it was disappointing that they weren't allowing visitors to climb the main pyramid (only the maintenance man with the weed whacker was permitted up there - gotta keep things tidy, you know!). Darn historical preservation (just kidding)! But the most interesting thing we discovered there (perhaps because the museum was closed for remodeling), was that this is where all of the foreign, non-North American, tourists go. We were some of the only English speakers on the site! Plenty of French, German, and even Dutch spoken. And several Japanese tour groups were there! We've never seen Japanese tour groups elsewhere in Mexico, so we thought perhaps they fly into Chichen Itza on a quick trip from NYC during their grand tour of North America. |
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| Finally in the Yucatan | |
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02/06/07 - Merida, MX A quick stop in San Miguel before heading to the Yucatan |
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When we first decided to move to Mexico, Merida was one of the few finalists as a place to base ourselves. After spending our first Mexican summer months in the hideous heat and humidity of Puerto Vallarta, we decided we couldn't possibly live somewhere that is even hotter than PV. Now that we're here and immensely enjoying the unique and colorful city, we're wondering if we couldn't have just cranked the air conditioning and toughed it out for those 5 or 6 sweltering months each year. Upon discovering it would be a 3-day drive from SMA, we decided to fly (from Mexico City) to Merida. After the flight of just over an hour it seemed a wise choice. We picked up our rental car and headed for the charming Medio Mundo hotel just a few blocks north of the main plaza, which we'll be calling home for the next 7 days. The owners of the hotel have created a beautiful and tranquil oasis here in the heart of Merida, with lovely and peaceful tropical courtyard areas, one of which contains the swimming pool and breakfast patio area. A near-constant cooling breeze blows through the property, softly rustling the palm trees outside of our room and the fountain gurgles in the courtyard below us in the evenings. The rooms, while sparsely decorated and furnished, are very spacious and stylishly painted and the bed is definitely one of the most comfortable we've encountered in Mexico (and with an attractive and soft traditional-style Mexican bedspread that Caroline loves to lounge on)! There is quite the international clientele at the MM, as we've already chatted with a young Australian couple and had breakfast with a young Swedish couple. The entire city seems to be filled with European tourists, which is very unusual for Mexico. Merida is vibrant and bustling, although still easy to get around and, after walking around and taking in the historic city center, we decided that it has much more of a European vibe than some of the colonial towns in the central highlands where we live, with Italian and French architectural influence evident all over. There appears to be free entertainment in one of the town squares most nights of the week. The music and performers have quite a Cuban air about them, especially with the popularity of Cuban-style guayabera shirts and panama hats - although these styles aren't just for performers, the guayaberas are daily-wear for many (if not most) of the local men. Scott has already stopped in a couple of shops to try a few on and add to his own guyabera wardrobe, but no luck...yet! We're looking forward to spending the week here and getting a feel for the place. Already we talk about coming back someday... |
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