Nuestras Vacaciones a Mexico (Our Trip to Mexico)

Hola! As you may have heard, Garth and I traveled to Mexico to celebrate our third anniversary. We left last Saturday and spent five wonderful days in the Riviera Maya, which is just south of Cancun. This was the first "real" vacation we've had since our honeymoon and it was a welcome respite for us. I took a LOT of pictures, so I thought I'd chronicle our trip with just a sample of what I took.

We're on our way!

Do we look tired? Well, we are. This us at Chicago O'Hare airport at about 8 a.m. I know that's not all that early, but we were up at 4 a.m. to make our 6 a.m. flight out of Nashville. Are we complaining? No way! It just got us to Mexico that much sooner. :)

We stayed at the Valentin Imperial Maya, a beautiful resort between Cancun and Playa del Carmen. This is the reception area at the resort. Aren't the flowers beautiful? I especially love the red ones at the top.

This is our gorgeous room! It was truly a treat.

This is the view from our balcony. If you look closely in the distance, you can see the ocean! We were just steps away from the pool and the beach, which is where we spend most of our time.

Another view from our balcony. I loved the thatched cabana-like roofing on the balcony and throughout the resort.

This is the view on the way to dinner the first night of our stay. The resort was all-inclusive, so there were a variety of restaurants on site that we ate at.

This is the chapel at night. Apparently, many people come to the resort to get married. It certainly is a beautiful setting!




After dinner, we watched a Mayan music/dance show. The Mayans were indeginous to this part of Mexico. The Mayan costumes were very elaborate and quite pretty. Here's a short glimpse of the entertainment. We enjoyed it!

The next day, we spent a majority of our time at the beach. Even though the temperatures were above 90 degrees every day, the sand never got hot!

We spent a lot of time under a palapa, the thatched umbrella shown here. It was a great place to read a book and feel the ocean breeze.

This is a view from the palapa. The red flag signified the roughness of the water. I think they limit water sports on red flag days. It was red every day we were there. But, we didn't mind. Garth had fun body surfing in the waves. And, it didn't hurt that the water felt amazing!

Garth on the beach. Clearly, he's a happy camper!

Can you tell I got a little sun?

All cleaned up! This is us before dinner on our second night. Can you see the bird in the background? We became quite good at self-portraits.

On Sunday night, we ate at the Japanese restaurant. It was called Ginger. I loved the menus. Very cool! Also, the hanging paper lanters were beautiful. Can you see the markings on them? Yes, I'm a dork and took pictures of EVERYTHING!

Yes, I even took pictures of the food! Not only was it pretty to look at, it was delicious! Garth had some BBQ ribs and I had sea bass.

Here's to vacation!

After dinner, we went to the sports bar. While we were there, we met this cool couple, Tina and Chip. I had played beach volleyball with them earlier in the day. Anyway, Chip and Tina live in Phoenix, but are originally from Romania. We spent several hours hanging out with them and listening to their stories. Tina lived in Romania during their civil war and shared her experiences of hiding in her bathtub to avoid gun fire and seeing dead people in the street. It certainly makes you appreciate everything you have when you hear stories like that. They were a fascinating couple and we enjoyed spending time with them. We'll never forget it.

On Monday (day three), we went into the town of Playa del Carmen. It is an old fishing town that has become a popular tourist destination. Avenida Cinco (Avenue Five) is lined with shops and places to eat.


There truly is a Starbucks on every corner...even in Mexico! Just on Avenida Cinco, we saw TWO Starbucks. There was also a Bourbon Street bar (that's for you, Blair) and a Burger King, (that's for you, Dad).


For some reason, this place made me laugh. If the name "Drugs & Deli" weren't enough, their list of available drugs was even funnier. Apparently, Mexicans believe it's important for tourists to have access to Viagra and diet pills on vacation.

For lunch, we ate at this great place called La Casa del Agua (The House of Water). Having a Corona hit the spot after being in the very hot sun.

The restaurant had a gorgeous view of the ocean!

Another picture from our table.

And, the food was terrific! This is my shrip ceviche.


Playa del Carmen has a ferry that takes you to Cozumel, a small island off the coast of Mexico. Here is the boardwalk to the ferry.



View from the boardwalk. I love the color of the ocean!

Use on the beach at Playa. Can you see the ferry in the backround?

Here's another view of the beach at Playa.

After spending a few hours in Playa, we were ready to go back to the resort and hop in the pool! We took a taxi to Playa, but decided to take the collectivio (bus) back to the resort. This is the local method of travel and was REALLY cheap - only $2/each! Well, this turned out to be a bad idea. We had to wait a while for the next bus and THEN it was 30 minutes late. Apparently, that's normal. I guess that's why it's so cheap. After being there more than an hour, we finally decided to take a cab. This is us in the VERY hot bus terminal. It's very hot in Mexico, but it's not too bad if you're in the shade or can feel the ocean breeze. Well, here there was neither. It was miserable. So, that's why we have the sad faces.

That night, we went to the French restaurant. We'd never really had French food before and it was good! We both had the Chateaubriand (center steak). The middle photo is my quiche lorraine and the last picture is Garth's chocolate mousse.

We finally got someone to take a picture for us. This is us outside the French restaurant.

The flowers and plants at the resort were beautiful! Here are a few.

More pretty plants and flowers!

We spent our last day (Tuesday) back at the beach. Garth reading his book under the palapa.

View from the palapa. Those are my feet!

Here are pictures of the gorgeous pool!

Garth walking on the bridge over the pool.

Our last night, we ate at The Lobster Pot! I had Lobster Chipotle, Garth had Lobster Poblano and the last is the King Prawns appetizer.

Garth asks, "Why did I have to go all the way to Mexico for Baked Alaska, Mom?"

The waiter took a picture of us after dinner. It was delicious!

We decided to order room service for breakfast the day we left. They set it out on our deck. I'd never had room service before. It was great!

Before we left for the airport, I took some final pictures of the beach in the morning.

Palapas and chairs lined up for the day.

The beach was empty first thing in the morning.

This is the beach bar. I don't think it was up and running for te day just yet.

Our names in the sand.

Us at the beach. We found a nice lady from New Jersey to take the photo. We were sad to leave!

I had been looking for a souvenir in Playa, but never found anything I liked that was in our price range. Right before we left, we looked in the silver shop at the resort and I found this lovely silver ring with blue opal in it. Garth treated me to this ring and a matching necklace. What a sweet way to end our anniversary trip!

Last margaritas in Mexico.

While waiting for our flight back to the States, we had lunch and some celebratory margaritas at Jimmy Buffet's restaurant. Happy Anniversary to us!

If you'd like to see the rest of our 300 some photos, you can view them by clicking here.