Thursday 7 March 2019

Ien and Linda's excellent Riviera Maya adventure. Part 4. The weather changes and we book a trip.

Warning: This travel blog is meant as a record that allows us to share with family and relive the experience as much as possible. It is not a literary endeavor. Innocent bystanders may be bored to tears by the amount of detail.

Before we go any further, may I gush about the food for a moment? No, Sandos is not paying me and I do not own a time share. 
The buffet is just great. Lots of fresh fruit at all meals. Vegetables galore both as salads and prepared.  Great selection of bread. Made to order omelettes and smoothies. An oriental section, a Mexican section, an Italian section and lots of just good food. It caters to all. From gluten free vegans to bacon obsessed meat eaters, from lovers of tentacled seafood (that's me!) to picky kids who insist on chicken fingers or hot dogs, it is there. We enjoyed it so much we never even tried all the a la carte places.

Anyway....In the course of the first Sunday the weather cooled down, it clouded over and the wind picked up.
We retreated from the beach to the more sheltered pool. Linda got her first Margarita.
We tried out the Italian restaurant. Nice atmosphere, great service including a shawl for people who find the airco too aggressive, food OK but not oh wow, especially the main pasta dishes. 
Later that night the  show was a must. 
It was a tribute to ACDC, whatever that is, and Linda planned to dance! I was happy to retreat to the good wifi again. 
Alas, before long it started to rain and the show was canceled before the band got electrocuted. 

Monday morning we woke to continuing rain. At least it was still warm and, as Canadians like to remind each other, we did not have to shovel it. We decided to venture out of the resort bubble, turn right this time  and  find the cluster of shops on Avenida Xaman Ha, the main road that runs past all the Playacar resorts. Linda needed gifts for her tribe. I was hoping to find a book of Sudoku puzzles to replace the lost Kobo as beach entertainment. I also felt quite insecure without any warm clothing after losing my cardigan in the airport. There is such a thing as traveling too light.

The walk from our home base by the beach to the exit took about ten minutes. Some more pictures of the inside of the  resort. The place is huge and in the beginning quite overwhelming.
It is all beautifully landscaped. I get a kick out of seeing our typical houseplants in their natural environment. 
Philodendrons get enormous. 

Bicycles are available.


When it rains in the Yucatan it pours! I guess the drainage infrastructure leaves to be desired.
We squelched our way down the avenue, frequently crossing the street to avoid the worst inundations.  Because it was all new it felt like a major expedition and we felt quite triumphant when we spied the Starbucks. The shops all seem to sell the same stuff aimed at tourists. Big on lively colour, low on utility.  Strictly junk food in the 7-11, no sudoku. No sweater or poncho or any warm cover either, but I did find a beach cover up that was a vast improvement over the oversized dress I had been using.
Apart from the shops there was a kiosk with offers for excursions. We chatted with the main agent and ended up booking a tour to Tulum and Cobal. A whole day, for less than half the price of the offerings at the resort. Yeah! We felt like we accomplished something.

















No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments have been set to anyone, un-moderated, and no captcha. So if you were here, wave to me? Spammers will be deleted and acquire bad karma to boot.