March 2012 Jeff, Scotty and I visited the state of Quintana Roo, where Cancun is, and we stayed about an hour away from cancun in the Rivera area. It was quite the trip. The resort was beautiful, the water was warm. The activities were amazing on the resort, and to top it off down in the market area were able to hold a REAL tiger! Monkeys and see Scotty smile, and laugh as he ran on the beach of Playa Del Carmen. We zip lined into a Cenote, we swam in a cenote cave where it would be dark if there were no man placed lights in the water. Bats above us, and beautiful clear water below. We experienced things that some can only dream of.
We flew from SLC to Denver and from there to Mexico. The Cancun airport has a huge watch tower with a corona banner going down it. It must be letting you know what their favorite beer is, or that you are in party land I guess.
(You all might wonder where Paula was during this trip to Mexico) We arranged for my cousin Sherae to stay at our house with her daughter Shanaci. She looked after Paula and they had a lot of fun. Paula is 2 years old, and still a little bit unmanageable at times. She is still a little too young to bring on such a long flight, and to a place like Mexico. She needs naps, and a lot of attention. Plus Scotty needed some good mom and dad time. So it worked out really well. There will be many more adventures for the Cuno's and Paula will have her time to shine and go on great vacations with us. Love you Paula (mom).
The flight was long, but Scotty did so great, he is so well mannered and received so many compliments on how great of a kid he is. He warmed up to a lot of Jeff's co workers really fast.
Very early in the morning!Maybe 4am
Flying to Denver
They were playing pilot and using Scotty's headphones as the speaker. It was the cutest thing!
As soon as you get off the plane you can feel the weather. You can feel the water in the air and it feels refreshing on your skin. Especially since when we left we it was about 40 degrees outside in SLC, UT.
March weather in Playa Del Carmen is around 75-80 year round.
Only the water in the air makes the temperature perfect. Absolutely perfect.
Happy People. Yes there will be photos of me too. Since I know that is what everyone really wants to see ;)
Look at all this green it is a jungle!
Cabo Mexico is hardly green, it is more of a desert and the only green you see is in the expensive resort area.
Playa Del Carmen, Cancun Mexico, you can tell that it is tropical, and we were told there are monkeys all over in those trees. Spider monkeys.
Oh it was massive, I don't think you could walk into those trees without a huge sword to hack a way through.
We get onto a bus that is going to take us to our resort. The Aventura Spa Palace.
Immediately I take out my camera and start taking hundreds of photos out of our window. Hoping to capture the real Playa Del Carmen.
It didn't take long to come across our first set of officers or military with machine guns. When we were in Cabo, it was a shocker seeing men piled in the back of trucks with huge machine guns wrapped around their chests. So I expected it here too, and I still cannot get used to it. It is a creepy feeling, and an adventure.
From what I have read or used a google translator to translate spanish news into english. There is violence down in the cancun area, but they rely so much on foreign travelers that cartels and gangs extort money from resorts and other businesses that thrive off of travelers. So it is important to them that people continue to travel to these areas in Mexico. That the threat to travelers is not so huge.
Even our US Embassy had nothing bad to say about this area.
Yet anything can happen and we are not planning to travel to Mexico again.
This is a crash sight about 5 miles from the airport.
I can't help but wonder every time I see policia if that one is a good guy or bad guy.
The drive to our resort was a bit long, and the whole way I clicking away taking photos.
I edited the photo above, it is a real eye opener to see these tiny homes made of cement, or sticks that are maybe 2 feet bigger than our closet. People live in these. Just off the main highway there are two men chatting. Bars on the one window.
Not an unfamiliar sight, these military check points are all over. I wonder if it bothered them that I was taking their pictures.
Some of the military smiled at me, some waved, and some had a stern look that was unbreakable.
This is such a long highway with no sidewalks to the left or right. I am not sure if she is waiting for a bus because there are many bus stops spread out along the way. We saw some women with children strapped to their chest.
I couldn't help but feel so grateful for all the things I have in my life that make it easier. All of the things that are easily taken for granted. Many things we just expect.
Playa Del Carmen
It's a beach playa means beach, I think.
We didn't stay there, but there is a market there. We toured the market bought a few things, held monkeys. Pet and held a baby tiger.
Just some more of the buildings off of the main highway system in Quintana Roo.
Taxis that look like that have always creeped me out.
As long as your hotel calls the taxi for you, you're fine. Or if you take Sito taxis.
Look at this above... It is a hidden military camp. Tents pitched, and a huge truck bed behind. In the bushes are military men carrying their huge guns.
I will share more of these out the window photos I took during our stay.
We arrived at our resort, it was starting to get dark. We got to ride in a little golf cart to our room. Here are some photos to share the experience.
I know it's a blurry photo, but this is our hotel room and an excited Scotty jumping on the bed the second we got into our room.
He found the hammock. These bad boys are all over the Riviera, and are so comfy. I really wish that we bought one in the market.
I could've slept in that hammock. There were so many things to do day and night that we hardly spent any time in the room.
We freshened up and went to the company dinner party.
They had an open bar glow in the dark instruments on each table, a huge buffet with classic mexican dishes. Scotty loves non-alchoholic Miami Vices. (pina colada1/2daiquiris) pool side.
It was just beautiful and the you could hear the ocean crashing against the rocks just off the edge of the railings ahead.
He was quite at first
In no time he was the social bug. Dancing like a rock star, talking to everyone and the star of the night tonight. See below.
Everyone gathered around him as he danced, and did cool tricks.
I had to join in and dance with the little stinks.
The dance floor was not so empty soon after Scotty took the lead.
He had moves
Groovy
In no time the adults around made a circle around him that everyone took turns in the middle.
Some adults there even started doing his moves.
We went back to the room and the first thing Scotty thought of was that huge jetted tub. It was more like a hot tub. It took forever to fill up, and the jets in it were powerful.
That was just our first night in Mexico 2012.
