Playa Del Carmen, Mexico
Original Post: December 2008
I arrived back home today from Playa Del Carmen! I had an awesome time and I’m going to do my best in relaying that in my post. I’m going to do one text post (this post) and follow it up with a picture post. There’s just way too much for one post. I’m going to try and space the two posts out to give people time to read everything before moving onto the photos.
Saturday:
The big day. The day where my parents would be surprised at the airport. In case you missed it, my dad’s side of the family including my parents planned on going to Mexico. The plans were made last year and that’s when my one Uncle said he’d pay for myself and my sister as long as it stayed a surprise. Mission Accomplished. We made sure to get to the airport first. We checked in just in the nick of time. As we reached the counter my mom & dad showed up along with my Aunt & Uncle. The rest of the family had to take a separate shuttle from the airport to BWI. Luckily my parents didn’t see us and we made it through check in and security without being spotted. We hang out at the gate and when we see my parents coming we run over and surprise them. They asked what we were doing there, if we were there to say good bye and that’s when we showed them our tickets. My mom almost cried! It was pretty funny. To make a long story short, everyone boarded the plane and we made our way to Playa Del Carmen. Saturday was spent pool & beach side at the resort which worked for me! The ocean and beaches were amazing! You’ll see in the pictures.
Monday: Xcaret
Xcaret is an Eco Park. It’s almost like a zoo but in the middle of the Mayan jungle. You can swim with dolphins, snorkel, have your picture taken with various critters, cruise down a calm river or just walk around the park and admire all the ruins and what nature has to offer. I was able to see Jaguars, Spider Monkeys, Boars, Macaws, Iguanas and tons of other wild animals. It was pretty awesome. At the end of the night we stayed to watch a show that told the history of the area. It was awesome. It was about two hours and featured songs, dance and wonderful costumes. It was really breath taking to watch! I think this one of the longest days of the week. We arrived at the park around 9am and we got back to the resort at about 9pm. After a day of walking and heat, I went right to bed.
Tuesday: Horseback Riding & Dolphins
This was the day I had been waiting for. A day filled with animals that I love. We woke up bright and early to head off to go horseback riding. We didn’t just ride on a trail though, we took the horses INTO the ocean! You have no idea how fucking weird and awesome it is. The only down side was the weather was a little icky and the water was a rough but I still had a blast but riding bareback on a horse is NOT fun. It actually kind of hurts. An hour or so after that adventure it was time for swimming with the dolphins! I was beyond excited for this. I’ll admit I was a little nervous too but it was all good. We were able to do a belly ride, hug, kiss, boogie board push and feel the dolphin plus we had time for some smaller tricks like having the dolphin dance, “sing” and splash around. I think I had a smile plastered on my face the entire time. It was amazing and beyond awesome. I’m so glad I had a chance to do it and I’d recommend it to everyone. You have a new respect for the animal and just how smart they are.
Wednesday: Sick
No, “Sick” isn’t some cool club or park, I was actually sick. I woke up around 4am with a very upset belly. I was back and forth between the bathroom and bed for about an hour. I won’t disgust you with details but it wasn’t pretty. Needless to say I didn’t wander far from a bathroom on this day. I stayed pool side and read a book and tried to get some sun thinking it would help. The whole day I had that nasty feeling you have when you’re sick. That feeling that at any moment you could just get sick. If I was home I would’ve stayed in bed all day but since I was on vacation I tried my best to suck it up and enjoy the day, which I did.
Thursday: Into Town
Thursday I was feeling much better. I was worried I’d be sick the rest of the trip but luckily that wasn’t the case. Thursday we had a lazy day in the town of Playa Del Carmen. We had lunch at a little local place that took two hours. We weren’t too happy about that but what are you going to do? They run on Mexican Time. After we finally finished lunch we headed out and did a little shopping. I ended up buying a nice Mexican blanket for a friend for $4.50. Some places had them for almost $20! What the hell? That’s really the only thing I ended up buying in town. We had planned on doing more but since lunch took an unexpected amount of time we missed out on doing something’s like going over to Cozumel or checking out Senor Frogs. I still had a good time though and enjoyed checking out the little town and seeing some sights besides the resort.
Friday: Xel-ha
Xel-Ha is along the same lines as Xcaret but it focuses more on water. It’s a huge natural water park and aquarium. You can snorkel, scuba, check out various fish and wildlife, jump off cliffs or just float around in a tube all day. The choice is yours. I tried snorkeling but I didn’t really like it. I don’t like the mask covering my nose and I don’t like having to breathe through a tube. It’s just not my think. I’d rather just wear the mask and check out the sea life that way. Since I didn’t like it too much and the water was a bit cold I headed back to our lounge area while everyone else enjoyed snorkeling. When everyone else was finished we walked around the park which included going over a floating bridge, feeding fish, checking out cenotes and jumping off the Cliff of Courage. It’s exactly what you think. It’s a cliff over the river that’s about 15 feet high that you can jump off of. I know what you’re thinking. Those 15 feet doesn’t sound that bad. I agree, until you’re the one standing on the edge of those 15 feet. I swear it took about 20-30 attempts before I finally jumped. In the end though I finally did it and was pretty proud of myself. By that time it was time to head back to our little area and pack up for the day. We had to head back and meet our van that would take us back to the resort. This was another long day. We were up around 7am, got to the park around 9am and we were back around 5pm in order to make it to dinner.
That pretty much sums up the highlights of the trip, and the one lowlight. The time in-between outings were spent at the beach or at the pool. The weather was pretty good until the last two days when it got a little too breezy and cool. I think I ate way too much and drank way too much but hey, it’s all-inclusive and you don’t want that to go to waste! I know this post is a little long but I tried my best to keep it short. If I remember anything else I’ll be sure to add it to the picture post.
