Cancun Trip 2013

Playing Cards While Waiting
for Tour Pick-up

View from our Balcony - 10th Floor

This year, kind of on a whim, we decided to go to Cancun for vacation.  Ang had always said for our twentieth wedding anniversary, which is in a few months, she'd love to go to Hawaii.  With that in mind, I thought I'd check one day to see what I could do about booking it the trip, and found some good opportunities in Cancun.  

After finding rooms and flights, I ran it by her and she decided that Cancun would be an "acceptable alternative" to Hawaii.  We have always wanted to go there since having our first attempt thwarted by Soleil, who we learned was on the way just after we booked a trip to Cancun back in late 2004 (which would have been happening about a month before Soleil was to be born).  

Gettin' Outfitted

To kick off the trip, we got packed and left Wednesday afternoon, the 5th, driving down to LA to stay a night before flying out of LAX to Cancun the next morning early (fights from LA were quite a bit less expensive than from Vegas).  It was a long day of travel and two flights (connected in Mexico City), but we finally made it to Cancun at a pretty good time--4pm.  We were checked in by about 5pm, and then the adventures began.

The room itself was really nice.  There were two bedroom
s, one with two queens, and one with a king.  Then, there were two twin murphy beds that folded up into the cabinet which surrounded the TV in the living room.  We also had a large balcony which overlooked the Caribbean Sea, and since we were on the 10^th floor, the view was amazing. 

Rhett Snorkeling

Because our suite had a kitchen, like most time shares do, we decided to go get groceries and stock the kitchen a little.  The public bus system down here has the reputation of being very reliable and efficient, so I told Ang that Rhett and I would ride the bus into town to Wal-Mart, get groceries, and come back.  Given how far it was, I expected it to take about 2 hours.  WRONG!!

Rhett and I headed down, and were instructed by the bellman that we wanted to take bus R-2 (route-2) in order to get to Wal-Mart.  We did this, and jumped on the bus down on the main drag (Kukulcan Blvd.) in front of our hotel.  It was really a fun experience.  Many of the locals were getting off work at the hotels, and they were mostly the only ones on the bus, which was not crowded at all.  

Jesse Snorkeling

For anyone familiar with Harry Potter, the bus ride itself was akin to riding the Knight Bus, or, for those of you unfamiliar with Harry Potter, it was like the Indy 500 in a bus.  I have to take my hat off to the drivers, especially that first night, as I am sure they were all closely related to Jimmy Johnson, Kyle Bush, and Richard Petty.  You want to talk fast, those guys had those busses screaming down that narrow, two-lane (each way) blvd.  One thing about the busses you always hear in the US is that it takes a long time to get anywhere.  Not here.  If you know the stops and where to get on and off, you can beat a taxi.  And this issue (knowing where to get on and off) brings us to the rest of our story.

Soleil and Ang Making Sandcastles

So, I'd mentioned to the driver that we needed to get off at Wal-Mart.  In his defense, there's no way he could have remembered that.  So to make a long story short, we missed our stop--by a long way.  I was really starting to get nervous when dusk started approaching and I was seeing less and less commercial looking area.  I was pretty sure we'd missed it, but wasn't sure whether we should just stay on the bus, as it probably circled back around at some point, or try something different (what that might be, I had no idea).  

Ang by the Pool

Just when I was thinking about all of this, a local gentleman was getting off and tapped me on the shoulder on his way off the bus.  He asked where I was headed, and I sheepishly told him Wal-Mart; it was pretty obvious I'd missed it, and he confirmed this, telling me that it was about 15 minutes ago.  He was a very nice guy, had us get off with him and cross the street, and got us on another bus headed back the other way.  We sat right in front this time, and nagged the driver about Wal-Mart so much that he knew exactly where to dump us and was glad to see us go, I'm sure.  I'll always be very grateful to that good Samaritan for helping us.

Jesse at the Beach

We went into Wal-mart and got all of the things we needed, but one thing I was surprised by was that the only milk is boxed milk that does not require refrigeration.  I ended up not getting any because I wasn't sure about how it would taste, but we found pretty much everything else we were looking for.  The people were all very friendly, though many spoke little English.  I can't fault that, because I speak virtually no Spanish, and I'm the visitor.  I guess I always just took for granted that most people, especially in a place like Cancun, would be bilingual.  Many are not, especially outside the resort corridor, so if you come down here, brush up on your Spanish.  You can probably get by, but it's far better to be prepared.

Sandcastle Building

After we got out of Wal-mart, we headed back to the bus stop and caught the R-2 bus back toward the hotel zone.  It was to be about a 20 minute ride, so we sat back and relaxed--again, sitting right at the front of the bus.  However, somehow we goofed again, though we got off early this time.  It was dark, so it was only a little goof.  We were headed south in the resort corridor, and Rhett spotted a Royal resort.  Unfortunately, it was a "sister" resort, but not ours specifically (it was the Royal Sands, whereas we are staying in the Royal Mayan).  At any rate, we jumped off the bus with all of our groceries, and still had a few miles to go.  So, we stood there and caught the next bus, and finally made it back to the room about ten minutes later.  

Soleil Posing at the Beach.
She Just Hates Having her
Picture Taken

When Ang opened the door to the room, she let out a huge sigh of relief as I think she thought we'd disappeared for good.  The big problem was that we were having problems with our international calling plan, and it didn't seem to work until Friday morning (and all of this happened on Thursday night), so I couldn't even let her know what was going on.  

The good thing is that bus fare is only $0.70 ($8.50 Pesos) per person no matter how far you ride, as opposed to $15-$20 in a taxi.  So, riding the bus, you can afford to be a bit of a navigational dufus and still save a ton over a taxi.

By the way, note to self:  NEVER rent a car in Cancun unless you are very experienced and not afraid to pay for getting the car beat up as I have no idea how you wouldn't in that traffic.  

Rhett Trying to Outrun
the Waves

Well, with the first day’s wild ride and adventure past us, we took it easy on Friday, our first full day in Cancun. We woke up to a strange phenomenon—at least for us.  It was “raining” in our room.  Or, more appropriately, dripping.  The air is so humid that lots of water condenses on the ceiling and drips back down—VERY slick floors. 

We had a nice breakfast at La Palapa, which is a poolside restaurant at our resort.  Then we all swam in the pool and ocean for most the first day.  Because the resort was right on the beach, we could just walk down it.  It was a blast.  The seas were a bit rough, so it was really more like playing in the surf than swimming, but it was fun.  We made sand castles, ran up and down the beach, and just roamed.  It was a good time, and the most relaxed I’ve been in I don’t know how long.

One big problem:  the sunscreen didn’t perform as expected, and Soleil and I ended up like a couple of lobsters as a result.  Actually, we didn’t read the fine print, which said water proof for up to 80 minutes.  Since we were out there for well over three hours, I guess we had it coming.  And, as I write this, at the end of Saturday, I am pretty sure that the worst is yet to come with this sunburn.

Jesse Imitating the Dead Fish in the
Window Behind Him

We ended up the day having a nice dinner at Captain’s Cove, where Rhett was the most adventurous, trying octopus pizza.  Soleil was pretty adventurous herself, as she saw the bar next door had Karaoke, and she wanted to “eat” that (Karaoke) for dinner.  For someone as smart as that little squirt is, she kills me with the words she uses, or rather, misuses.  Just a few recent ones have been referencing that someone was getting “blacksmithed” (as opposed to blackmailed), saying that an orange Crystal Light smelled like “Orangutans” (as opposed to Tang), and a few others.

After dinner, it was back to the room where we watched Star Wars-The Phantom Menace, until everyone crashed out.

On Saturday, we slept in a bit, and then headed into downtown Cancun, this time with the entire family, on the bus to go to what is supposed to be the biggest flea market in Cancun—Mercado 28.  We perused the booths and found some nice craftwork made by the locals.  We then headed over to Wal-Mart and loaded up on some more groceries and lunch (they had a McDonalds in the store), and headed back to the hotel.  I would note that this time, we did get a case (six boxes—probably six liters) of milk.  It turned out to be very good, and once cold, we couldn’t tell the difference.

While the day probably sounds a bit short, it was actually a little long, and we were tired by the time we got back to the room, at about 3pm, so we rested up and cooled down a little.  Then headed to Paco’s Tacos for dinner over at a sister resort, the Royal Islander.  Despite the cheesy sounding name, it was very good.  We loved it, and went back for a second round a few nights later. 

Then, after much cajoling by Jesse, we decided to make one last run at the pools and beach tonight before bed.  It was about 8pm when we finally got out there, so we only stayed for about 30 minutes, but it was fun to let the kids burn off a little more steam.

Panoramic Shot of Tulum

On Sunday, we had a scheduled tour which was to take us south on along the coast of the Yucatan to tour the ruins of Tulum and then to go to Xel-Ha.

We began the tour by being taken from our hotel to a central location in the hotel zone where we checked in.  All I can say about this, and it was a recurring theme for us while here, is PRINT YOUR VOUCHERS.  We had to jump through a few hoops in order to get the tour guide what he needed to verify that we’d paid.  I had it all in emails and .pdf’s on my phone, and some fo that was hard to access w/o WiFi.  Further, it was even harer to get it to him, as he wanted me to email it to him.  Again, as was the case each time, we were able to get past this, but it always and issue.

The Family at Tulum

Once checked in, we boarded a large tour bus to head down to Tulum first.  We noticed that the very back seats in the bus, which were also thankfully next to the bathroom, were three across.  Everywhere else it was two seats on each side of the aisle.  So we grabbed those back three seats, and the two in front, and were able to sit together as a family that way both down and back.

Tulum Beach

At Tulum we toured the various ruins and our tour guide, Allen, told us all about the area and the people who had lived here.  The cliff on which Tulum sits, we learned, was the highest point on the cost, and maybe the Yucatan.  The entire area is very flat.  We also learned that Tulum was not the real name, but the name that was given the area sometime in the 1950’s or 1960’s.  The true name, our guide said, was actually Zama.  I was pretty surprised by this, and don’t know why they’d have changed the name.  We also learned that these people prized Jade above all other commodities.  It was suggested that this, rather than gold or other precious metals or minerals, was the most valuable.

The Kids with a Giant Iguana
(they were everywhere down there)

After Tulum, we traveled over to Xel-Ha, were we remained until the park closed.  Xel-Ha is a natural park, of sorts, where you can swim in a cenoté, snorkel with the fish, and do various other activities.  It is relatively commercial, but the places you swim and interact with nature are all natural and real. They also have a few large, all-you-can eat restaurants/buffets, which were very good.   That’s a very good thing about Xel-Ha.  Once you are in, everything is pretty much paid for.  You eat and drink all you want all day, snorkeling equipment is included, etc…  There are a few activities, like their swim with the dolphins program, that cost extra, but for the most part, the entrance fee covers everything.  Rhett took right to snorkeling, and has become more of a natural at it than any of the rest of us.  He practiced a lot in the pool, and got really good at it before he ever got to Xel-Ha. This was smart of him.  While it isn’t too complicated, it takes some getting used to.  If you are remotely claustrophobic, it could be an even bigger problem.  Jesse was not interested in going out, but I practiced with him dunking his face a few times, and counted to ten while he held his face under water and breathed through the tube.  Soon, he got used to the idea, and, holding my hand, was able to venture out into the deep.  We snorkeled way out with Rhett after that, and saw lots of fish, a stingray, and some sort of animal in a shell scooting along the bottom. 

Pyramid Soleil and I
Climbed at Ek Balam

On Monday, we had booked a tour to Chichen Itza with an LDS tour guide, Helaman Petlacalco.  We ended up going with two other LDS families as well, and had a really nice time with all of them.

When we picked up the other family, they asked if it would be okay if we went to Ek Balam as well, which was another area of ruins.  We were certainly fine with it, and learned that these were ruins that you can still climb on (climbing is no longer allowed at either Tulum or Chichen Itza). 

Pyramid at Ek Balam

It was a very spiritual experience as Helaman, our guide, shared with us his knowledge of the area and the people who used to populate it.  However, it was more than an archeological and anthropological perspective, he taught from a spiritual perspective as well.  For those of you who are not LDS, the LDS church believes that most of the inhabitants of ancient America came from Jerusalem at about 600 B.C., approximately the time that Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians.  We believe the Book of Mormon is the spiritual record of these people, and so the history of this area holds special meaning to members of the LDS faith.

Family at Ek Balam

Court where they Literally Played
to the Death

Helaman took us to Ek Balam first, and taught us a great deal about the area.  It was awe inspiring to climb some of the ruins, one of which was so steep and high that most people seemed to be getting vertigo coming back down.  There was one guy with another tour group who came down the entire thing on his behind—about a fifteen minute endeavor.  He looked like someone had dumped a bucket of water on him by the time he got down.  Soleil and I were the only ones who climbed the steepest one, and we were able to get some nice people to take a few pictures of us from the top. 

Soleil and I
at the Top of the Pyramid

After Ek Balam, we traveled through a small town called Timizon, where Helaman had befriended a man with a road side restaurant.  He stopped and treated us to some ham that the man made there himself, and it was absolutely delicious.  I would love to be able to get that in the states.  Something we certainly noticed here too, though, was the stark poverty of the people.  Some had decent shelter, though nothing like what we are used to at home, but many had nothing more than shelters build from the natural materials readily available to them nearby.  Poles from trees, thatched roofs, etc…  It was very humbling to see how some of these people live.

The Family at Chichen Itza

Next up was Chichen Itza, which was amazing.  The primary temple there is huge, and frankly, I’m glad that you can’t climb it anymore because I wouldn’t have the guts.  The one at Ek Balam was steep and tall, but nothing compared to Chichen Itza.  Helaman talked about how they played the bloodthirsty game which ended up with players being sacrificed.  They apparently were honored to do it, and became almost like martyrs to the remainder of the population when they did this. 

Main Temple at Chichen Itza

After Chichen Itza, we were taken to a cenoté where the kids swam, and I took a few pictures.  It was just too crowded to fight changing and getting down there to try to find a place to get in the water.  Kind of like Wal-mart at Christmas, and if there’s anything that will keep me away from something, it’s a crowd.  There was a very nice dinner included in the tour, which was at the cenoté.  Especially good, which surprised me, was the habanero salsa.  I thought it would fry me, but wanted to be adventurous.  It ended up not being that hot at all, but was very good.  All of the food and service were terrific—Helaman chose well.

Cenote Rhett and Soleil Swam in

Then, a two hour drive back to the hotel, during which Soleil and Jesse had to make bathroom stops within 20 minutes of each other!  Seem like no matter how much you tell them to go, they say, “I don’t need to,” and then something happens in their little bodies when the car engine starts that tells them they have to go.  Helaman quickly tried to find a place for Soleil, but it took about 15 minutes.  About ten minutes into that period, she looked up at me with wide eyes and exclaimed, “Daddy, my pee level just went from green to yellow!!”  I thought I’d die laughing.

Finally, we got home.  It had been a long day, but a very rewarding and interesting one.  We’re very glad we went.

Getting Ready for Ziplining

On Tuesday, we got up early once again, though not quite as early as the prior two mornings, as we had our Selvatica zip line jungle canopy tour today.  This was, by far, the most fun we’ve had to date on the trip.  It was not better than the tour we took Monday, but more fun.  The day began with us loading up in a shuttle with three couples and being driven about an hour from Cancun to Selvatica, where the tours would take place.  On the way, Jesse, who had apparently had enough of ruins, asked, “Dad, are we going to see that Egypt stuff today?”  After I assured him that we were “done with the “Egypt stuff,” he was a much more willing participant, as I think he was personally “done” with ruins. 

Everyone had a great time at Selvatica.  It was not only a very fun activity, but the guides were just plain hilarious.  They were a bunch of young guys in the early to mid-twenties, and they were hilarious.  They related to everyone well.  A few of them really fell in love with Soleil, and she them.  She especially liked “Panther” and “Jungle Boy.”  In fact, they almost got invited to her birthday party.  Jungle Boy offered her a job at Selvatica, but was quick to point out that they got paid in bananas.

The whole operation was very well-organized as well.  The activities flowed well, nothing was ever crowded, and you never felt short-changed.  Someone has done a great job with organizing this operation, and we highly recommend it.

After the zip lines, we came back and went on an army truck ride (no shocks on metal seats) to the cenoté.  However, even that was fun.  Then we zip lined into the fresh water cenoté, swimming for about 45 minutes before heading back to the main area for lunch of chicken fajitas, rice, and beans.  The food was simple, but very good.  The guides were also the servers, and they even gave me a second plate because a wolfed down the first so fast.  They were just much more concerned about everyone being happy and having fun than with anything else. 

The coo de grac was when we saw the price for the pictures.  Many places either don’t allow a camera, or take pictures professionally, but want an arm and a leg for them (Disney and dolphin swims are prime examples of this).  Not here though.  Because of the nature of the activity, you can’t be messing with a camera on the zip lines.  However, they have photo and videographers throughout the time there capturing everything.  Then, somehow, they get all your groups’ pictures together for you to buy if you want.  You get all your pictures, which are very well done, for $60.  We felt this was very reasonable given how many pictures you got and how well done they were. 

This day was a total blast, and looking back at the end, Ang and I both felt was the highlight for us. 

That evening, Ang was talking to a lady at the pool while the kids swam.  She came over to me later and said that the lady had told her that sea turtles were coming onto the beach at night and laying and burying their eggs.  We decided to go and try to see this, but after waiting for over an hour, and all kids being crashed out, we gave up.  However, we did see the next day that the scientists had moved the eggs to a safe, cordoned off location, so that they could hatch w/o interference.  This would have been cool to see but we never actually saw them.

Ang and Jesse Parasailing

Jan, Rhett, and Soleil
Parasailing

On Wednesday we slept in a little, and then decided to walk up the beach and find someone who was doing parasailing.  Vendors have stands all up and down the beach, and it’s just kind of a “walk up and go” kind of situation.  We stopped at the first one, and decided to go with them.  They quickly took us out from the beach on their jet ski to the boat, and we were off.  First, Jesse and Ang went up together.  They floated up a few hundred feet, and were towed up and down hotel row for about a mile.  They told us, when they came down, that they had seen several sea turtles (which we had not been able to see the night before).  When they got back, Soleil, Rhett, and I went up.  I was almost immediately sea sick, and felt like I was green before I got back down.  It was an awesome view, and I’m really glad we did it, but I was also really glad when it was over.  I felt lousy for the rest of the day, and pretty much just laid around the hotel room.

Rhett and Jesse on
the Beach

On Thursday, we didn’t have any tours scheduled, so we decided to go up and hit a shopping mall after sleeping in a little.  It was called Kukulcan Plaza, and was really quite nice.  They had a lot of everything—many high-end shops which don’t really appeal to us, but many more “normal” stores too, where they had Mexican handicrafts and souvenirs, clothes and hats, etc… 

Jesse hangin' with
Our Parasailing Guide

One store I found that interested me was one that sold athletic clothing, and they had Nike running shoes.  I decided to check out the prices and see if they were a good deal.  First, I got the price conversion on them to dollars, then found the WiFi kiosk and got singed in to the mall’s WiFi.  I looked the shoes up on Zappos, and found that on one pair, even with Zappos having them on sale, I was still getting them for $32 less in the mall.  The WiFi went out before I could check the other pair, but they were pretty nice, and I expect I saved quite a bit on them, too.  I decided to get both, and feel like I got a pretty good deal on them. 

On Friday, we had scheduled a “swim with the dolphins” activity at Dolphinariums near Wet n Wild.  We caught the bus (by this time we were pros with it) down to Wet n Wild and went in to get checked in.  We went through an initial orientation first, and got life jackets on.  Then we were assigned to our trainer who took us out to a place on the pool where we would do the interaction.  There were several groups at various places around the edge of the pool, which was very large, all doing similar or the same program. 

The trainer started out by introducing us to our dolphin, Alex, and then we started in with the program we’d decided on, which the the Dolphin Swim and Ride.  After learning our names, the trainer said that they had a dolphin named Soleil, just like our Soleil.  When we got going, we got to pet Alex, do a dolphin kiss, interact in various other ways, and then swim out into the deep area and get a “belly ride” from him.  The way this is done is the dolphin swims out to you after you get out there and rolls over onto his back while coming up behind you.  You then reach out and grab both pectoral fins as he passes by and he essentially pulls you back to shore.  Jesse was a little worried about going out there by himself to do this, so unfortunately, he didn’t do this part, but he did everything else.  We ultimately spent about 40 minutes in the water with the dolphins and the trainer, which was about right.

Overall, this was a good experience, particularly because opportunities to do something like this are relatively rare.  However, we were ultimately left with a bad taste in our mouths because of the way they gouge you on the photography.  Observers (members of the group who don’t pay) have to stay on a viewing platform so far away that they cannot see, and can’t take decent pictures.  Roofs of huts and trees have been strategically placed so that you can’t get a good shot, even with a good telephoto lens.  This being the case, they then walk you through their photo store where you can buy photos, your DVD, or both.  Three photos are $69—and yes, that is worse than Disney, which I did not think was possible (they charge $14.95 for one photo down there).  And the prices only get worse from there.  If you want all of your photos and the DVD, the price is about $350 (what they advertise to be a $3,000+ savings), but then they start offering you “promotions” which ultimately end up at $188.  Still too much for me considering that the photos were not all that great.  We ended up getting the DVD for $69 as I think I can extract plenty of shots from it to get a good set of photos.  However, the hard-sell type atmosphere that surrounded the situation disgusted me.  It was almost as bad as being in a time-share presentation. 

After the dolphins, we headed back to the hotel and had lunch.  Then it was back to the pool for more swimming (Ang took the kids down) while I started to pack things up and get the boarding passes for our flight home.  This was a nightmare in and of itself.  I won’t go into the details other than to say that our WiFi wasn’t that fast, AeroMexico’s website wasn’t working most of the time, and the resort wanted to charge me $15 for 15 minutes of internet time to print (which would also have been a dollar a page).  You do the math.  Ultimately I got it worked out, but it took far longer than it should have.

On our final day, we got up early, did the rest of our packing of things we’d not been able to pack Friday night, and caught our shuttle to the airport.  After about an hour in line, we got our bags checked and went through security, which was a breeze.  Then we had a little time to relax prior to catching our flight, which was about 45 minutes delayed because of bad weather in Mexico City, where our connecting flight to LAX would be.  So now, here I sit, in the Mexico City airport waiting for our final flight.  Our layover here is about seven hours.  Yes, it’s long, but it’s nice to just sit here and be able to relax.  The trip has been fun, and we’re so glad we did it.  The kids have had a blast, and have become a bunch of little fish, vastly improving their swimming skills in just a week because they swam a lot every day.  It has been something we’ll always remember.  We generally loved the people we met, and found the locals to be very friendly and helpful.