Mexico

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We spent a week at the Gran Bahia Principe on the Mayan Riviera with Paul and Judy this winter. We flew out of the Kitchener airport which was very convenient for us. Although the "direct" flight did make a stop in Cuba. That was a bit of a surprise.

The Mayan Riviera is on the east side of the Yucutan Peninsula in Mexico and runs from Cancun at the north (where we flew in) down to Tulum (famous for the beach side Mayan Ruins). Our resort is just north of Tulum, south of Playa del Carmen and an hour and a half or so from the Cancun airport. On a map you'll see that the island of Cozumel is directly across from us (but it's quite far out in the gulf, you can't see it). There are resorts all up and down the coast here.

There's a bus to take us to our resort that meets us at the airport. And there are vendors selling tinned beer so we can get in the holiday mood. The highway south to our resort is a busy two lane, sometime made into three or four as vehicles pass on the shoulder. I'd not want to drive a car here -- pretty crazy. We meet Paul and Judy, who have flown in from Halifax, at the resort.

The Gran Bahia Principe is a huge complex of several resorts -- the Bahia Principe Tulum (where we were), the Bahia Principe Akumal (luxury) and the Bahia Brincipe Coba. We mostly hung around our part of the complex but did go the Akumal one evening for a Valentine's Day dinner. There is a shuttle bus service to take you between the resorts. The complex is quite large -- this means there are a lot more choices for restaurants, pools, and beaches. Which is good, but then the distances are a pain. Our resort is spread out along the beach with us on one end, Paul and Judy on the other.

Kate and I had a room near the beach by the La Gran Toruga restaurant at the south end of the resort. It's a long walk from the lobby, swimming pools and dining rooms. We planned ahead and brought our folding bikes with us. Kate was struggling with pain in her ankle which she broke last summer so the bikes help.

Our room is quite large, well equipped, clean, modern, colorful (lots of vibrant blues around) with tiled floors, marble in the bathroom. Like many holiday resorts the house maid leaves "towel art" on your bed when she tidies your room. This is more entertaining than functional.

There are about 40 guest buildings at the Tulum, each has 3 floors with quite a few units -- they're almost small apartment blocks. I read that there are nearly 1,000 rooms in total at the Tulum resort so this is a big place. The Akumal and Coba are similarly sized, say another 2,000 rooms for a total of 3,000 rooms in the whole complex. Within the Tulum are 3 pool areas, 5 restaurants and 7 bars. Including a beach bar that stays open 24 hours! Similar numbers for the other two. Together the three resorts make for a fair sized town of 6,000 or so guests with a ton of staff to serve them!

Many of the larger buildings at the resort or done up with thatched roofs -- large barn beam constructions. The huge lobby area is a circular construction with a large center post and beams running out from that. There's lots of marble, lots of Mayan replica reliefs (as above).

There's quite a bit of beach at the three resorts and you're free to roam amongst them. There is a bit of snorkeling you might try but mostly it's a soft sandy beach. There are these artificial reefs/barriers installed in the water to shelter the swimming area -- they're very big, very long, sand filled bags. They help in the rough weather. Paul went out one day to explore a bit of coral not knowing what the red flags meant and lost his snorkel. If you go to the beach it's a good idea to learn what the flags mean -- red means "Danger, danger Will Robinson! Stay out of the water!"

Our first off site adventure was to take a cab from our hotel to the Tulum archaeological site to see the Mayan ruins located on the beach. This is an impressive Mayan complex with a lot of extant structures to explore. Here, like at our resort, and throughout the area we meet up with large iguanas sunning themselves. At the entrance to the site there were these fellows in traditional garb who did a very daring pole dance on a small platform elevated to the top by ropes that unwound as they slowly spun and came back down to earth.

The resort has a large shopping mall on site, the Hacienda Dona Isabel. It's close to the entrance and the highway running along the coast. We take one of the small resort buses to check it out; it's too far to walk. There are colorful buildings, a large square and lots of shops selling trinkets, fancy sombreros and other souvenirs. This is for folks who want to shop but don't want to venture off site -- there are lots of shops in the nearby towns of Tulum and at Playa del Carmen.

Paul and Judy have their room at the other (north) end of the resort near the Tequila Restaurant which specializes in Mexican fare. We have dinner at the restaurant one night. The hostess who greets us is dressed in traditional style. Our dinner is entertained by a roving Mariachi band who ham it up.

Kate and I have breakfast at the La Gran Tortugua which is near our room. On Valentine's Day we had dinner at the Akumal resort next door. There are a lot of choices for eating.

There's a grand pool area in the middle of the resort for those who don't want to try the ocean. At our end of the resort we have a small pool and spa. There's a picture of some of us in the spa. We thought it was a hot tub kind of spa but it was bloody cold!

Our second off site adventure as a swimming/snorkeling trip with Jesus the guide. We were a small group in a small van and explored near by. The first stop is a collapsed cenote (a cenote is a cave -- the area is riddled with underground limestone caverns filled with water). There were several tours there at the time with lots of brave souls who were jumping off the cliffs into the water of the cenote pool. The second stop: a swim in a protected lagoon -- the plan was to swim from there out into the ocean but it was too windy. I think that lagoon is just north of our resort at Yal-ku. The last swim was in another cenote far off the main roads. We road on a couple of jalopies back into the jungle to the swimming site. The main chamber of the cenote had stairs leading down, there were a couple of large collapsed holes in the roof and trees growing up through these. It was quite a beautiful spot. Within the cenote Jesus, the diver who was leading us, took us under water briefly to explore some of the darkened caverns next to the main chamber -- he had a flash light and knew what he was about.

After our swim we were fed some spicy chicken, rice and beans and boy were we hungry. We greedily gobbled it up -- not as fancy as the resort but very tasty. The food was spicy, sort of like Jerk chicken, and they had some raw habanero peppers they suggested we try. Fortunately we recognize them and know how hot they can be. They didn't trick us.

The next day we took a bus to the Mayan ruins at Coba which is a long bus ride inland -- about an hour directly inland. It's an excavated site which would have been a large city at one time. We were able to get a pedi-cab to take Kate around -- it would have been too far to walk for her. There's an impressive, and very steep, pyramid you can climb (Paul, Judy and I did climb it). When we got to the top there's a view of the jungle but not much else. Much of the ruins have not been excavated as yet. The climb up the pyramid is very steep -- they have a rope you can hold onto as you climb. I was not very comfortable coming down; I felt I might topple over and stumble down so I went down on my bum taking it one step at a time.

There are some strange things to see here and they don't have it all figured out. There's a playing field, or at least they figure it's a playing field, with a big loop on the side. The idea, they guess, is to bounce a ball through the hoop (or bounce a head!). There are some remains of Mayan roads which made trade possible. Apparently they were sturdily built, like Roman roads, but have been overgrown by the jungle. One oddity we're told -- the Mayans had this great civilization, with big cities, roads and the like but they didn't have the wheel!

After the ruins of Coba we have another swim in a cenote and on the way back we are to stop at a native village. But first a roadside restaurant for a simple rice and beans styled lunch. When we return from our lunch we discover the bus has quit! There's a long wait for another bus and finally we're on the road again.

At the native village we see how folks live around here. They have very modest homes and do a bit of farming. The soil throughout the Yucatan is very minimal -- it's really limestone rock with cenotes and water underneath. There are no rivers or natural water flows. So there's hardly any dirt to grow things. Yet they do grow some things (basil looked good) and the jungle thrives. The villagers, who have very modest homes with palm leaves for the roofs, had some hand made trinkets to sell, our guide had brought some toys and gifts to give the children so they were glad to see us. They raise chickens and turkeys and had some captured animals they were keeping -- like a wild boar and another similar animal.  Meat on the hoof.

There was a marked grave in the village. There's very little soil so it's basically some rocks piled on top of "Rudy". There were touches of modernity -- especially in their shoes and clothes, the kids were playing soccer, a concrete municipal building, a bicycle and more. But I didn't see any sign of electricity or running water. There were lots of curious kids, and kids having kids. There's also a distinctive Mayan look to the natives -- the strong "Roman" nose. They look a lot like the Mayan relief replicas back at the resort.

But after a full day we return to our cloistered existence at the resort. With sun and surf, bounteous buffets, pina colada's on tap all night long.

On our last morning Kate does her last yoga exercises on the beach and we return home that day. On the way back our flight is direct to Kitchener (we dropped off passengers in Cuba on the way down). The route is a loop: Kitchener, Cuba, Cancun and back. Those returning from Cuba have a stop in Cancun -- that wouldn't have been much fun.