Friday 3-21-08
As the telephone rang unexpectedly to wake us at 5:30 a.m., I thought “Can’t remember placing that wake-up call – did you honey…?”
I picked up the phone and the conversation went like this:
Me: “Hello?”
Caller: “You up?”
Me “Uh… yeah, I’m up!”
Caller: “Ok.”
Click.
We imagined what the conversation might be like for the caller and his callee that went on later as the caller knocked on the door of the callee: Caller: "Let's get going, bud! I called and you said you were up!”
Callee: "Zzzzzzzzzzzzz"
A blessing in disguise, headed out through the courtyard:
Courtyard:
...to the beach with my spare $2.00 Wal Mart flip-flops as reservation markers to place on some chairs for later that day. The sunrise was spectacular, as there were about 15-20 people milling about on the beach.
Sunrise 1
Sunrise 2
You know how you see a fellow vacationer early on in your trip, then see them everywhere for the rest of your stay? I saw mine that morning. A mom and her kids whose accent suggested they were from New York were on the beach reserving their chairs too. Shortly after that I went on walkabout to familiarize myself with my surroundings – great resort, spacious walkways, beautiful landscaping, pools and fountains, daily schedule posted by the pool:
...and, hey, we’re on vacation so ANYPLACE would have been outstanding at this point! So nice to experience the peace of the morning – we did this again a few days later and I highly recommend a Sunrise Saunter as well as a Midnight Mosey. Some early morning pics:
Lobby 1
Lobby 2
Map
Lobby towards pool
Pool back towards lobby & fountain: Buffet on left, La Bamba on right:
Pool looking over our building at the sunrise:
By 6:30 we began to get ready for breakfast at the buffet.
Buffet (beware of swooping birds...)
My bride tried the pancakes, fruit, bacon and add ons, and I tried the eggs over easy, Mexican sausage (recommended), bacon, mixed cooked vegetables (recommended) and chipotle sauce (Hot!) and coffee. If you are a coffecianado, this will not thrill you. But if you are a work-a-day coffee drinker, this brew was great! I hated to leave breakfast because I knew it was the last coffee I’d see all day! Food Pics:
Hers:
His:
Both, afterwards:
My bride and I (mostly I) thought it might be good to exercise. We’d tread-milled, weight lifted, done our abs and generally watched our diets leading up to this anticipated time of gluttony, so why stop exercising now? Ha!
We walked west/south through the newest part of the Sandos. First to the west you encounter the Haciendas – multiple housing units designed for groups and some with private pools, hammocks, etc… These were threaded with stone-brick paths (watch out for the really rough stone brick by the entrance – lift your feet when you walk over it or you may be face first on the rock!). The Haciendas all had a name/theme on a placard in front of the main entrance, and all sliding doors for the units faced the common area/pool. They were two story and from the outside, looked nice. Check TA for info from people who stayed there.
Hacienda:
Farther on are the new buildings. They have at least tripled the resort capacity with these two humongous new additions and a very large conference/dining area. These are the 8000 and 9000 buildings, the 8000 being closer than the 9000. They seemed mostly vacant at this time, but there were people out sunbathing already. Sandos runs their “Club Cars” (4 row, 10 passenger golf carts) from these buildings through the Haciendas to the main entrance constantly. That’s a plus. The minus is, if you forget anything back in your room in the 8000 or 9000 building, it’s a long ways back to get it, Club Car or not.
8000 Building:
9000 Building:
Fountain pool area in 9000 building:
Very end of the 9000 building. On the outside of the iron fence is Xaman Ha boulevard - south as you exit the Sandos entrance:
On the other hand, those considering the Riu Tequilla, for example, have to walk across Xaman Ha boulevard and down a long path to the beach…
After the internal tour of the Sandos, we returned to the main entrance an d then jogged out the main driveway and to the south (away from PDC).
Entrance to Sandos:
Here the new buildings of the Sandos resort run right along Xaman Ha for a long ways on the east (seaside) part of the road, with numerous private and rental condos and homes along the west side.
Very cool condos:
The Sandos finally gives way to a condo complex under construction – 1 BRs are selling for $110,000 U.S. We returned to the main entrance from our jog and got the bicycle attendant to set us up with some bikes to ride, free for guests. Make sure you ask him to adjust your seats or your ride will be very short ;-)
Bike racks off to the left along the driveway as you enter the Sandos:
Biked to PDC – about 2.5 km from the Sandos to the circle by the Playacar gate. Saw many people walking this route day and night, a safe walk with no worries. Evidently, as Playacar is a gated community, no unauthorized vehicles are allowed inside the gates and we saw security at the Xaman Ha gate every time we went through. Just before the circle is a neat area with Mayan ruins on the east/sea side of the road that’s really cool – check out the placards and if you drive by at night, it is lit up & spectacular!
Once we biked into town, we walked the bikes through the Paseo del Carmen Plaza (get the Map Chicks maps) and saw few bargains here.
Looking from Paseo del Carmen towards the ferry dock:
Policia:
One of us who shall remain nameless mistakenly began speaking to a sidewalk “businessman” who engaged us in a 20-minute conversation about renting a car. The sign said “$19.95 per day”, and upon asking if that was for real, the game was on! At first, it was $19.95 per day but we had to walk 5 minuted to pick out any car we wanted. Then as the conversation went along, the “special deal” included free gas. The offer quickly went from there to include to two days for $30.00, then to free breakfast included, then to breakfast plus 2 days for FREE, then to breakfast plus two days for FREE and a free bottle of tequila. We had to go with the businessman to get the deal to…a nearby condo…
Next…
Down the street was Senior Frogs. Great location right alongside the ferry pier! Parked the bikes (PS: Get a lock from the bike attendant at the Sandos!) and sat down on the swings to have a refreshment. Very cool – great views, swings were great, cool breezes, lots of ferrygoers and activity, engaging bartender and then we got the bill: $24.00 U.S. for two (2 – dos – zwei – deuce) refreshments. Those were some sweet swings!
Senior Frogs Swings:
Back to the Sandos where we’ve already paid for our refreshments ;-)
1:00 p.m. Got to beach and found some gals with Australian accents sitting on our chairs. “Oh, did you want to sit here?” They looked comfortable so I grabbed my flip-flops (I was secretly glad no one had tossed them in the ocean) and we headed a few rows back to some empty chairs under a palapa near the hamburger stand.
View from the 3rd row:
After a bit we ventured into the snack bar between the pools – their noontime snack buffet is quite good – we enjoyed the pico, salads, pizza, hamburgers, jalapenos, guacamole and tortilla chips. You can walk in and get plastic plates and silverware from the bar and load up or eat light – just be polite and wear flips and a shirt. Other guests do a sit down to eat there and you wouldn’t want to send them to the bathroom prematurely…
Towels: the Sandos issues you one towel card per guest upon arrival. The towel shack is labeled “Information” and is immediately next to the poolside restaurant described above (between the restaurant and towel stand is the bathroom).
Snack bar (left), bathroom door (middle) and towel window (right):
You can get fresh towels as they become available – I recommend getting fresh ones as soon as you arrive, then at the end of your beach or pool day and before you head back to your room, stop by there again and exchange your wet towels for dry ones for the next day (if they are available). This should save you some time the next day you head to the water and keep the wetness out of your room. Our room had some minor issues dehumidifying – make sure the AC is set to 20 – 21c to keep the dehulidifyer working properly, and I recommend keeping the ceiling fan on to circulate air as much as you can tolerate.
Time for a siesta. After all, it’s vacation, right? We slept LATE! Awoke at @ 9 p.m. and got ready to go see the World Famous Fire Dancers at the ******! Taxi into town and paid $15.00 per in cover. The interesting thing about these clubs is that to sit in the premium seating, you are asked to buy a bottle of some type of alcohol for around $125.00 per bottle! Yikes! We found no available beach seating but as we were standing around looking lost, a nice young couple, Jessie and Xavier from Miami invited us to sit with them.
Jessie & Xavier:
We had a great conversation prior to the fire dance. That’s one great thing about Playa del Carmen – the people are genuinely so friendly and welcoming and eager to please. This was the best feature about our entire vacation – the gregariousness of the people of PDC!
We sat until the Fire Dance and then everyone gathered round the dance area on the beach. The 7 dancers were truly amazing during the 20-30 minute show. They had a tip gal circulating the crowd and we gave as the entertainment was worth it.
Fire Dance:
After the show we went up to the 2nd floor on the tower at the Parrot. I highly recommend this as a romantic pit stop – there are couches and chairs and we got lucky to get one facing Cozumel. The lights at night were spectacular over the ocean and the music was great. The open air windows and cool breezes are honeymooners delights!
Upstairs at the ******:
A Pose:
Later we came back down and sat on the swings at the bar – great fun as waitresses bring special refreshments to you for a small fee, pour them into your mouth and shake your head, making your experience literally effortless and without unnecessary expenditure of elbow-bending energy ;-)
Club dancing til 3 was extremely fun! Caught cab back to the Sandos at that time
Streets at 3:
...and, since we’re on vacation, proceeded to sleep quite peacefully ;-)