The Farrells spend another week in paradise!

[bill2354]

Day 1 Jan wakes up Drew and I at 3:30 and we taxi to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Logan</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Airport</st1:PlaceType> through a still sleeping <st1:City w:st="on"><ST1:pBoston</ST1:p</st1:City>. 2½ flying hours later we’re in <st1:City w:st="on">Memphis</st1:City> with just enough time to grab an Interstate BBQ sandwich before we’re off to <ST1:pCancun</ST1:place.

We arrive in <ST1:pCancun</ST1:p and head for the interminable customs line. But wait-in an inexplicable event, the airport officials open a new line as our flight arrives and we walk straight to a customs official!! I’m afraid to look to my right where the hundreds of other folks are packed in as I’m sure I’ll die from being pierced by all of the nasty looks. “I swear it’s just blind luck-don’t hate me!!” We check right through, get our luggage in about 10 minutes, get the green light and we’re out of the airport in about 25 minutes!!!!<O:p</O:p

We shuttle over to Alamo <ST1:pand get our $240 Chevy Monza, (piece o’ crap, but it’s only for a week). Onto 307 and straight south in the beautiful 80 degree Mexican weather!<O:p</O:p

First stop is El Faisan on the highway at Benito Juarez for lunch. Can’t tell you what I ate, but it was their specialty, and it was good!!! Jan and Drew liked their meal, but weren’t crazy about it-a continuing thread throughout the week, (though I give Drew credit for trying just about anything that was ordered-pretty daring for a 12 year old).<O:p</O:p

Off to <ST1:p<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Fishermans</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Village </st1:PlaceType></ST1:pwhere we check in, and with a small amount of monetary encouragement, (thanks for the advice of Playapeeps), we get exactly the suite we wanted! Quick change and into the pool!!!!!<O:p</O:p

Later in the day we head out for eats and our favorite stop at Chedraui for supplies. This is Drew’s favorite trip as he and I get to spend time in the Panaderia picking out whatever we want for breakfasts and snacks and spend like $2 each-what kid doesn’t love lots of chap bakery goods, (and what Dad doesn’t either?). Long day, so off to bed.:p <O:p</O:p

Day 2<O:p</O:p

Wake up, drink coffee, eat pastries and head off to Mamita’s for the day. We get there well before the crowds and get some loungers under a palapa near the water. Jan relaxes while we walk north and walk south. We walked to the Reef Resort and did some snorkeling. I have to spend some time explaining to Drew that he doesn’t have to look at his feet or at the sky as we walk the beach as there are boobs-a-plenty. He is pretty uncomfortable so I try to explain that is ijust part of nature, yada, yada, and that he doesn’t need to be embarrassed by what other people choose to do. It seems to work, as for the rest of the day he seems much less bothered by them than I am. Okay, so I’m not really ‘bothered’, but doing some pseudo-scientific research: In my infinite wisdom, I decide on that day that while everyone has the right to wear or not wear whatever they want, my scientific observations lead to the conclusion that the vast majority of human beings look better with some clothes on than without a bit of cover or support. <O:p</O:p

I also learned not to use spray sun protection on a windy day. At the end of the day I looked like one of those foolish tourists who doesn’t know enough not to get burned the first day out!!! Hmm, guess I WAS one of those foolish tourists! <O:p</O:p

Dinner time arrives and we are off to Carlos and Charlie’s at Drews’ request. No better than what we expected, but he was entertained. From there the usual stroll/window shopping down <st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">5<SUP>th</SUP> Ave.</st1:address></st1:Street> I convince Jan and Drew to wander up to the Beer Bucket to see who’s there, but he’s exhausted and tells me I’m not allowed to drink any more tequila because I have to drive back. Jan uses the facilities and we’re off before I meet anyone-even though I’m wearing my Nerak necklace.<O:p</O:p

Another day of perfect weather in a perfect place comes to an end.:p <O:p</O:p

[NorthMinnesota]

Great start! Can hardly wait to hear more...especially about Fisherman's Village!

[tesa001]

how was the snorkeling at the Reef? was it a far walk?

we didn't do any snorkeling in playa proper, but next time we might try.........

we spent a day at mamitas too, and didn't see many boobs, but a few........we did however see some college kids acting like high school kids looking at them..........

[Nerak936]

Glad to see you're all home, safe and sound, Bill!!

You've got my interest with your trip report! Wish I could've been a fly on the wall when you were explaining the theory of BOTB to your son.

More!! MORE!!! (trip report, that is!)

[angelhouston819]

I guess you guys snuck out before I was able to get around to you at the Beer Bucket. Glad we met you all the next day though at El Pirata. Sounds like you had a great trip.

A'ndrea
(the gal that you said I have a definite Texas accent)

[bill2354]

Tesa, The snorkeling was only okay, but I think that had we gone out farther, it would have been much better. We walked about 15 minutes to where the boats are anchored off the Reef Club. It i very shallow, so you need to walk out a ways-there's nothing to see until you get out past the boats-even in the sections alongside where there are no boats. Bring some pesos for drinks when you get done, to prepare for the walk back-it's really not far. I wish we had gone back and walked farther-next time!!

[bill2354]

Day 3-Monday

A nice lazy day spent mostly at the resort. A nice breakfast, then pool and beach time, but mostly spent in the shade reading, as I had that foolish-tourist sunburn. At least it didn’t hurt! Pretty boring, but that can just as easily be interpreted as relaxing!. In the afternoon we went for a ride to Cenote Azul and spent a few hours swimming and snorkeling. It is a very lovely and peaceful place. There is a lot more algae than in El Jardin Eden, where we swam last year, but not enough to bother you un the main part of the cenote. We were the only non-natives there, and that really added to the atmosphere for us. There is a small cliff for jumping/diving, wooden bridges connecting different parts and lots of fish. I spent about ½ hour just watching one mother fish protecting her brood of ½” babies from any and all comers. It’s really worth the trip, and costs $5 per person. There is a small snack shop and rest rooms, so you can spend as much time as you want.

We returned to Fishermans to shower in time to head into town to El Pirata to meet with Martha and her family and various Playapeeps. It was really cool to meet so many interesting ‘characters’, and we stayed long enough for 3 or 4 cervesas and varied conversations with Scott, Martha and Don Gregorio in particular.

We would have stayed longer, but A’ndrea scared us off with her <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:State> drawl! Just kidding. We had made the mistake of not eating before we came, and the cuchina was closed at El Pirata, so we were forced north to the land of many restaraunts by insistent hunger pangs, ( and the prodding of a 12 year old who had enough of adult conversations). So glad that Martha organized the get together!

We went to El Oasis for dinner and I had great shrimp and fish tacos. I also had the fish ceviche, and though I rally liked it, the flavor of the lime became increasingly too strong for me to finish it. Jan had whole fish, which was good, but not great and Drew ordered a fish covered in a very mild cheese and spinach-a brave move for a kid-and not surprisingly, he didn’t like it much. He ate some of Jan’s fish, and I ate his-it was great!

We shopped <st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">5<SUP>th</SUP> Ave</st1:address></st1:Street> and adjoining streets, and I continued my tequila education/window shopping-pretty much my main entertainment for the times we spent shopping. More on that later. I really wanted to by a ‘peasant shirt’ but for some reason, the handmade ones don’t come in size ‘Portly’!
Back home to a good book and a sound sleep!
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Day 4-Tuesday. After breakfast in the suite, (they have their own kitchens) of nice strong Mexican coffee and breads from the panaderia, we headed off to Tulum. Our intention was to do a tour of the ruins, swim at the beach and maybe stop at another cenote on the way back. Ah, the best laid plans….
Upon paying our $5 and parking on the lot, we were engaged in conversation by a man who told us he worked for the Tulum tourist bureau. He told us what our eyes were showing us-that the tour busses had just arrived and that the pace was pretty packed. He said maybe we could shop there or in town and come back in a couple of hours when the ruins and the beach would be more peaceful. My, what a thoughtful person! Then, as an afterthought, he suggested that maybe we’d like to go see a Mexican resort built around an old hacienda, with some cenotes on the grounds. Hmm, interesting idea! He said that in order to promote Mexican tourism, he’d even offer us a free admission to the ruins, a guide and free trolley ride, if we wanted to see this Mexican resort. Sounds nice! (Maybe getting a little fishy, though). Still, we did think that returning in a couple of hours would be a good idea, but did we have to sit through some presentation? Well, no, he said, but we would be asked to take a guided tour. Well, it didn’t seem to bad a way to spend the time, and we were interested in maybe going to a different resort through an RCI trade next year anyway, and after Drew heard that he could get free ice cream, (like at the all-inclusives we had been to), the deal was sealed.
Well, to make a long story short we loved the place and agreed to buy there if we could come back another day to have some time to think about it and really try it out. Man, two time shares in Mexico? Do they see us coming, or what? Jans’ comment was “ let me look, do we have ‘sucker’ written on our foreheads?” Actually, we agreed to buy only if we could sell Fishermans.

Whew, long day-and we never even got to Tulum!!!!! We drove back towards PDC and stop at Oscar Y Lalos for dinner. What a wonderful location!! Absolutely idyllic and we loved it. The food, however, was very mediocre. We had the Oscar ‘platter’ for two and really were not at all impressed with the quality or the preparation. And, it was fairly expensive. Go there if you want to have a different experience, but not for the food, was our opinion.

Home again, and a good nights sleep. Getting the idea that night life is limited with a 12 year old in tow??
By the way, still wearing my 'Nerak necklace', but no one coming up with warm greetings!
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[james]

Please keep your trip reports in one thread if it is one trip. thanks.

I've merged the previous two for you.

[babs31]

Still waiting for more...!

[Softy57]

I'm enjoying this report sooo much. Can't wait for you to continue.
We're having a playa peep get together on June 11th here in Salisbury MA.,lots of peeps bringing kids,good food,live band,check out the "Inviting all Playa Peeps" thread in off topic,por favor.

[bill2354]

I wasn't sure if I should continue this, as there are big spaces between my reports as I've not had the time to get to the computer - too much work to catch up on- but do to underwhelming demand, I decided to continue!
Day 5 Wednesday This is a day to spend at the resort. Breakfast at Fishermans and then some reading, pool time and then walking. We walked north towards PDC until we could go no farther, due to the tides at this time of the year being so high that we couldn’t get around the condos w/o walking the streets. We then walked south past many of the Playacar resorts. This was a revelation as we’d never gone far this way before. Most of the resorts this way have little or no beach. In fact for many of the ones we walked past the beach exists as a series of sand covered sandbags. Some had a few feet of beach and sandbag-surrounded palm trees and that was it. Being beach-lovers, I really couldn’t see us staying at any of these resorts. It was really kind of discouraging to see people packed into such little spaces. Interesting also to see that, despite the close proximity of many others, there were still a fair number of women sunbathing topless. There were even women walking the crowded beaches topless, which truly appeared more exhibitionistic that naturalistic, given the amount of more private beaches in the area. Oh well, another explanation of BOTB to Drew. No biggie, just another interesting observation of the nature of the species!
In the late afternoon we decided to walk the trails and small ruins of Playacar. This was really fascinating as we walked along the old city wall and looked at many of the ‘hostels’ used by Mayans to overnight before their trip to worship on Cozumel. We also saw and followed some agoutis, (discussed on another thread in this forum), and decided they really do look like rabbit-rats when they run/hop. We ended up at the shops in southern PDC which run down from <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">10<SUP>th</SUP> Ave</st1:address></st1:Street> to the ferry dock. We’d never really explored there and found the area interesting with it’s shops and fountains, though a bit depressing as we watched a fellow charging for pictures with his parrots, monkeys and a small feline we couldn’t identify, which he kept in a much too small cat carrier.

After the days ramblings, we showered and headed into town to find some place different to eat. Jan wanted something other than Mexican, so we took the advice of a few locals and headed off to what turned out to be our best meal of the vacation at La Pummerola.(sp?). This is a very small Italian restaurant in the northern edges of town. We took a taxi there and walked back. Very interesting to see that part of town in its’ many stages of development.

Back to the restaurant, though. The food was marvelous! Jan and Drew had meatballs and spaghetti-very fresh and I had a daily special of beef in some kind of Italian sauce that they made-I can’t tell you what was in it exactly, but it was marvelous! They even had good Chilean wine-something very difficult to find, in my experience, by the glass. It was all very fresh, very tasty and very inexpensive. All in all, one place I would go out of my way to find again!

The night ended with another walk down <st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">5<SUP>th</SUP> Ave</st1:address></st1:Street> and the find of the week for me. After looking all week for the best tequila deal, (more as a form of entertainment than anything else), I found El Jimador Anejo on sale in the drugstore at the corner of maybe 16<SUP>th</SUP>?? Not exactly sure which corner now, but it was your basic all-purpose small drugstore on the ocean side. $36!!! Unbelievable. I really love this tequila and this was a good $12 cheaper than anywhere else. Ah, the little things that will make your day!

[bemarshall]

Enjoying your trip report very much ... thanks for taking the time to share your experiences. With only 39 more days to go, it's only the trip reports keeping me going at this point.

Thanks again,
Beth

[bill2354]

Day 6 Thursday This is the day we go back to Tulum to see the ruins and then back to Sunscape Tulum to decide whether to buy. It turns out to be the most interesting day of the week.

When we get to Tulum, we are given our ‘free’ trip and guide as promised by the friendly resort huckster on Tuesday. Our guide is an 80 year old former archaeological inscription interpreter. Not really accurate, but the best I could figure from what he told us. He was extremely informative and knew an incredible amount about the ruins. Unfortunately it was the hottest and calmest day of the week and he spoke and moved verrrry slowly. We eventually told him that we had had enough after an hour and a half and wanted to go swimming. I tipped him very well, as I felt bad that he traveled from <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on">Cancun</st1:place> to do this 6 days a week with no pension or any other retirement funds.

The most fascinating story he told us was not about Tulum, but about his discovery on the west coast of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Mexico</st1:country-region> of the boat that one of the lost tribes of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region> came to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Mexico</st1:place></st1:country-region> on, and the grave of the pilot of that boat. WOW! This was a world class and history changing discovery, why hadn’t I heard of it? He said that when he uncovered the boat, it began to desinigrate and he had to cover it back up until he could raise the funds to buy the right preservative to protect it. Apparently he didn’t trust the Mexican government to treat either he or his find properly, and he wanted to be sure that he got the proper credit for his discovery. I really wasn’t sure how much to credit this, but he was quite convincing. I expressed my concern, as gently as possible that he might not survive the fund-raising activities and his find be lost, but he assured me that he had chosen a few people to carry on after him!! You have to realize what this follow was claiming here. He said that he had evidence of one of the great unproven claims in history-that the Twelve Tribes of Israel had scattered thousands of years ago to populate the globe, and that all early peoples were descendants of these Twelve Tribes!! Well, I was pretty skeptical, but I’ll keep reading the historical journals to see if he ever gets his funding and changes history!!!!

Off to Sunscape where we had a lovely day of swimming, sunning and eating, and, yes, did do the deal!!! So, next year we’ll be staying in Tulum! (Anyone want to by a master suite at Fishermans'Village??? )

Driving back to PDC we decided to stop somewhere for dinner, and made our next great discovery-Puerto Aventuras. We had no idea what was there, and simply took a turn down the road looking for food. We were amazed at what we found. I’d really read very little to nothing about PA on this board and was quite surprised to find this bustling, upscale area. We drove around and gawked at the homes, resorts and stores for a while, and then parked at what I think was the main retail area. They have these great lagoon areas where they keep the dolphins for the dolphin swims, and in the evenings they just swim around and do flips and other things to entertain themselves. They also have come lagoon areas with manatees and seals in them. Lots of interesting restaurants and shops, and we finally were persuaded to go into Gringo Dave’s.

What an experience!!! Gringo and his son wander the restaurant chatting and entertaining and they offered us free ceviche, guacamole and other appetizers. The food was very good, but what was amazing was the way we were treated. I ordered a margarita, but only drank about half. When the waiter asked why, I told him it was too sweet for me. 2 minutes later he brought over the biggest margarita I had ever seen! He had made it himself to be sure that it was right-and it was!!! Jan and Drew had great fajitas', (everything we asked about, we were told were 'the best in the world' lol) and later, when Gringo Dave noticed that I hadn’t eaten much of the wahoo in my wahoo and shrimp special, I told him that I loved the meal, but hadn’t realized when I ordered it that I really didn’t like wahoo-but that it was fine as I had plenty of other food to eat. Five minutes late, he comes back with a plate of about 8 jumbo grilled shrimp. Holy cow! I swear I didn’t complain about anything, they just noticed something I didn’t particularly like, and replaced it with bigger and better!!! Before leaving, Jan and Drew decided they wanted to buy t-shirts at the Gringo store, and Dave came up and gave me a Gringo Dave’s straw hat. (Had to wear it home so it wouldn't get crushed, and boy did I look like the typical tourist!). Man, I thought I had become his best friend or something, but I saw that that was just the way he liked to treat his other customers as well.

By the way, I noticed that they were selling a tequila that is made in the <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yucatan</st1:place></st1:State>-can’t remember what they call it, but if anyone has tried it, I’d be interested to know how it tastes. (they offered me a taste, but that huge margarita put me at my limit ).

Before we left we wandered through the Omni Hotel to look at the Puerto Aventuras beach and it was beautiful. We decided that PA was definitely worth another trip next year, and also that we’d try Gringo Dave’s in Tulum as well.
All in all a very full and educational day!
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[babs31]

Interesting....we will have to go to PA next time we go. I thought it was mainly just the dolphin thing and I am on the fence about that. I am waiting for the next installment...thanks.

[bill2354]

Day 7 Friday.

Breakfast in the suite, a little relaxation around the pool and then off for the day to Akumel. We’d never been there, but I’d read enough about it on this board and on other sites to know that it was a must-see. We went first to Yal-Ku lagoon. (Go left after you go under the arch at the entrance). It was $15 for the three of us to get in and we found a place to sit on a bench near the water to get our gear on. Drew and I went right in to snorkel while Jan splashed around near the shore. We swam around much of the lagoon and out to the mouth of th lagoon as well. We saw lots of interesting fish on the inside part of the lagoon and out by the mouth, near the coral. However, the larger area leading out to the mouth/entrance is rather barren.

The whole area itself is really pretty and they’ve located beautiful bronze statues throughout the area. It’s a lovely and clean area with wooden stairs to access the water and a small concession stand. It is absolutely worth the visit if you like to snorkel. There are shallow areas for younger kids and places to sit and read, but no sand/ beach area.

After a few hours there we packed up and prowled the rest of the area of Half Moon Bay. There were some really cool looking little bars and restaurants which we looked into, but Drew wasn’t up for sitting with me while I knocked back a few cervesas!. (Kids!!) The water was basically pretty coral-filled, though I think that if you accessed the water through some of the restaurants, etc. there were some nice places to hang out.

We continued on to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Akumal</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>-which is to the other side of the entrance arch, and parked behind Lol-Ha Restaurant. This is just a beautiful area, and had we been there earlier, I think we would have just parked ourselves. It is very relaxed with locals and tourists sitting on blankets under palm tree and lots of boats anchored in the shallow waters. We ate at Lol-Ha-good food, average prices, cold beer! We then sat on the beach,m played around a bit and Drew and I swam out and around the bay. The water is shallow for the most part until you swim out a ways. We didn’t see turtles, but the bay is renowned for turtle sightings. Jan did a little shopping in some really cute stores, so everyone was happy!

Next year we will go back for a longer time and walk the beach. It really fits the bill as the idealized vacation beach. Beautiful beach and water, good snorkeling, relaxed atmosphere and places to get a cervesa and comida. It’s almost quaint, and offers even shopping and a shower to rinse off!. I can see why so many people rave about it.

Bach to Fishermans and a little rest and a shower, and then into Playa for our last meal. Once again, Jan didn’t really want Mexican, so we looked just walked down <st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">5<SUP>th</SUP> Ave</st1:address></st1:Street> looking for a steak or something. Well, for the first time in three years we got suckered into eating at one of the places with the hucksters out front! We ended up at Karen’s, and had a remarkably mediocre experience. The food was very average, the waiters all but ignored us and the bill was something of a ripoff. The prices were a bit high but they really got me with their 2 for 1 deals. Suffice it to say that the 2 for 1 drinks were much smaller than the others, and they failed to tel me that my drinks, (the larger one) weren’t part of the 2 for 1 deal!!! Overall, I’d say stay the heck away, except for one thing-the music! They had this great little 3 piece band paying on a stage right next to the street, (you could stand in the street instead of the restaurant). It was a percussionist, guitar player and a fellow who played what I think of as the Native American flute-you know, that one with two rows of pipes? Can’t really describe it, but their music was an interesting combination of traditional and jazz. They were awesome, and not paid by the restaurant, as they moved around asking for tips afterwards.

We then went for our last tour of <st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">5<SUP>th</SUP> Ave</st1:address></st1:Street> of this vacation, and I had my only negative buying experience. Well, it wasn’t negative at the time, only later. Let me explain: I never really stopped looking for that great tequila deal, even though I had clearly found the deal of my lifetime previously, on the bottle of El Jimador. It was really just a source of entertainment, but the hunt is always fun. At any rate, we went to the corner of th and Constiyentes (sp?) to get something good at Chocolate-Chocolate, or Cocoa-Cocao, or whatever-you know the place! Next door I went into the tequila store where two fellows talked my ear off about different tequilas and I ended up buying a rather inexpensive, but good bottle for a friend and a bottle of San Matias for myself, as they convinced me that as it was barrel aged for 3 years, it was an exceptional tequila. Guess what? Not only is it not a premium tasting tequila, but it’s not even 100% agave!! (I found this out when I got home and took it out of the display tube it was packaged in). This may not seem so bad to many of you, but aficionados know that 100% is the only way to go!

Anyway, watch out for those guys!

Last night, home for another blissful night falling asleep to the sound of the waves right outside our room!

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Day 8 Saturday Breakfast at the resort, leave at 10:30, drive to <st1:place w:st="on">Cancun</st1:place> to return the car and we’re off!

I include this day only to tell you that we flew Northwest this time and everything went as smooth as silk.

I don’t know if this is always true, but I’ll definitely use them again. The only problems we encountered at all were at <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Logann</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Airport</st1:PlaceType> when we returned to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Boston</st1:City></st1:place>, but they always seem to $%#& something up!!

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So, thanks to both of you who are still reading and those who posted comments. Next year I’d like to go in February, just to try out that time of year, and we’ll be based in Tulum!