06-23-2008
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#1 (permalink) |
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into ruins
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 67
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Our Trip to Riu PRM and the Yucatan
My daughter always said that for her High School graduation that she wanted to go away with her parents as a gift. Graduation happened, and hubby and I are close to our 20th anniv., so our trip was planned. My Dad helped my niece to go with us as she was graduating also and she and my daughter feel they are twins separated at birth.
 We had traveled to Mexico 6 times already, so knew that the PDC area was the place we wanted to go.We live in central Maine, far from most airports that take you anywhere, so headed to Portland, Maine, a 1.5 hr drive, to spend the night before our flight. Shopping had to figure in as darling daughter forgot all her footwear, and she needed summer stuff. Out to eat, early to bed to get up early to head to the airport. Portland is a small jetport; we got to the airport 1.75 hrs before our departure and had plenty of sitting around time. Soon we were winging it to Charlotte, where we transferred to a plane to Cancun. Total flight time was 5 hrs. Arrived and headed through customs, telling niece all about the stoplight in customs (it's gone!  ). Told her how we never get searched. Guess what; our number was up and off we went to unzip the tight luggage for our search.  Funjet sent Lomas travel to pick us up. Another couple was in the bus headed to the Barcelo. Within minutes we were off; 45 min. later, we arrived. This place is grand and very majestic. Hector the doorman met us with a friendly smile and he and the girls became fast friends as the week progressed. Hector works 6 days a week, 12 hrs a day, with one day off. I know I couldn't do it. (I have pics but can't seem to get them to upload - anyone who can help?) |
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06-23-2008
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#3 (permalink) | ||
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Critter Magnet
  Join Date: May 2003
Location: Q Roo
Posts: 16,084
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Quote:
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AND... great start to your TR and good luck with the photos! |
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06-23-2008
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#4 (permalink) | |
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aņejo
 Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Playa del Carmen
Posts: 22,466
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You want to choose 640 x 480 (Large) size Yeah...red light/ green light is still there. I pushed it just the other day. Last edited by Babaloo; 06-23-2008 at 08:58 AM.. |
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06-24-2008
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#6 (permalink) |
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into ruins
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 67
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Arrived at the hotel just after 3pm.
Girls with Hector at the front entrance of the Riu:  It was raining when we first arrived, and continued pretty steady for the next 24 hrs, but it was warm, it was Mexico, and the drinks were free, so we relaxed, settled into our rooms and had some drinks. Me in the lobby bar:  Thursday we had arranged to head to Xcaret. Hubby and I and daughter had been 4-6 times depending on the person, buy my niece had not yet been to Mexico, so Xcaret was a good place to go. The girls wanted to swim with dolphins, and we wanted to share Xcaret with Hannah. We also had never seen the evening show, so we booked the dinner and decided to make a long day of it. The girls on the Xcaret ballfield:  A local at Xcaret:  It was great to see all the animals and birds again. We swam down the underground river, which has a new entrance and a couple of different routes to it now. Butterfly aviary was grand, but we skipped the bat cave. Xcaret seems to be trying to go all-inclusive, like Xel-ha is. Our favorite restaurant out on the point no longer has menu service, only buffet/AI, which we didn't purchase. We could have purchased the buffet for $29pp(!). We opted for a small restaurant nearby where we had sandwiches, hot dogs for the girls, beer, drinks for under $60. Agave plants at Xcaret: 
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06-25-2008
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#7 (permalink) |
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into ruins
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 67
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Lots of debates about dolphins in captivity. The girls swam with them and had a great time. Here's one of the guys checking us out:
 We stayed for the night show at Xcaret, never having seen it. It was well recommended, and I see why. The food was great. Lots of seafood choices, but the aracherra (spelling?) steak was the best we had all week. I wouldn't think it would be necessary to choose the dinner option to get a good seat, however, as there are tons of seats. However, we did see people headed there at least 1 hr before the show. Headed down the path to the show; the people above were posing for the cameras:  This guy was all huddled over until kids came near, then he jumped up! Little kiddies went running/screaming.  Waiting for the show to begin. They're prompt with the food service, so it gives you something to do while waiting. We got there 15 minutes before the show started.  The show had lots of pagentry in the beginning. Conch shell blowing, smoke, etc. Lots of fun!     The ball game. I kind of like how they used to have it in the ball field near the entrance to the park, but his certainly allows for more to watch, and it was fun. They almost scored many times and you can see how much skill and agility it must take to play this game. I can't imagine how hard it must have been to play at the bigger fields like Chichen Itza.  We sat in front of one of the kings.  We didn't end up finishing the show, as it was very long and we were tired after our long day touring the park. The first and middle parts of the show are more the pagentry portions, dancing, etc., and the end (when we left) were singular singers. Fun, but we were wiped. Friday we hung out around the pool and swam in the ocean. Saturday we head to Valladolid for the night! Hope you're enjoying my travelogue. |
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06-26-2008
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#9 (permalink) |
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into ruins
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 67
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We went into Playa del Carmen on Friday to book our bus for our overnight Valladolid trip. The ADO first class bus only had a bus going at 8am, but the second class had one at 6:30, so we booked that for our trip out, and the ADO the following afternoon for the return. Notes to self: 1. second class bus doesn't have reserved seating; 2. Get there more than 1/2 hr before bus leaves if you want a seat. 3. Second class bus has multiple stops and takes 4 hrs, 1st class bus doesn't stop and takes 2 hrs. 4. It's not worth saving $10 pp to take the second class bus for a long trip.
  Seats became available after 2.5 hrs. It was a fun ride, however, as we got to meet local people, who are very warm and friendly. We met a man who works at the Blue Bay who was going home to see his family for the day, and he offered some very helpful tips for our Valladolid stay. The bus dropped us in the town near Chichen Itza. Unsure how to get there from that point, we hired a cab to take us. For those who are interested, it's about $11 pp for entrance to the ruins. A man met us on the steps and offered to be our guide for 2 hrs for $40. He's a retired school teacher who actually works as an official guide. We agreed and it was well worth it. Although hubby and I had been to this ruin twice already, the girls hadn't and we felt a guide could give them lots of insight we might have forgotten. As with all our previous trips, we learned more information about the ruins we hadn't known. There was a sign inside stating that official guides could be hired for $60 for 2 hrs, so I guess we got a deal. The main structure is fantastic.  Nearby structure with figure at the top - our local library has a copy out front.  One of the many crumbling buildings with the observatory in the background.  After our tour, we hopped into a cab to Ik-kil cenote, which we had seen from the bus enroute to CI. For those who are interested, it costs $6 pp to get into Ik-kil now, the buffet is an additional $15 pp plus drinks. They do have life vests available for those who are interested. For some reason I don't have any pictures of the cenote, but it was fantastic. Large fish swim around you, and the water was cool, refreshing, and exceedingly clear. Someone said that it was 50 meters deep. I'll hit my daughter up for photos and post some. This tour, while costly, was well worth it, and it was a great, cool break during a hot day. We took a cab to Valladolid, where we planned to spend the night. We had booked a family suite at hotel Maria de la luz, and it was a lovely place. Here it is from the front.  The hotel is situated right in the middle of town, across from a pretty park where locals gather in the evening to stroll, kids fingerpaint, and eat ice cream and corn on the cob on a stick. The park:  Here's a view of the beautiful old church, which you see as you exit Maria:  Our room, room 21, which was on the back of the building. I've heard that the streetside rooms are loud. Actually, there is the normal traffic and sounds you'd expect from a small city, as well as the gongs of the church bell calling the faithful on a regular basis. Front desk staff:  The refreshing pool:   View of the open air restaurant:   We ate in the restaurant for dinner. Food was tasty, well prepared, promptly served and very inexpensive. The girls had pancakes and sandwiches, served up with a large pitcher of lemonade. Hubby and I had pork and chicken served with veggies and hot tortillas, washed down with cold beer. Meal included salsa and chips and cost $26 total. Our room, which was clean and a welcome haven after a tiring day hiking ruins.   Water is available in many locations in the hallway:  We never made it to the rooftop balcony, but I bet the view was great:  The next morning we slept in a bit (hard to get teenage girls going in the morning, isn't it?). After a buffet breakfast (which was included in our $70 hotel price) of bread, fruit, eggs, beans, sausage and tea, we headed to the front desk to see if we could arrange a way to Ek Balam. Our waiter from the night before had a friend who was willing to take us out and back for $40, so we hopped into his cab. 20 min. later we arrived. Let me tell you that Ek Balam is fantastic and and an undiscovered (at least by most tourists) treasure. We paid our $2.90 entrance fee and walked down the short path to the ruins. Entering into the ruin area:   You're able to climb just about all the structures. Roped areas are clearly marked and unavailable, but you can see that they're working on those areas. No doubt they'll unveil treasures for future visitors behind the ropes. A main structure looking across the ruins:  Climbing up:  A view from the Shaman's seat of the small ball field:   The main structure:  About 1/2 way up the stairs on the left is a carved wall unlike anything I've seen here in the Yucatan:  In the center is a huge mouth with teeth. This structure and wall face toward the center of the ruins. There's an entrance through the center of the mouth and I would have loved to go inside and see what was there.   Like at Chichen Itza, the stairs are steep. The view from the top of the structure was unbelievable. Jungle covered mounds in the distance must be other ruins, waiting to be uncovered. Far in the distance was Coba. Funny thing. As we were winding our way down the stairs, someone started up some music down below. The theme from the Indiana Jones movies lilted through the area, which was a perfect way to end our tour. We only budgeted one hour for Ek Balam, and wish now that we had set aside more time. We will definately return in the future and explore more of this ruin area. We headed back via our cab to Valladolid and our ADO bus back to Playa del Carmen. As I said, within 2 hours we were back to the plush resort we had booked, missing the ruins already. |
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06-29-2008
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#12 (permalink) |
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into ruins
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 67
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Our last few days were spent lounging around the resort, eating, and heading into Playa del Carmen downtown for shopping excursions. It was an easy 15 minute walk into town, or you could get a cab for $5.00 one way.
The beach at this resort is large with plenty of chairs in the shade and sun. The resort is full of tall, stately palms.  We really enjoyed sitting in the courtyard in the evening, relaxing, having cocktails (there's drink service here).  It was a bummer to head home on Friday. We'll all have fond memories of our trip to the Yucatan and of the Riu. 
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...thanks for sharing
