6/28 - 7/5 2008 - 30th Wedding Anniversary Trip Report

kmnarizona · 07-24-2008

My daughter Alison & her husband Brad have a timeshare and stayed in Playa for their honeymoon two years ago. My husband Al & I (Kathy) were celebrating our 30th wedding on July 1, 2008 so Alison & Brad decided to take us to Playa to celebrate. We chose to stay at Sunset Fisherman. And the journey begins…..

Note – some of the pictures may be a little blurry and one of the cameras had the wrong date set on it.

Saturday, June 28
We met Alison & Brad at the Tucson International Airport just after 5am to check in for our 7am flight through Dallas to Cancun. After checking our baggage and going through Security** we made it to the bar…..of course. Bloody Mary’s ~ the perfect way to start a trip.

** It should be noted that every time I mention Security, assume that we have a slight delay each time as Al sets off the metal detector. Each time he gets pulled aside and thoroughly scanned, poked and prodded. After a VERY thorough examination they realize he isn’t a terrorist but it’s his titanium knees that set off the metal detector.
Al & Kathy at the Tucson airport bar

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Brad and Alison at the Tucson airport bar

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Best way to start a vacation - Bloody Marys

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The flight from Dallas to Cancun was delayed a bit so we hit the Irish pub/restaurant for lunch. The lunch was just OK but I have to ask, where can I buy Coleman’s Prepared Mustard? Once I find out, I’ll never buy French’s Mustard again. I was tempted to put the bottle in my purse but then I’d be violating the TSA 3oz rule.

Pretty cloudy to Cancun but then I look out the window and see the most amazing colored water below. I can see reefs and lagoons, heck I can practically see sea turtles! Well, not really but the water is that amazing. Then I see miles and miles of dense green jungle. Remember, I’m a Tucson girl and this green stuff is very foreign to me ~ I’m used to dirt. We get through the Customs line and make our way to the exit, keeping my head down and totally ignoring all the timeshare sharks. We finally find the guy holding a sign with Brad’s name on it and head to our van.

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So glad we went the private driver route. We hit the main highway and pull in to the first 7-11 to get a six pack of Tecate and a six pack of Dos Equis.

Cheers!

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Ahhh, Tecate!

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Al riding shotgun

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And the drive begins

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We hit a bit of rain while making the hour drive to Playa del Carmen. Then we make our way to the gated neighborhood, that’s right – I said neighborhood, where the Sunset Fisherman is located. Beautiful cobblestone streets with beautiful houses/condos/vacation homes all around. The street winds around and there are actual Mayan ruins roped off in grassy areas all throughout the neighborhood. Awesome location right on the beach. You can stand at the entrance and look through the lobby to the ocean right in front of you.

Looking through the entrance of Sunset Fisherman, through the lobby

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We decided to go AI (all-inclusive) this trip so the first order of business was shots of Don Julio Blanco all around. We pretty much hung out, ate, drank and relaxed all evening. Great two-story room on the 3rd floor (all rooms are ocean view). Al & I had the bedroom on the bottom floor with our own full bathroom. Walk down the hall towards the main part of the condo and there is a little closet type bathroom off the hall with a commode & sink, a full kitchen of course, dining room and living room with sliding glass doors that open to the balcony. Upstairs is a very large bedroom and full bath – Alison & Brad took the upstairs.

Our bedroom

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Alison & Brad's room

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Sunday, June 29
Maybe it was the excitement of actually being there but I. Could. Not. Sleep. Got up around 4am and sat on the balcony to watch the sun rise. Apparently Alison & Brad couldn’t sleep either because they joined me.

Early morning boater from the balcony

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Early morning on the beach looking to the left (Cozumel ferry docking)

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And looking to the right

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Spent the day at Sunset Fisherman going from the ocean to the pool to the Jacuzzi to the ocean, etc.

Balcony scenes

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We broke out our individual Bubba Kegs (whoever suggested those KNEW what they were talking about!) and filled them at the bar. The boys would fill theirs with Dos Equis on tap and us girls would vary between filling our Bubbas with Pina Coladas, and drinking glasses of margaritas and whatever fun cocktail Miguel (our FAVORITE) bartender came up with. Bubba Kegs and all-inclusive alcohol, what could be better? At one point I took a walk down the beach by myself and saw my very first topless sunbather as well as a middle aged man wearing a thong. I have to admit the thong kind of threw me but why is it that we Americans are so hung up on our bodies?

Later in the day Alison & I took a taxi to the Mega to grab a few snacks and items for the refrigerator. Loved the Mega! Very interesting and they have a FANTASTIC meat and seafood area. Although I don’t know what was up with the otherwise normal couple that was doing slo-mo martial arts moves in the middle of the meat department. I’m not talking about a move or two. We left the department, went through a few more aisles and encountered them again – hmmmm, maybe martial arts in the grocery store is normal where they’re from. I think we ate at the resort ~ you know how it is when you pay for AI, you use AI. (I think we got our money out of it on alcohol alone!)

Late in the evening we decided to go to 5th and check out the action. The south end of 5th (the end with the McDonalds and the designer type stores) starts just down the street outside of our gated community so we walked through the neighborhood and checked out all the houses and ruins along the way. Alison & I each picked out our dream houses ~ you know, where in a perfect world, each of us would live. Mine was a fantastic yellow house with a huge porch and hers was a big blue house right next door.

Got to 5th and saw some fun things along the way. Saw a guy painted silver and a guy who looked like a pirate from Pirates of the Caribbean in the center of a plaza “moving” (can’t call it dancing) in an odd fashion to the music with a crowd around them taking pictures (for a fee of course). We laughed as we passed a family posing for pictures – one child had a monkey on his shoulder, another was holding a big parrot, another had a small iguana on his head. Alison almost crashed right in to a guy dressed as a Mayan god or something when he lifted his wings and moved. I think she thought he was a statue. And then there was Spiderman. Really? Spiderman? He couldn’t have thought of something more creative than Spiderman? It was a lot of fun to see the places we’d only heard about on the Playa.info forum. Found Yaxche and made note of it’s location for our dinner on July 1. Walked a little further and there it was! The famous Beer Bucket! It was getting late so we just took a quick look inside and made plans to come back. We started heading to 10th to get a taxi back to the resort. Stopped at Pizza Pazza for some take home pizza and grabbed a taxi. Went back to the resort, sat on our balcony and scarfed on some great pizza.

HAWKEYE · 07-24-2008

Great start Kathy.

Sounds like you had a good first day!
Craig.

FunShine · 07-24-2008

Nice trip report - you're crackin' me up! View from your place at Fisherman's looks TERRIFIC! Keep it comin'!

kmnarizona · 07-24-2008

Monday, June 30
On Sunday we obliged our concierge as she tried to get us to sign up for a session to listen to the timeshare schpiel. One of the things she offered if we would just listen to a salesman was a 2-day car rental. We declined but later decided that it would be nice to have a car for a couple of days so we found her and told her we’d do it on Monday morning for breakfast. Have to admit, the salesmen do a good job of selling the Sunset resorts – especially enticing is the new Tres Rios resort they are building. It sounds amazing. Alison & Brad are very happy with the timeshare they already have and finally declined Sunset’s offer to let Sunset purchase Alison & Brad’s plan and upgrade them to Sunset’s plan. Although Brad was almost tempted to say yes once he was offered their final deal ~ that is until Alison gave him the evil eye and told him no. All in all, it wasn’t a bad experience. We learned about their resort system and Jaime, our salesman, was pleasant and was not a jerk when we finally declined.

Dolphin Day! Finished with the timeshare guy and soon after we were picked up at the resort by a van full of vacationers and headed to Dolphin Discovery Puerto Aventuras Location. Have to admit I was secretly pleased when the other vacationers in the van were amazed at our location and the quaintness and hominess of the neighborhood. Got in, got our life vests, masks and snorkels and made our way to our portion of the lagoon with our dolphin trainer and a family of four from Spain. Too much fun!

Only got pics as we walked in. We forgot the underwater camera so we put the digital camera in a locker with our clothes. Plus I'm at work (ssshhhh - can't let the boss know that my frantic typing isn't for him) and the picture of us "hugging" the dolphin is on my home computer.

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We pet the dolphins, “hugged” the dolphins, kissed the dolphins and we all got to do a foot push where the two dolphins come up behind and each pushes with their nose from the bottom of one of your feet and you rise up out of the water and they propel you along for a bit. We also did a dorsal swim where the dolphins allow you to grab their dorsal fins and they take you for a ride. It was all very exhilarating and fun, as well as funny. We ate a quick lunch lagoon side. We had found an internet deal a while back that allowed us to swim with the manatees as well. They’re very gentle and friendly (no teeth!!!). We fed them lettuce leaves and snorkeled in their lagoon along with a sting ray (barb removed – no Steve Irwin mishaps for us!). The trainer that was with us attached a few squid to a 3 foot circular net that we all gathered around and hung on to and the sting ray swam on to the net that was slightly submerged and allowed us to pet him topside and bottom side as he gently flapped his body and ate the squid. Somewhat surreal experience. The video of our dolphin experience was hilarious (our expressions throughout ranged from delight to fright) but we declined to purchase and instead opted for a nice shot of Al & I “hugging” the dolphin together.

Made it back to the resort and conked out. The food at the AI was actually better than I expected and we usually ate there. If there is a next time for us, we’d skip the AI part and hit all the fabulous eating establishments we’ve heard so much about. I feel like we really missed out on some great food.

Tuesday, July 1
Another relaxing day enjoying the beauty of Playa del Carmen. Once again, spent the day going from the ocean, to the pool, to the Jacuzzi, etc. Alison and Brad picked up two bicycles from the hotel and biked in to town. My lovely daughter almost got hit by a taxi when she absentmindedly blew through a stop sign. This was the day of our 30th wedding anniversary so later on we got cleaned up and headed to Yaxche for our anniversary dinner.

The four of us posing in front of Fisherman

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Al & I at the table in the garden at Yaxche

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Alison & Brad

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Our concierge had called the previous day to make reservations for us and she told them it was our anniversary. She gave us a VIP card to take with us. The staff at Yaxche was more than accommodating and led us to the gorgeous outdoor garden area. Cocktails all around! The guys ordered Montejo beer and Alison & I had to try the Mayan drinks. I had the “Absolutly Maya” – a mixture of vodka, fruit juices and muddled chaya leaves. It was really good. Alison had the “Kohunlich” – a blend of Xtabentun, rum, lime & sugar. We weren’t so sure at first but as you sip this drink, the delicious Mayan licorice flavored liqueur really grows on you. We ordered a combination appetizer plate. It contained a soft shrimp taco with a black mole sauce on it (hated the black mole), an Xcatic pepper filled with cochinita pibil (very good and very spicy), a Mayan style tamale with pumpkin seeds and chaya (kind of dry), a corn cobbette called Nal (I thought it tasted somewhat raw) and lobster chunks marinated in sour orange and peppers on a fried tortilla (pretty good). Then we moved on to our main courses. I ordered a small plate of jicama, cucumber and fruit that was marinated in lemon & spices. It was very good and refreshing and we shared that along with our dinners. I had the whole fish dinner – it was Grouper. It was marinated in sour orange and spices and grilled on a banana leaf. Very, very tender and it was dark enough that it didn’t bother me to look down at a whole fish on my plate with its fins still on. Al had the grilled lobster and it was delicious – very sweet and succulent and you could taste the citrus it was cooked with. Alison had the Caribbean shrimp dish and she was a happy camper, while Brad enjoyed the chicken breast marinated in sour orange, chiles and onions. A little too much alcohol – cocktails, beer, wine during dinner, the Mayan kiss and the Mayan Sacrifice.

We tried but weren't too successful in getting shots of the food. Too dark, too blurry, too much to drink - take your pick.

Here's the lobster dish called Caribbean Diva

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And the shrimp dish called Ixchel

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We were then brought something called a Mayan Kiss. The VIP card our concierge gave us entitled each of us to a Mayan Kiss. It was some sort of alcoholic concoction – I truthfully don’t remember much about it. Maybe by now the different drinks we were all sampling had taken effect.

The next thing I know the waiters come out with a piece of cake with a candle in it on a plate that read Happy 30th Anniversary. The waiters even sang to us.

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Walking in to this restaurant Alison & I had already decided that we would get the Mayan Sacrifice. It’s a mixture of tequila, cointreau, Kahlua and xtabentun and they flambé it in to your mouth! One waiter covers you in a large cloth napkin and covers your hair with another. Any fool would have said forget it at this point, right? Then he places a funnel filled with ice in your mouth (think beer bong). The other waiter takes the mixture and lights it on fire and pours it from high in the air in to another metal gravy boat thing and from there, pours it in to the funnel and down your throat it goes. It was hilarious! I went first.

Prepping the Mayan Sacrifice

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Kathy's first!

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Then it was Alison’s turn. She couldn’t finish it all so Brad elected to finish it off.

Alison - Chug, chug, chug

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Brad pulling from his beer bong memories

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Of course we had to oblige the photographer and purchase the cheesy, touristy pictures he took. Each couple got a tequila bottle with our pictures on it and then a framed picture with the four of us.

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OregonNative · 07-24-2008

OMG.. the Mayan Sacrifice sounds crazy. Being poured down your throat do you even taste any of it??

Great trip report

kmnarizona · 07-24-2008

Wednesday, July 2
We were picked up bright and early in a van to take us to Edventure Tour headquarters. Took the tractor shuttle to the entrance of the Tulum ruins and explored around the ruins for a while.

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They truly are a sight to see. I’m somewhat fascinated by ancient history and I could imagine the daily life and ceremonies……even sacrifices! Heads rolling down the long stairs of El Castillo!

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I’ve never seen such a beautiful sight as the beach below the cliffs that the ancient city of Tulum stands on. Absolutely breathtaking. Lots of Iguanas at Tulum too.

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Made our way back to the Edventure Tour headquarters after stopping to briefly watch the performance of Mayan pole climbers. We found our guide – it was Ricardo! We’d heard wonderful things about Ricardo and felt fortunate to have him for the day. He had already stopped and picked up the cervezas and water (Amazingly – Ha! We never touched the water) and had them loaded in the ice chest. We climbed in to his SUV and were off for adventure. He drove through a long dirt road through the jungle and parked to let us all out to walk a ways to the lagoon. Zip line time! We each strapped in and zipped over the jungle canopy. Then we walked a little further and zipped across the entire lagoon – it was So. Much. Fun.

Ricardo "tested" it for us first

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Brad zipping

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Then Ricardo had us get in canoes (me & Al in one; Alison & Brad in another; Ricardo in his own) and paddle across the lagoon. Ricardo kept splashing us with his paddle and we ended up having a bit of a water fight.

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Soaking wet after the water fight Ricardo initiated

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From there we took turns jumping off a 25 foot cliff in to an open cenote. The water was COLD and crystal clear. First Brad jumped, then me……then Alison after 3 almosts, made the jump. Al walked to the edge of the cliff, looked down and said no way. Brad and I each jumped three more times.

Me "walking" on water

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Brad and I jumping for the 3rd time

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From there we drove to Dos Ojos Cenotes. We put our fins, goggles and snorkels on and entered the water in the cave. The freshwater is cold at first but you get used to it immediately and the water is so incredibly clear. We were amazed at the formations under water and above us. Stalagmites, stalactites, rocks, crevices, just the amazing natural beauty. We snorkeled all through out the cenote, often having to be careful not to hit our heads on the ceiling or stalactites. Ricardo had us all lift our heads out of the water at one point and look up. We were in a bat cave! Dozens of bats hung from the ceiling of the cave over our heads. It was really cool – we were going one direction snorkeling on the surface and there were scuba divers going the other direction down on the bottom of the cenote! We ended in a large room of the cenote with a small dock where a local Mayan family was enjoying the day. The kids were jumping off the dock in to the cold water of the cenote while mom & dad prepared ceviche for lunch. Can you even imagine growing up with that kind of natural wonder at your doorstep? On our way out of the cenote the Mayan man, who obviously knew Ricardo, gave him a couple of spoonfuls of the ceviche in a cup. After a bite, Ricardo’s eyes had teared up and he could hardly speak the stuff was so spicy. It took him a full minute or two to recover. On our way out of the Mayan community in the jungle, we stopped to feed a monkey. The monkey belongs to a Mayan family and he is on a chain under a palapa. There is a large piggy bank for visitors to drop “tips” in. We were more than happy to drop in twenty pesos. Ricardo led us to a couple of tree stumps under the palapa and we each took turns sitting on one with a couple of Hot Nuts in our palm. This adorable little monkey comes up and hangs on to your arm and gently eats Hot Nuts out of your hand. Someone had left part of a banana there and I tried to offer the banana. No way, Jose. Hot Nuts are DEFINITELY preferred over bananas.

Brad posing with our monkey friend

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Seriously ~ there aren't any more Hot Nuts, especially down her shirt!

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And I just have to tell you about Hot Nuts…… Ricardo had picked up a small package when we made a quick stop and gave us each some. Ate one…..Eh, okay I guess. Ate another…..hmmmm, pretty good. Ate one more……okay, I’m hooked. They are addicting. We ended up making another quick stop somewhere along the way and Ricardo bought two more packages and we all quickly finished them off.

Then it was off to Akumal Bay. We met up with our boat captain and another couple joined us – I’m pretty sure they were newlyweds. We fought the waves and got pretty far out in to the deep water and turned to come upon a reef.

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We spotted a sea turtle on the side of the boat as he came up for air. With a few instructions from Ricardo about not touching the reef, not bothering the sea turtles, etc – we all went over the side of the boat in to the water. We followed Ricardo in a line to good turtle water and I have to admit, it was very different from snorkeling in the cenote. Snorkeling in the ocean is more of a workout, for sure. We had quite a distance to travel and bless his heart, Al’s legs had about all they could take. One knee replaced last August and the other one replaced two months prior to this trip, all the walking on this vacation, he was worn out. He told Ricardo he couldn’t go any more – that he was completely worn out. Ricardo quickly got him to a small red buoy and called the boat captain who maneuvered the boat to pick up Al.

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When Al was safely aboard, Ricardo again led us to Turtle Territory. We saw some fish here and there but when you spot one of those big turtles swimming along by you acting like they could care less if you were there, freakin’ awesome!

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We swam about for a bit and happened on several turtles and a sting ray before heading back to the boat and back to the beach. Got back, rinsed off the salt water in the small cleaning pool and headed over to La Buena Vida for lunch. Nice little beach club/restaurant. Palapas with tables/chairs underneath, even some crows nest tables with buckets hanging over the side to take stuff up and down. We shared a fantastic lunch with Ricardo.

La Buena Vida crows nest

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La Buena Vida "patio" from the beach

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Shot of Ricardo with a full belly

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Al had grilled lobster, Ricardo had fish tacos, Brad had Cheyenne’s Tacos (grilled Angus beef), and Alison and I each ordered the same thing – can’t remember what it’s called but it came on a large platter with individual little pie shaped dishes, each filled with something wonderful. There was grilled chicken, arrachera, pico de gallo, beans, melted white cheese, guacamole and maybe something else. Plus tortillas. Everything was DELICIOUS but there was way too much food. I caught Ricardo eyeballing my food and quickly told him to dig in and help me finish. He had no qualms and finished off my plate for me.

Then it was off for more snorkeling. A short drive brought us to a magical lagoon. I swear if I didn’t know better, I’d have thought the place was created by the folks at Disney. It was so beautiful and amazing that it almost seemed fake!

The only lagoon picture

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underwater photos of the lagoon. We put our gear on and slipped in to the cool, clear water of the lagoon and couldn’t believe what we were seeing through our masks. Fish everywhere – schools of BIG flat purple fish, striped fish, fat fish, skinny fish, fish between the rocks, even fish with chicken pox love hot dogs, Armour hot….. sorry – I’m showing my age and it just flowed so well. We spent quite a bit of time exploring the lagoon – Al too; he had recovered by now and was thoroughly enjoying the lagoon. At one point I met up with a school of about 30 of the big flat purple fish and swam right next to them all throughout the lagoon for about 4 or 5 minutes. They didn’t mind my presence they just swam along. It was so much fun. Ricardo had explained to us that we would be able to see when the fresh water and the salt water came together in the lagoon because they don’t mix – kind of like oil and vinegar. I didn’t quite understand what he meant until I saw it. The water was actually a little oily looking and there were bubbles in it. Very odd. It was finally time to go so we loaded back in to Ricardo’s vehicle and started the trek back to “Feeshermahn” – that’s how the taxi drivers say it. Ricardo drove us back to Playa and to the resort. We got along extremely well with him and we tend to be sarcastic and have fun so we hit it off fabulously with Ricardo because he is just the same. We taught us a few phrases in Mayan including a very dirty curse word. :P We bid him adieu at the entrance of the resort, hugs all around, gave him a nice tip and headed to our room to change and relax.

At some point in the evening, Alison and Brad decided to hit the Chedraui grocery store but their taxi driver just couldn’t understand where they wanted to go. “Will you take us to the Chedraui?” “You want go to 5th?” “No, Chedraui – the grocery store” When the driver still didn’t understand, they asked him to go to Mega. It took a while but he finally got it. Unfortunately Mega didn’t have the wine they wanted so they walked to Walmart. They brought back beer and wine for the room for later since the bar downstairs closes at 10:30pm.

Debbielasvegas · 07-25-2008

AWESOME trip report!!

Looking forward to more installments.

bethh · 07-25-2008

Great report!!!! I can't wait to hear the rest!

HAWKEYE · 07-25-2008

Wow. sounds like you guys are doing it all.
Great report.

Craig.

maestranba · 07-25-2008

Awesome report and pics!!

That tour sounds like a ton of fun. Lots of cool places for snorkeling AND the zipline! I bet you were all pretty tired after that fun day!

kmnarizona · 07-25-2008

You know, we’d been planning the trip for a year and while I was excited about the trip, I wasn’t THRILLED like Alison was. And I think that’s because I had never been there and didn’t know what to expect. But then she had me start reading this forum and my excitement grew.

I learned so much from this forum and thoroughly enjoyed reading other people’s trip reports so I am really excited to be posting my own.

Ranger · 07-25-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmnarizona

You know, we’d been planning the trip for a year and while I was excited about the trip, I wasn’t THRILLED like Alison was. And I think that’s because I had never been there and didn’t know what to expect. But then she had me start reading this forum and my excitement grew.

I learned so much from this forum and thoroughly enjoyed reading other people’s trip reports so I am really excited to be posting my own.

........and you are doing a great job!

kmnarizona · 07-25-2008

Thursday, July 3
Brad and Alison went downstairs to pick up the free 2-day car rental. I guess it wasn’t free – we paid with 2 hours of vacation time while listening to the time share salesman. Oh well. Al wanted to sleep and hang out in the Jacuzzi as he was pretty worn out from the day before so he told us to have fun, don’t worry about him and he’d see us later. We gathered up a few things and took off in the car. We decided it was time to check out Mamitas. Alison & Brad had been there on their last trip but thought it would be fun to go again. The beach was pretty crowded but it didn’t take long for us to find a palapa with some chaise lounges underneath. The waiter took our order and before long Brad had a Dos Equis and Alison and I each had a michelada. I say “before long” but it did take a while to get our drinks. Funny how the topless girls on the beach got their drink orders delivered very quickly and the waiters were oh so attentive to them. I have a great picture of me on a chaise lounge under a palapa but can’t post it because there’s a girl in the picture sitting next to me and she’s topless. Gotta follow the forum rules about pictures with nudity.

Busy beach at Mamitas

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Thought this was funny - a woman buried in the sand

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Well, we ended up ordering some food too. Ordered guacamole & chips, shrimp cocktail or ceviche (don’t remember what they called it) and fried calamari. The guac was fantastic but the shrimp cocktail/ceviche was horrible and the calamari was really tough.

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Alison and I were intrigued by the menu listing of banana margaritas so we ordered one each. Mistake – it was nasty. We made our way through about ½ of it before giving up and ordering more micheladas to wash away the flavor of the banana margaritas. All in all we spent a few hours there before heading back to Fisherman. Relaxed and hung out with Al. Dinner at the resort – we were finally getting tired of the food there. They have beautiful displays, pretty good quality and a large selection but we became burnt out on it. They had theme nights; Italian, Chinese, Mediterranean, etc. Most was very good – in fact earlier in the day I was craving mussels. Lo & behold – it was Italian night at the resort and one of the pasta dishes was kind of like a cioppino and there were tons of mussels in it! We weren’t impressed with the Chinese food night though.

Alison and I ventured out after dinner to hit the grocery store again. This time we decided to go to Chedraui. We wandered a bit, checked out the grocery aisles and of course, we wouldn’t be women if we didn’t go through the shoe and purse departments. Picked up a few things, found the Hot Nuts!!!, and then went to the ice cream shop within Chedraui. Alison got a cone with Neapolitan ice cream and I had Dulce de Leche ice cream in a waffle bowl. Huge servings of delicious, creamy ice cream for a really good price. Thank God we never indulged at one of the Hagen Daz locations on 5th.

Later we went out again in the rental car and decided to just park the damn thing in the valet parking just outside of the gated neighborhood where the resort is and right at the south end of 5th. Walked 5th, taking in the sights again. Stopped at the Beer Bucket and turned in our license plates (one old Arizona plate Al had from a vehicle he bought in 1973 and Alison’s fairly new Arizona plate she kept after going with a specialized plate). Got our t-shirts and free beers!!! Spent a bit of time there having a few drinks & shots and then walked back to the valet parking and headed back to the resort.

We decided that driving the streets of Playa in a rental car was not the way to go. We were much better off going by taxi and not having to worry about the responsibility of a car (parking, crazy taxi drivers, etc) so the rental got parked in the resort lot and never came out again.

Before we went on this trip Alison and I had planned to go to the fire show at the ****** on this particular evening. I was really excited about it but when I realized it just wasn’t going to happen I had a little melt down. I guess it was because this was a vacation of a lifetime to me and in my mind I had this mental checklist going of the things I really wanted to do and that was one of the things. So I was given time to have my little melt down and then everything was fine. There, I said it. I was a baby and now it’s all done.

**I've noticed that it appears we are grocery store fans. That may be true but you have to admit, a grocery store in any country besides your own can be pretty interesting.

Debbielasvegas · 07-25-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmnarizona

Thursday, July 3
**I've noticed that it appears we are grocery store fans. That may be true but you have to admit, a grocery store in any country besides your own can be pretty interesting.

Me too!!!

I went to grocery stores in : Mexico, Hawaii, Spain, London, Paris,
Holland and all over Italy and Sicily.

They are on my 'to - do' list on vacation.

My pantry has the funkiest stuff in it.

Friends think I'm weird when I bring them back a jar of mustard, cookies
or some weird seasonings as a souvenier.

kmnarizona · 07-25-2008

Friday, July 4
Had a lazy morning having breakfast and relaxing on the beach/in the pool/in the Jacuzzi. The activity directors at Fisherman are fantastic. They are extremely personable with adults and kids alike. Anyway – one of the guys built sand castles and figures with the kids.

Here’s a shot of a mermaid they built

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And here he is posing with the kids who helped him make this gorilla

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Shots of parachuters coming down and landing on an area of beach next to Fisherman

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A little later in the day we got ready and headed out for the 4th of July party at Bad Boy’s. Found a table in the sand, paid our cover charge and sat back to eat the roast pig and delicious side dishes that the locals had brought for the party. Enjoyed some great music and people watching.

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Isn’t it written somewhere in the forum rules that you must post a picture of Jez? Here’s my own little paparazzi shot of this Playa forum celebrity

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Later we all went to 5th for a bit and were all planning to hit the Beer Bucket to check out our plates on the wall. Alison started feeling sick along the way so she and Brad turned around to grab a taxi back to the resort. Al & I made our way to the Beer Bucket and took a couple of pictures and then went back home to check on Alison.

Al next to his old school AZ plate issued in 1973

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Alison's AZ plate

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And a blurry picture of the wall with the living Beer Bucket fixture (can't remember his name)

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Hung out doing our usual beach/pool/Jacuzzi thing for a while when we realized we hadn’t picked up any souvenirs for the fam back home. Al was done for the night but now that Alison was feeling better we had to hit up 5th again. Looked at a few shops and was unimpressed with the regular tourist crap. Earlier at Bad Boys I saw someone wearing a Bomberos t-shirt and the guy told me where I could find one on 5th. I searched and searched but didn’t have any luck. I really wanted to buy one for Al. Oh well – off to the Beer Bucket. Par-tay!!! That place was busting at the seams. We found a spot upstairs and had a few beers and tequila shots. Tracked down Big Al in his 4th of July finery and told him we wanted to buy Beer Bucket logo shirts. He came back with an assortment but by the time he reached us upstairs, half of the inventory was picked off and purchased along the way. At that point he told me to go with him to the storage room so another patron that wanted shirts and I went with him. We picked out all the shirts we wanted and I made my way back upstairs with SEVEN shirts. We were going to make all the family members happy with those shirts! We hung out for a little while and then made our way to the Tequila Barrel for some great mojitos and people watching. We spotted a grandmother, grandfather, teenage granddaughter and huh? one of the young activity directors at Fisherman all sitting together at a streetside table at the Tequila Barrel. Interesting….it looked like a chaperoned date. Especially interesting since one day at the resort we saw the teenage girl and the young activity director take off down the beach together and come back quite some time later all sandy and making eyes at each other. Young love or what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico? You be the judge.

Shortly after, our favorite Fisherman bartender Miguel and his buddy from the resort came strolling along. We talked for a minute but they were on their way to a disco. Earlier, we had told them we’d be at the Beer Bucket and that they should join us. They were unfamiliar with the Beer Bucket so they just started walking 5th and happened upon us. After a couple of mojitos and another Cuban inspired drink that uses lots of lime instead of mint, we hit the road. Walking along we realized (or maybe it was a drunken AHA! moment when we saw the swings) we never sat in swings at a bar and there was a bar with swings!! Yeah, we were feeling the alcohol at this point and just HAD to sit in the swings. They were out of mint so that meant no mojitos. So it was micheladas all around! And shots of tequila! This place had dollar bills glued to the ceiling and walls. So Alison and I each pulled out a dollar and the bartender gave us black Sharpies so we could write on the bills. We each wrote our drunken message and the bartender covered the back of the bills in glue and we slapped them on a pole by the bar. So we’re “permanently” in Playa – with license plates and dollar bills. Finally it was time to go so we caught a cab back to the resort to get some sleep.

07-24-2008	#1 (permalink)
kmnarizona very sparkly Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Home of the Wildcats ~ Tucson, AZ Posts: 25	6/28 - 7/5 2008 - 30th Wedding Anniversary Trip Report My daughter Alison & her husband Brad have a timeshare and stayed in Playa for their honeymoon two years ago. My husband Al & I (Kathy) were celebrating our 30th wedding on July 1, 2008 so Alison & Brad decided to take us to Playa to celebrate. We chose to stay at Sunset Fisherman. And the journey begins….. Note – some of the pictures may be a little blurry and one of the cameras had the wrong date set on it. Saturday, June 28 We met Alison & Brad at the Tucson International Airport just after 5am to check in for our 7am flight through Dallas to Cancun. After checking our baggage and going through Security we made it to the bar…..of course. Bloody Mary’s ~ the perfect way to start a trip. It should be noted that every time I mention Security, assume that we have a slight delay each time as Al sets off the metal detector. Each time he gets pulled aside and thoroughly scanned, poked and prodded. After a VERY thorough examination they realize he isn’t a terrorist but it’s his titanium knees that set off the metal detector. Al & Kathy at the Tucson airport bar [/IMG] Brad and Alison at the Tucson airport bar [/IMG] Best way to start a vacation - Bloody Marys [/IMG] The flight from Dallas to Cancun was delayed a bit so we hit the Irish pub/restaurant for lunch. The lunch was just OK but I have to ask, where can I buy Coleman’s Prepared Mustard? Once I find out, I’ll never buy French’s Mustard again. I was tempted to put the bottle in my purse but then I’d be violating the TSA 3oz rule. Pretty cloudy to Cancun but then I look out the window and see the most amazing colored water below. I can see reefs and lagoons, heck I can practically see sea turtles! Well, not really but the water is that amazing. Then I see miles and miles of dense green jungle. Remember, I’m a Tucson girl and this green stuff is very foreign to me ~ I’m used to dirt. We get through the Customs line and make our way to the exit, keeping my head down and totally ignoring all the timeshare sharks. We finally find the guy holding a sign with Brad’s name on it and head to our van. [/IMG] So glad we went the private driver route. We hit the main highway and pull in to the first 7-11 to get a six pack of Tecate and a six pack of Dos Equis. Cheers! [/IMG] Ahhh, Tecate! [/IMG] Al riding shotgun [/IMG] And the drive begins [/IMG] We hit a bit of rain while making the hour drive to Playa del Carmen. Then we make our way to the gated neighborhood, that’s right – I said neighborhood, where the Sunset Fisherman is located. Beautiful cobblestone streets with beautiful houses/condos/vacation homes all around. The street winds around and there are actual Mayan ruins roped off in grassy areas all throughout the neighborhood. Awesome location right on the beach. You can stand at the entrance and look through the lobby to the ocean right in front of you. Looking through the entrance of Sunset Fisherman, through the lobby [/IMG] We decided to go AI (all-inclusive) this trip so the first order of business was shots of Don Julio Blanco all around. We pretty much hung out, ate, drank and relaxed all evening. Great two-story room on the 3rd floor (all rooms are ocean view). Al & I had the bedroom on the bottom floor with our own full bathroom. Walk down the hall towards the main part of the condo and there is a little closet type bathroom off the hall with a commode & sink, a full kitchen of course, dining room and living room with sliding glass doors that open to the balcony. Upstairs is a very large bedroom and full bath – Alison & Brad took the upstairs. Our bedroom [/IMG] Alison & Brad's room [/IMG] Sunday, June 29 Maybe it was the excitement of actually being there but I. Could. Not. Sleep. Got up around 4am and sat on the balcony to watch the sun rise. Apparently Alison & Brad couldn’t sleep either because they joined me. Early morning boater from the balcony [/IMG] Early morning on the beach looking to the left (Cozumel ferry docking) [/IMG] And looking to the right [/IMG] Spent the day at Sunset Fisherman going from the ocean to the pool to the Jacuzzi to the ocean, etc. Balcony scenes [/IMG] [/IMG] [/IMG] [/IMG] [/IMG] We broke out our individual Bubba Kegs (whoever suggested those KNEW what they were talking about!) and filled them at the bar. The boys would fill theirs with Dos Equis on tap and us girls would vary between filling our Bubbas with Pina Coladas, and drinking glasses of margaritas and whatever fun cocktail Miguel (our FAVORITE) bartender came up with. Bubba Kegs and all-inclusive alcohol, what could be better? At one point I took a walk down the beach by myself and saw my very first topless sunbather as well as a middle aged man wearing a thong. I have to admit the thong kind of threw me but why is it that we Americans are so hung up on our bodies? Later in the day Alison & I took a taxi to the Mega to grab a few snacks and items for the refrigerator. Loved the Mega! Very interesting and they have a FANTASTIC meat and seafood area. Although I don’t know what was up with the otherwise normal couple that was doing slo-mo martial arts moves in the middle of the meat department. I’m not talking about a move or two. We left the department, went through a few more aisles and encountered them again – hmmmm, maybe martial arts in the grocery store is normal where they’re from. I think we ate at the resort ~ you know how it is when you pay for AI, you use AI. (I think we got our money out of it on alcohol alone!) Late in the evening we decided to go to 5th and check out the action. The south end of 5th (the end with the McDonalds and the designer type stores) starts just down the street outside of our gated community so we walked through the neighborhood and checked out all the houses and ruins along the way. Alison & I each picked out our dream houses ~ you know, where in a perfect world, each of us would live. Mine was a fantastic yellow house with a huge porch and hers was a big blue house right next door. Got to 5th and saw some fun things along the way. Saw a guy painted silver and a guy who looked like a pirate from Pirates of the Caribbean in the center of a plaza “moving” (can’t call it dancing) in an odd fashion to the music with a crowd around them taking pictures (for a fee of course). We laughed as we passed a family posing for pictures – one child had a monkey on his shoulder, another was holding a big parrot, another had a small iguana on his head. Alison almost crashed right in to a guy dressed as a Mayan god or something when he lifted his wings and moved. I think she thought he was a statue. And then there was Spiderman. Really? Spiderman? He couldn’t have thought of something more creative than Spiderman? It was a lot of fun to see the places we’d only heard about on the Playa.info forum. Found Yaxche and made note of it’s location for our dinner on July 1. Walked a little further and there it was! The famous Beer Bucket! It was getting late so we just took a quick look inside and made plans to come back. We started heading to 10th to get a taxi back to the resort. Stopped at Pizza Pazza for some take home pizza and grabbed a taxi. Went back to the resort, sat on our balcony and scarfed on some great pizza.

07-24-2008	#6 (permalink)
kmnarizona very sparkly Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Home of the Wildcats ~ Tucson, AZ Posts: 25	Wednesday, July 2 We were picked up bright and early in a van to take us to Edventure Tour headquarters. Took the tractor shuttle to the entrance of the Tulum ruins and explored around the ruins for a while. [/IMG] They truly are a sight to see. I’m somewhat fascinated by ancient history and I could imagine the daily life and ceremonies……even sacrifices! Heads rolling down the long stairs of El Castillo! [/IMG] [/IMG] I’ve never seen such a beautiful sight as the beach below the cliffs that the ancient city of Tulum stands on. Absolutely breathtaking. Lots of Iguanas at Tulum too. [/IMG] [/IMG] [/IMG] [/IMG] [/IMG] [/IMG] Made our way back to the Edventure Tour headquarters after stopping to briefly watch the performance of Mayan pole climbers. We found our guide – it was Ricardo! We’d heard wonderful things about Ricardo and felt fortunate to have him for the day. He had already stopped and picked up the cervezas and water (Amazingly – Ha! We never touched the water) and had them loaded in the ice chest. We climbed in to his SUV and were off for adventure. He drove through a long dirt road through the jungle and parked to let us all out to walk a ways to the lagoon. Zip line time! We each strapped in and zipped over the jungle canopy. Then we walked a little further and zipped across the entire lagoon – it was So. Much. Fun. Ricardo "tested" it for us first [/IMG] Brad zipping [/IMG] Then Ricardo had us get in canoes (me & Al in one; Alison & Brad in another; Ricardo in his own) and paddle across the lagoon. Ricardo kept splashing us with his paddle and we ended up having a bit of a water fight. [/IMG] Soaking wet after the water fight Ricardo initiated [/IMG] From there we took turns jumping off a 25 foot cliff in to an open cenote. The water was COLD and crystal clear. First Brad jumped, then me……then Alison after 3 almosts, made the jump. Al walked to the edge of the cliff, looked down and said no way. Brad and I each jumped three more times. Me "walking" on water [/IMG] Brad and I jumping for the 3rd time [/IMG] From there we drove to Dos Ojos Cenotes. We put our fins, goggles and snorkels on and entered the water in the cave. The freshwater is cold at first but you get used to it immediately and the water is so incredibly clear. We were amazed at the formations under water and above us. Stalagmites, stalactites, rocks, crevices, just the amazing natural beauty. We snorkeled all through out the cenote, often having to be careful not to hit our heads on the ceiling or stalactites. Ricardo had us all lift our heads out of the water at one point and look up. We were in a bat cave! Dozens of bats hung from the ceiling of the cave over our heads. It was really cool – we were going one direction snorkeling on the surface and there were scuba divers going the other direction down on the bottom of the cenote! We ended in a large room of the cenote with a small dock where a local Mayan family was enjoying the day. The kids were jumping off the dock in to the cold water of the cenote while mom & dad prepared ceviche for lunch. Can you even imagine growing up with that kind of natural wonder at your doorstep? On our way out of the cenote the Mayan man, who obviously knew Ricardo, gave him a couple of spoonfuls of the ceviche in a cup. After a bite, Ricardo’s eyes had teared up and he could hardly speak the stuff was so spicy. It took him a full minute or two to recover. On our way out of the Mayan community in the jungle, we stopped to feed a monkey. The monkey belongs to a Mayan family and he is on a chain under a palapa. There is a large piggy bank for visitors to drop “tips” in. We were more than happy to drop in twenty pesos. Ricardo led us to a couple of tree stumps under the palapa and we each took turns sitting on one with a couple of Hot Nuts in our palm. This adorable little monkey comes up and hangs on to your arm and gently eats Hot Nuts out of your hand. Someone had left part of a banana there and I tried to offer the banana. No way, Jose. Hot Nuts are DEFINITELY preferred over bananas. Brad posing with our monkey friend [/IMG] Seriously ~ there aren't any more Hot Nuts, especially down her shirt! [/IMG] And I just have to tell you about Hot Nuts…… Ricardo had picked up a small package when we made a quick stop and gave us each some. Ate one…..Eh, okay I guess. Ate another…..hmmmm, pretty good. Ate one more……okay, I’m hooked. They are addicting. We ended up making another quick stop somewhere along the way and Ricardo bought two more packages and we all quickly finished them off. Then it was off to Akumal Bay. We met up with our boat captain and another couple joined us – I’m pretty sure they were newlyweds. We fought the waves and got pretty far out in to the deep water and turned to come upon a reef. [/IMG] We spotted a sea turtle on the side of the boat as he came up for air. With a few instructions from Ricardo about not touching the reef, not bothering the sea turtles, etc – we all went over the side of the boat in to the water. We followed Ricardo in a line to good turtle water and I have to admit, it was very different from snorkeling in the cenote. Snorkeling in the ocean is more of a workout, for sure. We had quite a distance to travel and bless his heart, Al’s legs had about all they could take. One knee replaced last August and the other one replaced two months prior to this trip, all the walking on this vacation, he was worn out. He told Ricardo he couldn’t go any more – that he was completely worn out. Ricardo quickly got him to a small red buoy and called the boat captain who maneuvered the boat to pick up Al. [/IMG] When Al was safely aboard, Ricardo again led us to Turtle Territory. We saw some fish here and there but when you spot one of those big turtles swimming along by you acting like they could care less if you were there, freakin’ awesome! [/IMG] [/IMG] We swam about for a bit and happened on several turtles and a sting ray before heading back to the boat and back to the beach. Got back, rinsed off the salt water in the small cleaning pool and headed over to La Buena Vida for lunch. Nice little beach club/restaurant. Palapas with tables/chairs underneath, even some crows nest tables with buckets hanging over the side to take stuff up and down. We shared a fantastic lunch with Ricardo. La Buena Vida crows nest [/IMG] La Buena Vida "patio" from the beach [/IMG] Shot of Ricardo with a full belly [/IMG] Al had grilled lobster, Ricardo had fish tacos, Brad had Cheyenne’s Tacos (grilled Angus beef), and Alison and I each ordered the same thing – can’t remember what it’s called but it came on a large platter with individual little pie shaped dishes, each filled with something wonderful. There was grilled chicken, arrachera, pico de gallo, beans, melted white cheese, guacamole and maybe something else. Plus tortillas. Everything was DELICIOUS but there was way too much food. I caught Ricardo eyeballing my food and quickly told him to dig in and help me finish. He had no qualms and finished off my plate for me. Then it was off for more snorkeling. A short drive brought us to a magical lagoon. I swear if I didn’t know better, I’d have thought the place was created by the folks at Disney. It was so beautiful and amazing that it almost seemed fake! The only lagoon picture [/IMG] underwater photos of the lagoon. We put our gear on and slipped in to the cool, clear water of the lagoon and couldn’t believe what we were seeing through our masks. Fish everywhere – schools of BIG flat purple fish, striped fish, fat fish, skinny fish, fish between the rocks, even fish with chicken pox love hot dogs, Armour hot….. sorry – I’m showing my age and it just flowed so well. We spent quite a bit of time exploring the lagoon – Al too; he had recovered by now and was thoroughly enjoying the lagoon. At one point I met up with a school of about 30 of the big flat purple fish and swam right next to them all throughout the lagoon for about 4 or 5 minutes. They didn’t mind my presence they just swam along. It was so much fun. Ricardo had explained to us that we would be able to see when the fresh water and the salt water came together in the lagoon because they don’t mix – kind of like oil and vinegar. I didn’t quite understand what he meant until I saw it. The water was actually a little oily looking and there were bubbles in it. Very odd. It was finally time to go so we loaded back in to Ricardo’s vehicle and started the trek back to “Feeshermahn” – that’s how the taxi drivers say it. Ricardo drove us back to Playa and to the resort. We got along extremely well with him and we tend to be sarcastic and have fun so we hit it off fabulously with Ricardo because he is just the same. We taught us a few phrases in Mayan including a very dirty curse word. :P We bid him adieu at the entrance of the resort, hugs all around, gave him a nice tip and headed to our room to change and relax. At some point in the evening, Alison and Brad decided to hit the Chedraui grocery store but their taxi driver just couldn’t understand where they wanted to go. “Will you take us to the Chedraui?” “You want go to 5th?” “No, Chedraui – the grocery store” When the driver still didn’t understand, they asked him to go to Mega. It took a while but he finally got it. Unfortunately Mega didn’t have the wine they wanted so they walked to Walmart. They brought back beer and wine for the room for later since the bar downstairs closes at 10:30pm.

07-24-2008	#2 (permalink)
HAWKEYE reposado Join Date: May 2007 Location: Windsor Hts. Iowa Posts: 1,362	Great start Kathy. Sounds like you had a good first day! Craig.

07-24-2008	#3 (permalink)
FunShine reposado Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 1,200	Nice trip report - you're crackin' me up! View from your place at Fisherman's looks TERRIFIC! Keep it comin'!

07-24-2008	#4 (permalink)
kmnarizona very sparkly Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Home of the Wildcats ~ Tucson, AZ Posts: 25	Monday, June 30 On Sunday we obliged our concierge as she tried to get us to sign up for a session to listen to the timeshare schpiel. One of the things she offered if we would just listen to a salesman was a 2-day car rental. We declined but later decided that it would be nice to have a car for a couple of days so we found her and told her we’d do it on Monday morning for breakfast. Have to admit, the salesmen do a good job of selling the Sunset resorts – especially enticing is the new Tres Rios resort they are building. It sounds amazing. Alison & Brad are very happy with the timeshare they already have and finally declined Sunset’s offer to let Sunset purchase Alison & Brad’s plan and upgrade them to Sunset’s plan. Although Brad was almost tempted to say yes once he was offered their final deal ~ that is until Alison gave him the evil eye and told him no. All in all, it wasn’t a bad experience. We learned about their resort system and Jaime, our salesman, was pleasant and was not a jerk when we finally declined. Dolphin Day! Finished with the timeshare guy and soon after we were picked up at the resort by a van full of vacationers and headed to Dolphin Discovery Puerto Aventuras Location. Have to admit I was secretly pleased when the other vacationers in the van were amazed at our location and the quaintness and hominess of the neighborhood. Got in, got our life vests, masks and snorkels and made our way to our portion of the lagoon with our dolphin trainer and a family of four from Spain. Too much fun! Only got pics as we walked in. We forgot the underwater camera so we put the digital camera in a locker with our clothes. Plus I'm at work (ssshhhh - can't let the boss know that my frantic typing isn't for him) and the picture of us "hugging" the dolphin is on my home computer. [/IMG] [/IMG] We pet the dolphins, “hugged” the dolphins, kissed the dolphins and we all got to do a foot push where the two dolphins come up behind and each pushes with their nose from the bottom of one of your feet and you rise up out of the water and they propel you along for a bit. We also did a dorsal swim where the dolphins allow you to grab their dorsal fins and they take you for a ride. It was all very exhilarating and fun, as well as funny. We ate a quick lunch lagoon side. We had found an internet deal a while back that allowed us to swim with the manatees as well. They’re very gentle and friendly (no teeth!!!). We fed them lettuce leaves and snorkeled in their lagoon along with a sting ray (barb removed – no Steve Irwin mishaps for us!). The trainer that was with us attached a few squid to a 3 foot circular net that we all gathered around and hung on to and the sting ray swam on to the net that was slightly submerged and allowed us to pet him topside and bottom side as he gently flapped his body and ate the squid. Somewhat surreal experience. The video of our dolphin experience was hilarious (our expressions throughout ranged from delight to fright) but we declined to purchase and instead opted for a nice shot of Al & I “hugging” the dolphin together. Made it back to the resort and conked out. The food at the AI was actually better than I expected and we usually ate there. If there is a next time for us, we’d skip the AI part and hit all the fabulous eating establishments we’ve heard so much about. I feel like we really missed out on some great food. Tuesday, July 1 Another relaxing day enjoying the beauty of Playa del Carmen. Once again, spent the day going from the ocean, to the pool, to the Jacuzzi, etc. Alison and Brad picked up two bicycles from the hotel and biked in to town. My lovely daughter almost got hit by a taxi when she absentmindedly blew through a stop sign. This was the day of our 30th wedding anniversary so later on we got cleaned up and headed to Yaxche for our anniversary dinner. The four of us posing in front of Fisherman [/IMG] Al & I at the table in the garden at Yaxche [/IMG] Alison & Brad [/IMG] Our concierge had called the previous day to make reservations for us and she told them it was our anniversary. She gave us a VIP card to take with us. The staff at Yaxche was more than accommodating and led us to the gorgeous outdoor garden area. Cocktails all around! The guys ordered Montejo beer and Alison & I had to try the Mayan drinks. I had the “Absolutly Maya” – a mixture of vodka, fruit juices and muddled chaya leaves. It was really good. Alison had the “Kohunlich” – a blend of Xtabentun, rum, lime & sugar. We weren’t so sure at first but as you sip this drink, the delicious Mayan licorice flavored liqueur really grows on you. We ordered a combination appetizer plate. It contained a soft shrimp taco with a black mole sauce on it (hated the black mole), an Xcatic pepper filled with cochinita pibil (very good and very spicy), a Mayan style tamale with pumpkin seeds and chaya (kind of dry), a corn cobbette called Nal (I thought it tasted somewhat raw) and lobster chunks marinated in sour orange and peppers on a fried tortilla (pretty good). Then we moved on to our main courses. I ordered a small plate of jicama, cucumber and fruit that was marinated in lemon & spices. It was very good and refreshing and we shared that along with our dinners. I had the whole fish dinner – it was Grouper. It was marinated in sour orange and spices and grilled on a banana leaf. Very, very tender and it was dark enough that it didn’t bother me to look down at a whole fish on my plate with its fins still on. Al had the grilled lobster and it was delicious – very sweet and succulent and you could taste the citrus it was cooked with. Alison had the Caribbean shrimp dish and she was a happy camper, while Brad enjoyed the chicken breast marinated in sour orange, chiles and onions. A little too much alcohol – cocktails, beer, wine during dinner, the Mayan kiss and the Mayan Sacrifice. We tried but weren't too successful in getting shots of the food. Too dark, too blurry, too much to drink - take your pick. Here's the lobster dish called Caribbean Diva [/IMG] And the shrimp dish called Ixchel [/IMG] We were then brought something called a Mayan Kiss. The VIP card our concierge gave us entitled each of us to a Mayan Kiss. It was some sort of alcoholic concoction – I truthfully don’t remember much about it. Maybe by now the different drinks we were all sampling had taken effect. The next thing I know the waiters come out with a piece of cake with a candle in it on a plate that read Happy 30th Anniversary. The waiters even sang to us. [/IMG] Walking in to this restaurant Alison & I had already decided that we would get the Mayan Sacrifice. It’s a mixture of tequila, cointreau, Kahlua and xtabentun and they flambé it in to your mouth! One waiter covers you in a large cloth napkin and covers your hair with another. Any fool would have said forget it at this point, right? Then he places a funnel filled with ice in your mouth (think beer bong). The other waiter takes the mixture and lights it on fire and pours it from high in the air in to another metal gravy boat thing and from there, pours it in to the funnel and down your throat it goes. It was hilarious! I went first. Prepping the Mayan Sacrifice [/IMG] Kathy's first! [/IMG] Then it was Alison’s turn. She couldn’t finish it all so Brad elected to finish it off. Alison - Chug, chug, chug [/IMG] Brad pulling from his beer bong memories [/IMG] Of course we had to oblige the photographer and purchase the cheesy, touristy pictures he took. Each couple got a tequila bottle with our pictures on it and then a framed picture with the four of us. [/IMG]

07-24-2008	#5 (permalink)
OregonNative way into it Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Oregon Posts: 139	OMG.. the Mayan Sacrifice sounds crazy. Being poured down your throat do you even taste any of it?? Great trip report

07-25-2008	#7 (permalink)
Debbielasvegas life=playa Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Las Vegas 1999-2010 Luxembourg 2010 - present Posts: 870	AWESOME trip report!! Looking forward to more installments.

07-25-2008	#8 (permalink)
bethh beachaholic Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada for now... wink wink nudge nudge Posts: 374	Great report!!!! I can't wait to hear the rest!

07-25-2008	#9 (permalink)
HAWKEYE reposado Join Date: May 2007 Location: Windsor Hts. Iowa Posts: 1,362	Wow. sounds like you guys are doing it all. Great report. Craig.

07-25-2008	#10 (permalink)
maestranba añejo Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Connecticut Posts: 4,102	Awesome report and pics!! That tour sounds like a ton of fun. Lots of cool places for snorkeling AND the zipline! I bet you were all pretty tired after that fun day!

07-25-2008	#11 (permalink)
kmnarizona very sparkly Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Home of the Wildcats ~ Tucson, AZ Posts: 25	You know, we’d been planning the trip for a year and while I was excited about the trip, I wasn’t THRILLED like Alison was. And I think that’s because I had never been there and didn’t know what to expect. But then she had me start reading this forum and my excitement grew. I learned so much from this forum and thoroughly enjoyed reading other people’s trip reports so I am really excited to be posting my own.

07-25-2008	#13 (permalink)
kmnarizona very sparkly Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Home of the Wildcats ~ Tucson, AZ Posts: 25	Thursday, July 3 Brad and Alison went downstairs to pick up the free 2-day car rental. I guess it wasn’t free – we paid with 2 hours of vacation time while listening to the time share salesman. Oh well. Al wanted to sleep and hang out in the Jacuzzi as he was pretty worn out from the day before so he told us to have fun, don’t worry about him and he’d see us later. We gathered up a few things and took off in the car. We decided it was time to check out Mamitas. Alison & Brad had been there on their last trip but thought it would be fun to go again. The beach was pretty crowded but it didn’t take long for us to find a palapa with some chaise lounges underneath. The waiter took our order and before long Brad had a Dos Equis and Alison and I each had a michelada. I say “before long” but it did take a while to get our drinks. Funny how the topless girls on the beach got their drink orders delivered very quickly and the waiters were oh so attentive to them. I have a great picture of me on a chaise lounge under a palapa but can’t post it because there’s a girl in the picture sitting next to me and she’s topless. Gotta follow the forum rules about pictures with nudity. Busy beach at Mamitas [/IMG] Thought this was funny - a woman buried in the sand [/IMG] Well, we ended up ordering some food too. Ordered guacamole & chips, shrimp cocktail or ceviche (don’t remember what they called it) and fried calamari. The guac was fantastic but the shrimp cocktail/ceviche was horrible and the calamari was really tough. [/IMG] Alison and I were intrigued by the menu listing of banana margaritas so we ordered one each. Mistake – it was nasty. We made our way through about ½ of it before giving up and ordering more micheladas to wash away the flavor of the banana margaritas. All in all we spent a few hours there before heading back to Fisherman. Relaxed and hung out with Al. Dinner at the resort – we were finally getting tired of the food there. They have beautiful displays, pretty good quality and a large selection but we became burnt out on it. They had theme nights; Italian, Chinese, Mediterranean, etc. Most was very good – in fact earlier in the day I was craving mussels. Lo & behold – it was Italian night at the resort and one of the pasta dishes was kind of like a cioppino and there were tons of mussels in it! We weren’t impressed with the Chinese food night though. Alison and I ventured out after dinner to hit the grocery store again. This time we decided to go to Chedraui. We wandered a bit, checked out the grocery aisles and of course, we wouldn’t be women if we didn’t go through the shoe and purse departments. Picked up a few things, found the Hot Nuts!!!, and then went to the ice cream shop within Chedraui. Alison got a cone with Neapolitan ice cream and I had Dulce de Leche ice cream in a waffle bowl. Huge servings of delicious, creamy ice cream for a really good price. Thank God we never indulged at one of the Hagen Daz locations on 5th. Later we went out again in the rental car and decided to just park the damn thing in the valet parking just outside of the gated neighborhood where the resort is and right at the south end of 5th. Walked 5th, taking in the sights again. Stopped at the Beer Bucket and turned in our license plates (one old Arizona plate Al had from a vehicle he bought in 1973 and Alison’s fairly new Arizona plate she kept after going with a specialized plate). Got our t-shirts and free beers!!! Spent a bit of time there having a few drinks & shots and then walked back to the valet parking and headed back to the resort. We decided that driving the streets of Playa in a rental car was not the way to go. We were much better off going by taxi and not having to worry about the responsibility of a car (parking, crazy taxi drivers, etc) so the rental got parked in the resort lot and never came out again. Before we went on this trip Alison and I had planned to go to the fire show at the **** on this particular evening. I was really excited about it but when I realized it just wasn’t going to happen I had a little melt down. I guess it was because this was a vacation of a lifetime to me and in my mind I had this mental checklist going of the things I really wanted to do and that was one of the things. So I was given time to have my little melt down and then everything was fine. There, I said it. I was a baby and now it’s all done. I've noticed that it appears we are grocery store fans. That may be true but you have to admit, a grocery store in any country besides your own can be pretty interesting.

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07-25-2008	#15 (permalink)
kmnarizona very sparkly Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Home of the Wildcats ~ Tucson, AZ Posts: 25	Friday, July 4 Had a lazy morning having breakfast and relaxing on the beach/in the pool/in the Jacuzzi. The activity directors at Fisherman are fantastic. They are extremely personable with adults and kids alike. Anyway – one of the guys built sand castles and figures with the kids. Here’s a shot of a mermaid they built [/IMG] And here he is posing with the kids who helped him make this gorilla [/IMG] Shots of parachuters coming down and landing on an area of beach next to Fisherman [/IMG] A little later in the day we got ready and headed out for the 4th of July party at Bad Boy’s. Found a table in the sand, paid our cover charge and sat back to eat the roast pig and delicious side dishes that the locals had brought for the party. Enjoyed some great music and people watching. [/IMG] [/IMG] Isn’t it written somewhere in the forum rules that you must post a picture of Jez? Here’s my own little paparazzi shot of this Playa forum celebrity [/IMG] Later we all went to 5th for a bit and were all planning to hit the Beer Bucket to check out our plates on the wall. Alison started feeling sick along the way so she and Brad turned around to grab a taxi back to the resort. Al & I made our way to the Beer Bucket and took a couple of pictures and then went back home to check on Alison. Al next to his old school AZ plate issued in 1973 [/IMG] Alison's AZ plate [/IMG] And a blurry picture of the wall with the living Beer Bucket fixture (can't remember his name) [/IMG] Hung out doing our usual beach/pool/Jacuzzi thing for a while when we realized we hadn’t picked up any souvenirs for the fam back home. Al was done for the night but now that Alison was feeling better we had to hit up 5th again. Looked at a few shops and was unimpressed with the regular tourist crap. Earlier at Bad Boys I saw someone wearing a Bomberos t-shirt and the guy told me where I could find one on 5th. I searched and searched but didn’t have any luck. I really wanted to buy one for Al. Oh well – off to the Beer Bucket. Par-tay!!! That place was busting at the seams. We found a spot upstairs and had a few beers and tequila shots. Tracked down Big Al in his 4th of July finery and told him we wanted to buy Beer Bucket logo shirts. He came back with an assortment but by the time he reached us upstairs, half of the inventory was picked off and purchased along the way. At that point he told me to go with him to the storage room so another patron that wanted shirts and I went with him. We picked out all the shirts we wanted and I made my way back upstairs with SEVEN shirts. We were going to make all the family members happy with those shirts! We hung out for a little while and then made our way to the Tequila Barrel for some great mojitos and people watching. We spotted a grandmother, grandfather, teenage granddaughter and huh? one of the young activity directors at Fisherman all sitting together at a streetside table at the Tequila Barrel. Interesting….it looked like a chaperoned date. Especially interesting since one day at the resort we saw the teenage girl and the young activity director take off down the beach together and come back quite some time later all sandy and making eyes at each other. Young love or what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico? You be the judge. Shortly after, our favorite Fisherman bartender Miguel and his buddy from the resort came strolling along. We talked for a minute but they were on their way to a disco. Earlier, we had told them we’d be at the Beer Bucket and that they should join us. They were unfamiliar with the Beer Bucket so they just started walking 5th and happened upon us. After a couple of mojitos and another Cuban inspired drink that uses lots of lime instead of mint, we hit the road. Walking along we realized (or maybe it was a drunken AHA! moment when we saw the swings) we never sat in swings at a bar and there was a bar with swings!! Yeah, we were feeling the alcohol at this point and just HAD to sit in the swings. They were out of mint so that meant no mojitos. So it was micheladas all around! And shots of tequila! This place had dollar bills glued to the ceiling and walls. So Alison and I each pulled out a dollar and the bartender gave us black Sharpies so we could write on the bills. We each wrote our drunken message and the bartender covered the back of the bills in glue and we slapped them on a pole by the bar. So we’re “permanently” in Playa – with license plates and dollar bills. Finally it was time to go so we caught a cab back to the resort to get some sleep.