Trip Ramble Part I

[jtm1631]

CAUTION CAUTION The following is a lengthy and oft times rambling trip report. I have not taken the time to read through this (it’s just too long) and it may be filled with errors and inconsistencies. Bumper once said that a trip report could ramble on as long as it wanted to. Well Bumper, you may want to change your tune on that one. And now with out further ado, let the trip ramble begin…

Not much excitement in this trip report. When traveling with the three kids, most days were exactly the same. Hot, humid, beautiful and filled with water activities. Travelers were me (John), my wife Julie and Hayley 10, Casey 6 and Jillian (Jilly) 3.


We left for the airport on Friday morning at 6:15 AM. Easy drive to the airport, parked in long term parking and made it to the American Airlines terminal in plenty of time. We had originally planned on each taking a carry on bag and no checked luggage. This plan changed when we decided to take two booster seats for the kids which we would also need to carry on. We fit all of our clothes into one suitcase and made life a bit easier.

Check-in at airport was quick and easy. Had all of our seats already booked through American’s online system. All five of us travel on passports due to frequent trips to Ireland to visit my mother in-law. Flight down was uneventful other than the musical chairs the kids seemed to play. Direct flight from Chicago to Cancun is only 3 ½ hours so not a long stretch. Time was occupied with portable DVD player, ipod’s , books, and ring pops.

Arrive in Cancun and begin preparing the kids for the anticipated wait through immigration. Explain to the kids that it took over 1 ½ hours when Julie and I came down in May and that we may then have to wait for our suitcase. Walk into immigration area and it is completely empty. Takes us only as long as the walk through the maze and to the first available immigration office. So far, so good. Next to get the suitcase. Walk into the carousel area and see the bag sitting outside about to be put on the conveyer. Two minutes later we have the suitcase and we are walking out the door. We meet our driver (arranged through James and Anna). Our driver informs us it will be about 10 minutes as he has to go and get the van. Why he was not parked with all the other vans I’m not sure, but no worries, we are on vacation and we made it from the plane to the van in about 5 minutes.

As we are standing in the shade waiting for the van we realize just how hot and humid it is. With sweat pouring off our faces we decide the purchase of a bottle of water would be a great idea. Using some left over Pesos from our last trip I purchase one bottle of water and walk back to the girls. Now begins the first spat. It seems Casey has decided she wants her own bottle of water. Immediately upon hearing this, Jillian decides she wants her own. Share or go thirsty, those are your options. Van arrives and we make the 40 minute ride to Calle 8 and the beach for our stay at Playa Maya. Arrive at the reception desk and Delmy is there greeting us with a warm welcome and a smile.

Delmy can see that the girls are hot and tired and takes us straight to our rooms before filling out the necessary paper work. The girls are happy to get into the air conditioning and lie down on the beds. Thank you Delmy. After a brief rest we head down to grab some food, some drinks and to take care of the check-in process (all of about 5 minutes).

The girls are very excited to be sitting in the sand and playing while waiting for lunch. Now when I say the girls I mean Casey and Jillian. Hayley at this point is trying to restrict her movement because of the heat.

We immediately realize at this point just how hot and humid Mexico is in August (sound familiar?). I’m not a big fan of the heat, but I can usually get by. My general idea is to not move if it is too hot. Kids on the other hand don’t always now better. Once we got settled in on Friday we went out for dinner at Da Bruno and realized just how this trip would go. By the time dinner came around, the kids were hot, hungry, tired and CRANKY. Now by the time dinner came around the adults were hot, hungry, tired and CRANKY. This is not a good combination. See adults understand “Mexican Time”. Jilly kept asking where her food was. “There making it sweety” “What’s taking sooo looong?” “It hasn’t been that long Jilly” “Why is it so hot in here?” “There’s no air conditioning, just relax” “I have to go potty” Now we all now what girls are like right? None of them can go to the bathroom alone. So once one says they need to go, they all have to go. So, here goes the parade of three daughters and one mom on the way to find the bathroom at Da Bruno. Food arrived and it was very good. Pizza and Pasta for the kids and enough variety to keep the adults interested. This would not be our last meal at Da Bruno. As we are walking home Casey has suddenly remembered that she refuses to walk on vacations (and frequently at home). Now Casey now’s how to play this game. We tell her if she doesn’t walk than we are going to leave her. We begin walking down 5th Ave. and leave Casey behind. Casey meanwhile could care less. She just stands there looking around as if there are no problems. Head back for Casey and pick her up. If there is anything worse than walking in the August Mexican heat, it is walking in the August heat carrying a 55 pound 6 year old. This will also become a theme for us. Walking down 5th Ave. sweating, carrying Casey.

After dinner strolls in PDC for this family mean only one thing, all roads lead to Ciao Gelato. No need to use our Playa Info Cards tonight, we will be back before this trip is done, in fact we will be back before this weekend is done. We get our Gelato and stroll back to Playa Maya on the beach.

Now here is where all of the days turn into one. The restaurants change, but the activities are pretty much the same day after day. We wake up about 6:00 AM Saturday and the kids are hungry and ready to go. Breakfast at Playa Maya doesn’t start until 8:00 so we have some time to kill. We entertain the kids in the room for an hour or so and then I hit the streets trolling for food. Sometimes I head south, sometimes north, but the destination is always the same – Breakfast Pastries. Every morning I am out seems to be too early for the Panaderia on 5th south of Calle 6. I regret this every day I walk by and see the place closed. Java Joe’s is always a good destination. So is the small café on the corner of 5th and Calle 4 I believe. Grab some grub and head back to the room. I enjoy these early mornings since the heat is not too bad. One morning Hayley and walk down to the new pier along the beach, a couple morning’s I hit the bike in the exercise room at Playa Maya. After our morning snack we lather the kids and ourselves up in sunscreen and hit the beach. Most mornings we are out by 8:00 or 8:30. There are two reasons for this, the first is we’re up early any way, the second is to try and beat the heat.

Morning’s on the beach include playing in the sand and the water. We bought some sand toys and flotation devices in PDC and they were all way over priced. Not a big deal, but if you think you will need these items and have the room in your luggage buy them in advance. We also discovered that sunscreen and salt water are a deadly mix with our kids eyes. Jilly and Casey had so much trouble with their eyes the first day it was hard to get them to agree to put on Sunscreen after that. We went out and bought some Baby Faces sunscreen in PDC (also very expensive) and things were fine after that. I recommend this for everyone with kids. Not only was it a problem for their eyes, but with the heat the kids pores opened up and the regular sunscreen seemed to sting their faces a bit more in PDC than at home.

We all know about the changing beach conditions in PDC. The exposure of rocks in front of Playa Maya between our May trip and now was surprising. This in now way had any impact on our enjoyment of the hotel or PDC. We in fact enjoyed all the rocks in front of the hotel because it created small pools of water between the rocks that the kids could play in, get water from for their sand castles and look at the small fish that seek the shelter of the “tide pools”. When we wanted to go into the water we walked 50 feet in either direction and had a sandy path into the water. We would play in the water and on the beach for awhile and then walk 10 feet over to sit down and order breakfast. After breakfast we would play on the beach some more until about 12:00 or 1:00. By this time it was getting very hot and we all would need a break from the sun. We would retreat to the sanctuary of our air conditioned rooms and pop a movie on the portable DVD player for the kids. Here is another reason why I like Playa Maya so much. The TV’s Steve provides have front inputs for video and audio. This allowed us to run the DVD player through the TV in the kids room and let them veg for an hour or so to cool down and wind down.

Julie and I would use this time to relax, clean up and decide where we were going for lunch. This is where the print out of the PDC Restaurant List came in handy. Our best lunch that we had was at La Casa de Piedra on Calle 6th. We were the only Gringo’s in there and the only ones who spoke any English. We managed to communicate enough with our waiter to indicate we wanted to avoid spicy food and ordered two chicken dishes and two steak dishes. We hit the bulls eye with one of the chicken dishes and one of the steak dishes. The good chicken was in an orange sauce and was moist and delicious. The better of the two steak dishes was strips of meat with onions. So good it is making my mouth water as I type this. The meals came with soup (unbelieavable good even in 100 degree heat), rice, beans, the entrée and the fruit drink for 35 pesos. The only part we did not have was the fruit drink, we decided to stick with bottled drinks. I can not recommend this place enough as it was some of the best food we had the entire week and certainly the least expensive.

After lunch we would head back to the room and go through the sunscreen and bathing suit routine again. This time when we headed down it was pool activities instead of the beach. Here again I love Playa Maya. The pool is nice and small so we can be near all three kids at all times and there is always a portion of the pool that is completely shaded.

After two or three hours in the pool we would all head back up to the room to clean up and get ready for dinner. No memorable meals to speak of at dinner. We had more good food at Da Bruno and a great steak and some good lobster at La Paella / Viva La Voca on 5th Ave just south of 8th. Every day was pretty much the same, beach in the morning and pool in the afternoon / evening. Some days we had lunch in the room from the Playa Maya restaurant, some nights we had pizza in the room from Da Bruno.

The only day that was different for us was Tuesday when Hayley and I went on the Tulum & Cenotes tour with James. We all have read countless reports about what happens on this tour and how wonderful James is. No difference here. The only thing I would add is how great all of the other people on the tour were. James and Anna do a great job with this site, but what makes it far superior to the other boards is the type of people that post here. That carries over to the tour. All of these great people are now in a small group going on a tour. We met Kustom Kenny and three of his traveling partners from Alabama, a family from Vancouver and a family from Toronto. Hayley was happy to meet Alishia a 10 year old girl from Toronto who was traveling with her brother and her parents Debby and Michael. The group from Vancouver (Lindsey, Rob and their son Gilbert) were also staying at Playa Maya. If I got anybody’s name wrong I’m sorry, I’m not the best with names. Great time with great people.

We also celebrated Jilly’s 3rd birthday in Playa on Sunday August 8th. A huge thank you to Delmy and Steve (well Delmy really) for arranging for the fabulous birthday cake for Jillian. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate filling. It fit very nicely in the fridge in our room for several late night snacks once the kids were in bed.

I've just learned this post is too long. I will now break it up into two parts.

[TAPPY]

Mexican Time”. Jilly kept asking where her food was. “There making it sweety” “What’s taking sooo looong?” “It hasn’t been that long Jilly” “Why is it so hot in here?” “There’s no air conditioning, just relax” “I have to go potty” Now we all now what girls are like right? None of them can go to the bathroom alone. So once one says they need to go, they all have to go. So, here goes the parade of three daughters and one mom on the way to find the bathroom at Da Bruno

Great Report JT - and I can sooooooo relate about the potty trips !!!! Cept mine always has to go right when the food gets to the table....

[Critter]

Great report JT, but why so short?

[Ginger]

Great report JT, but did I read "suitcase" singular??? Can that be right? Only one suitcase with three small girls? That's a packing wonder.

[mckinzie]

Once again
job well done on the Trip Reporting JT