cancun, mexico - july 10-16, 2006
July 30th, 2006 marked our one year wedding anniversary. Having barely recovered from the wedding, Costa Rican honeymoon, and the new house, we were hardly thinking about our anniversary celebration last October. That was until our friends Ben and Caressa announced their destination wedding plans for the upcoming summer. Cancun, Mexico, huh? Not a bad choice for a wedding . . . or a one year anniversary trip! With the images of white sands, blue surf and palm trees tempting us for a second consecutive summer, it wasn't a difficult decision to make.
Neither McLean nor myself had ever been to Mexico prior to this trip, and my guess is that Cancun has to be far better than some border town on the Rio Grande. One twist on this trip was the accommodations: an all-inclusive (eat as much as you want until you feel like a beached whale) resort, the Moon Palace Golf and Spa. The Moon Palace isn't actually in the "Hotel Zone" where most of the Cancun hotels are. Rather, this sprawling resort, which has 2200 guest rooms, is located five miles south of the city on a secluded strip of beach.
Monday
We arrived at the small Cancun airport without incident, and our first real introduction to Mexico occurred after stepping outside the terminal. A mob of taxi drivers, shuttle vans and rental cars looked more like a scene at the Baghdad airport. After successfully fending off taxi drivers trying to haul our bags off to their cars, we found our pre-arranged transportation and left the chaos behind. A short time later, we turned into the entrance of the Moon Palace.
The long entrance road led through nearly a mile of dead, hurricane-ravaged timber. Ben and Caressa had informed us that although the resort had re-opened, damage from the previous year's Hurricane Wilma was still widely visible. Fortunately the dead trees were the only signs at the resort of the destruction that took place.
Of course our first afternoon in Cancun the clouds had to roll in and settled down for the night, wiping out any chance of hitting the pool. Nevertheless, we met up with two other couples I went to grad school with and immediately began gorging ourselves in true "all-inclusive" style.
Before I proceed, now would be a fine time to tell you that the Moon Palace has 17 different restaurants scattered throughout the resort. If that's not enough to make Jenny Craig proud, I don't know what is. Just so you can keep score ...
Monday dinner: 5 course Italian cuisine, accompanied by a few bottles of fermented grape juice.
Tuesday
One of my objectives for this trip was to plant myself in a lounge chair by the pool, sip frozen tropical beverages, sleep, turn an occasional page, and sleep some more. Tuesday was all that. Seriously, there's really nothing else to write about Tuesday. Well okay, we played some mini-golf, but that's about it.
Tuesday dinner: Asian, including our first taste of sushi . . . interesting stuff.
Wednesday
Wenesday was nearly a repeat performance of Tuesday. The weather was perfect for a second day in a row, and knowing that we would be busy the rest of the week, we again molded ourselves into the shape of a lounge chair. Exciting stuff, huh?
Wednesday dinner: International buffet
Thursday
Thursday was our first trip off of the resort. Our soon-to-be-wed friends planned this day for a trip to Isla Mujeres, a tiny island just off the coast from Cancun. Given that nearly 80 people had ventured down to Cancun for the wedding, our group rocked this trip out from the first minute. We boarded a party boat at the infamous Fat Tuesdays in the Hotel Zone. Our boat staff showered us with loud music, bountiful beverage and hilarious skits as we made our way 30 minutes through the Carribbean. I had only seen the bright blue waters of the Carribbean in photos, so to see it in person was exciting. (If only the waters of local Lake Wylie looked that good!)
Upon arrival at the island, McLean and I elected to go on a snorkeling adventure. We were taken 15 minutes out and then tossed into warm sea water. Just as in Costa Rica, the coral wasn't in bloom in July so the sea life wasn't as abundant as it can be. Nevertheless, we saw lots of colorful fish and even held a starfish retrieved from the sea floor. Best of all, I didn't ralph my guts out this time as I did in Costa Rica. Thanks Dramamine!
After the snorkeling, we rejoined the others on the island for more lounge chair action on the beach, lunch, and water volleyball in the surf. A crazy rickety wooden waterslide also was fun, though the ride nearly ends in disaster since it was built too near the adjoining boat dock. Ah well, it adds to the sense of adventure!
After lunch, our party boat staff picked us up from the beach and took us to another part of the island for - you guessed it - shopping. The women onboard couldn't wait to go haggle at the jewelry stores. The men on board couldn't wait to go haggle with the Cuban cigar dealers. And I, since I don't smoke and don't give a rat's behind about jewelry, couldn't wait to leave the shopping behind! Fortunately we weren't docked at the village for long. McLean did find a couple of souvenirs and jewelry items and claims she got a deal. Suuuuure! But still, walking through the narrow streets and open shops was a cool cultural experience, if not a bit intimidating. Vendors yell out, motioning for you to step foot inside their shop and browse their wares. In a weird way the chaos and clutter reminded me of, say, K-Mart.
Following the shopping, our party boat returned us to Cancun. On the way off the boat, McLean calculated the currency exchange wrong in her head and accidentally tipped the staff ten times what she meant to. Oops. At the time I wasn't amused, but looking back it was pretty funny when I asked her why she tipped them $20. Ole!
Thursday dinner: Exhausted from the trip, we ordered shrimp and burgers from the room service staff. Excellent shrimp, I might add.
Friday
Just in case Thursday wasn't enough culture for the week, we selected Friday as Mexican History Day. For you geographiclly challenged ones, Cancun is located on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, a strip of landing jutting out into the western Carribbean Sea. The peninsula is an historically rich region dating back to settlements by the Mayans. Within a three hour drive of Cancun are several preserved Mayan ruins, the most recognizable of which is Chichen-Itza. That's Chichen, not Chicken.
We boarded a bus at the resort about 7am and headed west towards Chichen-Itza. Along the way, our guide gave us lots of insight into Mexico's agriculture, road system, and tourism industry. In particular, the tourism industry in the Yucatan peninsula exploded with the rapid growth of Cancun during the 1980s and 90s. Infrastructure, including toll roads, was improved and even the native Mayans, most of whom only spoke Mayan languages, began learning Spanish to promote commerce.
Okay, enough learning for now. As we exited the toll road towards Chichen-Itza, we passed by a field of tequila plants. Unfortuately I didn't have my camera ready in time or you'd see that posted here too. Sweet. A few minutes later the bus rolled to a stop in a tiny Mayan village. We were given an hour to roam through some shops where hand-crafted Mayan art was for sale. Hey, this was far more interesting than following McLean through Express! McLean and I even had a hand-painted wall-hanging made that has the date of our wedding in the Mayan calendar.
After the shopping, it was time for the good stuff. A few miles past the village we finally reached the ruins at Chichen-Itza. Our guide inundated us with Mayan history, but the coolest parts were the ruins themselves. In years past visitors were permitted to walk up, over and into the ruins. For some reason it took the Mexicans a while to figure out the long-term damage of such foot traffic, but unfortunately for us they figured it out just in time. It would have been cool to walk up and into the temples as others have done in the past. Nonetheless, it was amazing to stare at a structure built 500 years ago.
Our bus ride home was uneventful, except for when the bus began smoking and broke down in the middle of a Mexican desert. Fortunately another tour bus jammed us on board and we completed the trip with people sitting on drink coolers in the aisles. Ole!
Friday dinner:
Brazilian, with meat served at the table right from skewers. I started off with two pieces of meat from each skewer. That was through the first four before I realized there were about eight more types of meat to go. Eek! In the end, I managed at least one bite of each. Too bad there's no prize for doing so.
Saturday
Saturday was wedding day. We spent the morning by the pool before changing into formal wedding attire (i.e. khakis and linen shirt). It was an outdoor wedding, and although shaded by a pavilion, it was still hotter than blazes. That wouldn't have been so bad except that the priest was 45 minutes late. Nevertheless, attending a tropical wedding on the beach was awesome. Maybe next time. Ahem :)
Following the wedding reception, we met with the newlyweds and other friends for a final night of dancing in Cancun. It was a fitting end to a wonderful week. Catching up with friends, attending a wedding and celebrating our one year anniversary made for quite a week, but we had a blast and are thoroughly glad we went. Just don't start asking about next year . . . I'm still unpacking.
But wait, there's more! For a limited time, click the link below to view BONUS photos from our trip to Mexico! Hurry, supplies are endless!
