Cancun 2017: Speed Boats and Snorkeling

The third full day in Cancun started out pretty chill. We relaxed by the ocean drinking Pina Coladas and Strawberry Daiquiris.

Then after lunch we decided we were ready for another adventure so we headed off for exercursion #2: Speed boats and snorkeling.

Waiting on the pier for everyone else to get there.

Jason drove first as we followed our instructor in a line through a mangrove forest.

It was so fun and beautiful.

Once we arrived at the snorkel spot we tied all the boats together and started putting on our snorkel gear.

Jason goofing off standing on the tip of our boat. He makes a handsome Superman.

All geared up and waiting for the go-ahead to jump in the water.

The snorkeling at this spot was MUCH better than the snorkeling in Xel-Ha. There were actual coral reefs and loads of fish. Plus the water was much clearer.

Most of the fish seemed to have no fear of us and would swim all around. (This is me).

So I was trying to get a cool shot of him where half the camera lens was in the water and the other half was out, but the water was too choppy and it didn't work. But I still love how this picture turned out.

Jason

Me with one of the fearless fish.

Some of the beautiful coral reef.

A school of fish we followed for a little bit.

After snorkeling for about an hour it was time to head back. This time it was my turn to drive the boat.

Our line of boats driving through the mangroves.

Out on the open ocean the water was a lot more choppy.

Having dinner at another restaurant at the resort. See the waitress behind Jason? She was the worst. Most of the waiters we encountered while in Mexico were super nice and courteous. She was not. Maybe she was having a bad night, but she was kind of grumpy and kept getting our orders wrong.

We had asked for our usual strawberry daiquiri (me) and pina colada (Jason) with NO ALCOHOL. She seemed surprised (none of the other waiters were when we made that request) but also seemed to understand. When she came back she had brought Jason two pina coladas (even though he only asked for one) and they were both loaded with alcohol. We could SMELL it. But when he tried to clarify that we asked for no alcohol, she insisted that is what she brought him. So he just set them aside and sipped at his water. My daiquiri was non-alcoholic and great. When I finished my daiquiri she asked if I wanted another and Jason told her that he would like two more pina coladas with NO alcohol. She brought back his drinks and got it right this time! But my daiquiri definitely had alcohol. I just sipped my water and gave up the fight.

The food wasn't that great at that restaurant but have had the desserts there the night before and LOVED them! So I ordered some and the waitress got those orders wrong too. We asked for a caramel crepe and she brought one with cold nutella on it (it wasn't creamy and warm like it should have been). And the sweetened condensed milk drizzled on the churros was super skimpy compared to the generous amount we had the night before. I am convinced she hates us. The last night in Cancun we tried the restaurant again for desserts only and I was a little worried when I saw her working the tables again. But we lucked out and got this super nice gentleman waiter that brought us everything just the way we ordered. Yay!

(This picture is of the lame desserts of the waitress, but you get the idea of the yummy-ness I had to have three nights in a row.)

Cancun 2017: Tulum and Xel-ha

On the bus to our excursion for the day: Mayan ruins and a water park.

There are three different sets of Mayan ruins relatively near Cancun. We opted for the closest that was about an hour away. It's  called Tulum which means "wall" or "fortress".

We had to take a trolley from the parking lot to the entrance of the ruins. It's about a 5-10 minute ride. Jason was trying to take my picture, but at the exact moment Jason leaned out with the camera, our tour guide leaned out too so it looked like I was staring directly at him. It made things awkward so I turned my head before Jason could snap a picture. Haha. Oh well.

I loved all the jungle and green all around us. In Utah people have to plant the trees once they are done building things to make it pretty, and in Cancun they have to carve out space from the trees to build things. It's just so lush and beautiful.

There are five entrances in the wall of Tulum, but only two are in use. The other three are blocked off to visitors. The wall orginially stood about 19 feet to protect the "high society" people living within. Basically it was an ancient gated community.

My handsome hubby

When Tulum was discovered it was completely ran over with jungle. They had to clean it out and restore the grounds for the tourists.

This is the main temple of Tulum.

Tulum is the only Mayan city built on a coast and one of the few protected by a wall. 

It was a seaport trading mainly in jade and turquoise.

We saw iguanas like this guy everywhere! I think he had the best view though. :)

There is a beach you can access from the ruins. They don't encourage a lot of people to go swimming there though because it is a sea turtle refuge. (I didn't see any while we were there.)

It was so beautiful!

So we had a couple hours at Tulum then we were supposed to board the tour bus and head to Xel-Ha (the water park). Jason and I mis-calculated how much time it would take to get back to the bus. By the time we got back to the trolley stop, we had just barely missed a trolley and didn't know how long it would take for the next one to arrive so we decided to just start walking. Unfortunately we were walking in the wrong direction and when we realized our mistake, it was time for the bus to leave. So we turned around and started running in sandals and flip-flops back to the trolley stop, where we missed yet another trolley so ran in the correct direction. By the time we got to the correct parking lot, our bus was nowhere to be found. Thanks to lucky timing, Jason spotted the bus driving away and we were able to flag it down and climb on. All the other passengers cheered for us and the tour guide got on the intercom and announced "mission accomplished". We were DRENCHED in sweat because of the humidity and heat and panting like dogs. But we made it and headed on to our next adventure.

The first thing on our agenda when we arrived at Xel-Ha was to go snorkeling. We found the snorkeling spot and dove in.

The water was a little chilly but you got used to it pretty fast. (Jason can't tell us apart in pictures when we are in snorkel gear, so in case you were wondering this is me pictured.)

Selfie!

The snorkeling here was rather underwhelming. The water was murky from all the people swimming around and kicking up sand. There wasn't a whole lot of rocks or coral so therefore not a ton of fish. But we did have fun swimming around for about 15 minutes checking things out and then we were ready for the next thing.

A lot of the paths to the different activities were paved through the jungle. It made me laugh to see so many trees that they decided to keep and just pave around instead of cutting them down. This was a typical path:

Jason tried out the rope swing several times.

I was too chicken because I heard people commenting about the water being a little cold. Apparently it wasn't too bad.

Walking along the path we would find beautiful scenes like this one. The water was SO CLEAR!

There was a "lazy river" that was so lazy you had to often help yourself along by grabbing branches. But look at how cool this mangrove forest was that we floated through!

I would have loved to do it again, but we ran out of time before I had the chance.

Near the end of the lazy river there were places to cliff jump.

Jason was the brave one.

They also had a ropes course thing. Walking across this rope bridge made me feel a little like I was doing a Survivor challenge. It was definitely HARD. Especially since there were several people walking on it at once so the weight caused the lower rope to dip pretty far and made it hard for me to reach both ropes at once. Plus there were a few guys behind me purposely wiggling the rope and causing me and a girl behind me to completely lose our foothold and hang from the arm rope for a few seconds before we could get our feet back under us. But they did it all in good fun and it was a fun little challenge. Jason was surprised I made it across the whole bridge without falling into the water. He kept looking behind him expecting to see that I had fallen off.

Part of the ropes course included ziplines. You could either choose a swing one that allowed you to sit or a bar to hang onto. The first time across I did the swing one because after the rope bridge my arms were super sore. But they recovered a bit and I was able to do the bar one a couple of times as well.

At that point we were pretty hungry so we ate some delicious BBQ dinner (the water park was all-inclusive so we could eat whenever and whatever we wanted). Right by the food pavilion were some hammocks that we relaxed in for a few minutes before grabbing out stuff from the lockers and heading back to the bus (which we did not miss this time).

That evening at the resort they had a drum and fire show that was entertaining to watch.

Cancun 2017: Arrival and Day 1

We drove up to Brigham City the night before so we could drop off the kids and get a few hours of shut eye ourselves. then we headed to the airport at 3 AM to catch our flight that left at literally the crack of dawn.

I would describe the day we arrived in the Cancun as the day of waiting in lines. There were SO MANY lines! In Salt Lake we waited in line to check our bag, then go thru security. Once we got to Mexico we waited in lines to get off the plane, go through immigration, go through customs, wait for our shuttle to get to the hotel, then wait in a line at the hotel to check into our room. From the time we arrived in Mexico to the time we walked into our hotel room it was about 3 hours. And since a lot of places don't  have air conditioning, IT WAS HOT!

Once we finally arrived, we decided we could not wait in any more lines so we cooled off in our air conditioned room for a little while then headed out to find some food at the hotel.

This is the view from our room.

After dinner we headed to the beach to relax and enjoy the ocean.

I love this man of mine!

The next morning we slept in then headed to breakfast.  The centerpieces at the buffet made me chuckle. It looks like they decorated with dandelions. I am sure they are not, they look a little too full for dandelions, but still.

After breakfast we headed out to do a little shopping in town. Bartering is fun if you know what you are willing to pay and are also willing to walk away if they won't give you that price. It also helped that Jason speaks Spanish.

When we successfully found the souvenirs we wanted, we headed back to the hotel to enjoy the beach some more.

Dinner that night was at my favorite restaurant at the hotel called Maki Taco. It is a combination of Mexican and Japanese cuisine. Sounds like a weird combo, but it was actually super delicious!

I don't remember what each of these were, but these are the appetizers we ordered. Loved all of them.

Since the resort was all inclusive, we got unlimited drinks. My favorite drink to order was a strawberry daiquiri with no alcohol. Jason would always order a pina colada with no alcohol.

That evening we relaxed poolside while listening to a live band. Jason LOVED them. Their songs were really long (like 7-9 minutes each) but were also really fun to listen to.

Here is a sample: