Into the Jungle

We last minute signed up for a half day excursion into the jungle to a wildlife preserve and underground cenote, and I'm so glad we did, because it was so much fun and such a great way to experience a cenote.  We got up early on Saturday and rode buggies to the wildlife preserve.  We got up close to spider monkeys, the Mexican version of warthogs (I can't remember what he called them), deer, 2 different types of loros (parrots), and we even saw jaguar tracks.  I was more than happy to avoid an actual siting of the jaguar. 

The resorts donate their leftover produce to the wildlife preserve. 

This guy welcomed us as we walked up to the gate.

We had the most amazing experience snorkeling in the cenote.  We had the entire cenote to ourselves!

We found really cool cell phone covers you could use under the water, and it was great to use them while we were swimming in the cenote and at the beach all week.

The whole experience was amazing, and we would do it again in a heartbeat. 

Food, Glorious Food

Part of the joy of an all-inclusive resort is the food.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was really surprised by the quality of the food.  There is one main buffet with breakfast, lunch, and dinner hours.  It changed slightly every day and it was fantastic.  Joel spent most of his time at the Mexican section.  He was in heaven with all his favorite foods available in abundance.    There was a second buffet available at the Coba resort.  It was a little bit different than our main buffet, so we went their twice during our stay.  The final night was an Italian-Theme night, so that was pretty fun.  

On the other side of our resort was The Truck.  It has burger, fries, tacos, and other basics with a snack section.  Rebecca and I were thrilled when we found out they had soft served ice cream cones.  This is open all day, closes during dinner hours, and then opens back up for late night snacking until 12:30am.

We had 3 reserved dinners as well.  There are multiple restaurants you an choose from that are located around the 3 connected resorts.  The first reservation we chose Tequila.  It was some of the best Mexican food we've ever had.  It was a buffet and it was delightful.  Joel was in pure heaven.  There was a woman there making fresh tortillas that pretty much just melted in your mouth.  

The avocado crema was my personal favorite, but all the dips were really good.  

I don't typically love Mexican hot chocolate, but this man knows how to make a mean hot chocolate.  It was SO good!

We had such an amazing experience that we chose to return there a second time.  I think we probably shouldn't have tried to recreate it, because it wasn't quite as good the second time.  I think we had too high of expectations.  The third night we chose Nikkei.  It's a Peruvian Japanese fusion restaurant.  It was a four course meal of goodness!  Everything looked just as beautiful as it tasted.  

I particularly liked the dim sum and chicken udon. 

The dulce de leche was also delightful.  Our waiter was amazing, and he really made the evening so wonderful!

One of my favorite things was the free drinks.  On the first day we asked what fun drinks they had that didn't have alcohol, and we quickly realized we could have a lot of the same drinks just without the booze.  The bartenders and waiters all were taken aback each time we asked for drinks without alcohol.  Haha- I think we were the only ones not getting drunk the whole week.  We had piña coladas, strawberry, mango, and lime margaritas, but my absolute favorite was the mojito.   Yum!  I lost count of the number of mojitos I had.  It was so fun, but now I have to detox from all the sugar that was flowing freely through my veins. 

Xichen Itza

 I checked off a bucket list item to finally see Mayan ruins.  They are incredible!  It's two and a half hours into the Yucatan jungle to get there, so we made 2 stops on the way there.  We stopped in the town of Valladolid.  It's a lovely colonial town built in 1543.  The cathedral is actually made out of the stones from Mayan ruins that the Spaniards tore down.  The Mayans had disappeared as a civilization by the time the Spaniards showed up. This area has such an interesting history.

We drove to an open air cenote.  Rebecca and I swam in it and it was SO much fun.  It's over 150 feet deep, so you're required to wear a life jacket. 

From there we headed to Chichen Itza.  I loved learning about the history all over again.  I studied this in depth in college, so it was like visiting with an old friend.  Our guide was fantastic.  Every other sentence was English then Spanish.  He was super talented and knowledgeable, but I know Joel and our friends had a hard time following him sometimes as he switched languages.  

(The platform of Venus)

The White Road was the longest road.  It was a walking path all the way to the ocean in Tulum.

The Mayans worshiped the serpent God Kulkulcan, so you find serpents in a lot of their temples. 

The Mayans had a great interest in Astronomy and they had multiple calendars. 

I love the serpents and jaguars in their stonework. 

This is the largest ball field in this area.  In the later years they adopted the practice of sacrificing the winner of the game (the tradition came from the Aztecs).

This is the temple of their warriors.  Each pillar is a warrior.  They recently found 5 female warriors, so I thought that was pretty cool.

It felt a bit rushed.  I would have loved to spend more time there, but it was still an amazing experience.