The Riviera Maya

Our first morning waking up with fresh, warm Caribbean air whisking by our smiling faces as we meandered out onto our patio was exceptional! We liked it much better than the day before - waking up at 5 am to head to the airport! We were able to sleep in, wake up to a quiet room rather than our Mad Lily Pad alarm clock, and view lush, tropical gardens when we opened the curtains rather than desert cold Wyomin' :) And since we arrived after dark and went straight to our room after checking in, we were really curious to see this place!

Our room was basically divided into two main parts

bed & bath (with sitting area) was on one side and then ...

The other side had the kitchen, dining area, and living room

Our suite had all glass doors on the north side so when we wanted to open  all the curtains, the whole side of the suite was open to lush jungle garden views

patio furniture

patio pool

view to the left of our patio

view to the right

A few groceries - it was interesting to see some recognizable
 name brands mixed in with all the other options

Breakfast

Fresh Pineapple and 'yoghurt liquido' (reminded us of our missions)

Map of the resort

Then we started a little self-guided tour of the property

Ah, beautiful... and warm... and peaceful

It was hard to get a good picture that really showed how huge they were but there were huge palms all over as we left our building to venture out

The pool closest to our room has a nice sandy beach, it's called the "Grand Mayan" pool

It was a large pool with lots of lounge chairs and large shade umbrellas, a couple islands of shrubbery, a couple of cabanas, a few tables & chairs, a bar where we got our virgin strawberry pina coladas, and a few other things

The pool overlooks a green lake
surrounded by trees

And a little gazebo where you can look out over the lake or the pool

A "river" pool ran alongside the sidewalk between the main pool and the Grand Mayan pool (which we pass to go back to our room) so we saw this view quite often

Here is another pool over by the lobby

Sort of a winding pool that covers a lot of area and continues on for awhile

Outdoor couches just outside one of the main buildings

View from the couch

Obligatory selfie :)

Now off to lunch at 'The Blue Fish'
(Love the open air restaurants everywhere!!)

Mahi-mahi tacos

Hamburguesa con papas fritas

7 types of hot sauce condiments to go along with packages of mustard, ketchup, and mayonnaise - yep, we're in Mexico :)

So green...everywhere!!

They had a lot of these beds spread out all over the resort next to the pools

They were really comfortable! :)

But we had some exploring to do! So after a quick stop off and wardrobe change after lunch, and maybe a couple of minutes of relaxing in our room :) we were back to explore mode! :) 

They provided a lot of shade - nice for walking, not so great for photos :)

Everywhere was so beautiful though,

  even if the camera can't quite replicate it!

I thought the serpent statue was a cool idea. 

When we got to the front we realized it was eating someone... uh, fun? :)

The main pool or sometimes referred to as the "Mayan Palace" pool

It was...e-nor-mous!!!

One of the restaurants overlooking the main pool area, although you can also just sit at the pool and wait for a waiter to come to you :)

As the night sky begins to ease its way in, the lights come on...

giving everything a slight glow

What a wonderful day and we really didn't even do much :)
It was peaceful, beautiful, and relaxing...everything we wanted! And we definitely liked our choice of resorts! It is beautiful here!!