Caribbean Vacation - Cancun

Its been a long time coming...

We wanted to go somewhere fun and exciting for our 10 year anniversary! Madelyn was still a bit too young for us to take off in May but we decided as long as we did it before our 11 year anniversary it still counted :)

We researched pretty much everywhere we could think of. We decided we wanted sunny & warm, pools, and relaxing. We realized we liked the idea of tropical jungle more than desert oasis. Eventually, pictures of the Caribbean had us sold, so then began a long process of narrowing down cities & resorts. Ultimately we chose the Grand Mayan in the Riviera Maya (If you want to see pics from our entire trip then you will need to go through older posts as well because we posted each day of our trip as a separate post.)

Tropical jungle, Caribbean Sea, cheap direct flight, and an amazing resort with a long beach, lots of pools, restaurants on-site and close to a cutesy little town full of culture. And highs of 75, lows of 70 didn't hurt :)

Welcome to the airport

Its an interesting place. There are lots of people trying to sell timeshares and lots of people picking up passengers to take them to the hotels and resorts that line pretty much the entire beach from Cancun all the way down to Playa Del Carmen. It is not much of a picture but it was funny to see countless people lined up with all their various signs, waiting for passengers, and it was cool to walk out and see palm trees and feel the warm air :)

Bienvenidos indeed!

We had a plan! (Famous last words huh :)

It started with driving our rental car up to Cancun along the hotel zone (a long strip of land on the beach  with hotels packed in like sardines and consequently where the tourists go), eating lunch on the way, and stopping by a nice beach we had read about.

 Our first view of the Caribbean. 

I like the trees growing out of the sand

Well, not quite as cool as the brochures promised, but better than the bleak shades of Wyoming's browns, yellows, and tans we have reluctantly grown accustomed to :) It was a nice beach, not very crowded either.

And there was an old wooden pier overlooking the water and the hotel zone in the distance

So, we were pretty surprised when driving 10 min. up the coast we ran into another beach (by the same name) ... hmm

 Ah, now this is more like it! The beautiful beach in Cancun we were looking for! Look at that pretty turquoise water!

So we ventured down to check it out

 I love the different shades of blue as the water gets deeper - so pretty!

And so much green in the water too!

And depending on the distance from the water (and the lighting) the green to blue ratio makes a really beautiful turquoise before fading off into a deep blue! Just like the brochures after all! :) 

It would have been fun to stay at the beach all day but we had been traveling since early in the morning and Momma gotta eat! :) ... and go grocery shopping!

It may look like disinterest, but this is actually restful, peaceful, stress leaving the body, sitting down at a restaurant with no children to entertain til the food arrives, no children arguing about who gets to sit by who, no dirty high chair to clean before I put Madelyn in it... just letting go for a minute :)

Ooh, colorful chips!

 Side of Guacamole! I knew I was missing out on something in the states :)

A yummy little dinner in Cancun

We were curious how similar and different a Walmart might be here but rather than eat at restaurants 3 meals a day, we figured we'd buy a few things for breakfast and a couple of lunches.

Plus, we like seeing the locals in their natural habitat :) at least a little bit before we head to the plush resort! :)

Mexican pigs in a blanket - these were gigantic!

 Their mini panaderia inside the bakery section was full of interesting concoctions

 As was their fresh fruits section in the middle of the produce aisles - we mostly stuck with pineapple 

 Their yogurt aisles put ours to shame :)

Up and down the left and right side of the aisle, lots n lots (and lots) of yogurt!

After awhile at Walmart (and buying lots of yogurt), we decided shopping for food was over-rated so after a brief tour of downtown Cancun we drove down the coast of the Riviera Maya to the Grand Mayan to check into the resort and go to bed (yawn) it had been a long day of traveling!  

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!!