We spent our Spring Break week of 2008 in Cancun, Mexico, and here’s a blow-by-blow of our adventure:
Vacation prep started well in advance of the actual trip, back in January. It started by picking a destination – we chose Cancun this year because our buddies, the Hansens, have been several times and really wanted to go together this year; it sounded like fun, so we started shopping trips. Our shopping consisted of surfing different options on the internet, starting at Travel Zoo (at: http://www.travelzoo.com/,) which led us to Book It (at: http://www.bookit.com/,) which led to a pretty great deal on an eight day/seven night stay at the Marriot Casa Magna with airfare from Frontier Airlines.
So, on Saturday, March 8th, we got up at 2:00AM, after a brief night’s nap, got showered, loaded up the car (having packed the night before,) and headed out to the airport in Las Vegas. We flew Frontier airlines – I think it was my first time with them – the flights were just fine, but the check in at the ticket counter was painfully slow. We were traveling with the Hansens but it turned out that they were actually on the 7:00AM flight instead of the 6:00AM flight with us, which we only figured out after we both had our boarding passes. Oops. There was a bit of a snafu with the gate assignments, but at the third gate to which we were sent we actually found our flight all ready to board. We had a brief and thankfully uneventful layover in Denver, Frontier’s major hub. In Cancun we cleared immigration after a loooong line, reminiscent of Miami (hint: go to the line all the way to the right, in both places), found our bags, and passed through customs with a green light. Whew! Outside of customs we were accosted by helpful “tourist information” agents who were really touts for timeshare hotels – we only wasted a minute on them before excusing ourselves. The transfer to the hotel via Best Day tours, which we’d paid for through the Book It website, was at the far end of the hotel bus area, but we found them without any problems and they took us to our hotel in short order. We found that Cancun was pretty busy that week, but not as bad as it would have been next week when the rest of the world takes their Spring Break. As I mentioned before, we stayed at the Marriott Casa Magna, which is a five star hotel/resort out on the “hotel zone,” a narrow strip of beach between the sea and a lagoon, just east off of downtown Cancun. Two hours after we checked in to our hotel and got settled in to our room, the Hansens caught up to us there at the hotel in Cancun. By then it was so late that we barely managed dinner at the “La Shrimp Bucket” across the street from the hotel (fairly nice place, but with small portions and very expensive) and a walk up and down the beach outside our hotel’s back door before dropping dead in bed after a 22-hour long day.
On the 9th we slept in as late as we could, which turned out not to be very late after all. We got ready for the day, grabbed a McDonald’s breakfast across the street (the hotel wanted $20 each for the breakfast buffet), and headed into the center of town to “Mercado 28” where they have the arts and crafts market. While the rest of us shopped souvenirs, Katie and Kinsey got their hair braided. We ate lunch at a little almuerzo booth at the market there – it was yummy. We didn’t end up buying very many souvenirs because the prices there in Mexico, at the heart of the American tourist zone, were so high (at least compared to prices in Bolivia, Bangladesh, and India.) Then we walked around the downtown for a bit, while Robert and Palma reminisced about their adventures as refugees during Hurricane Wilma two years ago – we even visited the hotel where they hunkered down for a week while the storm raged all around them. From there we walked over to Wal-Mart where we bought groceries for our breakfasts for the coming week. That night we actually ate dinner at the hotel restaurant and used up the $100 food voucher that came with our airline/hotel package deal - $100 doesn’t buy much at the Marriott and if we were to do it over again I’d have just gotten the all-you-can-eat salad bar which seemed to be the best value for the buck.
On the 10th we got up and headed straight for the beach, where we spent the whole live-long day. It was a little cloudy, pretty windy, and the sea was very rough, so the hotel was flying their “red flag” which means “no swimming.” So we amused ourselves by finding and collecting interesting sea shells as they washed up on the shore. You had to spot and grab them quickly, before they washed back out with the same wave that had brought them in. We found a lovely selection of shells that are now displayed in our living room (come over and check them out.) That night we caught the local bus and went back downtown for dinner – we ate at the “La Parilla”, a Mexican Grill, and had a very yummy dinner. We all ordered something different and then traded tastes – everything was good.
On the 11th we got up early and took a tour bus to Xcaret, the eco-Disneyland of Mexico. Xcaret is really a Mayan archeological site with a lot of extra attractions built around them. We bought our Xcaret ticket and transportation package deal for $107 each at the little ticket booth at Mercado 28 – Best Day tours wanted $150 each for the same package deal. We opted to start the day with a swim through the underground river – included in our package deal – the whole Yucatan peninsula is a honeycomb of underground rivers. Then we caught a boat out to the barrier reef (second only to the “great” barrier reef off Australia) where the four of us did “snuba”, which is like SCUBA diving except that the air tanks aren’t strapped to your back, they float on a raft on the surface and you have a 20-foot long air hose which both limits your depth and gives you a tether to the surface. So, instead of needing a week to get certified you can go diving with about five minutes of training. While we were under the water we saw an octopus, a 5-foot barracuda, and a couple of sea turtles, as well as lots of little colorful fish and coral. It was well worth the extra $50 each for the significantly enhanced experience. Then we went back to the beach and did a little snorkeling, but it just wasn’t that thrilling after the snuba adventure. Then we wandered around the park, checking out the butterfly garden, the jaguars, manatees, dolphins, and the Mayan village (where they did this whole big ceremony production.) That evening we went to their two-hour cultural show, where they demonstrated the ancient Mayan ballgame, as well as songs and dances from all the states of Mexico – it was really well done.
On the 12th we had another lazy day at the beach, lounging in the sun and shade and collecting sea shells – it was luxurious. That night we went back into the center of town for another round at La Parilla and a few more groceries at Wal-Mart.
On the morning of the 13th we hooked up with Helaman Tours (our bishop recommended him after taking his tour of Tulum from his Caribbean cruise back in January) and headed out into the jungle to see the ruins at Chichén Itzá and Ek Balam. The attached photo is our little group of eight in front of the pyramid at Chichén Itzá. The ruins were great and Helaman gave us an LDS oriented tour, pointing out all of the things that you’d only understand if you considered the Mayans in the context of the Book of Mormon (bearded white god, crucifix, horses, elephants, paved roads, broken hearts, Solomon’s temple, LDS temple signs and symbols, etc.) – it was really great. Chichen Itza was every bit as spectacular as the photos show (although it’s disappointing that you can’t go inside the great pyramid anymore, nor can you climb them.) The real highlight for me, however, was the newly excavated ruins at Ek Balam. There we not only got to climb the big pyramid/temple, but they also had some terracotta figures and painted plaster walls that were amazing. Helaman gave us a really great deal – just $300/day for each family of four, which included transportation, food, water, and park admissions. (See: http://www.helamantours.com/.)
We had Helaman take us out again on the 14th to see the ruins at Cobá and Tulum, some more great ruins. Cobá is the ruin complex where they found the Mayan calendar that ends in the year 2012. Also on the 14th we got to go swimming in a cenote, one of those limestone sinkholes that are filled with water and connected to all of the underground rivers. The cavern came complete with stalactites on the ceiling and the water was so clear that you could see the bottom even though it was too deep to reach even when Leslie (our best swimmer) dived down to try and touch it. We also went swimming on the beach at Tulum since it was our last day in Cancun and the first day that we could swim in the ocean – it was very lovely. I was so impressed with the things we saw on our LDS version of the ruins tour that, while it’s still fresh in my mind, I’ve made a PowerPoint presentation of my photos along with the scriptural references in case I’m ever asked to give a lesson or fireside on the subject.
Then, alas and alak, Spring Break ground to a halt and on the 15th it was up at 3:00AM, after a brief night’s nap, and we flew back home. We arrived here at home all safe and sound and we found everything shipshape (no robbery, no broken pipes, etc.) so we can count this as another successful family vacation trip.
Vacation prep started well in advance of the actual trip, back in January. It started by picking a destination – we chose Cancun this year because our buddies, the Hansens, have been several times and really wanted to go together this year; it sounded like fun, so we started shopping trips. Our shopping consisted of surfing different options on the internet, starting at Travel Zoo (at: http://www.travelzoo.com/,) which led us to Book It (at: http://www.bookit.com/,) which led to a pretty great deal on an eight day/seven night stay at the Marriot Casa Magna with airfare from Frontier Airlines.
So, on Saturday, March 8th, we got up at 2:00AM, after a brief night’s nap, got showered, loaded up the car (having packed the night before,) and headed out to the airport in Las Vegas. We flew Frontier airlines – I think it was my first time with them – the flights were just fine, but the check in at the ticket counter was painfully slow. We were traveling with the Hansens but it turned out that they were actually on the 7:00AM flight instead of the 6:00AM flight with us, which we only figured out after we both had our boarding passes. Oops. There was a bit of a snafu with the gate assignments, but at the third gate to which we were sent we actually found our flight all ready to board. We had a brief and thankfully uneventful layover in Denver, Frontier’s major hub. In Cancun we cleared immigration after a loooong line, reminiscent of Miami (hint: go to the line all the way to the right, in both places), found our bags, and passed through customs with a green light. Whew! Outside of customs we were accosted by helpful “tourist information” agents who were really touts for timeshare hotels – we only wasted a minute on them before excusing ourselves. The transfer to the hotel via Best Day tours, which we’d paid for through the Book It website, was at the far end of the hotel bus area, but we found them without any problems and they took us to our hotel in short order. We found that Cancun was pretty busy that week, but not as bad as it would have been next week when the rest of the world takes their Spring Break. As I mentioned before, we stayed at the Marriott Casa Magna, which is a five star hotel/resort out on the “hotel zone,” a narrow strip of beach between the sea and a lagoon, just east off of downtown Cancun. Two hours after we checked in to our hotel and got settled in to our room, the Hansens caught up to us there at the hotel in Cancun. By then it was so late that we barely managed dinner at the “La Shrimp Bucket” across the street from the hotel (fairly nice place, but with small portions and very expensive) and a walk up and down the beach outside our hotel’s back door before dropping dead in bed after a 22-hour long day.
On the 9th we slept in as late as we could, which turned out not to be very late after all. We got ready for the day, grabbed a McDonald’s breakfast across the street (the hotel wanted $20 each for the breakfast buffet), and headed into the center of town to “Mercado 28” where they have the arts and crafts market. While the rest of us shopped souvenirs, Katie and Kinsey got their hair braided. We ate lunch at a little almuerzo booth at the market there – it was yummy. We didn’t end up buying very many souvenirs because the prices there in Mexico, at the heart of the American tourist zone, were so high (at least compared to prices in Bolivia, Bangladesh, and India.) Then we walked around the downtown for a bit, while Robert and Palma reminisced about their adventures as refugees during Hurricane Wilma two years ago – we even visited the hotel where they hunkered down for a week while the storm raged all around them. From there we walked over to Wal-Mart where we bought groceries for our breakfasts for the coming week. That night we actually ate dinner at the hotel restaurant and used up the $100 food voucher that came with our airline/hotel package deal - $100 doesn’t buy much at the Marriott and if we were to do it over again I’d have just gotten the all-you-can-eat salad bar which seemed to be the best value for the buck.
On the 10th we got up and headed straight for the beach, where we spent the whole live-long day. It was a little cloudy, pretty windy, and the sea was very rough, so the hotel was flying their “red flag” which means “no swimming.” So we amused ourselves by finding and collecting interesting sea shells as they washed up on the shore. You had to spot and grab them quickly, before they washed back out with the same wave that had brought them in. We found a lovely selection of shells that are now displayed in our living room (come over and check them out.) That night we caught the local bus and went back downtown for dinner – we ate at the “La Parilla”, a Mexican Grill, and had a very yummy dinner. We all ordered something different and then traded tastes – everything was good.
On the 11th we got up early and took a tour bus to Xcaret, the eco-Disneyland of Mexico. Xcaret is really a Mayan archeological site with a lot of extra attractions built around them. We bought our Xcaret ticket and transportation package deal for $107 each at the little ticket booth at Mercado 28 – Best Day tours wanted $150 each for the same package deal. We opted to start the day with a swim through the underground river – included in our package deal – the whole Yucatan peninsula is a honeycomb of underground rivers. Then we caught a boat out to the barrier reef (second only to the “great” barrier reef off Australia) where the four of us did “snuba”, which is like SCUBA diving except that the air tanks aren’t strapped to your back, they float on a raft on the surface and you have a 20-foot long air hose which both limits your depth and gives you a tether to the surface. So, instead of needing a week to get certified you can go diving with about five minutes of training. While we were under the water we saw an octopus, a 5-foot barracuda, and a couple of sea turtles, as well as lots of little colorful fish and coral. It was well worth the extra $50 each for the significantly enhanced experience. Then we went back to the beach and did a little snorkeling, but it just wasn’t that thrilling after the snuba adventure. Then we wandered around the park, checking out the butterfly garden, the jaguars, manatees, dolphins, and the Mayan village (where they did this whole big ceremony production.) That evening we went to their two-hour cultural show, where they demonstrated the ancient Mayan ballgame, as well as songs and dances from all the states of Mexico – it was really well done.
On the 12th we had another lazy day at the beach, lounging in the sun and shade and collecting sea shells – it was luxurious. That night we went back into the center of town for another round at La Parilla and a few more groceries at Wal-Mart.
On the morning of the 13th we hooked up with Helaman Tours (our bishop recommended him after taking his tour of Tulum from his Caribbean cruise back in January) and headed out into the jungle to see the ruins at Chichén Itzá and Ek Balam. The attached photo is our little group of eight in front of the pyramid at Chichén Itzá. The ruins were great and Helaman gave us an LDS oriented tour, pointing out all of the things that you’d only understand if you considered the Mayans in the context of the Book of Mormon (bearded white god, crucifix, horses, elephants, paved roads, broken hearts, Solomon’s temple, LDS temple signs and symbols, etc.) – it was really great. Chichen Itza was every bit as spectacular as the photos show (although it’s disappointing that you can’t go inside the great pyramid anymore, nor can you climb them.) The real highlight for me, however, was the newly excavated ruins at Ek Balam. There we not only got to climb the big pyramid/temple, but they also had some terracotta figures and painted plaster walls that were amazing. Helaman gave us a really great deal – just $300/day for each family of four, which included transportation, food, water, and park admissions. (See: http://www.helamantours.com/.)
We had Helaman take us out again on the 14th to see the ruins at Cobá and Tulum, some more great ruins. Cobá is the ruin complex where they found the Mayan calendar that ends in the year 2012. Also on the 14th we got to go swimming in a cenote, one of those limestone sinkholes that are filled with water and connected to all of the underground rivers. The cavern came complete with stalactites on the ceiling and the water was so clear that you could see the bottom even though it was too deep to reach even when Leslie (our best swimmer) dived down to try and touch it. We also went swimming on the beach at Tulum since it was our last day in Cancun and the first day that we could swim in the ocean – it was very lovely. I was so impressed with the things we saw on our LDS version of the ruins tour that, while it’s still fresh in my mind, I’ve made a PowerPoint presentation of my photos along with the scriptural references in case I’m ever asked to give a lesson or fireside on the subject.
Then, alas and alak, Spring Break ground to a halt and on the 15th it was up at 3:00AM, after a brief night’s nap, and we flew back home. We arrived here at home all safe and sound and we found everything shipshape (no robbery, no broken pipes, etc.) so we can count this as another successful family vacation trip.
