Mexico - The Return

We just returned from Mexico, again. Yes, life is difficult, but we struggle through. If it makes you feel better, this trip did not go nearly as smoothly and was far less relaxing because of it. We had some problems with the hotel in Charlotte when we arrived to fly out. We had even greater problems when we arrived in Playa del Carmen. We stayed at the Wyndham Viva Azteca and we would not recommend it to anyone. When we arrived we were told that they didn't have the requested rooms for us (us being Megan's family - Dave, Marty, Brandy, and Erin - and Megan and me). Instead of 3 rooms, we were given 2 doubles and had to share them. As compensation we were offered a spa treatment of our choice (limited by money and time required). The massages that at least Megan and I received were hardly worth a dime, less yet as compensation for a hotel not able to count the number of rooms they have and compare that to the number of reservations that have been made. The resort also had significant problems with seating at the beach and pool. There was a general lack of chairs and guests would claim the chairs overnight even to get the palapas or other preferred (sometimes any) spot. The resort seems completely uninterested in doing anything about it either. It's completely ridiculous. They also had very poor food. I got food poisoning from a dinner at the Viva Cafe in Playa del Carmen proper. Most everyone else had digestive problems of one sort or another during the trip and Megan's still fighting to get hers cleared up. The reservation system for not eating at the buffet was ridiculous and we wasted over 2 hours total over 2 days trying to get reservations. When we did get into the specialty restaurants they were never anywhere near capacity so we have no idea why it was so hard to do. Finally, one of our bags got left at the resort when we left, containing the iPod, and we had to scramble and get a hold of the resort and send it up in a taxi to the airport. It made it to us, and we got to the gate, by the skin of our teeth.

What was good about the trip? The ocean was great as usual. It was warm and there was some surf as well. I just wished we'd had more time at the beach. We also got to go to some of the ruins in the area. We rented a car and drove over to Coba and Tulum and went through each of those sites. It was very interesting, but very hot and humid. We'd like to go back one more time, especially to Coba, to go to a region of the site we didn't get to. The picture above is of Nohoch Mul which is a 42 meter tall pyramid. Megan and I climbed up it, sweating like crazy, while Megan's family enjoyed the view from the base. Megan's not really fond of heights, but didn't have any troubles going up and only a little bit of difficulty coming down. To give you an idea of how tough/dangerous this is, the guides were overheard to be very pleased that no one had died this year! I think 7 - 9 people have died at Coba over the years and Tulum was a very beautiful site with lots of ruins and a great beachside location. We didn't go down to the beach as we had early reservations that night at one of the specialty restaurants though.

We've posted some of our pictures from the trip. Take a look!