My big desire for this trip was to go swimming with dolphins. Aaron and Nicole were just as up for this activity as we were, which was perfect. They were actually the perfect travel companions as they were up for anything.
Luckily, on this day we got to sleep in some, as we didn’t need to be at the docks until 10 AM. After a delicious French toast breakfast at the buffet, we left at 9:15, just to be on the safe side. We arrived at 9:45. From the waiting area next to a marina, we were walked across the street, through a building to another beach and dock. That’s when it dawned on us that the hotel strip is on a peninsula (our resort wasn’t on this strip). It was quite confusing before trying to figure out where the water was and what direction we were headed until this realization.
While on the boat, we got to take in the beautiful aqua blue water. The water was crystal clear and it was another beautiful day. The boat ride over to Dolphin Discovery on Isla Mujeres took about 45 minutes to an hour, so drinks and music were provided.
As soon as we arrived at Dolphin Discovery, we were given instructions on how to obtain a locker and life vest. From there we headed into the instruction room where we filled out our names and were divided into groups of about 10-12 people. We were then directed to the docks, where we met our trainer and two dolphins, Noel and Fatima.
We watched as the dolphins did a series of exercises, and got to pet them. Then it was time for kisses, and tricks. Each person in our group got to hold a volleyball for the dolphin to nose, hold a hand out for the dolphin to reach up and touch, hold the dolphin’s fins like we were holding hands with them, kiss the dolphin and get a kiss back, and “hold” the dolphin. But the best was getting towed and pushed by the dolphins. The dolphins did a good job at pushing us out of the water when they pushed us by our feet and a very good job at getting us to drink some salt water when we were towed by their dorsal fins.
It was an amazing experience that Cameron and I would like to do again with London some day. Next time, we’d make sure to get the package where we get to swim with the manatees and sea lions as well. Plus we’d make sure to be there long enough to take a bicycle ride over to the Turtle farm to play with the sea turtles.
But on this day, we wanted to make it back for some more pool time before having dinner at the Mediterranean restaurant. Of all the places we ate, this one was probably our least favorite. Still good food, but not what we expected. Cameron and I both ordered the rack of lamb, so when we got lamb kabobs we were a bit surprised. That night’s entertainment was a Michael Jackson impersonator and dance crew. It was pretty good but would have been more convincing if the impersonator was skinnier.
Apr 21, 2011
Cancun – Part 2: Ik Kil and Chichen Itza
Day two started off early, as we were headed to the Mayan Temple Chichen Itza. We’d been told to be out front by 7:30 AM. At 7:20 AM we got a call from the front desk just as we were heading out the door. Thee bus was already there waiting for us. Good thing we’d gotten breakfast in bed that day – fresh fruit and bagels, cream cheese and lox.
After picking up a couple more people on our way out to the highway, we were on our way. We knew the trip would take a couple of hours so we settled in for some ZZZs. About an hour in, the bus pulled over to the side of the highway. We are instructed that we will be switching buses based on which excursion for which we had signed up and given bus numbers. There we were running along the side of a highway in Mexico, switching buses. Luckily we were on the one in front of us.
There we met George, our tour guide, half Mayan, half Mexican. From there he gave us some more details of our trip, gave us our passports (small stickers with our bus number on them, which we were to wear the rest of the day) and how things would go down, a little history and then let us knod off again.
After what seemed like ages, even with us sleeping, we arrived at Ik Kil, a cenoté, which is a sink hole filled with water. We had the option to go swimming in it but we chose to shop a little and watch people jump in and swim from above. We only had an hour and the line to jump in was long, plus we all had sunscreen on and didn’t want to have to reapply afterward for Chichen Itza. The cenoté was gorgeous and the water a deep, clear blue. We even saw a parrot out of the big hole.
After Ik Kil, it was time for lunch. And as George reminded us over and over “I pay your food, you pay your drinks”. Aaron would repeat this phrase in George’s cute accent throughout the rest of our trip. Still brings a smile to my face. Lunch was Mexican food with Mayan dancers as the entertainment. They basically stamped their feet to the music in wooden shoes or on wooden boxes while they balanced trays with empty bottles on tops of their heads. We couldn’t get over how short the Mayans were and couldn’t resist getting some pictures with them and the boys.
A five-minute bus ride from lunch and we were finally at Chichen Itza. George warned us that there would be Mayans peddling merchandise out front and inside the grounds, but we didn’t realize how many there would be. Literally, every 10 feet or five minutes we’d hear “Cheaper than Walmart”, “Cheaper than Target”, “Three for a dollar”, “10 pesos”. It got old real quick. And it wasn’t just the adults, there were little Mayan kids running around hawking their goods as well. I know Chichen Itza is their land and all, but it would have been nice to only have those hawking merchandise outside the entrance gates.
We followed George around for about half the tour. It was so hot and we were ready to just go off and explore on our own. Cameron and I happened to have caught a few Discovery channel-type documentaries on Chichen Itza before our trip so we knew a lot of what George was saying, but we did learn a few things more. For one, the Temple had been destroyed when Europeans conquered the area, killing all the well-off and religious leaders of the Mayan people. It wasn’t until 1925 when an archaeologist rediscovered the temple ruins that it was rebuilt, which took 10 years. You can see places where the pieces are numbered, where pieces are missing, and the plaster or cement used to put it back together.
We also learned that on a Mayan boy’s 18th birthday he was required to play in a ball game. The group would be divided into two groups and they would play a game like basketball, trying to bounce a ball made from rubber through a vertical hoop. At the end of the day, the winning team’s captain was sacrificed to the gods. The Mayans did this every day, thinking it was their playing the game and making the sacrifices that pleased the gods to return the sun to them the next day.
After a long, hot day, we were back on the bus and on the road around 5 PM. We wouldn’t get back to our hotel until 8 PM – just in time for a quick shower and dinner at the Lobster house. Cameron had two lobster halves that night while I ordered a Fillet Mignon from the Grill since I couldn’t eat anything on the Lobster house menu. That’s how accommodating the staff at the resort is.
After taking in the last part of the Circus show, we were all ready for a good night’s sleep, well, after some nachos. We’d worked up quite the appetite that day.
After picking up a couple more people on our way out to the highway, we were on our way. We knew the trip would take a couple of hours so we settled in for some ZZZs. About an hour in, the bus pulled over to the side of the highway. We are instructed that we will be switching buses based on which excursion for which we had signed up and given bus numbers. There we were running along the side of a highway in Mexico, switching buses. Luckily we were on the one in front of us.
There we met George, our tour guide, half Mayan, half Mexican. From there he gave us some more details of our trip, gave us our passports (small stickers with our bus number on them, which we were to wear the rest of the day) and how things would go down, a little history and then let us knod off again.
After what seemed like ages, even with us sleeping, we arrived at Ik Kil, a cenoté, which is a sink hole filled with water. We had the option to go swimming in it but we chose to shop a little and watch people jump in and swim from above. We only had an hour and the line to jump in was long, plus we all had sunscreen on and didn’t want to have to reapply afterward for Chichen Itza. The cenoté was gorgeous and the water a deep, clear blue. We even saw a parrot out of the big hole.
After Ik Kil, it was time for lunch. And as George reminded us over and over “I pay your food, you pay your drinks”. Aaron would repeat this phrase in George’s cute accent throughout the rest of our trip. Still brings a smile to my face. Lunch was Mexican food with Mayan dancers as the entertainment. They basically stamped their feet to the music in wooden shoes or on wooden boxes while they balanced trays with empty bottles on tops of their heads. We couldn’t get over how short the Mayans were and couldn’t resist getting some pictures with them and the boys.
A five-minute bus ride from lunch and we were finally at Chichen Itza. George warned us that there would be Mayans peddling merchandise out front and inside the grounds, but we didn’t realize how many there would be. Literally, every 10 feet or five minutes we’d hear “Cheaper than Walmart”, “Cheaper than Target”, “Three for a dollar”, “10 pesos”. It got old real quick. And it wasn’t just the adults, there were little Mayan kids running around hawking their goods as well. I know Chichen Itza is their land and all, but it would have been nice to only have those hawking merchandise outside the entrance gates.
We followed George around for about half the tour. It was so hot and we were ready to just go off and explore on our own. Cameron and I happened to have caught a few Discovery channel-type documentaries on Chichen Itza before our trip so we knew a lot of what George was saying, but we did learn a few things more. For one, the Temple had been destroyed when Europeans conquered the area, killing all the well-off and religious leaders of the Mayan people. It wasn’t until 1925 when an archaeologist rediscovered the temple ruins that it was rebuilt, which took 10 years. You can see places where the pieces are numbered, where pieces are missing, and the plaster or cement used to put it back together.
We also learned that on a Mayan boy’s 18th birthday he was required to play in a ball game. The group would be divided into two groups and they would play a game like basketball, trying to bounce a ball made from rubber through a vertical hoop. At the end of the day, the winning team’s captain was sacrificed to the gods. The Mayans did this every day, thinking it was their playing the game and making the sacrifices that pleased the gods to return the sun to them the next day.
After a long, hot day, we were back on the bus and on the road around 5 PM. We wouldn’t get back to our hotel until 8 PM – just in time for a quick shower and dinner at the Lobster house. Cameron had two lobster halves that night while I ordered a Fillet Mignon from the Grill since I couldn’t eat anything on the Lobster house menu. That’s how accommodating the staff at the resort is.
After taking in the last part of the Circus show, we were all ready for a good night’s sleep, well, after some nachos. We’d worked up quite the appetite that day.
Cancun – Part 1: Our Arrival and the Resort
We arrived in Cancun around 11:30 AM CT, Monday, April 4. Once our luggage arrived we breezed through customs and headed for our transportation to Excellence Playa Mujeres. Not knowing exactly which vanline we were going through, one of the greeters helped us identify the vanline that worked for Expedia. Of course, he was also there to try and get us to visit another, timeshare-associated resort by enticing us with low prices on excursions during our visit.
It worked. What we paid for the four of us to go to the Mayan temple Chichen Itza and to go swimming with Dolphins, ended up being the cost it normally would have been for just two of us to go to Chichen Itza. All we had to do was spend the next morning doing the timeshare tour and listening to the presentation.
At the vanline check-in we ran into a little problem, as they didn’t have record of our reservation, and none of us had thought to print our itineraries with the reservation on them. I’d done this for my dad so he would know what time to pick us up – why hadn’t I done this for us? It didn’t matter too much. For a small fee we were able to get a private van and to the Resort. We’d just need to call Expedia to get a refund from them.
Upon our arrival we were greeted with glasses of chilled champagne and cool wash clothes scented with Plumeria. After a quick check-in process we headed for a restaurant to get some grub while we waited for our rooms to be ready. Apparently, we wandered too far away for the pager to go off. After 1 ½ hours we went back to check on our room availability only to find out they were ready. No harm though, we had nothing to do but relax. After a nice bell-hop showed us to our rooms, we quickly unpacked and changed so that we could be back poolside enjoying various tropical beverages.
The resort was amazing and breath-taking. Not too big, and not too crowded except when you were around the swim-up bar. It’s an All-Inclusive resort so there was no need to carry our wallets and everything we needed was provided pretty much at our command. The staff was very friendly and seemed happy to be working there. The restaurants offered several dining options every evening and all the places we ate were delicious. There were so many to choose from that we weren’t able to get to all of them. Cameron and I also took advantage of the 24-hour room service, waking up to breakfast in bed a couple of mornings and enjoying chili nachos before bed a couple of nights. We also always found a decent movie to watch on TV before bed.
The rooms were quite luxurious. Each had a wrap-around couch and flat-screen TV, Jacuzzi tub by the windows, balcony with a double person lounge chair and a four-posted bed. Even the shower was elegant with its two shower heads, including one of those rain shower heads. Our only gripe had to do with the toilet, and its door. The door was glass and while it did have a treatment on it so you couldn’t completely see someone in there, you still could see them enough. Not to mention, you could hear every thing going on in there and there was no fan. Other than that, we were in paradise.
The next day we headed for the time-share resort. What we were told was a 25 minute cab ride, turned into an hour. That’s when we quickly learned, Mexicans have a weird sense of time and time perception. Oh well, we were a little late, but still able to do the tour and listen to the spiel so we could get our excursions. The resort was lovely, albeit too big and busy for our tastes, not to mention, all-inclusive in a location like this is more enticing to us. But they gave a good fight and really had us considering buying in, except that we all knew we wouldn’t use it much in the next five years. Vacations like this don’t come often for us, given Cameron’s limited time off, plus with London and hopefully another kid or two in our future, we’ll be a bit limited on what we can do for a while. It’s the same story with Moe and Nicole. But we got our excursions scheduled and made the long trek back to the hotel. After a nice lunch, we were back beside the pool, enjoying more exotic beverages like the electric lemonade.
For dinner that night, we tried the Grill, where I had a delicious, perfectly cooked Filet Mignon. The Resort offered music and a themed show as entertainment each evening. This evening was the Magic show. At one point the magician asked for volunteers and Cameron somehow got me volunteered. It ended up being for a card trick, which I figured out in the middle of it. The other girl on stage with me was so flustered though that she was the best distraction for the audience and the magician pulled it off well for them. Then it was off for a good night’s sleep before our excursion to Chichen Itza the next morning.
It worked. What we paid for the four of us to go to the Mayan temple Chichen Itza and to go swimming with Dolphins, ended up being the cost it normally would have been for just two of us to go to Chichen Itza. All we had to do was spend the next morning doing the timeshare tour and listening to the presentation.
At the vanline check-in we ran into a little problem, as they didn’t have record of our reservation, and none of us had thought to print our itineraries with the reservation on them. I’d done this for my dad so he would know what time to pick us up – why hadn’t I done this for us? It didn’t matter too much. For a small fee we were able to get a private van and to the Resort. We’d just need to call Expedia to get a refund from them.
Upon our arrival we were greeted with glasses of chilled champagne and cool wash clothes scented with Plumeria. After a quick check-in process we headed for a restaurant to get some grub while we waited for our rooms to be ready. Apparently, we wandered too far away for the pager to go off. After 1 ½ hours we went back to check on our room availability only to find out they were ready. No harm though, we had nothing to do but relax. After a nice bell-hop showed us to our rooms, we quickly unpacked and changed so that we could be back poolside enjoying various tropical beverages.
The resort was amazing and breath-taking. Not too big, and not too crowded except when you were around the swim-up bar. It’s an All-Inclusive resort so there was no need to carry our wallets and everything we needed was provided pretty much at our command. The staff was very friendly and seemed happy to be working there. The restaurants offered several dining options every evening and all the places we ate were delicious. There were so many to choose from that we weren’t able to get to all of them. Cameron and I also took advantage of the 24-hour room service, waking up to breakfast in bed a couple of mornings and enjoying chili nachos before bed a couple of nights. We also always found a decent movie to watch on TV before bed.
The rooms were quite luxurious. Each had a wrap-around couch and flat-screen TV, Jacuzzi tub by the windows, balcony with a double person lounge chair and a four-posted bed. Even the shower was elegant with its two shower heads, including one of those rain shower heads. Our only gripe had to do with the toilet, and its door. The door was glass and while it did have a treatment on it so you couldn’t completely see someone in there, you still could see them enough. Not to mention, you could hear every thing going on in there and there was no fan. Other than that, we were in paradise.
The next day we headed for the time-share resort. What we were told was a 25 minute cab ride, turned into an hour. That’s when we quickly learned, Mexicans have a weird sense of time and time perception. Oh well, we were a little late, but still able to do the tour and listen to the spiel so we could get our excursions. The resort was lovely, albeit too big and busy for our tastes, not to mention, all-inclusive in a location like this is more enticing to us. But they gave a good fight and really had us considering buying in, except that we all knew we wouldn’t use it much in the next five years. Vacations like this don’t come often for us, given Cameron’s limited time off, plus with London and hopefully another kid or two in our future, we’ll be a bit limited on what we can do for a while. It’s the same story with Moe and Nicole. But we got our excursions scheduled and made the long trek back to the hotel. After a nice lunch, we were back beside the pool, enjoying more exotic beverages like the electric lemonade.
For dinner that night, we tried the Grill, where I had a delicious, perfectly cooked Filet Mignon. The Resort offered music and a themed show as entertainment each evening. This evening was the Magic show. At one point the magician asked for volunteers and Cameron somehow got me volunteered. It ended up being for a card trick, which I figured out in the middle of it. The other girl on stage with me was so flustered though that she was the best distraction for the audience and the magician pulled it off well for them. Then it was off for a good night’s sleep before our excursion to Chichen Itza the next morning.
A Wedding in Reno
On April 2, 2011 our friends Aaron and Nicole tied the knot at the Peppermill in Reno. We couldn’t be happier for the couple and we were looking forward to celebrating with them on their honeymoon in Cancun (they invited any one who was interested). We had planned to head up to Reno the day of the wedding and head home that same night, though we knew this would be hard given there would be people there we hadn’t seen in a while and for the fact that its always fun when a big group of our friends get together. But we had things to do at home, including packing, and we needed to be at the airport around 1 PM to pick up my parents who were coming in to watch London for the week. Vicki and Joe had come down for the day and night to watch London while we were in Reno for the wedding.
Mr. & Mrs. Moe
Of course that is not what happened. While sitting with friends at the Fireside Lounge, drinking Infernos, we knew we didn’t want to go home any time too soon and our time to depart was quickly approaching. We determined that’ some things didn’t need to get done before we left, so Cameron texted his mom to see if she was fine with us coming home in the morning. Thankfully, she was.
Drinking the Inferno
We started our vacation that night. Of course, when we went to get a room at 2 AM we were quite surprised to learn the Peppermill was booked. They told us the Silver Legacy and El Dorado had rooms, so we headed that way. We only made it a block – that’s when I saw the Motel 6 sign advertising rooms for $35.99. Why not, all we needed was a clean bed and shower? The place was pretty packed so we were a bit surprised that they were offering a normally $90 room for half price. But we weren’t going to question it.
This most of us all crammed in an elevator
The next morning we laughed at the fact that we looked like we were doing the walk of shame back to the car, being that we were still in our clothes from the night before. We made it back with plenty of time to get most things done around the house, pack, pick up my parents and have a nice dinner with them, before my dad drove the Moes and us to the airport.
Nicole's Signature Thumbs Up - We're all great!
The New Little Pickle Monster
Pickles are a staple in our house. We buy the huge jars at Costco, two or three at a time. So it was only a matter of time before London caught on. That she did. Right around the time she started to like solid foods (beginning of February). One day while Cameron was eating a pickle, she crawled over in curiosity. He offered her a taste. We got the cutest quizzical face out of her, but she went back for more.
She’s now hooked. The second she realizes one of us has a pickle, she comes cruising on over for a taste. She used to always make a funny face at first taste, before going back for more but sadly, the funny face is gone. Luckily, we did catch it on camera once, when we’d given her a slice of pickle in one of her mesh binkies.
We just had to share it with you. She also now cruises on over the second she sees me bring out the hummus or when I’m eating an apple. Her interest in food has definitely grown.
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