When I last posted Roy and I were still on our own, but the time was getting close to the day when Alex, Meaghan and Callum were due. Life was obviously more laid back and slower without them. However, Thursday came and they arrived. Way back on the day of our arrival I made a request that when they turned up, they should be given a room near us, but had no idea that they would put them right next door to us. That was great.
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| Food choice |
On the first night we went to the Mediterranean Restaurant, which was new to all of us, as we haven't yet been there and they missed it last year. The queue was long, but we got lucky and managed to get in as the last group, although we had to be separated to two tables adjacent. The food was great, I had tuna again (after the Surf and Turf) and we had a good time. This actually was also enhanced by meeting a Canadian, called Lloyd from Hanna, Alberta, who was an absolute hoot. His family obviously got lost and he was hanging onto the booked table with grim determination until they turned up. Our friendship with Lloyd, who had a wicked sense of huumour lasted for several days, until he disappeared, (I assumed he went home). "Doing a Lloyd" in Grant family folklore now means not turning up and leaving you in the lurch.
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| One of the ruins in the resort |
The next week is now an absolute blur, as I am writing this in the airport, waiting for our flight to Paris. I suppose I will have to look up the photos, which I have posted on FB daily, and that might give me hints of what we all did. To be quite honest, I do remember it all, just not the order in which we did them: Restaurant dinner visits: Surf and Turf 3 times, Mediterranean twice, Brazilian once, Vegan twice, Japanese twice, Italian once and breakfast was mostly taken in the International, although we fell in love with the Mexican, so we went there a few times as well. Lunches were also mostly taken in the International, because it was only they, plus the Italians that did them, and we fell out of love with the Italians.
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| Roy and the T-bone steak |
Talking of the International, we got very friendly with two lovely ladies there: one was Lady (although she spelt it completely the Mexican way, which I can't now remember) and Gray. They were both very Mexican, aka friendly, happy, smily, very helpful and basically the life and soul of the party. We did tip quite generously, but I am sure their sunny nature had a lot more to do with our friendship than money.
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| This was my rare tuna steak at our first visit to the Surf and Turf |
Fun activities included the following: Going to the water park, swimming in the dead iguana pool (don't ask!), building sandcastles on the beach, playing chess on the beach, going for walks in the mangrove forest that the whole resort was situated in, (one of these walks took us to an out of way part of the resort where we found some exciting and quite delapidated Maya ruins), lazing about in the spa, going on an outing to the Mayan ruins at Tulum and going shopping in Playa Del Carmen. Not all of it was done by everyone, but it was fun all the same.
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| Alex and Callum |
The weather was truly tropical. Admittedly, Cancun is not that terribly far from the Equator, so it is not surprising. Unfortunately I caught a cold just as the kids arrived, and that made me suffer from the heat all the more. However, most places had a breeze and the rooms were beautifully air conditioned, (after you fathomed how to use the remote control). As for rain, as you might think the tropics are full of, we were very lucky. There were only two showers, one during the night and the other when we were at a pool and it didn't last long.
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| Callum in the jacuzzi |
The holiday itself was absolutely brilliant. Just the right balance of activity and rest; the lovely company of Alex, Meaghan and Callum, enough to do and see, but all was taken at a leisurely pace. The main excitement on my part, however, was the resort and its all inclusive nature. You would never believe how much you can eat and drink all day, every day, if you have already paid for it and it is endless. The other marvel, was the people. If the rest of Mexico has people just half as lovely as this lot was, I think I'm in love with Mexico.
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| The first chess match |
One amazing part of the Sandos Caracol Eco Resort experience is the surrounding jungle and its flowers and animals. Coatis and raccoons wandered everywhere. So do spider monkeys, and that included one visiting the jacuzzi on our balcony while Callum was in it. You have never seen a kid move so fast and unfortunately he never went back into it after that.
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| In the waterpark |
I absolutely adored the flowers, they were magnificent and forever in bloom, with no sign of a droop on any of them, even though we were there for nearly two weeks. I took many photos, but they cannot really give back their magic. There were some noisy peacocks and other birds, which looked a bit like thin blackbirds and similar, but no idea what they were.
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| Table football |
We did do some shopping, althoug we are not normally of the "fill the suitcase to the brim with shopping" brigade. We found some rugs/blankets which were genuine Mexican produce and amazingly reasonably priced. First we bought 2 and then went back and bought another 2. I also bought a big mug, beautifully hand painted in wild Mexican colours and patterns. The kids bought me a fantastic hat, which I am proudly sporting as I write this.
One down side of the heat was that once I got tired, which was quite often, my coordination was not very good. I managed to hit my head three times, first in the low roof of the thatched hut we occupied on the beach, then hit a low lying tree branch at Tulum, finally in the dark at night I banged my head on the wall, while lowering myself onto the toilet.
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| My mug |
The time went extremely quickly. Obviously, the younger members of our group did a lot more than us. Alex used the gym twice, Meaghan went to yoga once, both of them went snorkelling in the Cenote and the three of them went out for a half hour session of Skegway, which is a funny vehicle with two wheels and a large battery pack. Apparently Callum is a natural and loved it a lot.
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| Sandcastle building on the beach |
Roy and I enjoyed the spa, as that was a child free area, so it was very quiet and relaxing. One little pool in one corner was really hot, the rest cold, but not too much. All of the facilities were very clean and well cared for. The staff was extremely helpful and the whole place was organised with military precision, but with maximum flexibility and laid back fun filled laughter.
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| Seafood at the International |
There were only a few downsides, but they were negligible compared to the efficiency and kindness of the whole place. The net was OK to start with, but later on during our stay it became slow and intermittent. Balconies were not swept often enough, but when we mentioned it, it got done instantly. Unfortunately, towards the end of our stay the mosquitoes got very frisky and we had to abandon a late night swimming session before we got eaten alive. All in all, I can recommend all inclusive holidays and especially the Sandos Caracol Eco Resort in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.
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| Spider monkey antics |
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| My iguana friend in Tulum |
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One of the many magnificent ruins in Tulum
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