Posted by Bill C on July 16, 2001 at 20:08:53:
First trip to Mayan Riviera Stayed at the Iberostar Quetzal, but spent most of the time south of Playa. July 6 - 13 ATA Airlines - on-time departure / on-time return; no problems out of DFW. Arrived @ 10:30 am - on the road to the resort at 11:15 am. Resort - Beautiful. Had e-mailed room request and got the building and room I chose - 2341 - building 23, building closest to the pool with 100% jungle view, 3rd floor, perfect. Monkey family was within 8 feet of our balcony patio. 5 and 12 yr old boys really enjoyed this. Rooms - very nice, plenty of towels, stocked fridge, large showers, CNN. We traveled out of the resort 4 days out of 7, loaded our collapsible cooler with beverages, never ran out. Food - delicious, large, great selection, fruit sculptures, champagne, red wine, etc. Trips Rented car from Executive via internet, got Nissan Tsuru $47/day US (included all insurances), picked-up and returned right at hotel. Traveled 1 day, Sunday, to Chichen Itza. Took the Coba/ Chemax route. 110 KPH speed limit on main road to Tulum (I, and most others did 120 KPH - 82 MPH). Small roads between Tulum and Valladollid were fun. A few little villages along the way, and seeing the way they marked their "driveways" was humorous. Actually, they were marking the small trails into the jungles leading to there huts. Some had a stick with 3 2-liter bottles, some had a stick with a tire, some had 2-liter bottles in a ring. Chichen Itza was free entry on Sunday, loved climbing huge pyramid in the middle. Kids had no fear, my old fear of heights came rushing back. After leaving Chichen Itza, went to Ikili Cenote. Beautiful, breathtaking, refreshing, would almost be worth the 2 1/2 hour trip in itself. The next day we headed down to Akumal. Ate lunch at La Buano Vida, kids and wife had a blast, highly recommend. We want to open a La Buano Vida - Waco soon. That afternoon, we snorkeled Akumal, then went looking for Xpu-Ha beach. We were able to access the beach at X-4, a little hotel next to the Copacabana. They were nice enough to let us tromp through their grounds. Beautiful white sand beach, our absolute favorite. Played in surf and built sand castles, this visit made my wife very happy. Tuesday we had planned to spend the day at Xel-Ha, but our 5 yr old son did not like snorkeling salt water, so we decided to try Yal-Ku instead. Figured that if he wouldn't snorkel their, we were only out about $15 US. We headed back down to Akumal, then to the end of the road to Yal-ku. Loved it. The whole family snorkeled most of the morning. Saw lots of colorful fish throughout, like swimming in and aquarium. My 12 yr old weenied out at the proposal of swimming out to the mouth of the lagoon, but spoke with others who had seen sea turtles here that morning. Ate lunch at Lol-Ha restaurant and beach bar, great food. Then back over to La Buana Vida resteraunte, boys played on beach while my wife and I snorkeled Half Moon Bay. Again, lots of brain coral, fan coral, colorful fish, and barracuda. Then off to Crystalina Cenote, on main road back to resort. Very nice, my son and I jumped off 15 ft cliffs, had a blast snorkeling. Wednesday we're off to more cenotes, and to try to access Xcacel beach. Went to Car Wash Cenote, paid $2 or $3 total, but was a little disappointed. Water was not extremely clear, stayed only 45 minutes. Then to Grande Cenote. They wanted $16 for the family to enter, thought that was a little high, talked him into $10 US. Wow, was it worth it. This cenote was crystal clear, rock-lined, deep, and nice fish. Enjoyed every bit of it. Stayed about 2 hours. Then off to Tankah, ate at Casa Cenote, very good food, very nice beach. Looked at Manatee Cenote out back. Was nice, but no shade, so we decided to move on. Drove the beach down to the area where Corona beeper commercial was filmed. Back to the main road, down to the Xcacel exit/dirt road. Drove to the end, gate was single-chained closed, and a security guard was on his way down to greet us. Was sure if I was going to have pay him off, or what. We had accidentally left our money belt in the trunk, so to avoid any hassle, we turned around and headed out. If we had stayed, I feel he probably would have let us in, but we had already seen the most beautiful beach around (Xpu-HA), so wasn't a great loss. All toll, we spent Friday afternoon, Saturday afternoon, and all day Thursday at the resort. But by far, we enjoyed our trips into the countryside the most. These places are where we had the most memorable times. Knock on wood, we did not have a single glitch in the entire trip.... Fell in love with the Mayan Riviera. Our next trip down, we will rent a little Casista in Akumal, rent a car, and have another blast.