Personal Travel

¿cómo se dice…didn’t want to leave?

Let’s just say that this gringa does not have the biggest Spanish vocabulary, so luckily my husband is fairly fluent in Spanish, which came in handy when we traveled to Mexico recently.  When we booked the trip, we initially booked it because we both needed a vacation (Bryan more so than me) and just had an itch to travel.  So what did we do?? We started checking Costco.com for travel deals and eventually locked down a trip to Cancun, Mexico for five days/four nights.

We left on a Friday afternoon from San Diego International Airport and flew to Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) for an hour layover.  Side note – we also checked flights out of Tijuana International Airport because we’ve heard they have really good prices on flights to locations in Mexico that are usually a fraction of the cost for flights out of San Diego. However, the Costco package didn’t give us many good options so we stuck with San Diego.

We landed in DFW and saw our flight to Cancun was about an hour delayed.  So we figured it was a good time to eat and of course we chose Chick-fil-A as our last American meal for a few days.  As we were walking up to the gate to board the plane, they “ran out of overhead storage” so we had to check our bags.  Once we got onto the plane, I immediately realized how much space there really was.  Bryan attempted to retrieve our bags because I was upset they made us check them for no reason, but the flight attendant told him once we were on the plane we were not able to deplane, and gave us a free drink to compensate us.

Once we landed in Cancun, it was closer to 11pm, so needless to say it was a long travel day.  We got off the plane, retrieved our bags, and headed outside to find our ride to the resort.  We were easily helped and were on our way shortly after arriving.  As we were driving to our resort, we passed many other resorts.  We started driving on the south side of the hotel zone to drop off other travelers and we were staying on the very North tip of the Hotel Zone of Cancun.  As we got closer to our resort, we drove by some markets, restaurants, bars and clubs.  We were excited because we looked like we were in a fun spot!!

When we arrived to the resort, Grand Fiesta Americana Coral Beach, our first impression was that it was really nice.  The gentlemen at the concierge desk gave us a glass of champagne to celebrate our arrivals and our (late) one year anniversary.  As we were walking up to our room, another gentlemen was informing us of all the different restaurants that were available on the resort to eat at. Bryan then asks, “are these included with the all-inclusive?” The gentlemen asks us if we were given bracelets and we said no.  He informed us that typically guests are given bracelets that have the all-inclusive meal plan.  That made Bryan and I very confused…

We got into our room, settled in and then called the gentlemen who checked us in at the concierge desk for clarification on our meal plan.  He informed us that the resort is “not an all-inclusive resort and never has been…”  We tried explaining that cannot be right because we booked through Costco Travel for an all-inclusive package.  The gentleman said there was nothing he could do for us at the time, so we hung up.  Since it was almost 1am at that point, we decided to go explore for a couple hours and grab a drink after a long day.  It was actually really fun!! We were glad we walked around and experienced the night life that particular night because it was the last day of Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead).  We started at Fat Tuesday to grab a couple drinks.  It was an open place and played throwback songs from middle school and high school, which was fun for Bryan and I to reminiscence about  since we did not know each other yet.  We then started to head back to our resort when we passed by this place called Cocobongo Bar. It looked fun, so we went in and danced till close!  We made friends with Carlos, our server who was great!

Dia De Muertos Shrine
Bryan & me in front of the shrine

The next morning, we slept in some and called Costco Travel right away.  After some discussion we were informed that we did not end up booking the all-inclusive option and could not change anything for us “mid-trip.”  We tried explaining our frustrations to the Supervisor and she was very apologetic but also informed us that this happens more than we think.  What happened was when we booked our trip we booked the basic room, but at the bottom it said that if you upgrade to the Ocean View Suite it will be all-inclusive.  So…WE DID! Well, when she walked us through the website over the phone, at the bottom of the list of room options it said “more options.”  If you clicked on it, it showed all the same rooms but with “ALL-INCLUSIVE” in the title.  So she informed us we should have booked the same Ocean View Suite, but with “all-inclusive” in the title.  She did offer to move us to Omni Hotel in Cancun and could get us all-inclusive, but it was much farther from everything and we felt the beaches were not as nice, so we decided to pay for everything instead…

After our call with Costco Travel we decided to walk around and find a place to get lunch.  We found this place called Marinero’s.  IT WAS SO GOOD!! We had seafood empanadas, guacamole that was made at our table fresh, trio ceviche that included shrimp, fish, and octopus, fish tacos, and swordfish tacos. The guacamole was to die for and I am so happy I took a video of our server making it!!  After eating, we walked around a couple flea markets that were close to our resort. We did not buy anything that day because it was so early into our trip and I was not sure what I wanted to get, but a lot of the vendors sold beaded coin purses, jewelry, clothing, and pottery. After some exploring, we wanted to spend some time on the beach at our resort.  We enjoyed the nice, soft, white sand between our toes and relaxed to the beach waves crashing.  Got to love that sound.  After the sunset, we went and got food at a local taco shop called 24 Hours due to it being open 24 hours a day.  This taco shop had the best carnitas tacos I found the whole trip.  Bryan had al pastor tacos and we both drank Jamaica along with our meal. And since it was Saturday night, we figured it would be another good night to go dancing, so we returned to the same places that we went to Friday night because we had so much fun.

Marinero’s ceviche trio: shrimp, fish, and octopus
Delicious guac that was made fresh at our table
Swordfish tacos
Breaded fish tacos

Sunday morning we woke up and ate at one of the restaurants on the resort called Isla Contoy.  It was a beautiful restaurant since it was open, fresh air, on the beach, etc. All the food we had here was so delicious.  We ate some tuna tostadas, yucatan ceviche, and more fish tacos. I have to say that the tuna tostadas were my favorite this meal. After our bellies were full, we walked down to the beach to get some more vitamin D. We did not have much time because it felt like once we got to the beach the clouds rolled in and it got a little chilly. So we decided to take a cab into Downtown Cancun to go to Mercado 28. Mercado 28 is a HUGE market in downtown Cancun.  It has hundreds of vendors that sell little trinkets to take home.  Vendors range from fine jewelry, home goods, art, clothing, leather goods, pottery, food, tequila, etc.  Literally everything you can imagine.  All items were reasonably priced, although we went towards the end of the day so we felt that they weren’t willing to bargain as much.  Bryan and I did leave the market with one really cool item though.  We have a tradition to buy a cross everywhere we travel and so we came across a couple that we really liked, so we ended up talking him down over half of the price, but still payed a good amount for it. (probably more than we should have). After returning from Downtown Cancun, Bryan and I felt parched and wanted an agua fresca. We walked by this little hole-in-the-wall place in an alley called Tres Marias that served fresh juices and aguas frescas.  Bryan got watermelon and I got strawberry and it was SOOO delicious!!

Yucatecan Ceviche
Breaded Fish Tacos from Isla Contoy
Tuna Tostadas from Isla Contoy
Soaking in some Vitamin D
Mercado 28
The neat cross that we purchased at Mercado 28 for our cross wall
Tres Marias aguas frescas

Monday was both Bryan and I’s favorite day the whole trip…ISLA MUJERES!!! I had been to Isla Mujeres before, so coming into this trip I knew it was the one place I wanted to go. Let me tell you, it was even more beautiful than I remembered. Isla Mujeres is about 8 miles off of Cancun, so we got up early, tried catching the 10am boat, but of course it couldn’t be easy for us…just like the whole trip hadn’t been easy thus far. We were in line for the boat and tried getting on but was told we had to take our receipt and exchange them for tickets, so we did so but when we turned around, they shut the gate behind us and told us to wait for the next one at 11:30.  The lady who gave us our tickets told us about another port that was 5 minutes away and the next boat came in 30 minutes so we decided to take a cab to the other port. Once we got the port, I realized I forgot my waterproof phone case for snorkeling, so luckily there was a shop by the port that sold them.  Although, I have to say, I was really nervous about purchasing it not being able to read any reviews on Amazon.  I soon got over my fears and purchased another case because you know how I love my pictures…

Once we got on the ferry, it was HOT!! It was going to be a perfect day on the island! The ferry ride was a short 20-30 minute ride and was just breathtaking.  The water was so many shades of blue and so beautiful.  While we were on the ferry ride over to Isla Mujeres, I realized I also forgot to pack my bathing suit bottoms…whoops!  So we knew that had to be done first when we got off the boat. Strike 2 against me for the day.

Once we get off the ferry ride, there were tons of people trying to sell us on all the tourist attractions the island had to offer including golf carts, snorkeling, swimming with dolphins and turtles, etc. During our ferry ride, there were people trying to sell us these things as well, so if you are looking to save time, I would highly recommend purchasing on the ferry.

Bryan and I on the ferry to Isla Mujeres
Beautiful water of the Caribbean

We got off the ferry and went to find me some bathing suit bottoms since we can’t do anything without those.  So luckily there were a few vendors nearby that were selling swimsuits and I purchased somethere.  After that, we purchased a golf cart to help us get around the island.  We drove to the north side to visit Playa Norte first to take a dip in its beautiful water.  The north side of the island is where all the best beaches for swimming are located. After swimming, we decided that we wanted to snorkel before it got too late.  We were able to find a place that charged $30 a person for an hour of snorkeling.  We were boated out near some reefs and snorkeled!  It was really cool to see all the colorful fish!  We even saw some “friendly barracudas” (that’s what the locals call them).  After snorkeling, we walked around town to dry off and while doing so, snapped some really fun pictures with all the fun murals on the streets.  It is such a beautiful island with lots of color.  After burning some calories swimming and walking around, we decided to drive to the Mercado Municipal.  I had done some research before going to Isla Mujeres on where to eat, and this was a place that was mentioned many times.  It is a little market that offers authentic and really cheap eats.  It is usually full of tourists and locals.  After deciding which place to eat, we chose Local #2 Loncheria San Martin. There we ate more fish tacos (since Isla Mujeres is known for fresh seafood) and had a watermelon agua fresca.  I thought this watermelon agua fresca beat the one from Tres Marias.

My handsome hubby
Us playing in the Caribbean
Bryan getting ready to snorkel

Virgin Mary statue underwater
“Friendly Barracuda”
Bryan and I coming up for a breather
As a Pura Vida Representative, this was a mandatory picture

Mandatory Picture

After eating, we wanted to drive to the south side of the island before dark.  At the very south side of the island, there is a light house and some small Mayan temples.  Around the same park there are some sculptures as well.  You have to pay a small fee to enter the park, so since we were limited on time, we just took pictures from the distance.  We wanted to make it back to the downtown area to turn in our golf cart and watch sunset since it was our last sunset before returning to the states. As we were driving back we spotted the sea shell house!! It was pretty cool (see picture below).  Bryan and I made it back to town with a few minutes to spare and enjoyed the sunset on one of the piers.  It was one of the most beautiful sunsets we saw our whole vacation. We got back on the ferry shortly after to return to Cancun.

This house was made into a shape of a shell! The fence even included shells in the fence!
Sunset from the island

Once back in Cancun, we showered and relaxed a bit before going and getting a late night bite. We decided to check out a rooftop place called Chuchito Perez.  This place had really good deals on drinks – 2 for 1 price! So we had a few drinks and then went downstairs to another local taco shop called Ta-Ki-To.  A lot of locals we talked to said it was cheap and really good.  Many recommended having it before leaving, and since it was our last night, we figured to get it while we could. Sure enough, Bryan believed those were the best al pastor tacos he has ever had in addition to their hot sauce.  It was so good that Bryan asked for the recipe and he gave it to us!! Now we just have to make it! 🙂

Last night attire
Our server Alex from Chuchito Perez-he was amazing!

Our last day came way too fast. We spent it relaxing at the beach on the resort as well as returning to Marinero’s to get the yummy guac as well as Tres Marias for another agua fresca. We returned to our resort, got our bags, and returned back to reality.

One last beach picture before leaving the Caribbean

xoxo,

T

P.S. Next time we return to Cancun, we would like to go to Chichen Itza, Tulum, La Isla Mall, and a nearby tequila distillery.