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Our trip to the Azul Sensatori resort in Cancún was fairly uneventful. Our flight was on time, the flight was dull but quick (for 5 hours) and we got through Mexican customs without any trouble. Being part of a tour group we were escorted from the airport to our hotel. It was a little bit like being the infantilized people on the cruise ship in Wall*E - everything is done for you.
We got onto the site about 2am Saturday morning. We were greeted with hot towels and champagne. We were all pretty hungry so we ended up ordering room service and hanging out in one of the rooms while we waited for the bellhops to deliver our luggage. Around 4am we all spilt up and went to bed.
I stood on my balcony looking down on the (now deserted) pool area. I saw a shape scurrying along the edges of the well-tended gardens: a rat. This would be the second real live rat I've ever seen (the first was in a downtown Vancouver alley. It was quite the novelty for me being a native Albertan (for those of you not from Alberta, we pride ourselves on being rat free, and spend a considerable amount of funds keeping it that way). I have yet to see another.
I think we all ended up waking at the crack of noon. Just in time to find the breakfast buffet closed and the resort in high gear. People were everywhere: lying in the sun, going to activities, finding friends to visit. Despite the hurly-burly, it was all very relaxing.
Mostly, I've been reading. So far, I've finished Storming Las Vegas, Inside Straight and Impact. Stealing Las Vegas was a fun True Crime book about a megalomaniacal Cuban ripping off Las Vegas resorts. Inside Straight is the latest Wild Cards book - and surprisingly good, thought the back cover blurb described the upcoming trilogy rather then the book itself, which was confusing as I reached the end. Impact is a modern-day thriller in the Michael Crichton vein, only not as well done. Give that Mr. Crichton wrote pot boilers that's saying a lot.
Monday a bunch of us decided to walk along the beach to the nearest town - Puerto Morelos. I'd been told that it was a 60 minute stiff walk to the south of us. Unfortunately others in our group were told that it was a 5 minute walk. I wasn't in the mood to argue over duelling hearsay, so I just silently prepared for a long walk. If it was 5 minutes, I'd be pleasantly surprised. It was actually about 90 minutes - in our defence, we were walking rather slowly.
--- late edit ---
According to Google Maps, the walking distance was about 5.5 km.
--- end edit ---
Puerto Morelos was fun and was also (after several days at the resort) the first thing we did that felt like we were actually in Mexico. There were people selling crafts and blankets and Luchador masks. I tried on a Spider-Man Luchador mask and - even by the standards of me in a Spider-Man Luchador mask - it looked ridiculous. Being pretty bagged by a 90 minute hike on hot sand, we elected to cab back. After consuming well-earned cold beers in the local tavern.
Tuesday 14 (not 15, despite the application of the considerable math-skills of numerous engineers) of us went out on an all day adventure to assorted Mayan ruins.
First stop was Tulum, a walled coastal port that existed because it's the only high cliffs in the Yucatan. Basically the only place you can have a coastal city without modern technology that isn't going to get wiped out by hurricanes every ten years. Our guide was knowledgeable and had a good patter. We learned enough to enjoy the archaeology.
After that was a so-so taco buffet at a local restaurant and then a trip to the ruined temple at Coba. It was a nice hike, but a wee-bit steep at the end. The end being the 117 (or so - 43 metres) step temple that 13 of us climbed.
On the way back to the resort we stopped in an "authentic Mayan village" About half of us (including me) stayed in the van. I can't speak for the others, but treating someone's day-to-day life like a sideshow attraction weirds me out.
When we returned I was invited to join some of the others for dinner at Le Chique, the high-end restaurant at the resort. It's a 12-item tasting menu that takes about three hours to get through. But it's so worth it. Maybe not the best meal I've ever had, but certainly one of the best dining experiences I've ever had. Each piece was a work of art. Also my first experience with molecular gastronomy.
Anyway, the trip continues, but wifi is spotty and the beach calls to me in a way my computer cannot.
We got onto the site about 2am Saturday morning. We were greeted with hot towels and champagne. We were all pretty hungry so we ended up ordering room service and hanging out in one of the rooms while we waited for the bellhops to deliver our luggage. Around 4am we all spilt up and went to bed.
I stood on my balcony looking down on the (now deserted) pool area. I saw a shape scurrying along the edges of the well-tended gardens: a rat. This would be the second real live rat I've ever seen (the first was in a downtown Vancouver alley. It was quite the novelty for me being a native Albertan (for those of you not from Alberta, we pride ourselves on being rat free, and spend a considerable amount of funds keeping it that way). I have yet to see another.
I think we all ended up waking at the crack of noon. Just in time to find the breakfast buffet closed and the resort in high gear. People were everywhere: lying in the sun, going to activities, finding friends to visit. Despite the hurly-burly, it was all very relaxing.
Mostly, I've been reading. So far, I've finished Storming Las Vegas, Inside Straight and Impact. Stealing Las Vegas was a fun True Crime book about a megalomaniacal Cuban ripping off Las Vegas resorts. Inside Straight is the latest Wild Cards book - and surprisingly good, thought the back cover blurb described the upcoming trilogy rather then the book itself, which was confusing as I reached the end. Impact is a modern-day thriller in the Michael Crichton vein, only not as well done. Give that Mr. Crichton wrote pot boilers that's saying a lot.
Monday a bunch of us decided to walk along the beach to the nearest town - Puerto Morelos. I'd been told that it was a 60 minute stiff walk to the south of us. Unfortunately others in our group were told that it was a 5 minute walk. I wasn't in the mood to argue over duelling hearsay, so I just silently prepared for a long walk. If it was 5 minutes, I'd be pleasantly surprised. It was actually about 90 minutes - in our defence, we were walking rather slowly.
--- late edit ---
According to Google Maps, the walking distance was about 5.5 km.
--- end edit ---
Puerto Morelos was fun and was also (after several days at the resort) the first thing we did that felt like we were actually in Mexico. There were people selling crafts and blankets and Luchador masks. I tried on a Spider-Man Luchador mask and - even by the standards of me in a Spider-Man Luchador mask - it looked ridiculous. Being pretty bagged by a 90 minute hike on hot sand, we elected to cab back. After consuming well-earned cold beers in the local tavern.
Tuesday 14 (not 15, despite the application of the considerable math-skills of numerous engineers) of us went out on an all day adventure to assorted Mayan ruins.
First stop was Tulum, a walled coastal port that existed because it's the only high cliffs in the Yucatan. Basically the only place you can have a coastal city without modern technology that isn't going to get wiped out by hurricanes every ten years. Our guide was knowledgeable and had a good patter. We learned enough to enjoy the archaeology.
After that was a so-so taco buffet at a local restaurant and then a trip to the ruined temple at Coba. It was a nice hike, but a wee-bit steep at the end. The end being the 117 (or so - 43 metres) step temple that 13 of us climbed.
On the way back to the resort we stopped in an "authentic Mayan village" About half of us (including me) stayed in the van. I can't speak for the others, but treating someone's day-to-day life like a sideshow attraction weirds me out.
When we returned I was invited to join some of the others for dinner at Le Chique, the high-end restaurant at the resort. It's a 12-item tasting menu that takes about three hours to get through. But it's so worth it. Maybe not the best meal I've ever had, but certainly one of the best dining experiences I've ever had. Each piece was a work of art. Also my first experience with molecular gastronomy.
Anyway, the trip continues, but wifi is spotty and the beach calls to me in a way my computer cannot.
