February 8-14, 2022
Brian and I decided to book a trip to Mexico, and since it was a month before our 25th anniversary, we called it our anniversary trip. (Also, dubbing it our anniversary trip helped keep the whining to a minimum from the teenagers at home!)
We went to Playa Del Carmen and stayed at a beautiful resort called Ocean Riviera Paradise.
Our room was perfect. We were booked in an adults only section and this is the view from our first floor balcony. We had a small swimming area right off our room that our balcony steps led to. What?! We felt so rich/important/spoiled/something! We had the big pool about 20 feet away. (There were several large pools throughout the resort.) Don't worry, we didn't upgrade by spending $200 to get the "privileged" band...so we stayed humble. (One day I made it all the way to the beach without a towel. I asked one of the workers if I could get one. He smiled and asked if I was "privileged." I wasn't. I had to go all the way back to the main part of the resort to find a towel.)
I think Brian and I only used these steps from our room into the water a couple of times. It was still so cool though.
The whole resort was filled with greenery and looked like a tropical paradise.
There were all sorts of critters. One late night I was heading to our room alone and a group (or gaze) of raccoons were in the hall in front of my room. We all froze. I was kind of terrified. (Grandpa Gwilliam's loathing of raccoons tearing up his yard came to mind. Were raccoons vicious?!) I guess they were more terrified of me than I was of them because they scattered after my camera flash went off.
Signs like these made me a little nervous as well! Didn't see any crocodiles though.
We saw tons of monkeys. They were so cute. The main forest area they were gathered in was very close to our section of the resort, so that was fun. Lots of people would take bananas from the breakfast buffet and give them to the monkeys.
A couple of times we saw a brave money come to the pool and drink someone's drink or eat their fruit. This little momma monkey was a few chairs from us and everyone was gathering around and taking pictures. Brian and I finally realized she had a tiny monkey wrapped around her belly. It was adorable. We were also bummed because we practically had front row seats and we could have gotten some great video or pictures.
Two huge iguanas were blocking my path to our room...I chose to take a different route.
There were lots of coatis. They would slip into the trashcan and pull out treats.
Speaking of treats, one of our favorite fun things about this resort is they had an afternoon crepe bar. Delicious! We haven't had this on any of our other trips. The menu options would vary but a few I remember were: Nutella and bananas, tropical fruit and cream (my favorite), and strawberries and cream.
Also, you can see this lady wearing a mask. All of the workers at the resort wore them all of the time. We had to wear them if we rode the tram, in any indoor areas like the lobby or gym, or when we entered the dining rooms.
This was seriously so delicious!
One kind of funny thing is Brian and I never were at the beach together. We would often eat breakfast and workout at different times, and then one of us would end up at the beach and the other at the pool outside our room. (I usually chose the beach.) We did enjoy being together at the pool though. And even though we split up for some things throughout the day, the majority of time we were still together. I do love that we are both independent like that. On my own, I ended up walking the beach, getting a few massages, and listening to or reading three books. Brian enjoyed, on his own, relaxing by the pool, listening to talk radio, the evening shows and working out. Together, we ate most of our afternoon and evening meals, played games, explored the resort, bowled, went into town etc....
We have had the opportunity to do a few resorts in the past, but they never had a bowling alley. We had fun at this place.
I especially LOVED when I somehow beat Brain in bowling. Let me just say, I consider myself somewhat athletic, but I have NEVER, in 25 years of marriage, been able to beat Brian at any sport. In the beginning it was annoying, but I've come to accept it. So this bowling score below is truly historic! Erin for the win!! (The lady at the front desk misspelled his name. I promise, it was really Brian I was up against.) Brian's comment was something about the balls all being too light....whatever!
Sadly, my reign did not last long. He beat me the next day. I guess he adapted quickly to a lighter ball. Darn boy.
All of the shows were outdoors due to Covid restrictions. We found this cute 2022 sign inside near the bowling alley and took the photo opp.
Took a taxi ride into town...$20 each way.
One day we went into town for some shopping. Brian new I would like that and was sweet to go with me. We just walked up and down one of the main streets. I bought this yummy ice cream. I haven't had anything like this, and I am a fan. It has a bubble (soft) waffle lined with Nutella for the outside and then vanilla cream gelato, fresh fruit and a drizzle of Nutella on the top. So good!
One funny thing that kept happening was workers from our resort "just happened" to be in town on their day off. They would stop us and say, "Hi! You remember me, right?" We would look at them blankly and then they would say something like, "from the Paradise hotel!" Brian and I would then smile and say, "Oh ya!" but have no clue who they were. Then they would direct us into their families gift shop that just opened and try to get us to buy something. We finally realized they didn't remember/know us at all but were just looking at our wrist bands the hotel made us wear. Tricky!
These aren't the best pictures, but military police on four wheelers drove down the main street. It was sobering and kind of scary. One day when I was at the beach a line of four or five zoomed down as well. Cancun and Playa Del Carmen, in recent years, have been hit with murders and drug activity. Honestly, I felt much safer in town and at the beach before these guys drove through. It was a grim reminder. (We are from the Odessa hood though....so there's that.)
This little girl and her grandma were singing to raise money for her sick sibling. It was right across from the shop I got ice cream and they were so bad. Out of tune...singing loud and off key...it was hilarious and captivating and endearing all in one.
On our resort there was a coffee/bakery shop, an ice cream parlor and the breakfast/lunch/dinner buffet. They also had several restaurants that were really good. We tried the Mexican, the American (burgers and fries), the Japanese and the steak place. We both enjoyed the Japanese food and experience and were super impressed by our steaks a the steak restaurant.
I personally ate way too many sweets. It was fun to have so many to choose from, and I could move on if they weren't very good.
There was evening entertainment each day at the resort. The fire show was pretty cool. Another night they had vendors from town set up in the main square. They had some singers/bands a couple of nights. Our favorite was Super Bowl Sunday.
There was one guy who had too much to drink that was trying to be the up front entertainment. He would stand right in front of the screen and dance or throw a football back in forth with his little daughter. That was annoying. Brian is super relaxed, but he finally said a few things to the guy and he stopped.
We really enjoyed our relaxing week in Mexico together. Until next time!
