The Señor Turns 50 Continued...

Okay, so where were we when last left off? Ahh, yes. The Señor and I were hopping into a Tulum cab and heading to the Fairmont Mayacoba. Well, first of all let me say that the cabs of Tulum have much to be desired. Riding in a Tulum cab is much like riding in a tuna can - and a generic tuna can at that! I was very relieved when after an hour of swerving and swaying we pulled up safely and without incident to the beautiful gated entrance of the Fairmont Mayacoba. The cab driver briefly spoke with the security guard who verified The Señor and the Mrs were scheduled for arrival, the gates opened and we were suddenly driving through roads of lush and perfectly manicured jungle. The driver of our tuna can pulled in to the lobby entrance and I bailed out as if I were arriving at a life boat! We were immediately welcomed by a handsome gentleman who greeted us by name, offered us each a scented, ice cold hand towel and a fruity welcome drink from a silver tray. Oh my, it were as if we had just landed on fantasy island!

The lobby of the resort is breathtakingly beautiful. It is completely open air and is decorated in calming neutral colors and beautiful, exotic floral arrangements. We checked in and immediately settled in to the big comfy chairs for a cocktail. I was so excited when I realized the resort was also fully decked out in her Christmas attire - there were beautiful Christmas trees placed throughout the resort with this being the grandest of them all.

This tree was the view from the lovely verandah where The Señor and I enjoyed refreshing beverages such as Mojitos, the occasional Corona and even a champagne cocktail. Very chi-chi indeed!

We stayed in a Deluxe Casita. It was situated right on one of the relaxing lagoons that run through the property. We were able to sit on the patio and enjoy the beautiful fish and birds who live in the wildlife paradise that is the property.

Here are a few shots of the room. You will notice that the bathroom comes first because 1) I adore a good bathroom and 2) I loved this particular bathroom!

Notice the glass wall and the window behind the tub and shower? They look out to an absolutely fabulous enclosed atrium area. Garden lights are strategically placed in the atrium and make it an absolutely wonderful addition to the room. I don't think I let a day go by that I didn't take advantage of a soak in that tub. We also slept with the atrium lights on which gave the feeling of being outside all night long.

Here is the view to our room from the yummy bathroom! I wish I had taken pictures of the closet area. There was a hallway between in the bedroom and bathroom with large closets on each side. Yes, his and hers closets come in handy when vacationing. Ha!!!!!!

The room also had a lovely desk area in case you might need to do a little work (not!) or possibly have a Words With Friends addiction!

The patio was fabulous and looked right out to one of the golf greens. The fish swam right up to the water's edge when you stood at the rail. Apparently they were accustomed to being fed even though the resort does ask that you not feed them in order to maintain the eco-systems of the resort.

Speaking of eco-systems - there are actually five within the property - mangroves, tropical forest, lagoons, water canals and coastal dunes. The resort offers tours of the property on water taxis such as this one.

The tour takes about an hour and is a great way to see the entire property and a few of its residents (take a look!)...

Yes, not only is the resort home to beautiful water birds, fish and turtles - it is also home to the crocodile. And he, along with all the other wildlife who reside on the property live in a protected area. No alligator shoes in the future of those guys!

One thing I haven't mentioned is that the resort is huge! So huge in fact that they offer transportation via golf cart shuttles 24 hours a day. This is one of the cute little huts designated as a drop off/pick up station on the property. Of course, being Christmas, each hut had its very own Christmas tree!

Another lovely addition to the lobby bar is that all food and beverages are delivered on, you guessed it, their own silver tray! Yes, this was a first for The Señor and I and we found it quiet comical knowing where we came from and all!

The property has several pools but we didn't really spend much time at them as the weather wasn't really conducive to pool time and we spent two days on the property golf course, The El Camaleon. The El Camaleon is gorgeous and I will share some pictures of it with you the next time we get together.

These pool pictures don't do the main pool area justice as it is actually huge. There are several pool areas linked together with small water-ways. There are also lots of lounge chair areas. Some are under private pergola areas and some are out in the open. Fabulous pool area really!

The resort is home to several restaurants. The La Laguna Grill and Bar offers a wonderful breakfast buffet each morning; as well as, lunch and dinner.

We had dinner one night at Las Brisas (the properties AAA Four Diamond Restaurant) and one night at El Puerto Restaurant (their steak and seafood restaurant). We enjoyed both meals although we agreed they didn't fall in to the Hartwood or Posada Margherita categories of "something to write home about"!

Of course, we had to go in to Playa del Carmen one afternoon and visit our old "home away from home"! For this journey we requested a cab from the lovely folks at the Fairmont and from that request we found a true treasure - Alberto. Alberto might just be the greatest cab driver ever. No joke! Not only is his cab a brand-new SUV but he speaks very good English and is Johnny-on-the-spot when you call him for transportation! He dropped us off in Playa and we asked him if we could call him directly for pick up when we were ready to return to the resort. He said of course and asked how long we thought it would be because he was on his way to the gym to work out and wanted to make sure he would be available when we called. Okay, I found that funny! When we called several hours later to arrange pick-up he answered the phone by greeting The Señor by name. I found that funny too! Anyway, our rides with Alberto were calm, comfortable, clean and did not include one scary tuna-can moment. As it turns out Alberto is now our official Playa del Carmen cab driver. He delivered us safely to the airport on going-home day, we have his card and plan to contact him in the future for all our Playa del Carmen cab needs.

Here's a couple of obligatory Playa pics just to prove we were there. For those of you familiar with Playa, yes that is the Carboncita's chips and salsa platter and it was just a yummy as ever.




Stay tuned dear readers...tomorrow we golf!

Como Como

Not sure how I managed but I somehow failed to document our dinner at Como Como.

Como Como came highly suggested to us by several people - not to mention is raved about on playainfo.com. We attempted to have dinner there the evening of day 2 but were turned away for lack of a reservation. Having secured a reservation for the next night we set off down the street to La Bodeguita del Medio - a great second choice.

We arrived at Como Como Saturday evening at 8:00 and were seated immediately.

We ordered a nice bottle of Pino Grigio and the tuna tartare to start. The tartare was truly one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth. It in and of itself is reason enough for a return visit.

As a main course the Senor ordered the seafood spaghetti, BIL the roasted chicken and I the ravioli with ricotta and spinach.

We snacked on the tartare, visited about our afternoon at Akumal and Xpu-Ha and had a glass of wine...

we snacked some more, visited some more and had another glass of wine...

the tartare gone we had another glass of wine and visited a little more...

the nice folks next to us (who not only arrived after us but waited a bit to order) received their entrees...

we ordered another bottle of white, had another glass of wine and, well, you get the picture.

Finally, concerned that we might finish the second bottle of wine without ever seeing our meal we decided we should probably inquire about our order.

Upon inquiry our entrees were immediately delivered by three very frazzled looking young men. One of them apologized saying the chef was very busy although that seemed hard to believe as two tables had emptied and waiting for the next reservations to arrive.

Famished and slightly intoxicated we devoured our food and, let me tell you this, it was oh so good! The ricotta in the ravioli was so light and fresh and the pasta was honestly like none I have had before. BIL raved about his chicken and the Senor enjoyed his seafood spaghetti with beautiful muscles, clams and shrimp very much.

Perhaps they were having an off night but from what I saw the service at Como Como leaves much to be desired. With that said, the food is spot-on so perhaps folks will be willing to overlook lack of service for to-die-for tuna tartare and scrumptious ravioli. I know I'll go back.

Shock...

Day 4 - We wake up Sunday morning to the realization that we only have two more breakfasts until we have to get on a plane and head back to Texas. Oh my, decisions - decisions! I was really wanting to try Nativo but we hadn't made it to La Queva del Chango yet this trip - we discussed it and the monkey cave won out.

La Queva del Chango is booming on Sunday mornings, packed with both locals and tourists alike. There was a 20-30 minute wait and I visited with the most delightful 5 year old during our wait. Turns out she lived in New York City and was in Playa trying to escape the cold. Yes, she and everyone else from the good 'ole US of A!

Without going in to too much detail about what happened next I will just say this - about half way through breakfast our trip took a real sharp turn from laid back fun in the sun to dead-stop serious. From this experience we learned the following:

when in tropical climates one should drink a lot of Gatorade to ward off possible dehydration - water does not have the same effect as it does not contain electrolytes and escapes the body quickly

the wait staff and manager of La Queva del Chango are some of the kindest people I have ever met

orange juice with lots of sugar added can help to bring a person out of shock

pure honey can also assist in this effort

very low blood pressure is a symptom of shock

Dr Carlos of Xcaret not only wears great shoes but is a really good doctor

Needless to say with what little you now know about our breakfast at La Queva del Chango we spent the remainder of our day back at the condo napping and if there was any drinking going on it involved shots of Gatorade.

That evening we took a stroll up to Don Mario's for dinner. BIL had the Fettucini Alfredo, The Senor a pizza and I the Caprese Salad. I had recently read some not so flattering things about the food and service at Don Mario's and was very relieved to find that our meal was, as always, fabulous.

Following dinner we headed back to the condo where we sat on the patio and listened to the sound of the surf. As I sat there I said a little prayer and thanked God for the beauty of Playa, for the kindness of its people and for my family whom I love.

to be continued...

Just another day in paradise...

Day Three...

We started off the day with a hearty breakfast at El Bistro at La Tortuga. I have read rave reviews of El Bistro - especially of their Eggs Benedict - and let me just say, we were not disappointed!

The Eggs Benedict were dreamy (in fact I would LOVE to have an order right now) as were the coffee and orange juice. Brother In Law (going forward to be known as BIL) says the guacamole was the best he has ever had. The sad thing about that is that up until then MY guacamole was known as the best he ever had! Oh well, El Bistro is definitely not a bad place to be beaten out by!

It turns out breakfast at El Bistro was just what the doctor ordered for a little self-inflicted case of the "virus"! Chris and I must use the same doctor because we ran in to she and Josh while we were there and she said she had a little case of the "virus" too!

With breakfast behind us we were off to meet Jerry; our taxi driver for the day. Jerry picked us up at 11:00 AM sharp and we headed south for some relaxing time on the beach in Akumal.


The Senor and brother in law found themselves a couple of stools at Lol-Ha and I found myself a perfect spot for a siesta (is that a view or what?!).


After a few cerveza's for the boys and a nice siesta for me we located Jerry (who had parked himself under a nice tree as well and was enjoying his own siesta!) and headed for my happy place - Xpu-Ha. My motto, a day at Xpu-Ha is a day in paradise.

We settled in at The Beach Club at La Playa and had some lunch - yummy!



My darlin' BIL had the shrimp brochette and The Senor had the fried fish. I personally do not care to eat anything that has fins and is staring back up at me from the plate but he swears by it and orders it every time we're there!



I didn't get a shot of my food as I my favorite thing to eat at La Playa are the papas fritas and guacamole and I had scarfed them down before I thought about the pictures so you'll just have to take my word for it that they were, in fact, yummy.

The Beach Club at La Playa has live music these days so we hung out, listened to some music and basically spent a few hours in this beach lover's paradise.







to be continued...

Day 2 - a wedding planner, a beach and a little Havana dreaming...

Our second day in Playa we slept a little late, enjoyed the view from our patio and set out about 10:30 to meet with what turned out to be one delightful lady!

Our son and his fiance are planning a July wedding in Playa and asked that we meet with Maria of weddingsinplaya.com. Our assignment was to check out Maria, the proposed wedding venue and sample the venue's culinary offerings.

We met Maria at Fusion for a quick smoothie and then rode with her to The Beach Club at Grand Coral.

Before I tell you about the beach club I must say this, riding with a local in Playa is an adventure. Maybe even more so than riding in a taxi. Also, it should be mentioned that Maria is Italian. And, to quote Maria (imagine hand gestures moving dramatically through the air!), "the Italian in me comes out when I drive".

With this said, Maria took a "shortcut" to avoid the highway construction. The "shortcut" gave us the opportunity to see several Playa sites we had never seen before including a gentleman carrying two chickens by their feet. The chickens had apparently just met their demise and were off to what was surely a large pot of boiling water.

On our return trip I would bet my bottom peso we actually collided with another car. The other driver and Maria exchanged words through sign language without ever slowing down.

Just when I wasn't sure what might happen next our delightful Italian lady gestures to him as only she could and says, "oh, **** off"!

The Senor, brother-in-law and I sat in silence willing ourselves not to laugh. All I could think was, well, all righty then!

Back to the mission at hand...

We found The Beach Club at Grand Coral to be the perfect venue for the upcoming nuptials.


Our report back went something like this:

Maria is (I'll say it again!) delightful!

The venue is spectacular!

The food was muy excelente!

Let the festivities begin!

We spent that afternoon at the beach basking in the beautiful sun, sand and atmosphere that is Playa (oh - and I had a massage!).

The beach was crowded and I enjoyed listening to the various accents from around the world. Dutch, French, German, Spanish, English and some we didn't recognize.

To quote the song, it was a "lovely day...lovely day...lovely day...lovely day"!





We had dinner that evening on the north end at a very cool Cuban restaurant, La Bodequita Del Medio.



The food, the service, the atmosphere and the band were all top notch. La Bodequita Del Medio is now on my "highly suggested" list.

Like most of our nights in Playa we ended up at Fusion...

watching the moon...

and the stars...

listening to the waves...

and trying to solve the worlds problems...