Goodness gracious, great balls of fire. As Scarlet O'Hara would say...
Jack and I have just returned from our big trip for the year- 6 days in Mayakoba, Mexico, just north of Playa del Carmen. We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary in grand style at the Banyan Tree Mayakoba resort. Usually, on past trips, I would blog each day of our travel from the road, during bus rides or train travel, or at night when we'd settled in at our hotel. But this trip was different. Between swimming in our own private villa pool, drinking margaritas, swimming in the huge resort pool, eating the unbelievable all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet, sitting on the beach, drinking daiquiris, reading my book, getting spa treatments, indulging in dinner, and smoking Cuban cigars rolled right there on the premises by a 3rd generation cigar maker, who has time to blog and sort through pictures?
Alas, it was an incredible trip. Pretty much perfect from beginning to end. Here's how it all began...
Our friends Mike and Sonja, friends from New York who happened to be in Seattle for a wedding during the time that we would be in Mexico, happily gave us a ride to the airport late on Thursday night, in exchange for staying at our house while we were gone. We slept pretty much the entire way on our connecting flight to Dallas, where we had a 3 1/2 hour connection at 5am, Central time, which was 3am for us. It ended up being not quite so bad, once we found the pretty awesome Samsung entertainment center, decked out with comfy leather chairs. I watched at least four old episodes of "Saved by the Bell."
Jack and I have just returned from our big trip for the year- 6 days in Mayakoba, Mexico, just north of Playa del Carmen. We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary in grand style at the Banyan Tree Mayakoba resort. Usually, on past trips, I would blog each day of our travel from the road, during bus rides or train travel, or at night when we'd settled in at our hotel. But this trip was different. Between swimming in our own private villa pool, drinking margaritas, swimming in the huge resort pool, eating the unbelievable all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet, sitting on the beach, drinking daiquiris, reading my book, getting spa treatments, indulging in dinner, and smoking Cuban cigars rolled right there on the premises by a 3rd generation cigar maker, who has time to blog and sort through pictures?
Alas, it was an incredible trip. Pretty much perfect from beginning to end. Here's how it all began...
Our friends Mike and Sonja, friends from New York who happened to be in Seattle for a wedding during the time that we would be in Mexico, happily gave us a ride to the airport late on Thursday night, in exchange for staying at our house while we were gone. We slept pretty much the entire way on our connecting flight to Dallas, where we had a 3 1/2 hour connection at 5am, Central time, which was 3am for us. It ended up being not quite so bad, once we found the pretty awesome Samsung entertainment center, decked out with comfy leather chairs. I watched at least four old episodes of "Saved by the Bell."
Midway through our morning, we heard applause coming from the terminal below, and turned to see this squadron of soldiers returning from a stint in Afghanistan. We joined in the cheering, which lasted at least 7 or 8 minutes, until the last soldier disappeared down the hall. I don't think I've ever witnessed such enthusiastic appreciation for our men and women in uniform... a good reminder that our armed forces aren't just "over there," but have lives and loves and homes "over here."
After a quick 2 hour flight, we landed at the Cancun airport right on time, found our bags quickly, and were met promptly at the curb by our transport service, a friendly lady holding a sign with our name. Wow, no missed connections, no lost luggage, no walking through a thunderstorm at midnight and getting lost while looking for the hostel in the dark? This is turning out to be a great trip already!The 45 minute drive passed quickly, giddy with excitement as we were. Upon arriving at the Banyan Tree, we passed through at least three security checkpoints, the guards checking their lists to make sure that our names were among the arriving guests, and winding through a labyrinth of cobble stone roads, we finally arrive at the entrance to the resort; jaw-droppingly beautiful.
We were greeted by our resort host, Zuleyka, who gave us this refreshing drink made of the chaya flower and local honey, presented us with welcome bracelets, walked us through a tour of the grounds, and then introduced us to our gorgeous garden villa, named Cascabel, which means rattlesnake in Spanish.
The ridiculously luxurious bedroom...
... and an equally romantic bathroom...
...and open the sliding door from the bedroom, and you can stick your feet in the villa's private pool!
In the afternoon, we meandered our way along the mangrove canals to the private and secluded beach, where we pretty much parked it for the next 4 hours.
We were just about to walk back to our villa, when one of the staff asked us if we would like a ride back in the boat. Why yes, I think we would...
Aside from it just being totally cool, the boat ride also turned out to be a good way to become acquainted with the grounds. Below is Saffron, the signature Thai restaurant on the property.
As dusk fell, the courtyard came alive with the music played here by this trio.
Jack, slipping quickly into vacation mode, relaxes on the roof deck.
We had the good fortune to arrive on a night when the resort was offering a complimentary wine and tapas tasting at the rooftop lounge, so naturally, we signed up. The tapas ended up being a good amount of food, so we didn't even have to spend money on dinner!
Arriving back to our villa that night, with the warm breeze blowing gently, we jumped right back into our pool.
Como estas? Uh... muy muy muy muy bien!!!
2 comments:
Cigars, LaV?! I knew it was all downhill after that tatoo.
Wow!
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