Hey APC,
My wife and I took a trip to the Riviera Maya the second week in August and we had an awesome trip. Here is a brief trip report and some photos for you to post on your blog. We started by reserving parking at the Mission Brewery which went perfectly. Our flight took seven hours from San Diego and we ended up at the resort by 4 PM that afternoon, so we had the first afternoon to explore the resort and walk along the beach. It was beautiful there. The resort is about 20 miles south of Cancun on a beautiful stretch of uncrowded coastline. We were staying in the Casitas section of the resort which consists of a number of separate clusters of rooms each arranged around a pool and bar area.
Here are some pics of the view from our room.
And the bar area in our section.
On our third day there we actually rented a car and drove to Chichen Itza. I highly recommend this over taking a tour because we got to experience driving in Mexico which is pretty darn exciting in itself. It's an easy drive once your off the coastline road and onto the Quota or Toll Road. The Quota is about 120 miles of nearly perfectly straight well maintained road that leads you straight to Chichen Itza. Be advised though that you do need to pay a toll and it was surprising how much it cost, at $27 each direction. So bring some extra cash with you and no, they don't take credit cards ;-).
Chichen Itza is amazing to experience. Why the Mayan's chose this spot to build these incredible buildings is mind blowing, apparently there are two large Cenotes in the area that are thought to have provided a source of water for them. As with all pyramids, when you look at them you can't help but wonder... how in the hell did that build that?
El Castillo Pyramid
"El Caracol" The observatory Temple.
Templo de los Guerreros (Temple of the Warriors)
After exploring the ruins at Chichen Itza, we headed over to the incredible Mayaland Resort which is right next door to Chichen Itza. I highly recommend this stop to you if you ever get out to Chichen Itza. Mayaland is a beautiful resort and the food was the best we had on the whole trip. While we were there, they entertained us with a traditional Mexican dance, with somewhat non traditional head pieces!
After our excursion to Chichen Itza and Mayaland, we spent the rest of our week relaxing at the resort. The El Dorado Royale is a spectacular resort with highly manicured gardens everywhere you look. Here's the main section of the resort looking from the lobby down to the ocean.
And this is the main pool area
Another cool thing about this resort is there are huge Iquana lizards that sunbathe on the walkways. Here's one we befriended that was along the walkway to our room.
All in all, it was an incredible trip. We would go back again and again. Thank you APC for posting my trip report and pictures.
