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| El Castillo at the Chichen Itza archaeological site |
Mexico is one of the countries I wanted to visit because of its similarities with the Philippines in terms of culture, language, weather, and food. To those who didn't know about the history of these two countries, they are both colonized by the Spaniards for a long time. Hence, these countries have a lot in common. For most tourists who seek for beautiful beaches, they either go to Baja California which is along the Pacific Ocean or at the Yucatan Peninsula along the Carribean Sea. For a Filipino like me, I have already seen a lot of beautiful beaches hence I was looking for the history and cultural diversity of the country wherein the Yucatan Peninsula is known for. Reaching the peninsula is also a geologist's bucket list for it is known as the site of the Chicxulub impact crater which killed the Dinosaurs during the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary (KT Boundary). Although we were not able to reach the town of Chicxulub where it got its name, I was still amazed of the entire peninsula's geologic history.
My brother-in-law, who has a timeshare with the Legendary, already planned the trip to Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya by the beginning of the last quarter of 2017. Since a lot of tourists mostly Americans flock to the hotels and resorts of Mexico during the months of December to January to escape from the winter season, most of these are fully booked. Good thing he was able to book a beachfront presidential suit. The accommodation which resembles a house comprises two bedrooms, a dining area, kitchen, a living room, and a veranda or balcony. The original plan was to take with them their two friends. Unfortunately, the other one got pregnant forcing her to back-out. Since all are prepaid except the airfare, I took her slot. This too just like my trip to the US was all unplanned. Well most successful vacations are unplanned. On my previous post, I mentioned that I used my US Tourist Visa to enter the Mexico. Yes, I just filled-up a form during my arrival at Cancun International Airport which serves as my Mexican tourist visa. There are direct flights mostly served by Delta Airlines from Minneapolis, MN to Cancun which takes about 5 hours. For us Filipinos, we can use our US Tourist Visa to enter Mexico if we came from US but you have to get a separate Mexican Visa if you fly directly to Mexico.
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| My visa on arrival at Mexico |
Riviera Maya is neither a town nor a province but a tourism and resort district in Mexico which was once called the Cancun-Tulum Corridor because of its location between the aforementioned towns. The entire stretch are mostly occupied by resorts and tourist attractions. After arriving at Cancun International Airport which is the nearest airport to our hotel, we traveled south by land with the hotel car in about an hour to get to Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya which is few kilometers from the City of Playa del Carmen.
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| Map of Riviera Maya tourist district in Mexico (Source: Wikipedia) |
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| Cancun as seen from above |
Here are the things we did and areas visited at Mexico:
1. Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya. Most of our time are spent at the hotel wherein we enjoyed all the amenities we want from infinity pools to spas and buffets. Yes, it is the perks of being a VIP member on an all-inclusive hotel. If you are a beach lover, you will not appreciate Hard Rock Riviera Maya's beach area because it is not a typical wide beach just like those in Hard Rock Punta Cana in Dominican Republic. They have separate narrow beaches on tidal pools. The hotel is situated on a relatively young uplifted coral platform where tidal pools or lagoons are shaped by wave action. The natural barriers break large waves before entering the secluded beach areas. This makes the beach area unique and picturesque especially for beach weddings. I have seen one wedding photo session at the beach during our stay. The resort is separated into two groups; the Heaven-exclusive for adults, and the Hacienda for families. Although there were no physical borders between the two, you could distinguish the difference because the color of buildings in Heaven is blue while orange in Hacienda. For adults, you could visit both. We stayed here from December 30, 2017 to January 5, 2018 so we were able to spend the New Year at the resort. Visit their website for more information. I will also be writing a review about the hotel.
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| Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya as seen from its beach area |
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| Facade of Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya-Heaven |
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| Pool side of Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya-Hacienda at night |
2. The Chichen Itza Archaeological Site Tour. Part of the hotel inclusion are tour packages. Although my sister and brother-in-law have already been to the site twice, we still selected this package since it is my first time. Wow, thinking this is one of the 7 wonders of the world, I'll keep on coming back to this site. The site is very important not just for Mexicans but to the entire world because of its historical significance in terms of culture, architecture, etc. This is just one of the sites of Maya Civilization in Central America. Although the complex is way smaller than the Angkor Wat Complex, I was still amazed of its architectural style and how it survived through time.
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| View of Templo de los Guerreros (Temple of the Warriors) |
3. Cenote Tour. We also went to Cenote Suytun in Tikuch, Valladolid, Yucatan. Cenote is a Mexican term for sinkholes. Since majority of the Yucatan Peninsula especially the eastern part are underlain by young limestone deposits, formation of sinkholes is very common. There are a lot of Cenotes in Yucatan which are utilized as either tourist attractions or sources of water. They don't have large rivers because their streams tend to disappear and drain towards the sinkholes hence Cenotes are very relevant for the ancient Maya people because these are their water sources. Outside, they sell souvenirs mostly obsidian rocks shaped into different figures.
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| Cenote Suytun in Tikuch, Valladolid, Yucatan |
After the tour, we were served by a Mexican buffet lunch. I was not able to take a photo but I think the restaurant is just within the vicinity of Cenote Suytun. I had a funny experience with the food. I put a quite amount but not that too much of green sauce on my taco thinking that it was just a normal sauce because other tourists were putting a lot on their food. When I took a bite, I was still not feeling any unusual on the taste until a few seconds when my mouth started to burn. It was spicy as hell! Good thing my brother-in-law bought a soda (it was too expensive for that coke..hehe) which eased the pain. Then I realized that it was a jalapeño sauce. Lesson learned, you have to ask first before eating something in Mexico because almost all the food are spicy..haha. Then I also imagined what could be other tourist's feeling especially those Americans who placed a lot of that sauce on their taco..hahaha. I also asked my sister's friend who is a Cambodian-American about the taste. She loves spicy food but she says that it was too spicy that she can't appreciate the taste of the taco anymore..haha.
4. Valladolid City Tour. The problem with tour packages, some of the members of your tour group are always late on coming back to the bus. This is the reason why the tour guide almost decided to end the tour. Good thing we still arrived at our last itinerary before sunset. We only had 30 minutes to walk around the Spanish City of Valladolid. Since Mexico was once ruled by Spaniards and introduced Roman Catholic just like in the Philippines, I felt like I was just in my country. I was able to pray inside the Cathedral of San Gervasio which is just across their town's central park. Valladolid looks like Vigan in the Philippines because of its Spanish architectural vibe.
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| Cathedral of San Gervasio in Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico |
5. Sunset sailing at Carribean Sea by Cancun Adventures. It was I think a 2-hour sailing on a private yacht looking at the sunset kissing the mountains of Yucatan with a beautiful reflection at the Carribean Sea. It was windy at the start generating relatively large waves which adds to the thrill but becomes calm at the end. We were also able to see beautiful night lights.
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| Getting ready for the sunset sailing at the Caribbean Sea with Cancun Adventures |
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| Beautiful sunset at the Carribean Sea |
How much I spent?
I think I only spent 5 USD for some souvenirs. But for my brother-in-law, I think a lot!..I never knew..hehehe. As what I've said, all are prepaid except for our Cancun-Minneapolis airfare.
Credits to Mike and Ate Faith for the experience which I couldn't afford using my own money...hahaha
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