It.was.awesome. Since having a child, one of the many things I've added to my list of, "Things I can fully understand now," is how there is a huge difference between a trip and a vacation. A trip is something that you take with the kids, and while it is enjoyable in its own right and you make long lasting memories, it is very different from a vacation. A vacation is what you take sans niños. You can actually relax on the plane without wrangling your toddler and, overall, there are zero expectations. Lounge by the pool, swim at the beach, read a book in your room (lame, I know, but it's also my kind of relaxation) ... the choices are endless and I love it!
Don't get me wrong -- I cherish the trips just as much as I enjoy the vacations. I can't wait for camping trips, trips to Yosemite and Jackson Hole, or until G is old enough to fully appreciate Disney. I even look forward to traveling overseas with the kids (future tense since they definitely need to be old enough to appreciate that)! Looking back, I am so grateful for all of the sacrifices my parents made for my family. With four kids, life wasn't easy financially, but we had many family trips and my parents rarely went on vacations just the two of them.
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Back to Cancún...
We went at a perfect time because most people were dealing with back-to-school with their own kids and not vacationing. It was the start of the slow season but still great weather. R booked us at the Excellence Playa Mujeres. We were greeted with cold towelettes and glasses of champagne upon our arrival. That level of service extended throughout our stay. I loved that it was adults only (without my baby in tow, it was nice to be away from all kids). They had tons of pools, plenty of free entertainment (we kayaked, played tennis, and went to one of their evening shows), and as an all-inclusive, lots of cuisine (mostly good) and drinks.
Our room was gorgeous, which is why I didn't mind staying in and reading at times. :) We had a two-story rooftop terrace suite that was actually affordable compared to lesser rooms at other resorts. It wasn't the créme de la créme of the resort, but it certainly was luxurious to us!
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| Last day before we left before the airport -- I obviously wouldn't dress like this while lounging poolside. |
The day before we left to head back to reality, we decided to venture outside of our little isle of paradise. The hotel had plenty of options for local excursions, but we were quick to decide on Xplor, a natural adventure park that offers zip lines, cave swimming, raft rides, and amphibious vehicle rides (kind of like an ATV, but not as exciting).
First of all, I don't do heights. At all. As in, I don't even go up to the attic because I don't like the ladder. Ha! R was crazy excited about the zip lines, and after hearing that Xplor has the tallest zip lines in Latin America, I promised him that I would *think* about doing them with him. Gulp.
We got up bright and early and headed out. I seriously had butterflies in my stomach just thinking about those dang zip lines, that is how big of a wimp I am when it comes to heights. Once we arrived and signed
What did R want to do first? Zip lines, of course! They have two different courses, one significantly shorter (height wise) overall. I put on my big girl pants and decided to go for it. You only live once! Thankfully, they didn't have tall, rickety wooden ladders leading up to the platforms like I had envisioned. They were either spiraling walk ways or spiraling stair cases inside a tower (my least favorite were these, go figure). Each course had seven different runs. The shorter course had a water slide at one point that took you to the next run and had two different runs where you landed in water.
I was sooooo nervous on the very first run, but luckily for me, I was buckled in with R. Unlike most zip line courses, Xplor uses two pulleys instead of one, so it makes you feel even more secure (or so I am told). The scariest part was getting on the platform and getting ready to take off. I will confess, it's pretty much impossible to fall off the platform because they hook you to the guides before you are hooked to the wire and you are not standing on the ledge. With each run, I gained more confidence and after our first course was completed, I decided to go on the "scary" course with R and continue the day's theme of adventure.
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| Serious face! I promise I was having fun! |
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| Coming in for a landing over the fake croc. :) |
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| Via Those are real jaguars that you fly over ... so cool! But sad for the jaguars. |
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| Via The highest run - eeeeek! |
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| Via One of the runs that takes you through the waterfall into a water landing. |
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| I LOVE R's facial expressions on this one! |
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| Hahaha! I had to include this one - don't know why I look so pissed off! |
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All in all, it was a great day and so fun! I am really glad I conquered my fear and went for it. Now maybe I will consider going up into the attic. ;)
I was happy to come back home to my sweet boy and was ready to finally settle into our new home. Since my stomach is all kinds of jacked up, I came home with the lovely Montezuma's revenge (starting at the airport on the way home, nonetheless) that lasted for nine days! The same thing happened last time we went to Mexico and on both occasions, it was only me that had stomach issues even though we ate the same things. That doesn't stop us from planning our next vacation though!
All opinions of the Excellence Playa Mujeres and Xplor are my own and are only expressed for my recollection. I was not compensated in any way for this post.
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