Mexico

Vamos a la playa!

Like most hockey families know, once a hockey player is done with their season all they want to do is relax. After his season in Binghamton, Chris wanted to get away and soak up the sun somewhere warm, a.k.a Mexico.

So, we were off to Sandos Caracol Eco-Resort in Playa del Carmen – outside of Cancun. This was our first time going on an all-inclusive resort so we were pretty excited.

I loved this resort because of how they appreciated the nature it built itself upon. Where there wasn’t a building there were trees and wild animals running around. Chris and I actually watched a monkey go inside someones hotel room because they left the balcony door open!

Sandos also had several cenotes around the resort. A cenote is a natural sinkhole, and these sinkholes were quite pretty. We went swimming in two of them and snorkeled in one.

One day we rented jet skis from the guy on the side of the beach. I screamed the whole time. Sorry Chris but you’re not that good of a driver!

The best day was the day we went on an excursion to Rio Secreto. This excursion was both terrifying and magical at the same time. It is essentially an underground cave that you swim through! It was found by accident in 2006 and I’m not sure if anyone made it out because if you don’t have any source of light with you, there is no way you can find your way out. Our guide made us all turn off our headlamps for a couple minutes and I never in my life have felt that kind of darkness. My eyes were wide open but I could see nothing. Luckily there was a photographer down there to capture this adventure for us because any other type of photo was impossible to get.

We also spent a day exploring the city of Playa del Carmen. We took a cab to the downtown area and actually had a great time.

It was sweltering hot but we were determined to eat at an authentic Mexican restaurant. After a long walk, we found the one we googled before we got there. It was everything we ever dreamed of.

After that we walked along Calle Quinta, or Fifth Avenue. It was filled with tourists and locals trying to trick the tourists into buying their things. But, it was cute and fun and we ended up catching the Ottawa Senators playoff game at a bar. Overall, it was a fun time.

Every time I think about this vacation with Chris, I smile, because we had such a good time together and theres nothing like a vacation that only requires a pool, a beach and a piña colada.