The Mexico You Thought You Knew

It's funny, ever since we got back from vacation I keep seeing this Mexico tourism commercial with the slogan, "The Mexico You Thought You Knew" and I can't help but think that is exactly how we felt about our trip. We were really hesitant to head down to Mexico-last year's swine flu outbreak, daily news about the violence, possible bad weather, etc... In fact, this was the only vacation we've ever purchased travel insurance for. Well I'm happy to report, Mexico (at least the part we traveled to) was not at all what I expected. First and foremost, the people of Mexico were among the nicest and friendly of anyplace we ever visited. Every place we went had filtered water, nobody ever got sick and we were very comfortable eating and drinking while we were there. And while we've visited Mazatlan and Puerta Vallarta in the past, the Riviera Maya area is gorgeous, much more modern, and the poverty is far less evident.

For the last few years before going on any vacation, we have used Trip Advisor. It has really helped up select hotel, decide about excursions, and provide helpful hints that can't be found anywhere else. After this trip, we decided to add our own reviews so if you want more detailed information about places we visited, they can be found here, here, and here (this link will be edited, it takes 48 hours for the review to post).***Trip Advisor name-homeleone

Here's a day that Garrett and I spent together at what I think is a big kids amusement park. It's called Xplor and I would venture to guess there will never be one like it in the US due to liability issues. It's recommended for ages 6 and up so Chris volunteered to stay back with Jack and Morgan was scared of the cenotes (she hates water things where she can't touch the ground-she can swim, but just a phobia). So Garrett and I got to share this wonderful day. There are 14 ziplines (though we ended the day having gone on 23 ziplines!!), some of them through waterfalls, one over a crocidile and puma pit, all of them over the jungle. Absolutely thrilling and beautiful at the same time. There is also a 3 mile ATV (4 wheels, so not sure what's it's called) course -very fun-, and cenotes, there were 2 circuits to kayak through and one very long stalagtite "river" to swim through.
It was a very physical day, both Garrett and I felt a few pulled muscles the next day and I can't tell you how many stairs I climbed, but talk about exhilarating and unique.








My little beach bum. I swear this kid could lay in sand all day.

An excursion to Tulum. Do we look wilted? Honestly the beach was just beyond the ruins, but there was not a breeze to be felt. Needless to say, we took the quick tour.

One of the nightly shows that kids club put on. I was really impressed and I think Morgan may have gotten an acting bug.

The courtyard of the hotel.

This is the way we walked to get anywhere on the hotel property. I should preface this by saying that first we applied bug spray and then we walked and walked and walked.


Well imagine the picture overload if my camera hadn't have broken~hee hee!

I think the reviews are mixed as to whether or not we'll return. The biggest negative about the trip was the time-we really lost 2 days due to travel. On the day we left, we left our home at 9:00 p.m. and arrived at the hotel at 3:00 p.m. There's a 2 hour time difference, but still that's a really long day. And one more picture of what the best thing we brought to make the travel more bearable for Jack (who slept the entire time on every flight!!).

I bought this at Toys R Us-on sale for $29.99. It holds up to 16 trains and folds out as a portable wooded train track. It kept him thoroughly entertained the entire trip and we figured it would be really helpful during soccer season.

Thanks for reading if you got this far!