Viva Playa del Carmen Mexico

Since May, we've not only been blessed with the opportunity to spend a good percentage of weekends on the beach in Norfolk but to spend tons of time with our best buds from college.



We took our first family vacation together (all eight of us) to Costa Rica two years ago and decided to tempt fate again with a trip to Playa del Carmen, Mexico in June.







It couldn't have gone any smoother. The flight in and out of Cancun was almost too easy. Playa del Carmen was a 30 minute scenic drive from the airport on some of the best paved roads I've been on in years (rivals most of those in the states or at least in the VA/DC area). Every driver we had during our stay went out of his way to make our trip enjoyable. We stayed at the Mayan Palace resort which boasts the largest pool in Latin America (it was ginormus).



Courtesy of Travelhero.com




The rooms were huge and included a well appointed kitchen so we cooked several meals during our week stay (a great cost saving when you have to feed eight people). We spent a good amount of our time on the beach and by the pool doing absolutely NOTHING.





After frying to a crisp at the beginning of the week (that sun was brutal), we finally reserved a Palapa (cabana) to lounge under, perfect for naps after a hard day of doing nothing.











The guys played golf and hit the beach, I hit the spa, the kids swam for hours and hours, Thing 1 hit the gym and we all ate yummy food. Our big adventure was to the ancient ruins of Tulum and downtown Playa del Carmen.


















The ruins and the view were breathtaking. And yes, there was some knitting. I made quite a bit of progress on my Morning Surf wrap that has officially visited three beaches and two countries in its short life.




I highly recommend that if you get a chance, visit the Mayan Riviera. Its easy enough to travel to (less than a two hour flight from Charlotte, NC), is clean and beautiful, the water is really THAT color blue, the roads and taxis are excellent, its easy to spend US dollars in most places and you can get by if you don't speak Spanish though it is most helpful if you do (poor King Thing was odd man out with the espanol and was occasionally challenged in communicating with the locals). The only downsides were the mosquitos at night (Autan saved us in a major way), the high humidity (didn't bother to curl my hair all week), having to take shuttles from our room to the pool and having to take taxis to get anywhere off premises. We're already planning another trip to perhaps Cancun or Acapulco if we can find more great deals on airline tickets. Viva Mexico!

Clicky for more pictures of our trip...