Vidanta, Riviera Maya – and Hacienda Tres Rios

20-29 Nov 2017

At Nektar for an anniversary dinner

This was our second visit to the Vidanta resort south of Cancun on the Riviera Maya. We booked it as part of the "Summerfest" promotion when we bought into the Vidanta timeshare, partly to get the 6000 Vida Lifestyle dollars, but mostly as a chance to celebrate our anniversary festively. Paula and Bobby had stayed at the  Hacienda Tres Rios and recommended it. We hadn't really considered going to an all-inclusive resort but when we saw that our flight back right after Thanksgiving would cost as much as a couple of nights at H3R, we decided to splurge it!

The beach at Vidanta Riviera Maya

19 Nov, Sun – We left home in the rain around 2020 and checked into Park N Jet2 around 2115. We got an immediate shuttle ride all by ourselves to Seatac where we were dropped off at the north end of the concourse about as far from United as possible (it appeared that the driver had been dispatched to pick up a full load of people returning to their vehicles). We checked the one rolling duffle leaving us with one rolling carryon and our two small backpacks. Since the flight was full United asked for volunteers to gate check their carryon and I got mine tagged for pick up in Cancun. I didn’t think about having left my folder with our boarding passes for our second leg in the carryon.

20 Nov, Mon – The flight left at 0015 and we tried to sleep in the darkened cabin since there was no seatback entertainment and no meals – typical United flight. Got in to Houston a bit early so there was plenty of time to find a United service center and get new boarding passes printed. We were in the back of the plane bound for Cancun again and it was a full flight. No meals, but the flight was only 2hr15min long so that made some sense. In CUN we got through Immigration and Customs and managed to get by the “servicios touristicos” without having to sign up for any timeshare presentations. There was a pretty long wait for our shuttle to Vidanta and there was a heavy shower; fortunately, we were under shelter. The shuttle dropped us off at the Central Lobby and we had to leave our bags there and take the drippy shuttle train to the Mayan Palace (not The Bliss or the Grand Mayan as I thought). We got checked in and felt fortunate that we were able to get into our rooms right away, even though it was only around 1330 and room check-in time was noted as 1700. Once through check-in we had a short meeting with Roxana, a Mayan Palace concierge (x4655), who scheduled us for a breakfast meeting with someone for a Members Update on Thursday at 0830. She took a deposit of $20 which will be returned when we show up. For attending, we get 10% off everything charged to our room and a VP card which gives us some other discounts on meals and tours. Apparently there is no $75 resort fee once you are a member. Bellboy Ulises took us to our room in the nearest building of The Bliss, 1817 on the ground floor) and retrieved our luggage. After unpacking, we headed off to find some food since we hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before. I was leaning toward Havana Moon because we had not eaten there before but as we reached Balche’, we stopped there. As usual there was a little wait as the people in front of us were seated but not a long wait like at dinnertime. C.J. had the ceviche and I ordered the fish tacos, both were excellent. The drinks, not so great, strawberry lemonade (too sweet) and a chelada (beer with lemon juice over ice in a salt-rimmed glass) (too weird and salty). After the combination lunch-dinner we walked down to the beach where the water was nice and calm, unlike last March. A few people were snorkeling in the mostly clear water. We walked back up through the pool area and did some shopping for breakfast stuff at the Jade boutique. We had to return to the room to get the form Roxana had given us and then return to the Mayan Palace/Santuario to the travel agency to redeem it for the VP pass. We dragged ourselves back to our room and I crashed on the couch for an hour before taking a shower and reading for a short time. Bed felt good even at 2000 and we slept through until close to 0800.

Iguana, lake and Café del Lago buffet restaurant

21 Nov, Tuesday - Made our own breakfast, made reservations for a car for Wed., got a dinner res for Nektar for Fri at 1700 (shuttle pickup starts 1615 at pergolada), failed to get res for Thurs Thanksgiving feast (too late) (too expensive, too). At 1300 we took a shuttle into Playa del Carmen from the Lobby Central (80p per person each way) We got off on 5^th Avenida near Constituentes and walked north to beyond Calle 40, stopping at Aldo’s an excellent gelato shop. Near the north end of our walk we stopped in a shop (Tierra Huichol) displaying beaded folklore figures (including a couple of bears). The shop proprietor gave us a very interesting tour. On the way back, we walked down 38^th to the beach and tried walking south to the next street but there were too many resorts in the way, so we had to backtrack. Once we got to Constituentes again, we walked west to the Mega, a supermarket not far from Walmart. We bought some food (apples, plain yogurt, cookies and bkfst pastries) at much cheaper prices than those in the Jade deli. Shortly after 1600 the shuttle arrived and returned us to Vidanta. After cleaning up a bit we headed out for an early dinner at 1730. Blue Fish and Frida’s do not open until 1800 so we ended up at Havana Moon where the dinner and drinks were excellent (and they open at 1700). We’ll be back for the buffet breakfast, maybe on Friday.

Ball Court at Coba

22 Nov, Wed – Up at 0700 so we could finish breakfast and get over to the Grand Mayan lobby by 0900 when were supposed to pick up our rental car. I had put all of our snorkeling stuff in my rollaboard so we took that and our daypacks. The rolling carryon didn’t roll that well on cobblestones and on the wooden trails so I had to stop and get my breath a few times. Then when we got there, we had to wait for some other folks to be processed, and I realized that I didn’t have the receipt. C.J. volunteered to run back and get it; she was back before it was my turn. We took the usual shuttle out to the lobby central and waited again while other people got their cars. But, by shortly after 1000 we were on our way. It was a good two hours to Coba what with some slow traffic as we passed through Playa. The parking lot of the Archaeological Park was not quite full but there were a lot of cars and tour buses. We paid for parking and then charged our admission before I realized that it was not as expensive as I though it was going to be. After fending off some local guides, we thought better of it and hired a well-prepared guide who spoke good English for a 45-minute tour of the central area of Coba, closest to the entrance. He had a loose-leaf notebook with photos and drawings that illustrated what he was describing even when we could not quite make out the figures on the eroded stelae. The two main structures were a pyramidal temple and a reconstructed ball court with sloping sides (unlike the ones we had seen in 1982 at Chichen Itza and Uxmal). During the 45 minutes I realized that I had not taken more cash out of the safe in our room, so we were short of the 600p we needed to pay our guide. Fortunately, he was able to take US dollars; unfortunately, the exchange rate was horrible. Our guide (can’t remember his name) gave us a basic rundown on the rest of the ruins and dropped us off at the trail. There we could walk the 2km

to the tall pyramid and another km to another section and return, or rent a bicycle, or hire a tricycle taxi. We got bicycles (100p) and that made the relative long distances between sites more doable. We stopped at several ruins but the main goal was Grupo Nohoch Mul, a tall pyramid that was in good enough shape that visitors were allowed to climb to the top. Once out of the shady jungle forest, it was hot in the sun as we climbed to the top of the highest temple in the modern Mayan world. The view from the top was of a green carpet of jungle as far as one could see with a couple of other pyramids poking up through them, and a lake or two. Coming down was as challenging as the ascent. We both made use of the thick, rope that was firmly anchored at the top. From there we retraced our route a km to a fork that went east to another group of ruins. There were fewer tourists and bicycles so it was quieter. It was around 1500 when we got back to the entrance, hot and sweaty. On the way we stopped to try to get pesos at a defunct ATM in Coba, and at a craft display in one of the little towns we passed through before reaching Tulum. There we got back on the Federal highway 307 and headed up to Akumal. Once in the little town I tried three different ATMs, none of which worked. The fourth one was the charm and I took out 1000p using the USAA debit card. By then it was getting close enough to early dinner that we went to Lol-Ha beach restaurant where we had gotten good drinks and food last March. The drinks and snacks – guacamole with fresh chips, and seafood ceviche – were excellent again, but the cochinita pibil was kind of dry (and maybe we had filled up on the appetizers already). It had been already pretty late when we got there, and we were hot and tired (although the cool breeze off the water took care of the “hot”) so we didn’t seriously consider getting our snorkel gear out to see if we could spot a tortuga. Later we saw a sign that indicated that a guide and a PFD were required. We need to check into that some more because it appeared that the beach hut was providing PFDs and I didn’t see any guided groups. It was getting close to dark when we left Akumal and we still had to get through Playa and get gas. We dropped down off the highway at Constituentes and maneuvered through near rush-hour traffic to get to a Pemex station where we filled up. Then it was only 20 km to Vidanta where we turned the car in at the Alamo lot and left the keys in a drawer in their office. Back at The Bliss I picked up email and got a note from Martin asking if I was going to reply to Lorna Gillette about the plans to nominate Frank for the FAI Hang Gliding Diploma. I did that and then caught up on my journal (although I seem to have lost my Tuesday).

23 Nov, Thu, Thanksgiving Day – Up at 0730 so we could make the meeting with “David” at the Mayan Palace lobby. He wasn’t there but we were put on a shuttle and taken to a sales area above the showrooms we saw last March. David turned out to be Emilian Georgiev, a Macedonian. After introductions we walked over to the Café del Lago for the usual over-the-top breakfast buffet. When we returned to the sales area Emilian showed us some options for an upgrade to fractional ownership. The prices for a four-week fractional owner ship in the Grande Luxxe (all lower categories were sold out) laughably high so we didn’t have any trouble refusing the offers. As we were getting ready to leave, Diego came in saying that we had bought our Bliss week from someone who had returned their ownership without exercising their opportunity to buy into the Grand Mayan at 2011 prices…and we now had that opportunity. It sounded scammy but we listened to the spiel and heard how we could rent out our weeks on AirBnB or VRBO.com for lots of money that would help pay for the still-sizable expense of buying into the Grande Luxxe. It was still way too much but we didn’t need the square footage of the Grand Luxxe penthouse anyway. However, the GL Loft was available for 60% of the price. It took the rest of the day to work out the details and convince ourselves that this was a good idea. Next, we had a presentation on buying into a deal (2x1) on tickets to the soon-to-be-open theme park in Nuevo Vallarta. After bargaining for 6000 Vida dollars and a reduction in the price of $1000, we bought in. Then we had to meet with Rosario __ to go over the contracts and do a recorded phone confirmation. We also signed up for a week at Vidanta (Grand Mayan) in Cabo for next November It was 1800 before we got back to our suite and change for dinner. The Blue Fish was uncrowded – most of the guests seemed to be at the big Thanksgiving fiesta at the Café del Lago (we saw lines of people as we were passing by on the way to the shuttle that brought us back to The Bliss). C.J. got an interesting shrimp dish and I had a bowl of seafood pozole. We also had wine, sparkling water and shared a dessert. When we returned C.J. edited the last of the next magazine and then we wrote in our journals and read for a while.

Buffet breakfast at the Havana Moon

24 Nov, Fri – I woke up to go to the bathroom around 1345 and couldn’t get back to sleep because I was thinking about how much money we had just committed to getting into a higher tier of ownership. When we got up around 0800 I talked with C.J. about it and decided to go to the Vidanta business office and ask some questions. I called and got an appointment for 1230. Meanwhile we hung out until 1000 or so when we headed down to Havana Moon to cash in our privilege card and get a 2-for-1 breakfast buffet. We were surprised to see a waiting line, but it moved pretty quickly and we only had to wait a few minutes once we checked in to get seated on the deck overlooking the beach. The buffet was just about as good as the one at Café del Lago with hot dishes, made to order omelets and a pancakes-waffles-French toast station. We walked back to The Bliss (got lots of steps today) and then found out that our programmed keys on our wristbands would not work. The concierge re-programmed them, and we were good to go. We walked back to del Lago and to the basement of the Vidanta Sales building. There we got a person to answer questions but as soon as I said that I had a concern about being able to pay for our contract, she went and got Carlos Costa who apparently had authority to deal with that kind of problem. He was able to reduce our overall cost by about $24,000 by giving Vidanta two of our weeks for an additional five years (for one and three for the other, I think). That also changed the taxes so the contract had to be reprinted and signed again. The new total price (with the theme park option and taxes plus closing cost) was expensive but doable. Happy to have reduced our debt, we went for a walk around the lake stopping to watch the cocodrilos, iguanas and flamingos. By 1430 we were back in the office and going through the signing and recording again. We were out by 1500 so we

Shallow Stone Bowl dinner at Nektar

had enough time to get back to our suite and get changed for our anniversary dinner at Nektar. C.J. looked really nice in a dressy blouse and black crop pants with decorative trim on the hems. We caught the earliest Joya shuttle at 1615 and once we got to the Cirque du Soleil area we wandered around remembering our trip last March. We were the earliest customers and we got good service including suggestions for drinks and main dish. C.J. had a Joya champagne-raspberry drink, and I had a Bramble which had gin and blackberries. Of course, we got a bowl of chips and four kinds of picante sauce. Part of the VP deal got us a free beer for later (poured by the waitress with the can stuck to the palm of her hand – it looked like magic. We shared a beet salad and then had “wood burning oven shallow stone bowl” which had rib eye steak and shrimp, with cactus leaf, onions, avocado, chorizo, cheese and a hot pepper in a very hot stone bowl. It was a good size dish for two people. When we were finished, Erika, our waitress, brought out a large plate with some local fruit ice cream and a chocolate pastry, with raspberry syrup spelling out “Happy 41^st Aniversary”. We were really pleased with our special anniversary dinner even though it was pretty expensive . We got some selfies and pics of the Cirque du Soleil theater and Nektar before we caught the shuttle back to The Bliss.

25 Nov, Sat – After breakfast in our suite, we decided to walk around and check out the buildings and facilities of the Grande Luxxe. First. we walked farther along the road that borders the Bliss, passing the entrance to Grande Luxxe on the right (east). We entered the DE Luxxe buildings where we believe we would be housed if we came back here since there is no Grande Luxxe (0 BR) Loft built yet. [The floor plan we saw for the DEL looks like there are two beds, one in a separate bedroom and the other in an area of the living room that can be closed off for privacy. There are two bathrooms and a kitchen (ette?).] The concierge at DE Luxxe sent us over to the Grande Luxxe. It wasn’t a very long walk, but it was on the road, not on a wooden pathway until we reached the Spatium Spa. Then we followed the usual pathway to the main lobby. We asked about seeing a showroom with a smaller loft than the three- bedroom one we had seen, but you had to be accompanied by a sales rep. We said then that we would just go check out the pool and beach area. At first it looked like we were going to get a GL wristband, but someone else said no, they couldn’t do that. Too bad, because, when we got down to the entrance to the GL pool area, we were turned away (just like last year when we tried to get in to go to the Burger Bar). So that was a bust. We returned to The Bliss and gathered up our swim and snorkel gear. As we passed the towel cabana, we picked up pool towels in exchange for our pool cards. The Caribbean water was pretty calm, but the bottom was rocky and rough. C.J. left her water shoes on and I put my fins on and walked backwards to deeper water. The temperature was warm enough that I did not need my wetsuit shorty. We went out a short distance and under the high pier. Out at the end there was an artificial reef made of what looked like large concrete amphorae with holes. We saw some reef fish but nothing spectacular, and the visibility was okay but not extreme. Getting out of the water over the rocky area was just as hard as getting in. [C.J. says she needs to replace her leaky mask – maybe one in a smaller size.] We hung out on the beach for a while then moved to the main pool. Then, because we had the Grand Mayan wristbands, we went over to their pool area and hung out. Finally, C.J. got tired of doing nothing and we headed back to The Bliss for a shower and catching up on journals. On the way back, a coati crossed the path right in front of us. We were pretty excited (until later when we were on our way to Jade Deli, we ran into a family group of close to twenty coatis!) After an hour or so of dozing over our computers (I was downloading my phone photos from Google Photo to my computer), we roused enough to go out to Jade and buy a deli salad to go with the leftovers we had in the refrigerator. C.J. looked at the clothes and jewelry but everything was so expensive that it seemed to be beyond our budget.

26 Nov, Sun – It was comfortably cool so after breakfast we decided to take a walk around as much of the Vidanta property as possible. The concierge was no help; she didn’t even have the Vidanta walks brochure that we picked up later at the Grand Bliss. Looking at Google Maps on my phone, using the satellite overlay, we took the wooden footpath west along the south side of El Manglar golf course. We had to detour around the wreckage of the Green Break taco stand where we ate breakfast and dinner once last March. It appears that they are doing a remodel. The footpath took us to the main entrance to Vidanta and there was no sanctioned way to get around the west end of the golf course (there were signs forbidding walking on the golf cart track or on the road). At the gate a helpful guide showed us how to take a different path back by walking on the cart tracks on the other golf course located north of the Grand Bliss. We made a stop in the lobby of the Grand Bliss and picked up a map and then continued on the wooden path over the road and back to the Lago where we popped in to visit the flamingos and then returned to our resort rooms. We checked with the concierge and she had our bill printed out, so we could check it over. She said that we just have to let her know when the bell boys can pick up our luggage and take it to the Lobby Central where we will catch a taxi to HTR. After resting for a while we changed into swimming suits and went first to the Brio spa to get the 2x1 deal on smoothies – oops, sorry, the smoothie bar is not open on Sunday. Then we went up to the main pool area and found out that it was happy hour (all the time?) and got two strawberry daiquiris. After enjoying our drinks on some “long chairs” in partial shade, we moved to the pool area behind the Grand Mayan lobby, the Santuario Maya. C.J. got in the water but I just waded a little, the air was still not hot except in the sun. We returned to The Bliss around 1530 and did some packing. We may do our checkout tonight after dinner. Around 1830 we went to Havana Moon for our last Vidanta restaurant meal. We only had to wait a short time as there were tables available. C.J. had a chicken sandwich without the bread and I had a fat-noodle dish with curry sauce and thick pork slices. We were too full for any dessert and I felt somewhat stressed as we walked back. At the unit I got a call from our concierge about checking out with her, so later I did that. The bill came to about $350, most of which was for meals. A small amount was for lodging taxes, and there was an assessment for 300p for a foundation donation for local children. We also left tips for the morning and evening housekeeping (Carmen and Selena).

27 Nov, Mon – We got up at 0700 and had our usual breakfast. Then we got serious about packing as the bell boys were coming for our luggage at 0930. When they picked it up we followed them out and went over to the Santuario to hang out and read until around 1030. Then we caught a shuttle to the Central Lobby and got a taxi right away to the Hacienda Tres Rios. There was a nasty truck-car accident just north of the Vidanta entrance but we could get by to get to the retorno and head south. On arrival we turned over our luggage to the bell boys and checked in. We got our wrist band right away (so we could eat lunch) but our room was not ready. It was at least a half-hour before the lunch buffet would be open so we took a little walk around to see the two pool areas and the beach. When we came back we went to the concierge to ask about activities, like snorkeling and kayaking down the rio from the cenote. Gabriela talked us into doing a sales presentation at 0800 during breakfast; the incentive was free taxi to the airport (usually $65, she said) and a Segway tour (usually $54). We also signed up for a snorkel and kayak tour. By then it was time for lunch, and the buffet was extensive. C.J. had some freshly-prepared stir-fry while I had a likewise fresh mixed ceviche. There were lots of salads, breads and desserts to choose from. Later we went back down to the beach. Although we had been told by the concierge that there were no kayaks available for use, we found out that we could borrow a kayak or SUP or HobieCat. We had to wait a while for our Segway guide to show up sometime after the 2 p.m. meeting time but since we had the guide all to 

ourselves, it wasn’t such a concern. He took time to get us accustomed to controlling them and then we took off down the road and onto a trail that led first to the nursery where the trees and plants are being grown to replace those destroyed by hurricanes. Then we went on to several of the seven cenotes on the property. We stopped at Aguila, the one from which the kayak and snorkel tours start, and we saw Tortuga, Orquiderea (orchid), and Escondido (hidden) cenotes. The trail was narrow after Aquila and covered with water in places, so it was a pretty good adventure. On the way back, we went around the south end of the hotel and rode along the beach for a ways before making a final loop around the driveway in front of the hotel entrance with its holiday decorations. We returned the Segways to the garage and promised to try to send a review to Trip Advisor for Deva, our guide. By now our room was ready so we got our keys and went up to the second floor in Bldg2, then down to the first floor and almost all the way to end of Bldg 1. Our bags were soon delivered and we got somewhat unpacked. Then we went back out and down to the beach. We crossed to the north side of the stream that flows from the cenote and walked out on a little rock and sand mole. The water looked pretty clear but there was a lot of bladderwrack (?) washing up on the shore which was really pretty ugly. No one seemed to be swimming in the roped off beach area even though there were some clear areas. We spotted a cruise ship steaming north and could see the large resort buildings of Cozumel in the distance from the larger jetty on the south side of the stream. A walk back into the pool area took us near the bar and we picked up a rum punch just to test out our “all inclusive” status (even the drinks in the mini-bar are covered, as is room service). After touring the pool areas again – the adult pool is much quieter – we stopped at the Hacienda Grill to look at the menu which changes from breakfast to lunch to dinner and looked quite good. Back in the hotel we wandered down the hall to the French patisserie where we sampled a chocolate confection. The gift shop, Confetti, did not have much of interest although it did have a guidebook on Tulum and Coba in English. We returned to our room and I napped for a while and then caught up on this journal. Around 1900 we went out to the Hacienda Grill next to the pool area and C.J. had the special which was a combo with fish and flank steak, while I had the pork BBQ. Since we had gone easy during the day, we each had a drink. The people at the table next to us said we shouldn’t miss the “circus” on Monday night so we went back to the hotel desk to find out where to go. She didn’t know about a circus but said the entertainment tonight was the White Sands Beach Party at 2000. After getting some dessert at the French patisserie, ice cream and a milkshake, we made our way down to the beach in the dark. It turned out that there was going to be acrobats and other performers, but not before 2130. We went back to the room and C.J. worked on the alpha while I caught up on the journal and made some corrections and additions. Around 2130 we walked down to the beach where a fair number of people had gathered. There was some snacky stuff and, of course drinks. We got a few snacks while we were waiting and a glass of wine. The acts were spotty on quality, but the juggler, contortionist and especially the pole dancers were very good. After the show C.J. worked on the alpha.

28 Nov, Tue – Up at 0700 for our sales presentation at 0800. We did some preliminary paperwork in an office then went to breakfast at the Mexican restaurant on the second floor. Gia got as much info about us and our travel history and Vidanta ownership as she could and then showed us a master suite, explained that we could not buy into the ownership yet but that we had to first be members. We went to another building and got down to numbers. I don’t remember exactly but the opening offer was for two weeks plus another two weeks for ten years at around 10,000USD. The final offer was about $5000 for five years with a bunch of free weeks and a cruise and 2x1 airfare thrown in. If we had not just encumbered ourselves with all the debt from upgrading at Vidanta, we would have been interested. [As Gia said, the cruise alone was worth the $5000.] Still, we already have probably more weeks than we will use. It’s always difficult to turn down what looks like the deal of the century (and that may be the way the sales agent sees it too) but Gia didn’t play the sympathy card and got her manager to sign us off. I had to write down a reason – “We had just upgraded to Grand Luxxe at Vidanta last week and could not afford to take on any more debt.” We went back to our room around 1100 to decompress, and get ready for our snorkel float from Cenote Aguila to the playa. At 1230 we gathered outside the front entrance and got a ride on a trailer behind a jeep to the cenote. The guides issued us masks, new snorkels and flotation belts. No fins were provided nor permitted for some reason. A group of people in kayaks launched just before us and C.J. and I were in the back of the six other snorkelers, so the water was not as clear as we expected. Also, it was not fresh water but somewhat salty. And the water was pretty chilly – I was glad I was wearing my shorty wetsuit. At one point the kayaks got jammed up and we had to wait while they got themselves sorted out. The current was enough that we did not have to work hard at all to move on downstream. It was probably only a half hour before we came out of the tunnel of red mangrove and were at the sandy beach where the river emptied into the sea. Thinking that I might as well go for a swim in the ocean since I had my suit on, I walked along the beach, but the water was black with bladderwrack (?) and did not look like it would be at all good for swimming. We went back to the river beach and signed out a sit-on-top kayak which we then paddled back upstream to the cenote. It wasn’t too bad going against the current but I was glad to reach the outhouse at Aguila. Returning with the current was quick but you did have to be careful not to get going too fast and fail to make a corner. After we returned the kayak, we walked up to El Forno, the outdoor wood-fired pizzeria near the pools and shared a HTR pizza and a couple of drinks (we’re catching on to this All-Inclusive resort thing). After a late lunch we stopped by the hotel desk to cancel our 1600 kayak tour (we had already done it on our own; much more fun). We made another stop at the French Café de Paris patisserie for some dessert and then returned to the room where we hung out our wet stuff to dry on the balcony where we were hoping the wind would dry it out before the sun went down. C.J. finished the alpha and took a shower and a nap. While it was breezy, the air was pretty damp so things did not dry all that well. Even indoors the damp swimsuits and the wetsuit were not drying and felt kind of dank. We turned on the air conditioner and that seemed to do the job. Meanwhile, it had started raining outside – the first rain since the day we had arrived at CUN. Around 2000 we went to dinner at Albirje, a gourmet Mexican restaurant. C.J. had a dish with flank steak and a chicken tamale and I had a filete de camarones with rice and vegetables. Both were excellent, and the portions were not so large that we couldn’t enjoy sharing a Williams Pear and a chocolate-crusted flan. After dinner we completed all but the turning in of our keys and the snipping of our wristbands at the front desk. There was a small charge for ecology which I paid in cash. We returned to the room and finished packing. I checked in with United and paid the checked bag fee. We went to bed before ten which would give us a big four hours of sleep. I left a request for a wakeup call and also set my phone alarm.

29 Nov, Wed – Just before 0200 the desk called; I got up and took a shower and C.J. got up soon also. We finished the last of the packing and pulled on our fleece over long-sleeve shirts, ready for the cool of the early morning and the air conditioning. Our taxi was not very late at all and I think we got to the airport even before 0345 since the check-in area had not yet opened. The big duffel bag weighed almost exactly 50 pounds so we didn’t have to do any re-arranging. At the gate I was able to have my rollaboard gate-checked at no cost. That took some of the stress out of the boarding process, knowing that I didn’t have to worry about whether there was going to a space for my carry-on in the overhead compartment. One of the cafes had a sign saying don’t leave Mexico without trying their hot chocolate, so I tried it and found out that I wouldn’t have missed anything. We ate the last of the cheese and some of the tostada rounds that we had bought at Jade (they were still nice and crisp), and I had a couple of cookies with the chocolate. Our flight was in the clouds for much of the way – or maybe I just dozed and didn’t notice. Houston was also foggy right to the ground. We cleared Immigration and Customs in IAH (we need to remember to look for the inconspicuous signs that show where the Global Entry kiosks are because this is the second time we’ve missed them and had to backtrack). We didn’t have all that long of a wait for our flight to Seattle and I spent time recharging my noise-canceling headphones and failed to charge my phone or set up the Flyover Country app for the IAH-SEA leg. We passed over a lot of bare, desert-y country but couldn’t tell where we were except once I got a GPS fix showing we were in central Colorado. The next place that I could positively identify was when we passed over the Saddle Mountains where the Columbia cuts through. There was some snow to the north and a fair amount of fresh snow in the Cascades. There was quite a bit of cloudiness west of the mountains and it looked like it may have rained recently. We got in around 1215 PST and I charged my phone enough that I could call Park-N-Jet2 and get picked up. By then there was some sunshine but it still felt pretty chilly. We decided to eat a big lunch at Five Guys (there’s one in Issaquah as well as Renton and Southcenter) and shared a double baconburger with the usual pile of excellent fries. That way we wouldn’t have to cook another meal – we’re out of practice after 10 days of traveling at resorts. We picked up our held mail and when we got home I built a fire to get some of the chill out of the house. We went to bed early to make up for the sleep we lost the previous night.

The trip to the Mayan Riviera was a nice break from the usual gloomy late autumn weather in the Pacific Northwest. We are a bit shocked that we decided to upgrade our Vidanta ownership, but this time we will be disposing of our other timeshares, so that is an advantage. The experience of going to an all-inclusive resort like Hacienda Tres Rios was interesting but probably something we won’t do again. Still it was worth it and actually didn’t cost us anything because if we had returned directly home on the 27^th from Vidanta, our increased air fare would have cost us more than our stay at H3R.