Vidanta Riviera Maya – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

03-09-2018 through 3-12-2018 Ahhhh….Three Days of Heaven

We are on vacation. We are at a very nice resort on the Cancun coast. What, oh what should we do? Pools? Beach? Which pool? Which beach? Ah, life can be so difficult when on vacation. Finally, after our two busy sight seeing days, we were ready to relax and enjoy some of the delights of Vidanta Riviera Maya. Because, in spite of my whining, it was really a very nice place, and there was much to enjoy.

We decided to begin the morning with the breakfast buffet at Havana Moon, the bright turquoise restaurant that I found on that first morning walk around the resort. At 7:30 AM there was still plenty of room, but after we were seated I noticed that the tables were filling up fast and the lounging steps covered with cushions on the far side of the restaurant were filling quickly with waiting customers.

The buffet was huge, with many interesting foods, not all breakfast. The watermelon and pineapple were fresh and sweet, the special fresh squeezed papaya/orange/pineapple juice was worth two glasses. I don’t remember another thing that we ate. Pastries were so-so, once again, the star was the fresh pica de gallo that I put on something I ate, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was. We don’t eat enough to make a huge buffet really worth the price, but I am glad we tried it once. The view was nice, and we watched the sun peek through the darkening clouds as we enjoyed our coffee, and the really great service in spite of it being a buffet.

I still wasn’t aware of the secret method of securing a pool chair, but with the threatening storm we got lucky and snagged two lounges where we deposited our shoes and wraps and slipped into that gorgeous water. Just after we got in, there was a water aerobics class beginning, right in front of the stairway that was our only exit out of the water! I wasn’t about to exit that pool up those steps in front of all those people! We swam around a bit, checking out the pool bar, watching kids play ball, and watching the sky get a LOT darker and listening to thunder.

Finally decided that swimming during a thunderstorm wasn’t the brightest choice and we headed home to enjoy the heavy tropical rains from the comfort of our room. Cards and books kept us entertained until a crazy wild racket started up in the jungle around us.

It sounded like some kind of yelling, or weird construction equipment. I went outside to try to figure it out and eventually found the cause of the ruckus. We were surrounded by a couple dozen chacalaca birds. Related to chickens, they travel in groups of a dozen or so, aren’t very good at flying, but hang out in the tree tops. It seemed kind of strange that they hadn’t been around until now, but from this time on they were a constant presence in our part of the jungle.

When evening arrived we looked outside and said, “Nope, we aren’t tackling that walk again in that rain”. Room service was a phone call away, and we were shocked when they showed up 15 minutes earlier than they had said, with some truly luscious salads, gorgeous presentation, lovely service, and a flower for the table. It was no more expensive that going out to the restaurants, and was a delightful way to end a rainy day.

By Friday morning I had finally visited with a few people here and there, and learned that I needed to be at the pool or the beach by 7am or so with towels in hand to save chairs. I know this seems quite awful, but truly, it is the only way to get any place at all to spend a day at the water at this resort, and is an accepted practice. Once again I made the 2.5 mile round trip walk at 8am, and even then many chairs were already gone, but I did have some choices.

Mo wanted to go back to the infinity pool that we found on our first day here, and I found two great chairs with a sheltering umbrella right in front of the water but away from the shallow sandy part that draws all the little kids. We spent the rest of the day in our lovely spot, entertained by the people around us, families and kids having conversations that seemed like they should be a bit more private. One family was discussing at length how their father should set up his will while the father was getting his birthday massage at the spa.

A tiny lady not five feet tall, from Montreal, got in a verbal fight with 3 tall, thin, yes very bitchy women, who didn’t like the towel method and tried to remove her towels from the chairs she was saving for her friends. They thought they knew the rules and made no bones about it, very loudly, but the tiny lady won. We were all cheering her on. I told her I would count on her to watch our chairs while we went swimming!

We were also entertained by two iguanas that seemed to be regulars, hanging around the pool. Panchito was bigger and incredibly colorful, and her husband Pancho was darker and smaller. People said they had a clutch of kids around the corner somewhere but we never saw them.

It is amazing how the hours can slip by with sunshine, getting in and out of the water whenever we felt like it, swimming a bit, and finally enjoying the 2 pm happy hour with nachos and two for one pina coladas for me and zombies for Mo. I thought two for one meant a pina colada and a zombie, so was a bit taken aback when the waiter delivered 2 of each drink for us. Good thing they weren’t very strong.

We left our towels and wandered off for a walk around the lagoon, checking out the beautiful gardens and boardwalks on the way to the flamingo park where we sat and watched the birds for some time. I have never seen flamingos feeding before, watching them drag their beaks in the water to strain out tiny crustaceans was fascinating.

We continued along the pathway to the crocodile enclosure, but it was hard to get photos through the heavy fencing, which I was very glad was there.

The pathway around the lagoon led to the Lago Restaurant, home of the huge buffet and entertainment show that was touted as something not to miss while at the resort. There was another show that we chose to miss, the Joya Cirque de Soleil, something that Vidanta is known for, with the theater specially built on site to house the acrobatics venue. The shows were pricey, with $100 USD per person for the Mexican Fiesta and $130 per person up to $175 per person with dinner for the Joya show. Neither of us had any desire to part with that much money for entertainment, so we skipped both of them. My daughter said Joya was a fabulous show and worth every penny, so if you ever go, you might want to consider it..

One of the additional benefits of our Grand Luxxe upgrade was access to the fancy Grand Luxxe pool and the Burger Place there at poolside. Reviews for the burgers were high, but we didn’t think much of the uppity pool. It was long and narrow with everyone lined up on top of each other. Not our style at all. We did think we might try to get there before 5 to try the burgers for our supper, but by 4:30 our tummies were still full from drinks and nachos and we decided instead to amble back home.

Later on in the evening, the thought of a burger kept coming up and we decided to order just one to share, via room service. That burger was huge, and excellent, with fries, and of course the ever present group of little dishes of condiments, and with half each it was a perfectly decent supper right in the comfort of our home space.

Sunday morning dawned with gorgeous blue skies and a lovely breeze. I so enjoyed my morning walk to the beach, taking in the fresh smells of the thick jungle along the boardwalks, and the sea breezes. We decided that on this, our last day, we should enjoy the beach. Arriving at 7:30 AM I found two perfect chairs facing the ocean, under a lovely palapa, and just steps from the entrance to the big pool.

On this morning, picking up some bits for our breakfast, I discovered orejas, the Mexican version of palmiers that I later learned are a Mexican staple that can be found all over Mexico. Why, oh why didn’t I find these monstrously good things sooner?! Talk about addictive. I ate half, and then another bite and another until I ate the entire thing, and it wasn’t small.

We were in our beach chairs by 10, enjoying the sunshine, the gorgeous water, the lovely breezes, and the delightful shade of our palapa. We sat doing nothing at all, then read a bit, walked up to the nearby pool just behind us for a swim, back to our chairs to sit some more. A perfect day on a beautiful Mexican beach.

Later in the afternoon I went walking along the water, noticing the thick algae that lined the shoreline after watching people with rakes trying to clear it. I found a sign explaining the presence of the ugly stuff. Sigh. We certainly didn’t want to swim or snorkel in that water, although I did see many people out in the waves beyond the brown stuff that had bits and pieces of garbage here and there. I kept imagining what my feet might run into on those rocks in that water. No thanks.

Still, with the clean, cool pool so close by for cooling swims, we had a perfect day on the beach. In the late afternoon we ambled home to clean up for dinner. We chose to save our one big special dinner outing for our last night at the resort. With several very high end restaurants to choose from, it wasn’t an easy choice. I read the reviews, and hemmed and hawed, trying to decide if we wanted a really fine steak at 100 bucks a pop, authentic Spanish food, (which we aren’t that familiar with enough to take the chance this time around), Blue Fish, which sounded wonderful, but the reviews were less than stellar, the French restaurant which we had checked out earlier and looked just too stuffy, and finally Tramonto, an Italian restaurant that had a lot more than pasta.

Tramonto was a great choice. We walked to the Grand Luxxe and were lucky enough to get a shuttle to the restaurant, located on the second floor overlooking the pool. What a delightful dinner! The ambience wasn’t as Italian as I had hoped for, but it made up for that with fabulous service and truly wonderful food. I had mouth wateringly tender osso bucco with a green herbed risotto and sauteed mushrooms. Mo had a perfectly wonderful filet mignon. The salads were fresh and so artistic, and the bread basket was filled with all sorts of creative crackers and breads, including some parmesan crackers that are so popular now since they contain no flour. Yummy.

Dessert was so much fun. I ordered the tiramisu, having read a bit about it in a review and I didn’t want to miss the spectacular presentation. The dessert arrived in a rather unassuming looking round ball of dull chocolate on a white plate. After placing the plate, the waiter brought forth a pitcher filled with molten chocolate and began to slowly pour it over the ball. Slowly the hot chocolate melted a hole in the top of the ball, revealing the globular heart of the tiramisu hidden inside. It was fun to watch, but oh, so incredibly good as well. I never get all excited about tiramisu as some people do, but this one was exciting. With our truly perfect Italian coffee it was a delightful end to a delightful meal. We even got a shuttle all the way back to our room in the dark, another delight.

With our Mexican week coming to a close the next morning, we stopped at the concierge desk for our final checkout. It was surprisingly smooth, with a the bell boy picking up our luggage at 10AM as we exited our room, taking it to the main lobby where we would meet up with it once again as we boarded the taxi for the airport. It seems as though all shuttles are going to the Main Lobby, and this morning it was no exception. The bell boy at the lobby arranged our cab, $35 USD to the airport, luggage loaded and we were comfortably transported to the Cancun airport and dropped off at our departure terminal.

Leaving Mexico was MUCH easier than getting into Mexico, and we were checked in and through security in a very short time. With a couple of hours to kill before we boarded our plane, we found a place to eat on the other side of security where we split a sandwich to share with a good Dos XX beer at the Guy Fieri restaurant, with his shows playing on all the tv’s. Sure didn’t feel much like we were in Mexico!

The flight home was completely uneventful, with too many clouds to see anything at all. Mo and I had booked aisle seats across from each other, and with the very full flight, that was a good choice. We both love not having to crawl over anyone to get to the restroom. During the flights, I reviewed some of my blog notes, finished the book I was reading, and did nothing at all for part of the time.

I can barely remember de-planing in San Francisco, where we had to pick up our luggage, go through customs, and then again check our luggage on to Medford. For a time there was a bit of worry about missing the flight, but by the time all was said and done we landed safely in Medford a few minutes early. Such easy flights, both coming and going!

As I said at the beginning of these stories, in spite of some of the moments of frustration, overall it was a perfect little week long vacation in Mexico. Not too expensive, easy, and really quite nice. I find that looking back on the memories and the photos, gives me a chance to realize just how nice it was. Is that a bit like labor? You forget the hard parts and just remember how good it all is! Good enough to do it again.

03-05-2018 Let’s Go to Mexico

We are home again, back in Grants Pass at the Sunset House, where the chilly weather has no clue that Spring is officially here. Before I tell the story, a caveat. I wrote notes as we were experiencing this trip, and the blog will reflect that. However, by the time it was all said and done, we both decided that it was a great value for the money, and we might choose to do it again someday. So take our little rants about this and that with a grain of salt. It was a great vacation. Also, keep in mind if you click on a photo, you will be taken to the SmugMug album online where that photo resides, and will be able to see the entire album if you choose.

Even with three weeks in the Southern Deserts, we did know that March in Grants Pass can still be gray and wet. Time for one more escape before spring brings out the daffodils, the party pretty pink trees, and the rakes and mowers. Last Christmas when I was visiting Daughter Deanna in Northern Washington, we chatted about Mo and I wishing to fly off somewhere warm. Air miles were waiting. Originally, a tentative trip to the US Virgin Islands was floating around in the back of our minds, but the hurricanes put a big dent in those plans.

Deanna popped up with the great idea that we use one of their timeshare weeks near Cancun. At $800 for the week, it was less expensive than most of the hotels I searched before we made the commitment. Deanna found a nice week for us at Vidanta Riviera Maya, about half way between Cancun and Playa Del Carmen on the beautiful Caribbean coast of the Yucatan. Air miles in hand, Mo and I managed to get decent flights leaving from our local Medford airport on United to Cancun with only one stop in Denver. Although I was a bit leery about United, with some rather nasty reports on the news and from friends who had flown United recently, it was the best deal for the miles we had so we bit the bullet and booked the flight.

Similar to my recent flight to Spokane at Christmas, everything went without a hitch. We got up at 2:30 AM, with plenty of time to leave by 3:30, drive to Medford and go through the check-in line at 4:15. Perfect timing for our 5:30 flight. I had previously downloaded the United app, and we received our boarding passes via the phone, including our passports being scanned and entered. Seems crazy to put my passport on some kind of app, but I guess everything is a bit crazy in this digital world. If they are going to get me, they will get me one way or another.

We packed fairly light, but with snorkels and cameras and such, still needed to check a bag each with the baggage charge of $25. Another fact of life it seems. One more time I was shifted into the fast lane for security, no idea why, but Mo wasn’t as lucky. Still, we had plenty of time to get to our gate and wait for the on time airplane.

I still love flying, and the plane was empty enough that we had the 3 seat row to ourselves, so I could stretch out and still get a good window seat to watch the landscape below. I loved seeing Dallas/Fort Worth from the air, sooooo big!. As we approached the Yucatan coast, the vast green jungle spread out below us, and I kept imagining how truly awful it would be to have to land in that jungle, no roads, crazy snakes and bugs, alligators, wild wild looking country. I could see the famous cenotes, sinkholes in the limestone that characterize the peninsula, and along the silvery white strand of beaches there were strange colored backwaters.

Some in orange, and pink and lime green in patterns that gave no clue as to their source. I finally found them on Google Maps and read about the Parque Natural Ria Lagartos, “Alligator River”, and the nearby salt ponds that turn different colors based on types of algae that grow in them. The research confirmed that while the jungle may be beautiful and filled with all sorts of birds, the landscape was just as scary as I imagined it to be.

I was surprised to find that the plane wasn’t too terribly uncomfortable, although United now has an entertainment system on some planes that requires that you use your own device for movies or whatever, and for that to work the app must also be on your device. I had it on my phone, but Mo didn’t have it on her IPad. She had her card games to keep her occupied, however, and the flight to Denver was on time and uneventful, as was the next flight to Cancun. On time, uneventful, no crying babies, and a bit of a view until the clouds took over. We felt incredibly blessed.

Until we hit the airport in Cancun. Seems as though the personnel was significantly reduced and at the more than 2 dozen booths available for immigration into Mexico, there were only 2 and sometimes 3 people actually checking in all the incoming passengers from many flights. It took us two and one half hours of standing in slowly snaking lines around rows and rows of ribbons and frustrated people to get through that nightmare. Sheesh!. Luckily I had dressed in layers and managed to peel down a few of those layers to a light shirt and capris and no socks to enjoy the warm and humid Mexican temperatures.

By the time we got through the line, we were exhausted, and it was a bit of a kerfuffle trying to find the “man in the blue shirt” who would be taking us to our transportation for the resort. Seems as though there are several men in blue shirts, all insisting that “they” are your transportation, but of course they weren’t. After getting caught by a couple of them, thinking they were ours until they asked for a deposit for a “free day” at some new resort did we figure out we were being scammed. And Deanna even warned me! We didn’t fall for it, but by the time we did finally find the real guy, it was already getting late. A man in a cart at the curb sold cold beer in a plastic glass and we gladly shared one while waiting another 90 minutes for our shuttle to actually pick us up. The driver kept saying “5 minutes”, but we learned over the week that in Mexico 5 minutes can mean anything from 20 minutes to actual hours.

When we got to the resort, we had to jump through a few more hoops. The shuttle took us to the “main lobby”, where our baggage was again rolled off somewhere to meet us later at our room. We were then shuttled some distance to the lobby of the Grand Mayan Lobby, where we were to check in. Another 40 minutes or so passed and we finally were assigned a room, an “upgrade” they called it, showing us on the map of the resort a very nice place not far from the pool and restaurants. OK, whatever that means, I guess we will take the upgrade from the “Bliss” to the “Grand Luxxe Jungle”. And please, where can we get some food?

We finally decided to walk to the closest restaurant before going to our room, (which would require waiting for another shuttle) which turned out to be the Greens taco bar on the golf course, still open and very very busy. The hostess took pity on us, weary travelers who hadn’t eaten since some ungodly morning hour, and found us two seats at the bar. We watched the chef carve the roasted pork which ended up in our tacos, and had a meal that tasted fabulous to our tired and hungry souls. (We ate there again later in the week, and the food was really fabulous then too.)

We walked back to the Grand Mayan lobby where we once more waited for a shuttle to take us to Grand Luxxe Jungle. “Next one, 5 minutes”. That became the refrain that we got used to by the end of the week, but we also learned that walking was often the best option, even if it meant 1.2 miles each way to get anywhere. That was the downside of our upgrade to the newer and really quite lovely Grand Luxxe Jungle.

We were shuttled to our room, and when the bell boy opened the door I have to admit it was a bit overwhelming. Our “room” was a suite with two bathrooms, a big kitchen, a living room, all sorts of really lovely decor and a LOT of space. Quite the upgrade, for sure, and nothing like the photos I had viewed previously of the Bliss rooms.

We wandered around a bit, and almost got lost trying to find ourselves, but settled in to the truly comfortable king bed with luscious sheets, tons of good pillows and bolsters and a truly comfortable mattress. I slept great every single night we were there. The showers, both of them, were as big as most bathrooms, and the rain shower was my favorite, with plenty of hot water every time but once. It had been a long travel day.

I turned on my phone, connected to the WiFi, and opened up Google Maps to try to figure out exactly where we were. Seems as though everything was wrong!. Google maps had the little blue dot at least a mile north of where I was told we were to be located. I figured that something must be wrong with the satellite or maybe coordinates are different in Mexico, and I had no clue what to do about it, but decided I would worry about it the next day.

Morning dawned with a bit of sunlight coming through the filmy curtains and breezes in the jungle vegetation outside the big doors leading to the patio areas. Thank goodness Deanna warned us about bringing our own coffee AND our own coffee filters, since it was a 2.5 mile round trip walk to the market, the restaurants, the pools, and anything else. There was also a fancy Keurig pot with little tubs of coffee at 2.70 USD each, but we did find another regular coffee pot in the cupboard and made our own Seattle’s Best coffee.

Mo has been having a bit of tendon trouble with her ankle lately, so we decided that I could go exploring, see where things were located, and hopefully find a bagel or something for breakfast. Off I went, and of course there wasn’t a shuttle in sight, so I walked.

I had a map of the place, but each of the three maps offered of the resort are a bit different, and of course I didn’t think Google was telling me where I was. Turns out it was, and we were exactly where Google thought we were located! I wandered the back roads toward the Grand Luxxe Lobby, through the back trails and onto the lovely boardwalk system that is well developed in the older parts of the resort, just not in our area.

I found the restaurants, the immense and quite beautiful swimming pool, and finally the market, with a coffee bar and a small bakery where I found a bagel and a roll to take back home to our room. We knew that eventually we would need to get off the resort and go shopping for supplies in Playa Del Carmen, but didn’t want to try to do that on our first day there. Turns out we never actually did that at all. The taxi would have been $24 USD each way, and the shuttle was only $8 USD each way, but the shuttle only ran on the odd hours and the trip would have required us to stay in Playa Del Carmen for a few hours, and we never really wanted to do that, at least on this trip. Next time we might know to head for the Mega store on the first day, and not worry about the lost day.

After breakfast, the two of us put on our swimsuits and cover ups and set off to explore the grounds and find the pools. It was close to mid day by then, and when we arrived at the pools, they were busy, with every. single. deck. chair. taken. Every one, both at the pools, at the beach, everywhere except in the “Premium” area by the beach for Grand Luxxe members only, of which we were a part since we had our Grand Luxxe upgrade.

We explored a bit, but found to our delight that the “river” that runs through part of the resort was accessible in several places. No chair needed. We dropped our shoes and cover-ups and slipped into the fabulous water. Ahhhhh. This is why we came to Mexico.

After wandering the resort we found another lovely area reserved for Grand Luxxe upgrade folks only called “The Beach Club”. It was private, and quite lovely, but also felt a bit snooty. We asked for a chair and were told that the only thing available was one down toward the beach. Seems as though people line up at 10 AM every day in order to get good seats even in the Beach Club.

There are also sections there reserved for what is called “The Experience”, with unlimited food and drink all day long and a butler at your disposal for just $250 per day,. We took the small lounge that was offered near the beach, and decided to order a cocktail with a snack that would serve us for dinner. After waiting some time for a menu, we found out from the folks behind us that it took them more than 2 hours to get served. Nah, we had no desire to hang out there for that long at all so we left our “exclusive” strangely uncomfortable lounger and wandered back through the resort in search of some place to eat. Near the pool we found a small informal restaurant that served excellent food at prices a bit less than most of the high end restaurants that define the resort. Our service was also excellent, and very timely. Exclusive isn’t all it is cracked up to be, for sure.

We had another lovely meal, with nachos served with several little dishes of amazing condiments, and something called a Mayan Wrap that was superb. Great early supper for us before we headed back to our room to try to get oriented and figure out how we could manage to get to the main gate by 5 am the next morning for our tour of Chichen Itza.