"Hola" Became "Adios" Too Quickly!

Well, we just got back from sunshine and warm weather, all inclusive goodness, the sandy beach, the ocean, swimming pools, and gorgeous sights! We had a GREAT time, and like all vacations, sad it was over. Coming back to a rainy NYC day was particularly hard...not to mention the whole work and school thing...

Well you probably want to hear about our vacation, huh? Well here goes!

As we tried to leave the apartment for the airport before we got delayed, it started hailing and pouring. 2 hours later, as we were leaving the apartment, it rained and hailed AGAIN! That was crazy, but other than that, our flight was good...minus the late part - we missed out on some sun! We got there when it was dark...Anyways, we booked an Apple Vacations 6-Apple Square Deal. Apple Vacations rates their resorts up to 6 apples. Essentially we paid for a "4-apple" and were guaranteed a "6-apple" all inclusive resort. The catch?! We didn't find out until the day of departure. Minus not finding out until WE called THEM while sitting at our gate, it worked out GREAT! We found out we were staying at Dreams Puerto Adventuras. Once we got there...we found out we got a free upgrade to an ocean view king bed room!

The resort was in it's own little community, and the town was just a short walk away. In the town there were shops, a marina, and the most fun thing there were the dolphins, manatees, and seals! You could swim with them and stuff, but we just watched. We spent a lot of time at our resort, which was great. The food was delicious, the unlimited fruity drinks were amazing, the pool and beach were nice, and there was always something to do! Snorkeling, kayaking, and other water sports were included, so we could do those activities when we wanted to. We also could reserve a spot to be taken out on a Hobiecat for a ride! It was a lot of fun!

Another great thing about our resort were the activities! There were activities all day every day. Even if you didn't want to participate, it was fun to see things going on all the time! They played good music at the pool, and sometimes had live music. The activities included, but were not limited to; bike tour (pic below - without bikes...they took us to 5 cool spots in Puerto Adventuras), dance lessons, cocktail lessons, beach volleyball, 'crazy game', water aerobics, pilates, diving lessons, bungee trampoline.... Not to mention that there was a SHOW every night! The resort had a theater. Some nights the show was in the theater, some nights it was on the beach. We saw a lot of shows! Some were cultural, and others were just entertaining. The shows we saw...an entertainer, magician, Mexican show, Caribbean show, water and fire show, circus show, a 'white party' (live band on the beach with lighting, they told us "is very important wear white!"). (PS- they loved to use the word SHOW!)

The activities at the resort were great, but it was our excursions out in to the Riviera Maya that to me were most memorable! Our first excursion was to Chichen Itza, one of the new seven wonders of the world! That was COOL. To see the amazing things the Mayans did sooo long ago with their own hands...astonishing! There were so many ruins, and so many stories and history behind them. Our tour guide was great, and we learned a lot. The pictures are of the castillo, some detailed faces of the gods, and us in front of the cenote (natural pool/sink hole) in which they used to perform human sacrifices at.

Speaking of cenotes, then we went and swam in one! Matt jumped off a 20 foot platform, and the water was 167ft deep! Me not being such a huge fan of water, I couldn't do the jump. I did a 5 ft one instead. Here we are on the right!

Our other excursion was a snorkeling adventure. We first started off at an ocean inlet where the water was brackish - where the fresh water meets the salt water and doesn't mix...like water and oil! There were many tropical fish through there. Then we made it out to the ocean. Now THAT was cool! We were over a reef...We saw at least 3 or 4 GIANT stingrays, bigger than we've ever seen in any aquarium! Then we saw 3 big sea turtles! It was great! Our next stop was to an open cenote, where we could snorkel and see the freshwater fish (we saw lots of ciclids), as well as zip-line and 'cliff' jump! I ended up going off the jump with Matt once (he did it a few!)...but I loved the zip line. I did it 4 or 5 times -even backwards (Matt did it once!)! Next stop was a closed cenote, or cave. We saw cave formation (-tites and -mites) and I even saw a bat! Oh yeah, we were snorkeling...I should have been looking down! haha We saw some fish too, and deeeeep water and rocks. Very cool! It definitely was an adventure!

We were well hydrated and well fed at our resort. =) We had some good authentic food on our excursions too! Example...At Chichen Itza, a woman was handmaking corn tortillas and cooking them on a fire-heated plate...and the tacos were AMAZING! We also had authentic churros! Our resort had 6 specialty restaurants to choose from. We enjoyed the food. Our only complaint was the buffet didn't have too much of a variety. The night we chose the buffet over the specialty restaurants was seafood night. We were excited, until the shrimp had eyes. Need I say more? The buffet soon got the nickname from us "the place where everything has eyes," and breakfast was the only meal we ate there! haha. Enjoy these random other cool pictures!

Well, thanks for sticking with me through this novel. We had a great time, I hope you have a great time just reading about it! For more pictures check out that link for my facebook album! They allow many more pictures there! =)

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