When Travel Agents Take a Vacation, II

So here were in Merida, in a room that was beautiful but apparently had not been completely cleaned, and it was getting on toward 3am. The air conditioning was loud but fairly efficient and the room was getting somewhat cooler. We went to bed.

In the morning, there was hot water, we had had some rest, we had the whole day to explore Merida as our trip to Celestun Nature Reserve and Biosphere was not until the next day. Breakfast was nice and our waiter was efficient and attentive and knew that I needed lots of coffee! The food was good, freshly made, not a breakfast buffet. We ate well and started out to explore. Around the corner from our hotel was a 17th century church, still in use. We walked in the courtyard of the church and looked around, then continued our walk to the downtown area, government palace, cathedral, shops and restaurants. It was very warm, but not as bad as the night before had been. Later in the day we caught a local bus out to a shopping center and had lunch at Cafe California. Cafe California is a chain of restaurants in Mexico, where you can do buffet dining or order off the menu.

Later that night we walked back to the center of Merida and had dinner, cochinito pibil, in the portales at outdoor tables. Cochinito Pibil is the official "dish" of Merida and the Yucatan. Nice chunks of well cooked pork (cochinito) in a not-too spicey sauce; fresh, homemade corn tortillas and flan for desert. A very nice end to our first day in Merida.

Nov. 4 and we were having breakfast at our hotel again and waiting for the guide to pick us up and take us to Celustun Nature Reserve. I had booked this trip for clients a year before and knew I wanted to go myself. Celestun has flamingos. I wanted to see flamingos in the wild.

Celustun is about an hour and a half from Merida, going through Mayan villages with traditional homes and small businesses. Our guide and driver was very informative and gave us time to stop and take photos.

We arrived at the ocean and continued on to Celustun, which is a series of channels and islands, an estuary. Our first stop was to see the flamingos. They are hatched white in color, and get their brilliant pink by eating shrimp. It takes around 6 months for the white babies to turn pink. We boarded a canoe and with a Mayan Indian as our guide and paddler, set out to see estuary. It was incredible! We paddled through mangroves with the guide pointing out fish, birds, huge termite nests, spiders and a great horned owl. Fish jumped across the water in front of our canoe, woodpeckers worked insects out of trees, one of the nicest excursions I've ever taken. The cost of the excursion is around $50. per person, plus a tip for our driver and our Mayan guide, well worth it and with lunch included.

By now, a northern front had arrived and the weather was quite cool and comfortable. Our trip through the estuary had come with short rain squalls, but nothing that disturbed our canoe trip. Temps had dropped from the mid 90s down to a very comfortable mid 70s during the day, probably mid 50s in the evening.

The next day after breakfast we were picked up an taken to Chichen Itza. This was a much longer trip than the one to the estuary. Approximate travel time is around 3hrs. The highway we took is a freeway, nothing really unusual or interesting to see, but a comfortable ride. I had been to Chichen Itza before and enjoyed it, but had no illusions that this would be a luxury hotel. I was hoping our room would be nicer than the one in Merida.

Upon our arrival at The Lodge at Chichen Itza we were escorted to our bungalow, concierge level room. I was amazed! A beautiful room in a group of 3 bungalows. The bungalows have their own private pool, hammock and concierge level comes with appetizers and a welcome drink. Appetizers were a large platter of tacos and antojitos, all Yucatan style. I ordered a Margarita and Jaime had a Bloody Mary....everything was wonderful...beyond expectations! We walked around the grounds of the hotel, then went back to our room and took a nap to make up for the lost sleep due to the very hard bed in Merida. We woke up around 4pm to the songs of what must have been a million different birds, all talking to each other and looking for their nests for the evening.

We walked around the grounds and explored some more, then went to the Sound and Light Show at Chichen Itza. For years I have wanted to attend the sound a light show at one of the ruins. Most of the ruins in Mexico present a night show. I had expected people to be on the ruins, coordinated with the narration and lights. To the contrary, there are no people you can see, only voices and lights. There were folding chairs set up in front of the grand pyramid, El Castillo, the only light was from the moon and stars, so El Castillo loomed up as a giant shadow. The program started and the lights and narration began, it was awesome! The narration is only in Spanish, so you must either understand Spanish or just relax and absorb the overall atmosphere. One of the verses quoted during the show is one I have carried in my wallet for many years, so it was very moving to hear the verse used in the context for which it was intended.

We had dinner in the main building of the Lodge and walked back to our bungalow listening to the night sounds in the jungle.

In the morning, we went back into the ruins to explore all of Chichen Itza in the daylight. We spent most of the day walking and taking photos. This was a much more relaxing way to see Chichen Itza than the day trip I did years ago. There is a sense of awe walking around the incredible artistry that was Chichen Itza. The good...well, the ruins, the silence once you move away from other groups, the amazing architecture. The bad...the vendors. I bought, Jaime bought...very hard to resist buying a few things, but the wave of vendors keeps coming, and coming! I had a hard time concentrating on all that I was seeing because I was constantly interrupted by someone asking me to buy something. I have great sympathy, because these are local people who come from nearby villages to sell their handmade wares...but somehow, there needs to be a limit. Perhaps if one large area were set aside just outside the park for vendors only. That will never happen, but it's an idea!

My biggest regret was not adding on to the nights at The Lodge at Chichen Itza. We could easily have stayed another two or three nights just relaxing and enjoying the bird songs and the people. The waiters were excellent. Helpful, friendly, some of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Having a waiter who had worked for the establishment for 20 plus years was not unusual. Most of the waiters spoke Mayan, Spanish, English and a smattering of other languages including French and German. Chichen Itza is a truly international destination. Braulio, the captain of the waiters, was amazing. Whenever we wanted anything, no matter how small, he was at our side offering assistance. The young man in the gift shop did me the favor of wrapping the wood carving I purchased at Chichen Itza...without being asked, with no other idea than to be of service. Just amazing!

With regrets, we were off to the Riviera Maya the next afternoon. The ride from Chichen Itza to Riviera Maya is fairly long, 4 to 4.5 hrs, going on state routes and some very comfortable highways. The highway passes through small villages and some large towns, so, although long, it was interesting. We were going to El Dorado Royale by Karisma. Jaime had never been to an all inclusive resort nor seen a "swim up" room...we were going to have both!

We arrived at El Dorado Royale around 7pm, tired from the long ride. Our room was a "casita", there are 4 to a block, with two on the bottom, which are "swim up" rooms, and two on the top. We had two jacuzzi tubs, one in the living area and another in the bathroom, and an outdoor shower. LOVED the outdoor shower! When you turned on the taps you would hear birds singing. Step in, look up, and see the sky! What a treat! We had a very private patio (surrounded by gauzy curtains) with our swim up area with two loungers right in front. The patio was large enough for a table and two chairs and a sun bed. We had breakfast there every morning. There were birds joining us waiting for crumbs, and really bold birds coming right inside to join us for breakfast, and a very friendly iguana.

We did NOTHING for three whole days, other than take a shopping trip supplied by the hotel into Cancun. There were sun beds lined up along the beach and, unlike some resorts, there is no charge to use them. The waiter would come by bringing us skewers of fresh fruit, cold from the ice chest he carried them in. Other waiters would pass by and check to make sure we had what we wanted to drink. They were all charming and helpful. Probably my only complaint about El Dorado Royale was the beach. It's a bit rocky and it would have been nice to have river wader sandals to make it easier to walk out to deeper water. On the other hand, neither of us are ocean swimmers and we managed to pick out way out to where the water was chest deep and stand there and enjoy the warm Caribbean. Farther out, we watched people scuba diving and snorkeling.

There are more restaurants at the resort than one can sample in a 4 night stay. This was another place where a couple more nights would have been nice. We enjoyed the Mexican buffet, pronounced good by my husband, who is hard to please when it comes to Mexican cuisine. His favorite turned out to be the Asian Fusion restaurant, where they even did an excellent ceviche. A European influenced international restaurant got our attention one night...lovely food and service. We had lunch one day at the Caribbean restaurant, lunching on three different types of ceviche. What we missed? Well, the French restaurant and the Italian restaurant AND the pizza place, which smelled heavenly every time we walked by. Too many restaurants (all included in the price) too few days.

Drinks were excellent...just tell them what you want in your drink. I had my Bloody Marys with Ketel 1 Vodka; Margaritas were with Hornitos. Although the majority of those beautiful Corona commercials are shot in the area, getting a Corona seemed to be impossible. Beer was Tecate, Sol or Carta Blanca. All are good beers, none happen to be to my particular taste.

Bikes are free for your use at the resort. We really MEANT to pick up a couple and bike around...we just never got around to doing it. There are activities and entertainment and tours, but we just relaxed and did NOTHING and it felt really good!

What I liked best, besides the staff, who were helpful and friendly? NO wrist bands!! And no time share people approached us. Were they there? Probably, but they were in the main lobby and were not aggressive.

I booked this part of our vacation through Pleasant Mexico and they did an excellent job. Our transportation back to the airport in Cancun was there on time and did a fine job.

Once in the airport, we were given our gate. We got upstairs and waited...and waited. There was activity around our gate area and I sat on the floor with my cell phone plugged into a pillar to try and get sufficient charge to have an operating phone when we arrived at LAX. It was past boarding time and I was getting nervous. I walked over and asked and the gate agent said our flight had not yet come in. More waiting, and we have a plane to connect to in Mexico City. Finally, a man came around asking our names and told us our plane was at a different gate and was boarding. YIKES!! AeroMexico and their "guess the gate" struck again!

The flight back to Mexico City was quick and easy and, once there, we went through security no less than 4 times. Our plane back to LAX was on time, although we didn't know what gate we would be departing from for quite some time. We hit the duty free shops, bought water, bought a newspaper and killed time until it was time to board. Back at LAX we were quickly picked up and taken home by Go Fly.

What would I do different, you ask? Well, one less night in Merida; 2 more nights in Chichen Itza and at least 2 more nights at El Dorado Royale...and I would probably NOT fly AeroMexico. I would also pass on the corn sorbet I couldn't live without tasting in Merida.

The hotel in Merida had charm and flavor, two things I was looking for, but I would probably not use it for my clients. We went by the Hyatt several times, it is in a nice location and looked good, and that probably trumps a certain amount of "charm and flavor"! I would send people to The Lodge at Chichen Itza with great pleasure. Best time to go is when we were there, early November through the spring. Go in the middle of summer and the heat would be oppressive.

El Dorado Royale by Karisma...of course I will use for my clients! A wonderful experience. My husband, who is not in the business, commented that even the rooms that are NOT swim up looked very nice. The garden view rooms and regular ocean view rooms looked just fine. Were I to stay ONLY in the Riviera Maya area I would want to do a side trip to Coba (another Mayan ruin and one I have never seen); I would also want to go to Cozumel (wish we had done that!); and I would want to go to Sian Caan, which is much like Celustun, but closer to the Riviera Maya.

If there is a point to this whole story, the point would be this: We (travel agents in general and my husband and I in particular) pay for our vacations just like everyone else. Yes, there are discounts, but some things, such as the hotel in Merida, the trip to Celestun, and the 4 nights at the El Dorado Royale, we pay the same price our clients do. We worry (I worry) when it is OUR vacation about the same things my clients worry about. Is it going to be a nice hotel?...Will the vacation be worth the money we've spent on it?...Will the food be good?...Will the weather be good? Some things can't be guaranteed. Yes, the hotel in Merida looked great...but it fell a little short. Yes, there were some glitches, but not the things I was worrying about (hotels, food and weather!). The glitch was in the airline tickets. It doesn't pay to worry should be EVERYONE'S first lesson. Second lesson, keep calm, no matter how frustrating the circumstances. Third and most important lesson...keep your sense of humor! Nothing is perfect all the time; and nothing is a catastrophe all the time. If you can manage to not spend your time worrying over things you can't control, and you can stay calm and deal with the things you CAN control, you will have a great vacation...we did!
These are wonderful places and the spring would be a great time to go. Call me! If the travel agent liked her vacation, you will, too!

Until next time,
Sonia

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