Mexico - The all inclusive hotel package.

A really great holiday destination is Mexico. Marie and I visited Mexico twice is a short space of time, mainly because we enjoyed it so much. We just had to take "the son" with the second time. Once again, the main reason for the first visit to Mexico was a conference. Boy, I have really seen the world with all of the conferences I have attended! This was a WVPA congress. This conference was in one of the all inclusive resorts along the cost of Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. This was at the Moon Palace (www.moonpalacecancun.com).

We only had red wrist bands!

So what is meant by "all inclusive" - well just what it says - all inclusive. Once you have checked into the hotel, you get a wrist band and there after you pay for nothing! In the room, the porter was  showing us the room and the fridge "mini bar". This mini bar did not have the normal small bottles of whiskey, vodka and of course tequila (we were in Mexico after all), but full large bottles. The porter told us that if any of the bottles are finished, we must just phone room services and it will be replaced. This was not all that was included. There were 14 different restaurants which you could choose to eat at. You just walk in, order what you like, enjoy it and walk out. You can try out all 14 restaurants in one night if you like!  But there's more! Then there was the lobby bar and pool side bar. Fully stock bars and you just order what you like. There is even more! They have a bus which takes you into the hotel strip in Cancun to a sister hotel. A really beautiful hotel overlooking the sea. Your magic wrist band also has the same powers there! There are quite a few of these all inclusive resorts along the Playa del  Carmen. There are also such all inclusive resorts in Turkey, but this is another story and another post.

The Moon Palace was really great, but it is a bit out of the way. After the congress, Marie and I moved to Cancun. This is another amazing holiday destination. The hotel strip is a bit like an island. A narrow strip of land with the beautiful blue Caribbean sea on the one side and a big lagoon on the other side. The strip of land is filled with top class hotels, shopping malls and great places to eat. We stayed in the Krystal Cancun hotel. Beautiful rooms with sea views. Blue seas and white sandy beaches. What more could you ask for. It was also pretty affordable.

Hotel strip at Cancun

Boy was it hot! You can fully understand why they have siestas in Mexico. During the middle of the day it is just too hot to do anything! We tried a few times to venture out around midday to explore, but it was so hot that we did not make it more than a block away from the hotel , before the wonderful air conditioning was calling us back to the hotel.

Into the fire - altered reality photo

This hotel was a very popular wedding venue. Both Marie and I are keen photographer and we had great fun taking some wedding photos. In fact the official wedding photographer had her studio in the hotel, and she invited us to take photos at another wedding.

Mexican food is great and the hotel had a wonderful selection. Re-fried beans, guacamole, maula sauce and young cactus fronds. They also made the most amazing smoothly.

There are some really interesting day trips which could be done. These include the amazing snorkeling resort of Xe La, the "theme park" at Xcaret, Mayan ruined at Tulem and Chichen Itza.
We went to Chichen Itza for a few days and I will do this in a different post. Also, there was way too much to see and do at Xcaret  to try and squeeze it in a day trip. In fact there was so much to see and do that it might even need to be 2 posts.

Cancun is well worth the visit. It is a bit of a mission to get there. Both times we visited Cancun, we flew via the USA, New York, to be more precise. The USA visa is also valid for entry into Mexico. Mexico is not at all the way it is portrayed in the American movies.Also, Mexico has a bit of a bad reputation for crime and drug smuggling. Yes, there are probably areas of Mexico which you should try to avoid (pretty much along the boarder with the USA), but there are massive areas of the country which is rally great to see and visit. Cancun and to be more precise Cozemel also has some really great diving, with the second largest barrier reef in the world. Warm waters and clear water. We did a resort dive with Hardy on the second trip, but this is for another post.