Trip to Mexico

May 22 - May 31

We had a great trip to Mexico.  We stayed at the Catalonia Riviera Maya in Puerto Aventuras on the Caribbean Riviera Maya. 

This was the forth time we've stayed at the Catalonia and it is still our favorite resort.  It is not too big, has plenty of shaded lounge chairs on the beach and great food.  What more could you ask for?    

our beach chairs await

Our first night there was Mexican Night at the resort and we were serenaded by a Mariachi band by the pool.

 We enjoyed mango margaritas and the mexican buffet by the pool for dinner.

We stayed in a villa near the pool and beach. 

We have finally booked enough trips through Expedia that we have made VIP status.  We really didn't think it would get us anything, but we showed it to them when we checked in and they gave us an upgraded room, which was nice.  One of the perks of our upgrade was supposed to be a turn-down service for our bed.  We really thought we could turn down our own bed, but were going to remain open minded about this.  On about the second or third night there we received a knock on the door about 9:30 after we had gone to bed, it was the turn down man.  He spoke no English, so I tried to explain to him that we were already in bed.  He handed me two things that looked like large tea towels and left.  I wasn't sure what we were supposed to do with dish towels since we were in bed and had no kitchen.  For most guests, 9:30 would probably have been a good time for the turn down, because their theatre show starts at 9:30.  A couple of nights later at about 8:30, the turn down man returned.  Trying to catch us out of bed.  This time we were just laying on the bed when he arrived, so we let him give us the full service.  It was quite a process of folding down the bedspread and sheet and making nice pleats.  He fluffed all our pillows and then left the fancy tea towels on the floor on each side of the bed for us to step on.  We never would have guessed that.  He also left a bit of honey for each of us so that we would have sweet dreams. 

A couple of nights later the turn down man arrived at 6:30 hoping to find our bed empty.  We fooled him.  Normally we went to dinner at 6:00 every night, but had decided on a later dinner that night.  We were already lounging on the bed, so he left.  I don't think we were cut out for a turn down service. 

We also got a free pass to the spa as part of our upgrade.  One day when it was threatening rain and a bit noisy by the pool, we decided to head to the spa for the afternoon.  They just had some steam rooms and two cool pools, which were too cold for us. 

We just took advantage of  snacks and drinks in the spa lounge and read all afternoon on their padded lounge chairs.  It was very quiet and relaxing.  

They had five ala carte restaurants open in the evenings in addition to the buffet. 

We went to the Japanese restaurant, the Italian restaurant twice, and the steak restaurant by the pool twice. 

dinner by the pool

The steak restaurant ended up being our favorite. 

We also enjoyed going to La Creperie on the upper deck in the evenings.  There is a beautiful view from there.  It is a great place to enjoy a desert crepe and an expresso. 

For some reason, there were a lot of Russians at the resort this time.  They tended to gather in large groups and talk very loudly.  We decided that maybe there was a fabric shortage in Russia and they couldn't get enough fabric for larger swimsuits. 

the Russian invasion

After a couple of days we learned that we liked to hang out with the British tourists at the Tequila swim up bar in the mornings when it was shaded and then move to the Margaritas swim up bar in the afternoon when it was in the shade. 

We had a lot of fun getting to know some of the British families.  We spent one afternoon painting some ceramic bowls with one family.

We had a great time and came home rested and relaxed.