Cancún- A Vacation in Paradise

We've just returned from a one-in-a-lifetime wonderful vacation to Cancún. Our oldest son, Erik, hosted us at one of the resorts that he manages (he is head of HR over several companies). It was a marvelous, wonderful, rejuvenating, relaxing and luxurious 5 days in the sun; made all the sweeter because we left 18" of snow at home. We left 20°F in Springville and found 20°C (68°F) in Cancún. Since we didn't want to leave our house at 0-dark-thirty we spent all day Friday traveling. Erik and a private car (Suburban) with driver picked us up at the airport. We were welcomed into the vehicle with cool, damp, scented washclothes and cold bottled water.

The next morning when I opened the curtains I was greeted with paradise! This is the view we enjoyed each day. Ahhhh...

SECRETS SILVERSANDS MAYA RIVIERA RESORT 

Erik is quite adventurous in his eating and recommended the octopus for dinner the night we arrived. I've eaten octopus before, but nothing like this. It was tasty and the ends of the tentacles were wonderfully crispy!

Saturday was our day to see the markets in downtown Cancún. We stopped at the the famous Cancún sign, and since there was quite a line to take a photo in front of the sign, we opted to go down on the beach to get our photo op. (And, yes, I used some creative editing to get Cancún facing the right way!)

It is winter in Cancún so the days were cool, never above 23°C (73.4°F) and the nights were cooler, 18°C (65°F) Frankly it was cooler than I had planned on. Next time I will bring a couple of jackets or sweaters.

THE BEACH BY THE CANCUN SIGN

There was a little playground on the beach and Gordon wanted to get a couple of cute shots...

Who knew? This takes me back to the days of our honeymoon 34+ years ago when we ended up falling down laughing in the aisle while trying on tennie-runners at K-Mart!

The markets were interesting. One of my favorites were these *chicken-dance* pollos! Bwahahaha! Can't you just hear the chicken dance music?

I found a pretty white blouse at a cute little shop that Megan likes and bought it to be my Provo City Center Temple blouse. It makes me happy just thinking about it!

Erik was in search of some little embroidered purses to take back for Megan. We eventually found them, but not before we found this guy who was serving mangos on a stick. He expertly peeled and cut it to look like a flower. Then he added some non-spicy red sauce, lime juice, salt and, for the brave, a hot chili powder (I passed on the spicy!) It was delicious and I was glad there were the aforementioned damp cloths in the Suburban with which to clean my face, between slurpey, juicy bites and eventually my hands.

And although we'd eaten a sumptuous breakfast Erik had a hankering for food from one of his favorite restaurants. I was still quite full so only ordered a tomato-avocado salad. Yummy!

This was Erik's quest... chapulines (grasshopper tacos)! I HAD to try them and they were actually quite tasty with a crunchiness from the legs. But the best part was the freshly made masa tortillas being cooked right there in a corner of the restaurant! I could have eaten a dozen... but used my willpower!

Dinner that night was at the Bordeaux restaurant at the resort. When we'd made a reservation earlier in the day I asked the manager what he would recommend. My meal started with escargot, continuing with French onion soup, grouper fish and ending with crème brûlée. It was wonderfully delicious from beginning to end. (So much so that the next night I went back alone, while Gordon watched the Super Bowl, in Spanish, and had it all again substituting a salad for the grouper fish)

There was ample time to wander the resort, soak up the sun, take photos and relax.

EGRET IN THE LITTLE LAGOON AT RESORT

I will be back over the next few days with more posts about each day in paradise.