Sisters Trip to Cancun 2006

About half-way through the summer, we looked at our schedules are realized that visiting the Maine during the Fall just wasn't going to work, but we really wanted to get away.  Then, Rich received an email about a resort in Cancun that we could get visit on barter, and we were so on board, so in a few short weeks, we booked some reasonable flights from three different airports, and we were on our way.

We stayed at the Aquamarine Beach Resort near downtown Cancun, an older hotel with beautiful grounds, and off the main coastal beaches that had been so terribly hit by last year's hurricane.  And we each returned with a souvenir bottle of tequila with our photos on them, even my LDS sister heading back to Utah who will probably just tell people that it is a "special" apple juice.  During this trip, we again vowed to continue our long-standing tradition of sisters vacations, which we have enjoyed for several years now.  Of course, "the twins" were a hit everywhere we went, and I felt really fortunate to be able to share so many wonder experiences with my "little sisters.

The Aquamarine Beach Resort

While we had a wonderful time at this resort, I don't know that it would be our first choice for hotels in future visits to Cancun.  Because of triple-occupancy, we were upgraded to a two room suite with a full kitchen and beautiful ocean view, which was indeed spectacular.  However, because their ocean frontage is taken up with boat docks and ocean activities, we found much more luxurious beaches at other resorts, although many were still recovering from the hurricane.

Exploring the Beaches

Staying closer to town, we needed transportation to get to the tourist hotels and restaurants, so we learned to use public busses, which cost 65 cents and could get us anywhere.  This allowed us to stop at any hotel, such as the Ritz Carlton, and just walk through or next to the hotel and out onto their beaches.  Even though most resorts provide transportation, their stops are limited to the mall and a couple of restaurants, so we enjoyed the freedom of visiting everywhere we wanted.  It was partially cloudy on most of our beach days, which was actually a relief because Cancun can get very hot in August.

Entertainment & Outings

Since the resort was all-inclusive, we ate most of our meals there, unless we were rushing to get somewhere, and then it was about finding a quick taco stand, including one memorable taco stand that we could probably never find again.  The resort had evening entertainment and all-inclusive meant everything except tequila.  Al three of us had our hair braided, and trying to hold on to the memories, I kept my braids in on first day back at work.

The Cancun Wells

On the way to Chichen Itza we  visited an amazing well that required traversing some tunnels and stairs to reach the bottom where people were climbing up platforms and diving into the pool at the bottom.  The amazing and beautiful part of this was the water which was draining from the plants hanging from the ground level up above.

Chicken Pizza

The highlight of our trip was a visit to Chichen Itza, which our guide called "Chicken Pizza."  Our guide came prepared with a large umbrella, first to shade us from the sun, and later to protect us from a downpour of rain that washed out our path back to the bus.