We flew from JFK to Cancun on Sunday Feb 16. It was the kids’ first time in Mexico! We rented a car and stopped for lunch in Puerto Morelos.
Then we drove on to our resort, the Banyan Tree Mayakoba, near Playa del Carmen.
We had a beautiful villa with a private pool. The kids loved this outdoor bed and would yell out “lounge time!” anytime they’d decide to lay down.
We enjoyed breakfast at the main restaurant, Oriente. They had a large buffet with Mexican specialties. Blaine enjoyed ordering chocolate chip pancakes made especially for him… not a Mexican specialty.
The beach shack was wonderful and had delicious drinks and shrimp quesadillas. They had an employee whose job was to walk around with a hawk to scare off any birds scavenging for food.
On Monday night we had dinner in Playa del Carmen, at a beautiful rooftop restaurant called Catch. On the walk back to the car Sarah wanted to take a picture outside a dance club called “La Vaquita” with some funny looking cows. I understand Playa del Carmen is sort of a party town.
On Tuesday we took a tour of Rio Secreto (Secret River), which is a series of underground caves. We wore wetsuits and helmets with headlamps. Sarah was a bit scared of the dark but she got used to it! We weren’t allowed to take pictures but I bought one of the ones they took, so here is a peek. It was beautiful, so dark and quiet.
That afternoon we went to the pool (no pics) and that evening we got a babysitter so Andrew and I could go to a dinner called “Haab.” It was a seven course meal using traditional Maya ingredients with beverage pairings. They had Maya performers, as well, and taught us about Maya culture during the meal.
The next day we relaxed at the beach, and the kids and Andrew did a nature boat tour around the property. That night we went to dinner at the resort’s signature restaurant, Saffron. It was Thai food, and was delicious.
The next morning at breakfast the kids got to take a picture with some of the Haab performers.
We checked out and drove to our second hotel, La Zebra, in Tulum. Here’s a pic from our room out to the main building with restaurant, the beach is just beyond. I am still amazed at how soft the sand is in Tulum!
We had dinner at the hotel restaurant that night, for Taco Thursday.
On Friday we spent the morning seeing the Maya ruins in Tulum. Sarah decided this was her favorite part of the trip. We saw this funny little animal, I still don’t know what it is. She also loved looking for lizards sunning themselves on the ruins.
We had a delicious lunch in town at Taqueria Honorio (cochinita pibil!) and then bought some souvenirs. Then back to the beach!
Friday night we had our best meal of the trip (though there were many!), at a restaurant in town called Verdant. It was all organic, much of it sourced from the restaurant’s own garden out back. I wish I’d taken a picture of the menu because it was all fantastic with really interesting ingredients — we had the snapper crudo, a squash dish, some kind of fermented rye crepe with black mole and squash which was amazing, pork stuffed in a pepper, lamb, and then two desserts– ice cream made with local honey, over oaxacan chocolate and a grilled local pineapple with macadamia cake? Every dish was wonderful, which is such a rare experience. Blaine mostly ate a kids’ buttered pasta dish, but Sarah enjoyed the lamb, the house made sourdough bread, and the desserts. Blaine did enjoy speaking with the owner, asking about the kitchen and about their dog. She was lovely and answered all his questions. Fantastic place!
Saturday was our last day and we spent it at the beach!
It was a wonderful trip with perfect weather and delicious food. It was fun that Blaine was old enough to read; we’ll have to get him his own kindle reader at some point. Sarah was not thrilled with the food options overall, but hopefully as she gets older she’ll be willing to try more things. The worst part about the trip was the return flight — our plane had mechanical problems and was delayed for 3 hours after we’d boarded. But we survived, and when we got home we found our amaryllis had bloomed!
This final pic is Blaine’s grass in a cup from school, which he edited specifically for the blog. Enjoy!
