I did it. I took the first vacation I have been on since we began The Chatham Voice in July 2013. To say it was long overdue is probably an understatement, but you know how hard it is to leave your baby.
Brenna and I were invited on a trip to Mexico with my brother, Tom, and his family – wife Delynne and son Matt, and my sister Jane and her son Connor. We had travelled together before and had a great time.
As a person with a teenage girl, I was a little worried about travelling to Mexico and after reading the travel advisories about the country on the Canadian government website, my motherly paranoia only increased. I had planned to have her glued to my side the whole time, lectured her cousins about keeping an eye on her at all times and basically drove her crazy with a “DO NOT” list a mile long.
Thankfully, once we arrived at our resort, I relaxed once I saw how many people were around, how attentive the staff were, and realized how much common sense Brenna has.
Mexico is an incredibly beautiful country, with friendly people proud of their culture and traditions. Yes, the poverty and criminal activity is a reality, but for tourists, they make every effort to shield you from that reality.
On the Mayan Riviera, there are resorts, one after the other, with beaches and tourist attractions everywhere. We did nearby trips to the Mayan ruins of Tulum, the conservation area Xel-Ha (my personal favourite with snorkeling, an incredible lazy river, a hammock city and kid zones) and Playa del Carmen.
While I can’t say the management at our resort were either friendly or accommodating (it was a time share), the staff were incredible, the food at the many restaurants was out of this world, and the grounds and pool were beautiful and quite expansive.
The building on the Vidanta resort we stayed on, the Mayan Palace, was fairly far away from the pool and restaurants, so a great deal of walking was involved, but the paths were well-lit and marked, and worth the more than 10,000 steps a day we put in. The resort also had trams that came by fairly often to pick you up and take you to other parts of the resort.
We spent most of our days around the salt water pool with attentive wait staff (oh, Darios, I miss you and your margaritas), went to a tequila tasting where I learned what we have here in Canada in not even close to how good the aged craft tequilas are in Mexico, and attended a Mexican Fiesta with an authentic Mariachi band and dance troupe.
With diabetes, I had to be smart about what I ate and drank, and must say, I did a pretty good job. Aquafit every day in the pool was actually fun and good for me.
Just a few tips if you are going to Mexico and have never been before. I would suggest an all-inclusive, as food and drink do add up; take American money for excursions and plenty of pesos for tips and gifts. VISA was taken just about everywhere in tourist areas but pesos were the best bet.
If you are fair skinned at all, bring a hat and 50-plus sun screen and re-apply frequently or you will regret it. Bottled water was everywhere and I wasn’t worried about the food, but the change in diet still made me glad I brought plenty of Imodium, Pepto Bismol and probiotics.
Many thanks to my brother and sister and families for making my first vacation in a long time a great one.
And yes, poor Bruce had to stay home and mind the paper, but his turn will come.
