Holidays in Mexico
It is the middle of February and my wife and I are in Cancun, Mexico. Today is February 15, 2023, and the temperature is 28 degrees Celsius. We arrived at the resort at 5 pm on February 4th. Once checked in, we started the process of winding down at this all-inclusive resort.
The room that we have overlooks the Caribbean and when we open the doors to the deck, we can hear the waves splashing onto the sandy beach. The warm salty ocean air feels very healthy on our skin and the humidity works wonders on our skin and hair. Once we changed from our “airplane” clothes, we found food at the buffet.
We have been to Mexico eleven times over the years. The first time we went to Mexico was as a family, with Nancy’s parents, sisters, brothers-in-law, and young toddlers. The resort that we tested was in Manzanillo, on the Pacific side. We were there for 10 days and by day 7, we had gotten our fill of that resort. The time there was terrific, but the food offering was rather limited and became predictable by the 4th day. We have not been back there since, but the best thing about that trip was that the beach was sandy, and the waves of the ocean were quite good to play in.
The next trips to Mexico included resorts in Puerto Vallarta. PV is a great place to have a warm vacation that has the added bonus of a large city that was easily accessible for those of us who liked to walk. The all-inclusive that we stayed at is downtown and makes the old town easily accessible. When we go back to Puerto Vallarta, we will stay downtown so that we can walk the Malecon. The Malecon is a boardwalk that shows off the old market, including local arts and crafts. Another terrific tour was of the distillery at the Agave plantation. Blue Agave is the plant from which tequila is distilled. These are but two local enterprises that everyone should experience if you are in Puerto Vallarta. The last time we were in PV we took a bus tour into the mountains where we toured an old silver mining town. The tour took us to Jalisco, where in the late 1600’s mines were dug into the Sierra Madre’s by Spanish explorers to extract silver, gold, and lead.
Another terrific city we holidayed at was the city of Mazatlán. We went as a family again to this tourist city and this time we stayed at a rented condominium for a week. The condominium was on the ocean and each day after breakfast, we played on the beach and in the water. The sand was outstanding and the swells of the Pacific Ocean were fun to play in. Each day, we bought our food at the Mazatlán Malecon market and cooked our dinners and breakfasts at our condominium. One memory that I will always remember was early one morning when walking on the beach, several military helicopters flew over us. They were so low, that I could see soldiers tethered at the open door with their automatic weapons at the ready. We learned later that day that Joaquin Guzman, the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, was captured several miles away from our condominium. It was rather unnerving to know that we were so close to that major event in Mexican history.
We have been to the Caribbean side of Mexico several times as well, including 2 times on convention trips. In my opinion, we prefer the weather and the gentleness of the ocean in and around Cancun and Playa del Carmen. The flight from Western Canada is longer than going to Mazatlán or Puerto Vallarta by several hours, but that is one of costs we have chosen to pay for if coming here. The resort that we are at this time is called Sensira. Sensira is about halfway between Cancun and Playa del Carmen. This resort is rather isolated from the city and therefore, if we want to go to the city, we have to arrange an expensive taxi service for transportation.
This resort is not large compared to some places, yet the food and service has not disappointed us for the two times we have been here. There are many diversions to take advantage of if you want to go off site and the concierge staff are excellent to work with if you wish to take advantage of what the Mexican Riviera has to offer. On this holiday, we have chosen to stay mostly on site to exercise, suntan and read.
We fly home on February 18 after which we will engage with the end of the Canadian winter back home in Cranbrook.