Getting Acquainted With Our Surroundings PDF Print E-mail
Saturday, 11 February 2006 16:00

Yesterday upon our arrival at the Cancun Airport we were greeted by a Mexican “host” as we were making our way to the car rental kiosk where we had reserved a car. He gave us a map and several tour suggestions which we were wanting to take and then came the “pitch”. Actually he was doing his best to get us to look at a private ownership hotel, a concept not unlike timeshares. For giving them two hours of our time we would be given a full buffet breakfast, tickets each for a tours of 2 different Mayan Ruins, one in Tulum, an hour south of here and one in Chichen-itza, about 2 ½ hours west, as well as two all-inclusive day passes to use at the Moon Palace Resort and two passes for an adventure tour. The total value of the tour passes is well over $500 and the all inclusive pass, giving us access to food, beverages and entertainment at a beautiful resort for an entire day is worth at least another $200.

Today, we took advantage of the offer; we enjoyed a great breakfast, sat through a presentation, didn’t buy a thing and received all the promised “gifts” for attending. It was cloudy and cool for most of the day anyway so the presentation and breakfast were a nice diversion.

Because the Moon Palace Resort is only a few miles south of Cancun, we decided to check out the “Hotel Zone” which we had heard had endured some severe damage last fall during the hurricane. Sure enough, there are still many hotels and golf courses closed and the beaches seriously eroded with debris in piles throughout the area. At least while we were there we briefly enjoyed some sunshine and soon after we left, it clouded over for the duration of the day. When we returned to the Mayan Palace we explored the grounds, beaches and restaurants, took lots of pictures and then had a nap (because we can). The forecast is much improved for tomorrow when we will be exploring the Chichen Riviera and the Mayan Ruins so look forward to more info and pictures.