Cancun Fun, Sun, and Yes, It Is The Caribbean!

Well, there were so many, but I would say that my wife and I going parasailing at the same time was awesome! Swimming in the underground rivers of Xcaret was fun, and eating great seafood sure didn't hurt, either.

On Valentine's Day on our honeymoon we went on a jazz/lobster cruise during sunset, which was real nice.

There is so much to do for every age.

Quick Tips:

Bring snorkeling gear with you. Be ready to haggle at the markets, taxis, etc. Take a waterproof camera with you.

Don’t be afraid to use the bus. It is safe, clean, and cheap and runs 24 hours.

DON’T exchange money at the airport! Use exchange places in the mall or just withdraw from your ATM card.

Watch out for anything that’s free!!! It usually that means a timeshare sales pitch. Now, if some restaurants offer free drinks with meals, that’s okay...

Best Way To Get Around:

Go by bus, foot, and taxi if you have to! When you arrive at the airport, don’t let their "aggressiveness" intimidate you! We avoided all that chaos and went to the right and caught a coach bus. It’s about a person. We had taken it before to Cancun and to Playa del Carmen. Seriously, those taxis will rip you off!

If you have to take a taxi, take it from the street, not as you stroll out of the Hyatt! That just screams at them, "Come, rip me off!"

Well, my parents did actually buy a timeshare here. There are all kinds of timeshare pitches in Cancun, and this place does their part. If you buy a timeshare or even rent there on a daily rate, you won't be disappointed.

It is centrally located in the Hotel Zone and has good amenities. They have a tour operator, pool, spa/massage, hammocks, private beach, and restaurants. They have large two-bedroom suites, the type of room we stayed in. It is large, with two large bedrooms, a large Jacuzzi tub, and views of the ocean and pool. The food is very good, but honestly, we mostly ate outside of the hotel.

The lobby area is a bit small and can get congested, especially when there is "lobby entertainment." The tennis court has been converted into a stage/amphitheater for variety shows and a dinging area.

It is easily accessible by bus or taxi, and we usually go for walks on the sidewalk in front of the hotel towards the downtown area.

This is a high-end hotel and good overall. As I said before, just beware of the timeshare salespeople unless you know you will use it and make the most out of it.

Well, the name Bogart's truly makes sense once you go there. No Moroccan food, though! What I mean is that the decor looks very North African/Middle Eastern, and the waitstaff wears the typical attire of Morocco, too: saggy pants with the red "Tarbouche" fez hat.

There was a fountain in the middle, and we had our own cozy round table that was semi-enclosed and very nice and romantic. It was formal dining, but in Cancun, nobody really dresses up.

Now, the food was even better. My wife got a juicy filet, while I had the lobster. Pricey, sure, but absolutely delicious. Oh, by the way, they have the best fresh bread too, especially the onion bread--mmm, good!

I only went there once but would like to go back there again. It was great for fine dining or a romantic occasion.

The only negative maybe is that there are no views of the sea.

This is one of our favorite places to have brunch. It is an excellent value, and they have great service with great variety of food.

They are easy to find, as it is in the Plaza Karakol. You can also look at the beach or water.

It is about $7 a person with tax and tip, and they have made-to-order omelettes, made-to-order quesadillas, and an excellent variety of local and American dishes, too. We also love the banana leaf-wrapped chicken tamales. I also like the sweet plantains, and my gosh, they have a half a dozen juices besides the basic orange, like watermelon, beet juice, cantaloupe, and other interesting ones.

I have been going there for the 8 years, and apparently other people like it, as otherwise it wouldn’t be around this long!

This is a well-known hangout it is on the lagoon side of Cancun. Everybody knows where it is.

It overlooks the water and has good food and good music. There's no cover, and the waitstaff is very attentive. Everybody speaks English, so you won't have problems there, and it is reasonably priced.

I did this tour twice, and if you are short on time and have to make a choice on ruins, I think these are the best. These ruins are world-reknowned.

It is a 2.5-hour drive or so that takes you through more remote villages/towns of the Yucatan area. You are closer to Merida and that area, practically.

You will need comfortable shoes and light clothing, as it is warmer there than Cancun, and you will do a lot of walking.

We had a guided tour, and we were briefed on the history of the area and the invasion of the Spanish Conquistadors. Then you have some free time to walk around the pyramids or even climb them, as we did.

Truly a must-see; take lots of photos, and take water. There are a few cafes, and some tours stop for lunch, although the place where we stopped was marginal.

Isla Mujeres, or "Island of Women": I never really got a good explanation of the basis of the name, but it's a neat island to explore! I have been to the island three times now. Now, you can take a tour or excursion, or you can do what my wife and I prefer to do, which was to get there on our own. You can take a bus or taxi to Puerto Juarez. From there, you take a ferry that costs about $7 RT, and you take it to Isla Mujeres. Once I got there, I haggled my way in to rent a golf cart for the day. Normally about $50, we got it for about $32.

For fun, we like cruising around this little island, seeing some of the villas and homes scattered throughout and the nice views of the beach and ocean. We make our usual stop to the Garafon and go snorkeling there. There you will find a nice facility, as well as nice views of the sea. They have chairs, hammocks, and equipment for rent, although now we prefer to bring our own snorkeling gear. You can also swim in the pool that overlooks the water.

There are other things to do on this island, like seeing the turtle farm, swimming with the dolphins, and other things. It is simpler, yet we did notice more hotels popping up here and there. It is less commercialized than Cancun and definitely worth seeing!

There are lots of cruises. There are party boats with a Carribean theme, a pirate theme, and this time, we opted for a lobster/steak jazz sunset cruise. We booked through our hotel, and it was about $50 per person. It was romantic, with a funny, lively crew, and they fed us very well. You had a choice of either steak or lobster.

After enjoying the sunset with the saxophone player playing in the background, we continued to enjoy the cruise by starlight. Very nice! We saw some families, but it was more geared toward a romantic good time.

There are many spots to do this, but we were visiting a contact of ours at the Casa Maya Hotel and saw them soliciting for parasailing rides.

It cost us about $80 for the two of us, and the good thing is that we were able to do a tandem together. I was more nervous than my wife at first, but once we got it, it was calm and smooth sailing initially and felt weird being suspended hundreds of feet with bungee cords!

But you can't imagine the view you have from there--truly a birds-eye view of the ocean, buildings, and island.

I wish we had taken a camera with us, though, so I recommend you take one!

I really stongly urge people who want to take a dive trip not to rent a car--they are expensive, and I have a few people who had a few things taken, like luggage, from their car!

The bus system is very, very good, and I have extensive experience with it.

I have taken a bus in the past to a nearby city known as Merida. It was very comfy and more affordable, dining-wise and accommodation-wise, compared to Cancun or Playa. Okay now, this was back in '98, but I do remember staying at a Hyatt there for about $70, and I walked over to the nearby restaurant and had a typical Mexican breakfast for $1.70!

It is more authentic Mexico, and the bus only cost about $7 each way. We have also taken the bus from the Cancun main terminal to Playa del Carmen. That is only a 45-minute bus ride and about $3 each way.

If you are in Cancun near the Hotel Zone, you just need to take a local bus for about 50 cents toward downtown. There, you ask for the "Terminal de Autobuses" or "Terminal de Camiones". They have buses that go all over Mexico, and they are clean, comfortable, and usually have a TV to keep you occupied.

Now, for some of you, the constant barrage of sales pitches--"Hello, Amigo, come to my store!", "Where you from?", etc., is agressive, but take it in stride; they are looking to make a buck, sell you a tour, sell you souvenirs, etc.

I have said this before: be prepared to haggle. Now, it will be tempting to buy souvenirs and gifts from those boutique shops in Cancun, but it will cost you, and you can can find the same stuff cheaper. They have some really decent open markets that sell all kinds of stuff, from T-shirts to pottery, chess sets, coasters, etc.

We shop downtown; you just have to ask for "Mercado 28" or "Kiwi Market". They're similar, but I found the Market 28 more affordable and with some decent seafood restaurants nearby. Also, remember that if you need anything else, there is a huge Wal-Mart and Chadrawi supermarket for groceries, bottled water, disposable cameras, etc. These places are all in the "centro area" downtown and not hard to find--the good thing about Cancun is that bus transport is easy and only about 6 pesos. In general, everything is cheaper in downtown.

This is a good tour if you want to see ruins but don't want to go as far as Chichen Itza. A very different look and atmosphere.

Tulum are ruins situated by the cliffs and also in close proximity to some very pristine, secluded beaches. They are not, however, as well-preserved as Chichen Itza, and it's a relatively shorter tour than Chichen Itza, also.

This tour was combined with snorkeling at Xel-Ha, which is a natural aquarium, and you can snorkel there and swim with all kinds of fish in a natural environment. You can easily swim with schools of fish passing you by... Also, there is another area where you can just float on tubes and relax. It's great for families, and there is also a section where you can swim with dolphins.

We did this on a tour, and it took most of the day, costing about $35 per person, including lunch.

Simply put, it is a ripoff calling from your hotels back to the U.S. I have never made calls directly from my hotel back to the U.S., as it is highway robbery.

There are a few ways to get around this. Have your loved ones call you on a regular basis; probably calling in the morning, before you go for breakfast, isn't a bad idea.

The other alternative is to go to a pharmacy, which you can find easily in "plazas", shopping malls. Ask for a "tarjeta telefonica", a prepaid calling card.

You can use them in the same phones that are usually next the the pharmacy, which tend to be quieter than the street pay phones, and the cost is about 50 cents per minute and can be used to call your hotel or other local calls. Otherwise, your hotel will be glad to charge you about $4-$5 a minute!