Sally and Rich's Visit to Puerto
One of the things we most looked forward to when moving to the Caribbean Coast of Mexico was friends and family visiting. The entire time we lived in the Charleston area, we never tired of playing tourist, doing staycations and showing our surroundings to visitors. Not long after we moved here permanently covid hit. Staycations, short trips, visitors: it all came to a screeching halt. That is until this January, when our friends, Sally and Rich came to visit.
We finally had the opportunity to catch up with friends and show them our little slice of paradise. With Covid still mutating and affecting many, we had to alter our choices of where exactly to take them, but that did not diminish the fun we had. I have always loved seeing places I love through other’s eyes. It does not matter the age or level of travel experience of the people, I just like to see the wonder and joy.
I emailed Sally and gave her a briefing of what to expect and directions of where to go to find me at the Friends and Family exit at Cancun Airport. Our timing was perfect, I arrived as they were clearing immigration and going to get their luggage. That gave me time to park the car, use the facilities and meet them at the exit. I validated our parking ticket and loaded up the car. They arrived on a Sunday which made traffic very doable and in no time we were passing through the gates of Puerto Aventuras.
Sally and Rich had decided they would prefer to have their own hotel room, so we chose PA Hotel and Beach Club because of its location, right in the middle of the marina area and easy access to the beach. After an early wake up call and full day of travel, we chose to dine at Xenote, the restaurant on property. As with most steak options with a beautiful ocean view, it is one of the more expensive places, but it fit the bill and the meal was excellent. Each entrée comes with your choice of soup, salad, veggies and potatoes. We topped it off by splitting a dessert. Full and tired they wandered back to their rooms and retired for the evening.
Monday morning, we had some things to do so Sally and Rich had breakfast at the hotel and wandered around the marina before heading back to their rooms. They were delighted to find that their balcony provided excellent seats for constant entertainment. They could see the dolphin shows, as well as people watch, all while basically being undetected. The road to the hotel dead-ends just past where their room was and though it is a relatively quiet street, apparently it provided a lot of amusement.
After getting the lay-of-the-land, we decided to give them a small tour of our immediate world. Rich worked for years in the grocery business, so we wanted to take them to our local Chedraui. And what vacationer’s tour doesn’t include a little souvenir shopping? My favorite is the blown glass factory just across the highway, which also has typical souvenirs from Mexico, as well as chocolates, tequila, jewelry and my favorite: local spices.
That evening our friend, Pablo, and his Latin Dance Band were playing at Latitude 20, so we met friends there and had a great evening. Sally learned it is impossible to not get up and dance to the rhythms of Latin music.
The rest of the week was spent juggling beach/ocean time with sharing some of our favorite places. On Wednesday morning we went to Latitude, to the Morning Market, where Sally met Angelica and bought some pieces that the talented ladies in Chiapas made by hand. It is amazing to think that they work the threads, dye them by hand, weave them and, in the end, produce these incredible works of art. Sally chose a top and wrap, both with incredible hand-work. Each piece is totally unique.
A visit here would not be complete without taking the short drive to Akumal, my happy place – where it all began. We arrived at Lolha in time for happy hour and music, and ended with dinner on the terrace with the sun setting over the bay.
No visit is complete without a trek to Mayan Ruins. We chose Coba. There are many reasons I love Coba. One, the setting is gorgeous, with the combination of jungle and lagoons. It has much fewer visitors than say Tulum or Chichen Itza. It also provides much more shade and the option to see it by foot, bike or the local rendition of a rickshaw. We opted for the 90-minute tour guide and rickshaw ride. Coba is lovely because they have not destroyed all the trees, so the paths are shaded. Only a small part of the ancient city has been excavated. It dates back to Pre-Classic times and is an estimated 40 square miles. It was a crossroads for trading during the Classical period and has an amazing example of the original sac-be or white roads that connected the population centers of the ancient Maya world.
We topped off our visit with lunch at an open-air restaurant with a beautiful view of the lagoon. The food was excellent local cuisine and we introduced Sally to Cochinita Pibil, a Mayan pulled-pork prepared with achiote seasoning and citrus, wrapped in banana leaves and typically cooked over coals in the ground. It was served with rice, beans, pickled onions and fresh hand-tossed tortillas. Unable to finish it all a local, well loved, well-mannered, four-legged friend was treated to some leftovers.
It is amazing how quickly a week passes when you are having fun, and we look forward to their next visit when we can show them even more of the things our new home has to offer.
I have to say, it was a pleasure showing them our part of the world. But also, thanks to Sally and Rich, for demonstrating such care and respect for those they came into contact with by taking the necessary precautions to insure the health and safety of all. Though Mexico does not require testing in order to enter, there are protocols in place to assure at least of modicum of social distancing and masking. Unfortunately, many tourists do not respect those rules, hence the number of cases of Omnicrom are growing by the day. When Sally and Rich visited, our state was still in Green, but that has since changed to yellow and today we enter orange. If we hit Red, it will severely affect businesses and workers alike. So of course travel and enjoy yourselves, don’t let covid stop you from living, but please do all you can to stay safe and keep those around you safe.