We had to wake up at an ungodly hour (3:15am) to get ready to leave for the airport. We had a 2 hour flight to Atlanta, then another 2 hours to Cancun. The area outside the Cancun airport was packed with people trying to get to their transfers, and it was confusing but eventually we found our transfer too. The ride to the hotel took 25 minutes.

When we got to the hotel we were told the room would only be ready at 5pm, so we walked around the huge grounds of the hotel and had a quick Mexican lunch (2 beers, 2 piña coladas, nachos, and guacamole). The grounds are pretty impressive. There are 3 interconnected pools with views of the ocean. The beach sand was somewhat hard and not as nice as the pool areas (we were told they were building up coral to hold the sand better). The newer buildings had cool looking circular columns for the elevators, and were painted in bright colors.

We ended up checking in at 3:30, and went up to the room, which was about a 5-7 minute walk from the main lobby. The room was simply amazing. The bathroom had a big walk-in shower, double sinks, and a private “toilet room” built in. There was also a whirlpool tub. And the whole room was decked in marble/stone. The main part of the room had nice simple furniture and was painted in green. All in all a very “cool tropical” feel. The only thing lacking was a view, but at least we had a patio to sit outside.

We napped our first of many naps and got ready for dinner. We took a shuttle to the lobby, then a shuttle to the main entrance. We crossed over the busy highway that leads to Playa and Cancun and waited in the dark for a bus. Before a bus could come, a collectivo van came along which we took to town. The collectivos are the locals’ buses. They came by a lot more frequently than buses and were cheaper too.

We walked around Playa del Carmen, which reminded us of Ibiza. There was one long street (5th Avenue or Avenida 5) where most of the restaurants and shops were located. We had dinner at Limones, which was recommended on google groups and our tour book (lime soup, mexican steak, fish chiki tiki, beer, piña, and 2 margaritas). The food was very good and the restaurant had a nice atmosphere. As we were walking down 5th Avenue, the vendors kept trying to lure us into their stores. We heard them call “honeymooners come here” a few times. Maybe because we’re young? Who knows, but it was a fun time. We shared a taxi van back to the hotel with another family. We had a hard time finding the room since everything looks the same. It took us about 5 days to be able to get to the room without an issue.