Jeff and I just came back from Mayan Riviera yesterday. The weather was not as nice as I expected but overall the vacation was still awesome. We stayed at the brand new NH Cancun Riviera at Puerto Morelos, an all-inclusive hotel and probably the newest and the cheapest in the Mayan Riviera area. The food was good but not great, and due to the deficiency of aldehyde dehydrogenase in my body, just like many other Asians, I could not drink that much alcohol without getting sick, but I did have a Pina Colada, an Apple Martini and a strawberry Daiquiri.
I would love to come back to Cancun for some killer wedding photo shoot. I must say the NH Cancun Rivera is great for weddings in the Puerto Morelos area, and there are many other resorts to choose from around Cancun and Playa de Carmen. Please visit my website for destination wedding photo opportunities. Email me for special destination wedding rates at email@jessiechophotography.com
Day 1 (rain):
Our flight left at 6am from SFO. We needed to leave the house by 3am. By the time we got to the hotel it was already 5pm. We had some funky Asian food, such as teriyaki mahi mahi. Honestly I never had teriyaki sauce on any kind of seafood, and the combination is a little weird.
Hotel Lobby
Awesome fountain @ the lobby
Day 2 (overcast):
We walked to the neighbor hotel El Cid and gave our valuable 90 minutes for some ‘vacation presentation’. The presentation was not very pleasant and there’s no way I would drop $50K to purchase future vacations. Anyway, we got a $70 rental car voucher and a discount coupon for tours around the Mayan Riviera.
Later that day we decided to drive over to Playa de Carmen just to see what’s over there. The highlight of the trip was the bird bomb that landed on Jeff!
Giant chess set @ the hotel
church @ Playa de Carmen
Day 3 (heavy rain):
We booked a Chichen Itza tour with the discount coupon offered to us at El Cid. Chichen Itza was so far the most impressive ruins that I have seen so far. I was glad that we went on a guided tour because there’s no way I would understand the meanings of the structures without having someone explain it to me. We also visited one of the cenotes nearby.
Blue Agave. Anyone knows how to make taquila?
Chichen Itza, Temple of Kulkulcan, which is also a Mayan calendar. This is so far the coolest ruins that I have seen. Click here to see the why this structure is so fascinating.
It was raining pretty hard, so my lovely husband gave me his rain jacket ^v^
The tour guide was demonstrating the Mayan human sacrifice. First of all they make the victim drunk, then break the spine so the victim is paralyzed, then the ‘killer’ would make a cut underneath the rib cage, and yank the heart out from the victim’s body. This procedure was done so fast, the victim is still conscious when the killer takes the heart out. But since the victim was paralyzed, the only thing he/she can do was to stare at his/her beating heart.
One of the cenotes near Chichen Itza
Day 4 (overcast): Hidden World Cenote Park
This is one of the highlights of the trip. My favorite part was zip-lining in a cenote which ends in the water.
All of these images and videos below are taken with my Canon SD1000, with waterproof housing for underwater photos/videos
The wet suit rental is mandatory for snorkeling in the cenote
Snorkeling @ Hidden World Cenote Park
Zip-lining @ Hidden World Cenote Park
Day 5 (partial overcast): Xel-Ha
Xel-Ha is about 1 hour away from Puerto Morelos. It’s one of the heavily advertised water parks in the area. There are so many gigantic lizards and iguanas running around the park, which was very interesting. Snorkeling was good but not great because the water visibility was pretty low.
Gigantic iguanas can be found everywhere in the park
Following a school of gigantic fish
I fell asleep on the hammock for half an hour! It was very relaxing.
Day 6 (Sunny! yeah!): Puerto Morelos Snorkeling
Puerto Morelos has the world’s second largest coral reef. We were so thankful that the sun was finally out! I wish I know marine biology a little better because I have no idea what kind of fish I was looking at. I hope one day I can overcome my water phobia and would be able to scuba dive.
Spotted Sting Ray (Can someone tell me the species name?) @ Puerto Morelos
Snorkeling @ Puerto Morelos. The coral reef is much more attractive when you see it in person. Sorry for my poor videographic technique.
Day 7 (Super Sunny! Too bad we are leaving):
The last breakfast
