A Blast From My Traveling Past: Puerto Morelos Edition

You know how they say the past is a good indicator of the future? When it comes to travel I think you can throw that rule out. I say (well technically write) this because of our trip to Puerto Morelos and an all-inclusive resort and our subsequent decision to do another all-inclusive in a different country (Jamaica) and a different resort (The Jewel Dunn's River Falls). More on that trip another day. Spoiler alert: it didn't come close to the experience we had at Dreams. 

The resort at night

We stayed at Dreams Riviera Cancun in Puerto Morelos, Mexico in March of 2010 for nine days. And we were happy to get out of the snow and freezing weather and into some sunshine and heat. Mexico delivered. We arrived on a Sunday to warm weather (in the 70s if I recall correctly), cool drinks and mega relaxation, and not a day too soon. The next day Bangor, Maine (where I'm from and a few miles from Orono where we both went to grad school at the time) was voted the worst weather in the country. Like I said, not a moment too soon.

Birds birds everywhere

The weather cooperated the whole time we were there and hung out in the 70s and sunny region all nine days. The water was a beautiful blue that I'm certainly not used to having grown up in Maine. We got to hang out on the beach and by the pool all day, then shift into even gear and have drinks and delicious food at night. Once again that pesky vegetarian thing came up, but I ate really well while we were at Dreams. For an all-inclusive, the food was pretty incredible.

The cactus dish  

We went to the Mexican restaurant and I got cactus. Yup, cactus. That prickly green thing you're supposed to avoid. I ate it. And it wasn't half bad. Definitely unlike anything I had ever had before, but I'm all about trying new foods as long as they're vegetarian. After years of eating the same stir fry since I didn't know what else to make, I love trying new foods any chance I get. Back to Dreams. They also had a Japanese restaurant complete with sushi and hibachi. There was also an Italian restaurant that had some amazing options. And since it's an all-inclusive we never felt limited in what we should order and how much ended up on the table. For me, the food never got boring or monotonous, which is a definite possibility at an all-inclusive (and how it felt at The Jewel). 

On our third or fourth day there, we decided to take a long walk down the beach to the town center. We took off around 11 am and didn't end up getting back to the resort until 2 o'clock. It was a loooooooong walk and while it provided us with some of our best pictures from the vacation, it also wound up giving Dan a pretty terrible sunburn that lasted well after we got back home. Note to self: wear sunscreen like crazy the closer you get to the equator. Thanks to the all-inclusive and the free drinks that came with it, every night from that day on we would hit up the lobby bar for pre-dinner drinks and snacks, while Dan would have the same order for our server, "Dos shots of 1800 por favor." It seemed to do the trick and numb his back long enough to get though dinner. Who needs pain reliever when you've got unlimited tequila at your disposal?

So, after this trip went some swimmingly minus the sunburn, we decided to do another all-inclusive this March. I was wiped out from school and didn't want to do much but be warm, relax and lay out in the sun. While that was mission accomplished, the resort left something to be desired. If you really want to know the dirty details, check out my review on Trip Advisor. I used Trip Advisor for both trips, had one great one and one that left a lot to be desired. So take every review with a grain of salt, but also make sure you read every class of review (from excellent to terrible).

After this last trip we both decided we wanted a very different type of vacation for our next trip. Something a bit more culturally stimulating and definitely not an all-inclusive. We want to go explore and try new places (restaurants and otherwise). I'm taking suggestions, but keep in mind that I hate the cold.