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| Mayan Palace Beach |
We said we would never subject ourselves to a timeshare
sales pitch again, and this time we mean it! We phoned to cancel our breakfast
and condo talk and were told that there were a lot of changes to the Mayan
Palace organization that needed explanation. That was true but did it have to
take us all morning to convince the staff that we were not interested in any
upgrade. Our biannual week at a Mayan Palace resort is almost more than we can
use. Even the payment for attending what is essentially a sales session was not
worth the hassle. That is the downside of timeshare ownership. Yes, the resorts
are already good and are becoming more upscale every year. The rooms spacious
and comfortable, with kitchens for those, like us, who like our own cooking
rather than expensive restaurant fare. Many people are content to spend their
entire vacation at one resort but not us. We like to explore other countries independently
and if we can, we appreciate a week of upscale accommodation, but we can only
take so much of large resorts. Give us the small, casual places any day.
We moved to the Mayan Palace, about 11 km south of Puerto
Morelos, last Saturday morning. There are several new buildings on the property
since we were there four years ago, most of which are Grand Mayan Palace
accommodation, the upscale condo section. We are in the standard, Mayan Palace
section. Even though we arrive at 10:30 AM and check-in time is not guaranteed until
5 PM, the helpful clerk locates an available room for us. We managed to leave
our bags in our new room and hop on a resort minibus bus heading for Playa Del
Carmen, a 20-30 minute ride farther south. It is a large tourist town with lots
of hotels and restaurants, a good sandy beach and, the most important draw for
us, a big Wal-Mart with a good grocery section. We buy enough to see us through
half of the week. We had planned to have a swim on the beach but the skies are
overcast and it rains periodically. Instead we have a leisurely lunch in one of
the resorts and make it back to the Mayan Palace after dark. If we were closer
to the equator, sunset would not be until 7 PM, but at this time of year in the
Yucatan, the sun sets shortly after 5 PM.
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| Pool bar |
The next day we are ready for a day lounging around the huge
pool complex and exploring the beach. The surf is still high so the red flags,
meaning dangerous swimming conditions, are out. The access to the ocean from
the Mayan beach is not good anyway. The shoreline was decimated by Hurricane
Wilma several years ago and most of the sand was swept out to sea leaving a
rocky limestone shelf extends several meters into the sea. The only safe time
to swim, as we discovered four years ago is at high tide when the seas are
calm. Instead we lay claim to beach chairs around the pool and I head for a
half hour yoga stretch class on the beach. The instructor is quite good and
certainly challenging for a neophyte yoga follower like me. I plan to attend as
many of these sessions as possible. The other class I like is a half hour
aquafit session that is quite popular. I even convinced Ray to join me and he pronounced
it fun and worthwhile. Both of us passed on the pool and beach volleyball and
other game sessions. We both like to read our books, swim periodically and
generally relax. We did manage a walk down the beach and worked on our tans,
slathering on the sun screen so as not to burn. Such is the life at a beach
resort.
https://picasaweb.google.com/rayjeanne.burnham/Mexico2011MayanPalaceResortPuertoMorelos?authuser=0&feat=directlink
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