I enjoy going on vacations, most people do, but mine are rather interesting. When I went to Arizona it was like seventy-five to eighty degrees except for one day it said it would be rainy; well it snowed, so not normal. This vacation to Cancun Mexico was a little different.
It was our first time traveling out of the country as a family, everything was normal until we were beginning our descent to Cancun, Mexico. We were about to land, and you know how you normally can see the airport? Well, you can't see the Cancun Airport, it looks like you are flying into King Kong Island. There are multiple destroyed planes and in one, you could only see the framework of the plane. By the time I landed, I was already a little sketched out and concerned about the ride to the resort. We get off the plane and you can kinda smell cigar smoke and burnt rubber. We get through customs, get our bags and it feels empty, except for the people who were on our plane. After we get our bags, we make our way out of the baggage claim; we turned the corner hundreds of people were in this small space. It was very hectic and nerve-racking; people are going every which way and people were trying to sell you rides to your destination. We found our driver and we loaded the cargo van. On our drive to the resort, I realized how crazy people drive in Mexico. Drivers were swerving in and out of almost bumper-to-bumper traffic and driving on the sidewalks was. I couldn’t believe it.
We arrived at the resort and it felt like a whole different world. Everyone was very nice and it didn't feel sketchy. When you walk into the main building you get a gust of great smelling flowers and a fancy room that looks like it should be in the queen of England's castle. It had huge chandeliers and quartz floors so nice it was a little much. We get checked in and were brought on large golf carts to our building. Then the guy gives a basic tour of the room and we get ready to explore the resort. We found this pool that was large with not a lot of people at it. So we spent the rest of the day there until we went for dinner. The place we went to is this crazy sushi place called Jade. The waitress suggests we order the family-style option so we can try many different things. I wanted to try the Wagyu beef; we were able to cook it ourselves on this hot black rock that was very cool and the main reason I ate there. After we ate my parents went to this speakeasy where the door handle was a book, but it was 18 or older so we headed back to our room. It was a pretty good first day in Cancun.
On the first full day, we just explored the main resort. We first got breakfast and ate that the buffet where there was everything from basic scrambled eggs to crepes, pancakes, and a personal order where you could get anything you wanted. After breakfast, we went to the pool and got drinks. We probably hung out there playing competitive volleyball games until 2’oclok. We checked out the water park and hang out there until we had to be at our reservation at the Italian restaurant. The restaurant was great, they cooked the pizzas in a wood fire oven. I was so interested in trying new foods because we were in an all-inclusive resort. Finally, we got ice cream and signed up for a day trip to visit the Cenotes in the jungle and snorkel with fish in a bay. I could tell after the first full day I was going to like a vacation at an all-inclusive resort.
By 5:30 in the morning the next day, we were up and ready to get onto the bus to go into the jungle. When we got off the resort soil it felt like we were in a third-world country and we could get taken by someone, never to return. The police were doing regular checks in the middle of the highway. The homes in the city we passed through looked like downtown Hong Kong but were abandoned and built with cheap materials; the homes were not like what we see in America. The cars they drove were also not new at all; they looked like they were rebuilt and not safe. There were also a lot of people that rode in the back of the trucks; all I could think of is if you did this in Minnesota you're going to get a ticket. We get to the jungle and start to drive in and it did not feel like it was a tourist palace. We traveled down a one-lane dirt road for about a half-mile. At that moment I was not confident that I was going back to the resort then. The place was sketchy but looked cool. The cenote was cool; there were pools of water that were crystal clear. The bottom was like 12 feet deep and you could see the bottom and every detail like the sticks and little fish and even a phone was down there. The swimming hole there had a spot where you could jump off this 15-foot cliff and there were 2 ziplines that you could jump off. The cenote had bats in it and some tunnels were eerie. We also went snorkeling in the cenote that had these purple lobsters. After we were done there we went to a bay where there were a ton of fish that were the size of my torso. At this point, I was not having it. I had this terrible sunburn that stung because they made us wear this life jacket that just kept rubbing on my back and it hurt so bad. After that, we got back on the bus and went back to the resort. When I got back to the resort I was so hungry I ordered room service and went back to the pool to see what everyone else was up to. We ended up hanging out by the pool until dinner at the Hibachi Grill. After dinner, we went to the bowling alley at the resort to end the night.
Day three was the day we went to Brad’s wedding. We had the morning to check out the other two resorts, Nisuc and Sunrise. We ate a large breakfast at the Sunrise and spent a few hours at the pool there. We ordered drinks and found a place to surf and boogie board called Flowrider. I was doing the surf and was up for a minute and then my back foot slipped, it flung me back and water sprayed me in the face. After that, I called it good and just sat on the poolside and hang out until we moved to the next resort. By the time we got there, it was time for lunch, so I got my basic cheeseburger and fries. We hang out there for an hour and went back to the room to get ready for the wedding. I took a shower and realized how sunburnt I was; my face looked like raw steak it was bad. I wore khaki shorts and a button-up white shirt; there were dress requirements for the wedding. We go to the ceremony and it looked like a basic wedding. I noticed once we got to the beach where the dance was that it was a crazy wedding. We had a huge dinner in this tent that was made of lights and also had a light-up dance floor. The tent had lights lining the outside with sparklers to light up the entrance. There was live music and everyone was having the best time. The dance floor was always full and there was plenty of food and drinks for everyone. After the dance was almost over we went out of the tent and sat on the beach where these fire dancers came out and put on a show for about 30 minutes. When they were done they brought out these lighted drums which were neat because there was water on the drums and when you hit them the water splashed and lit up, it was so crazy. The finale was a firework show over the ocean. This was the most insane wedding I had ever attended; so many choices for food, live singers, fire dancers, a lighted drum show, and fireworks. The wedding was wild and extremely fun but after sitting in the sun all day and the wedding I was slumped and was just a little sad knowing I was leaving in the morning. This was the best trip I had been on yet.
The next day we had to pack up and get ready to leave to return to Minnesota. Before we even left our family knew we wanted to go back next year. This trip was one I will never forget, but I am hopeful we will go on many more trips that are all-inclusive resorts on the beach.