My family just returned from another family vacation in Mexico. We spent a week exploring the lovely areas by the Yucatan Peninsula.

We stayed at the Mayan Palace in Quintana Roo, right by Playa del Carmen.  Most people visit Cancun.  However, after a brief visit to that city, we were glad we chose a different town. Cancun seemed to be, according to my sister, the “Las Vegas of Mexico”.  For our trip, we were hoping to experience a little more of the culture and less of the tourist party crowd.  Where we stayed, we were close to many of the Mayan ruins and even had a chance to practice what the little Spanish we knew. There were many Mexican tourists in our resort, so the staff didn’t assume you spoke English off the bat.

During the week, we visited all the usual attractions such as the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza and Tulum.  We also visited Xel-ha, but didn’t get to see the ruins there due to the distraction of water fun!  Lastly, and definitely not in the least, we visited the beautiful island of Cozumel where we definitely did not miss out on snorkeling in its crystal, blue waters and say “hola” to the fish within it.  🙂

Since there were 7 of us, we ended up renting a car for the week, which turned out to be a great idea.  It helped us save on money since we weren’t paying like $100 per person for transportation and entrance  to the sites we visited.  However, it did end up with the family bickering over where to go, how to get there, when etc. etc. On the bright side, though we got lost once, we had the unique experience of stopping at a person’s home due to his “cocos frios” sign.  This would have otherwise been missed had we decided to pile into a tour bus.  Definitely perks to having our own time to do as we wish.

Anyway, there will be more little tidbits about the trip later.  I’m still nursing my sunburns, although now it’s becoming a lovely shade of tan. 🙂