Every New Beginning: Viva Mexico!!

Last year on our honeymoon in Costa Rica we bought into the Occidental Vacation Club. It is basically like a time share but we can use our yearly week at any of their properties. As a bonus gift they gave us our all inclusive package free for our first year. So, we left the day I got out of school and drove to the beach. We spent the night there before flying on Saturday morning to Cancun, Mexico! This was my first trip to Mexico (Glenn has been probably a dozen times) and I fell in love when we stepped off the plane! It was hot, but so beautiful.

Our driver took us about forty five minutes from Cancun to our resort, the Xcaret Flamenco Occidental Grand. It was gorgeous! We were First Club Members so our check in at the First Club lounge wasn't quite ready. We had lunch, toured the property and finally got into our rooms. For the next 7 days we swam, got pedicures at the spa, made new friends, hiked the property, saw the ruins on the property, ate great meals and had a wonderful time.

On Monday evening, we had one snafu. A water container for our building burst and flooded our room. Luckily, the floors are tile and with little worries we were up and running again. However, the next day, we toured the club level up from ours, the Royal Club and subsequently upgraded our membership. This allowed us a room upgrade as well. Now, we were able to use the private beach bluffs, pool and terrific restaurant exclusively for Royal Club members. (And, we received a free all inclusive package for a trip next summer to the Occidental Grand in Cozumel!) This made our trip even more fabulous!

We finished out our week with two excursions. On Thursday we spent the (long, hot, hot, hot) day at Xcaret Park adjacent to our resort. There was beach front, cenotes, greenhouses, wildlife, a replica Mayan Village and so much more there. It was SO GREAT!!!! Friday morning we were up early for a trip to a place I have always wanted to visit (thank you, Jimmy Buffet!)....TULUM! Although it was also hot, I was so excited to see these famous Mayan ruins and they were absolutely amazing. After walking through, we did a little shopping and took in the "flying" men in the small village outside the gates.

This trip was absolutely wonderful and I can't wait to return to Mexico and Xcaret!!