Riviera Maya Vacation - Part Twelve

There you have it, folks..............could I have written more about the Grand Palladium Resort?..........well, sure..........but I think I covered the more important stuff. Finally, I can wrap this report up and start blogging about other stuff such as Christmas. Would I come back here to this resort?......... absolutely.

Whenever you read up about a travel destination, you never seem to find anything about the trip to and from the airport...........what is it like?........how long did it take?...........what will you see along the way?..............what are the roads like?................not that it is all that important because you want paradise and you don't really care what surrounds the place since you might not be planning to venture off of the resort property. How can I describe the Mexico that I saw between the Cancun airport and the Grand Palladium Resort?..............I saw no indication of a middle class portion of society. I got the impression that there are only the haves and the have-nots. The main highway appears to flow well and is fairly well maintained. On the other hand, as I would look from our transport van...........the side roads were a display of blight and squalor. Yet mishmashed amongst that are car dealerships and world class resorts.

There is one thing that they do in Mexico that should be done here in the USA..........or at least in Baltimore. Speed bumps........or as they call them "topes"..........without a doubt the most effective method of traffic control.......guaranteed to slow down the traffic between point A and point B. I wouldn't necessarily use them on the Beltway, but this is exactly what should be used in school zones instead of the money-grabbing speed cameras that were recently approved of and installed.

Every single vehicle slows down for these.

As I said, the main highway appears to be well maintained and a smooth ride.........except for those "topes".........hehehe.


Playa Del Carmen is the largest town between the Grand Palladium Resort and Cancun. We just cruised on past without stopping, except for the traffic lights.

It is a growing area and eventually I can imagine the area looking like Daytona. Still..........I could see quite a bit of rubble and squalor.


Poor infrastructure..............okay, we had some heavy rains........but they just don't have the sewer and drainage systems that we enjoy in the States.

You pass by many assorted resort properties...............and they look impressive.............and you can count on them to be well taken care of as well as being well planned with good infrastructure.

The "collectivo"...........it's not a cab........it's not a bus...........but it is how alot of people get to work.

It took us about just over an hour to get to the resort and just as long to get back to the airport. We had direct transportation..........non-stop. Other vacationers, who do not do their "homework", end up on a huge bus that will stop at just about every resort between the airport and their particular vacation spot...........and that could take up to two and a half to three hours each way..........not to mention a higher price for the ride. If you plan on a trip to the Grand Palladium Resort, make sure that you visit the Palladium Addicts website and read everything.

As you ride along, you are reminded that "paradise" isn't really "paradise".

The resort should be thought of as a diamond in the rough.

As you approach the airport..........suddenly everything is similar to being at home.

There are those "topes" again.........well..........that's about it.

The trip was great, I thoroughly enjoyed it.........Supernurse enjoyed it............and we felt appreciated for being there. I look forward to returning........maybe even next year.

If you have any questions about the resort, feel free to put your question in the comments.

I may have a thing or two that I will mention here on the blog about our trip that, for some reason, I may have overlooked.

Now lets get Christmas out of the way..........next trip : The Bellagio in Las Vegas!........in January.

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Riviera Maya Vacation - Part Eleven

Yeah..........I will miss this place.........I am missing it right now as I write this. None of the pains of Baltimore here..........no Mayor Sheila Dixon trial..........no thugs roaming around..........no pestering phone calls............no places to have to be...........no stress............hmmmm........well.........maybe a little bit (I will explain later).

This sure beats dodging old ladies and their grocery cart steering skills at the supermarket.

So I sat there............and looked around.........lots to look at..........

I looked to the north...........in the distant, there is an "abandoned" resort just past the flags.......I might just want to go have a closer look.............but I am not much for being able to walk long distances.......especially walking on sand.

It was time again for water aerobics.......they did this every day.

What they do is bring out a large speaker and hook it up to a cd player.......plug it in to an extension cord and pump some thumping exercise music out towards the water.........unfortunately, they set it up right behind our lounge chairs. It wouldn't have been so bad except that one of the staff had to keep running back and forth from the water to "fix" the bad speaker connection. I got tired of hearing it sputter and quit........so I got up and "fixed" it myself so the guy didn't have to run back and forth. I actually got cheers from people.....hehehe.

I got tired of that..........so I decided that I would try to walk past the flags and see the "abandoned" resort. Supernurse stayed in the lounge chair as I walked.

I kept thinking to myself..........I must be crazy to even attempt this.........what if I drop?........Then what? I stopped frequently and paused because of the extreme pain in my upper thigh/hip. On this day it was the hottest it had been and I felt like a steamed crab on Labor Day.

But I trudged along..........it ain't easy walking in sand..........but I made it. The beach front here is somewhat natural.........and a bit unkept. I could see the turtle nesting areas.......concave dips in the sand. I didn't get to see the turtles.......they do their thing at night.

The reason that this resort is "abandoned" is that the government of Mexico stepped in and declared it off limits in order to protect the turtles.

This was the beach bar...............I rested by sitting on the rope that separated it from the beach.

I decided that I had walked far enough already and that I just might survive the walk back to Supernurse.

Here is another turtle nesting spot.Each spot had a small sign which read "No Mover"........huh? I guess that means "Do Not Disturb".

When your leg hurts like hell and you look in front of you and see just how far down the beach you have yet to walk........well..............it just adds to the pain and stress.........ahhhhh.........I told you that I would mention the stress. There would not have been any stress at all except for the fact that I was participating in what you might call a "natural cardio stress test". If I survive this without dropping......my heart must be doing fairly well.

At this point I was beginning to sweat like it was no tomorrow..........uh oh........and I had nothing to drink with me. So, determined as I was.........I kept on walking and walking.......and it hurt even worse.....I honestly did not know if I would make it. I remember thinking that if I collapsed right here and kicked the bucket, I could not ask for a better place to drop.......it was beautiful............but I also remember thinking what a hardship it would be for Supernurse...........okay........this means I have to make it the entire way. Well.......I made it.........I got back to my lounge chair and plopped down next to Supernurse. I could hardly breathe and was sweating profusely. Supernurse and I walked over to the beach bar and got some drinks and sat down in the shade. There was about fifteen or so minutes there when I was wondering if I was gonna make it..........I felt really ill. After drinking down some cold soft drinks I started feeling better. I never had any chest pains but I did get dehydrated. I suppose that this is what it feels like when you suffer from real exhaustion. I then got up and went back to the beach.........I was 100% better.

Life is full of challenges and sometimes you.........even foolishly.........create your own challenges. That long walk up the beach was one of those personal challenges.........and yes......perhaps a foolish one at that..........but I did it and in the process, overcame the fear and apprehension of doing such a thing. I kind of did the same thing when I was in Aruba and went snorkeling for the first time..........I cannot swim and I had to jump off a boat in deep water.............yeah.......talk about overcoming fear and apprehension...........but I did it. You know the old saying "Nothing ventured, Nothing gained."...................also........"No Pain......No Gain".

Stay tuned..............I will be wrapping this up next.

Riviera Maya Vacation - Part Ten

I am gonna miss this place.

In particular, after having looked at the photos from our vaction at the Grand Palladium Resort in Mexico, there was one short hour............well................let me explain.........

If you have been following these vacation reports, you already know that the weather was not particularly optimal..........no......it did not rain every day and every moment........there were times where the clouds loomed and threatened. This was the case on this early evening. Me and Supernurse had decided to venture to have a look at the salt-water pool which is located at the southern point of the resort property. We headed down the pathway along the coastline.........others had the same idea.

Actually, our room was located right behind this spot. This is looking north along the coast and you can see the white wedding kiosk on the left.

The northern coastline consists of beautiful sand..............the southern coast is very rocky and natural........after all......this IS part of the coral reef............yep.........the second largest barrier reef on the planet.........and this is just a part of it. As we walked along, it seemed rather barren in appearance........we had no idea what things would look like as we walked further along.

Looking back again...........you can see how much of a cove it actually is.

The sign tells us that this is the reef zone. This was looking north and when we turned and looked the other way...........

............there it was...............the salt-water pool.........and look........it is right there at the edge of the Caribbean! I had never seen anything like it. It was stunning.

It was simply awesome.

The lounge chairs are located on a cement "grandstand" with palapas.

The pool has fish in it.......imagine that.

This has to be one of my favorite pictures. If there is an end of the earth, then the edge should look exactly like this. Hauntingly beautiful.

Standing at the edge.........it felt like we were in the water........without being in the water.

From the outer edge of the pool looking back.

Yep............coral.

Looking south from the southern edge of the pool.

We stood at the southern edge of the pool and looked back ............wow.........so impressive.

I was awestruck. The beauty of this place was worth the trip. And it was a fitting moment in time for me...........this was our vacation and it was as romantic as it gets.....right here on this spot.

Natural beauty.............there is nothing better.

And there we were.................me and my soulmate, Supernurse.

I wish that I could have been able to take that one particular hour..........that moment........and sustained it for the entire vacation.

I am ready to go back there.

Stay tuned......more to come.

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