Ay ay ay ay... canta y no llores

My family just returned from another family vacation in Mexico.  This time, we spent a week exploring the lovely areas by the Yucatan Peninsula.  Sadly, I did not hear my favorite Mexican song all week, which I  used as a title for this post.  :)

We stayed at the Mayan Palace in Quintana Roo which is right by Playa del Carmen.  Most people go to Cancun.  However, after a brief visit to that city, we were pretty glad to stay away from it since Cancun seemed to be, according to my sister, the Las Vegas of Mexico.  Though the area by Playa del Carmen was still touristy, it wan't so much so that we didn't feel we were in the country.  This also helped us to practice what little Spanish we knew.   Since there were many Mexican tourists in our resort as well, the staff didn't assume you spoke English off the bat.

During the week, we managed to hit up 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, I will post up pics and more little tidbits about the trip later.  I'm still nursing my sunburns, although now it's becoming a lovely shade of tan. :)