So, so far we’ve gone and explored Mexican Cenotes, swam with dolphins, and went on a ziplining adventure. As much as I am a planner, Jason is more of a go-with-the-flow kind of guy, and to him, vacation is for relaxing. Go figure right? Well, now that we’ve been married for nearly five years, I think I kind of see his point. By this point, I was tired of schedules, and excited to go with the flow! So on Thursday, we just did what we felt like doing, and it was the first day without any specific plans.
There is only one restaurant on the resort that serves a very formal breakfast (0therwise it’s room service or the elaborate breakfast buffet with the made to order egg bar), so we decided to try it out! We took a shuttle to the golf course (stopping by the bakery first for a mocha frappe and, of all things, a piece of tiramisu. Why not?), and were seated by the window for a beautiful breakfast. I had a smoked salmon and an egg concoction that was completely delicious! I also had a glass of carrot juice, which I must admit, I hated. I’ve had carrot juice before, but this one was chewy! Ick! I had about one sip and couldn’t do anymore. Oh well, one fail in the entire vacation…not bad.
After a nap, we took a bus to another Palace resort, the Beach Palace! A shuttle to and from the various Palace resorts are free, and you have access to any of the facilities at any of them! The Moon Palace (where we stayed), is the best one in soooo many ways, but the Beach Palace’s beach just blows the Moon Palace’s beach away. It’s crystal clear and has waves in mass, and the sand is so white and clean. We were only there long enough to dip our feet in (we forgot our suits like morons!), and then we went to the top floor for the sky bar and enjoyed a snack, plus a blue Hawaiian for Jason, and a Bahama Mama and Amaretto Sour for me. I’ve been keeping track of our drinks, can you tell? I tried to switch it up every time, but I kept drawing blanks on the names of cocktails! Oh well.
We went a few blocks down the street to the Flamingo Mall, the same mall we went to last time we were there. It’s basically a huge, barren facility with murals everywhere, and street-vendor-like stores all lined up, complete with the Mexican men earnestly inviting you in at every turn. Earnestly. We did usually indulge them, though, and ended up finding some jewelry and key chains for both of us, and I found a Sarong (blog here) and of course Jason got his t-shirts. Funny story about the bracelet I bought (it’s the same bracelet in the Sarong blog), let me set the scene:
Every store you walk in to is full to the max with trinkets and souveneirs, all usually very similar, so you really have to search to find anything unusual. Well, at this particular store, I saw a handmade bracelet that I liked, and made the mistake of trying it on. Well, if you’ve ever been to Mexico, you know what happens next. The owner practically started wrapping it up for me, he was so intent on his sale. When he told me it was twenty-one dollars though, I simply said “It really is very pretty” and put it back down. We did this over and over, each time with him lowering the price, and each time my only response being “I really do like it” or “Yes, it’s very pretty.” Never at one time did I ever balk at the price, say I wanted it, or try to get the price lowered, he kept doing it all on his own! Finally, when he had talked it down (all by himself) to ten dollars, I handed him the cash. It was hilarious and Jason and I were laughing the whole rest of the day over it. I wish malls in America were like that!
(Scroll down for the rest, but there are two pictures to find: The cigarette warning labels and the surprising football team throw blanket we found)
Late afternoon we went back to the resort and made use of the swim up bar and enjoyed the water a bit, before freshening up for dinner. We went to a VERY impressive Brazilian restaurant, with hands down the nest meat I have ever had, ever! At first, considering it was supposed to be one of the fanciest restaurants, I was a little surprised that the appetizer was “serve yourself’. There were tables and tables of cheeses, salads, fruit and deli meats, and of course everything was excellent, but it really got started when the meat started circulating. Basically, it’s like a Bubba Gump restaurant, where you have a little color indicator that says if you are done eating yet. Otherwise, the whole night servers will just offer you incredible meats, like top sirloin, Brazilian beef, and flank steak on a huge skewer. The Mexican sausage, bacon (not thin bacon, huge bacon like in the picture below), and pork loin were good too, but the chicken blew everything out of the water. I had no idea chicken could taste like that, and we both closed our eyes and savored it. Whew! My mouth waters just thinking about it.
We closed our evening with a circus show (really cheesy, but the dogs were cute and the acrobats impressive), another stop for crepes and ice cream, and a disappointing trip to the impressive looking club. I was hoping for some god dancing, but everyone was just standing around, so we left pretty quickly, ordered a room service pizza (Jason ate it, I was stuffed) and went to bed. Another day gone!
Only two days left, stay tuned!