For my mother’s 60th she and I packed our summer clothes and headed south of the border to Cancun, Mexico! I’ve always heard Cancun was a spring break destination, and it can be, but it was more of a trip of fun in the sun for us.
We stayed at Oleo’ Cancun Playa, which was a 15 minute trip from the airport and right at the start of Cancuns Hotel Zone, which is where majority of tourists stay when visiting Cancun. Upon checking in we were greeted by many smiling faces and brought mimosas as we gazed at the beautiful blue water. Check in was a breeze and we were quickly escorted to our room, which had ocean views in every direction. There were so many windows! The room was decorated with balloons and even had a piece of cake to celebrate. The bellhop showed us features of the room and then snapped a few photos of us to capture the moment we witnessed paradise.
Oleo’ is a smaller boutique style all-inclusive resort and I highly recommend it. With this being the first time to Cancun there are an abundance of choices, and I am very happy I chose this one. It features 3 restaurants, all of which were fantastic and top-notch service from all of the staff! Breakfast every morning at Azul was one of my favorite breakfast places I’ve ever been to. Fresh Mexican options including vegetables, homemade quesadillas, fresh fruit juices were available every day. I realized I should be eating breakfast like this all the time!
There are 2 options for lunch; a delicious buffet with ocean views at Almar or you can sit by the pool and order burgers, tacos, etc. You can even order your food as you sit on the beach and have it brought to you. The dinner options are also delicious, and my favorite was the 7-course meal at Hakka (Japanese).
We mostly sat on the beach and soaked up some rays, but we did venture out once. We took the R2 bus line (bus stop right outside hotel) and went to downtown Cancun in the hotel zone. The bus ride was a $1 and comparable to riding an old roller coaster as you are slung around and often get whiplash from the sudden stops. Luckily someone beside us informed us you tell the bus driver when you want to get off, but be prepared to move quickly because the bus rarely stopped for anything. Once we arrived downtown at the market we realized it was all the same goods that the beach hustlers were selling. There were a lot of touristy type places and overpriced eateries. There was a lot of hustle and bustle and not a relaxed beach town vibe. This is where the spring breakers stay and where a lot of the clubs are. We boarded another bus quickly to get back to the hotel, more of my kind of place.
When we got off the bus we stumbled across this hole in the wall next to the lagoon – so many things from what I just wrote should have been an indicator to not go in…but…we did. After the joy ride on the bus the first thing I wanted to do was wash my hands. There was no running water in the bathrooms or the entire “restaurant”. The night before when we were out we smelled this smoke like someone was cooking and discovered this little place was the culprit. We proceeded to walk down the stairs to the dirt floored restaurant right on the lagoon where they were cooking in open fire pits. Surely this was going to be the authentic Mexican cuisine we imagined. We each ordered fish tacos, which were deep fried and incredibly hot from the grease. We tried to cool them down with the salsa on the table, which had to be straight jalapenos. Everything about this taco was on fire! I’m not quite sure what the fish was, but nothing I’ve ever had before, nor do I ever want again. It was definitely something out of the lagoon that wasn’t desirable. Remember the lack of running water I mentioned? Well in the “restaurant” they used 5-gallon buckets for the water they used. They also dunked the dishes in these buckets to clean them. Mom and I agreed this was the most unsanitary place we’ve eaten at. To top it off, it wasn’t even good. Back to Oleo’ we went to eat a real lunch and laugh about our trip we took off the beaten path.
The other time we left the resort we headed south to Playa Del Carmen to the Vidanta to see the Cirque du Soleil production JOYA’. It was about a 30-minute taxi ride. JOYA is a dinner and show experience and worth it! It’s a much more intimate venue and the performers are literally right in front of you. There are no bad seats in the venue in my opinion. We indulged in the appetizer and champagne upgrade ($50) and thoroughly enjoyed the show. The food was different and very beautiful.
Mostly we stayed at the hotel which had daily and nightly entertainment. We really enjoyed the mariachi performance and the Latin music night.
The most memorable take away from my first trip to Mexico was how incredibly nice the people were and how beautiful Cancun was. Totally blew my expectations out of the water! I definitely recommend February as a good time to go since it is before the spring break crowds and the temperature is in the 80’s.
What beautiful scenery!