Mexican Christmas Vacation 2021

Back when my kids were young, we as a family went to Mexico almost every winter. This came about as a result of a cruise gone bad. In 2000, when Sarah was 7 and Alex 3, we booked a cruise out of Tampa to a few Eastern Caribbean ports. Well, as the Gilligan’s Island theme song goes…. “The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed…” So it was, the huge ship ran into a storm and the result was the pool was drained and the first port cancelled. Not to mention we were getting seasick. I was perusing the Carnival brochure when I noticed their Vacation Guarantee. We could get off at the first port and they would fly us home. I was at the cruise desk first thing the next morning inquiring about this and we decided to take advantage, as long as we could salvage a few days vacation at a resort. Yes, we did not have to fly back immediately. So we found an all inclusive resort down the beach in Cozumel and booked 3 nights. Bliss! Of course, one morning they hit us up with the time share spiel. We said we don’t think so, and they said there’s a Plan B…. One free week and 5 additional weeks at $700/week for only $1500. We jumped on that and spent the next 7 years (they forgot to take the voucher one year!) going to their resorts in Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and Manzanillo. The kids learned to order virgin daiquiris at the pool bar in Spanish, we had a sun filled week in the winter and we also were able to take extra weeks to explore the REAL Mexico. It was a great deal and a fun part of their childhood.

That’s the long (sorry!) backstory on why we ended up planning a Christmas Vacation in Mexico. The plan was that Sarah and Alex (and their partners, Nate and Jess) would spend a week with their mom and then a week with me doing the Air BnB thing in Tulum and Lake Bacalar.

I flew down on December 21st to Cancun and had a couple of days before picking them up about an hour down the coast. Upon arrival at the resort gate, we had concocted a reason why I didn’t have a wrist band to enter. It wasn’t going well… these places are fortresses! After the guard had made several phone calls and visits to his jefe, Alex shows up and shouts “Papa!!!”. He’s official, so I must be, so they let me thru and I get to spend one afternoon enjoying the free drinks and food. Ahhh… memories!

We spent 5 days in Tulum. The Air BnB was amazing! We each had our own private large bedroom with spa tub, close to town and outdoor plunge pool. During our stay, we went to Coba ruins, swam in a cenote, took a snorkeling tour and two went cenote scuba diving. And ate LOTS of tacos! So good and cheap.

Next it was on to Lake Bacalar, which is a long narrow fresh water lake fed by the underground aquifer. It is called the “Lake of Seven Colors”, due to the many shades of blue. Several cenotes are found in the lake. Our accommodation was a small apartment hotel. located about a mile out a horrid, pot hole strewn road. But it was right on the lake and had a dock area with hammocks and kayaks. We spent lots of time relaxing, took a sailboat tour, ate good seafood (and more tacos!) and Nate even harvested a coconut and busted it open for a tropical snack!

For me, this was a wonderful time to spend with my kids and to get to know their partners better. All that great youthful energy and discussions and board games was a blast!