Our hotel had the most beautiful hand painted murals by Magda Love outside by the pool.
We spent fun afternoons at Playa Paraiso...the softest sand and the clearest water of all beaches we have visited on our travels.
The first vegetarian restaurant we ate at in Mexico - El Vegetariano. We got to try out a Mexican veggie burger and finally when Mateo asked his famous question "Apple pie?" there was a slice!!!
We spent Easter Sunday exploring Mayan ruins above the beach and swimming in Gran Cenote.
There were many firsts on our trip to Mexico...Alexi's first time snorkeling and Mateo's first time riding a boogie board.
We drove out to see Chitchén Itzá, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We got there early in the morning before the crowds (thanks David!).
A Mayan temple at Chitchén Itzá with some of the original color paintings on the top panel, and Alexi becoming a serpent on the athletic field.
That afternoon we drove to Cobá to explore some more Mayan ruins. Alexi biked to the ruins and Mateo and Sharon took a bicycle taxi.
The highlight in Cobá was climbing all the way to the top of a Mayan temple. Sharon and Alexi climbed all 120 narrow steps to the top, got an amazing view and were able to safely descend. We were so proud of Alexi - only 6 years old and ascending an ancient monument like a pro!
After a long day of touring Mayan ruins, Alexi relaxes with a drink of some fresh coconut water and a nap in our hotel hammock.
Another delicious vegetarian meal in Tulum at La Hoja Verde.
Alexi and Mateo also had a great time eating dinner at La Hoja Verde.
We spent one entire day as a family at Xcaret, which can best be described as a spectacular combination of Six Flags Great Adventure, the Bronx Zoo, Baltimore Aquarium, Dorney Waterpark and Broadway all in one. It is advertised as an Eco-Amusement Park, and it totally lived up to its billing! We floated along an underground river (we ourselves were the ride!), Sharon and Alexi went snorkeling and Sharon took the kids swimming in the Caribbean
Mateo absolutely adores animals, so his favorite part of Xcaret was visiting the aquarium to see una tortuga y un cocodrillo.
Sharon and David's favorite part of Xcaret was the cultural programming. We got to see Voladores flying through the air and a reenactment of an ancient Mayan fire ring ceremony.
We got to spend an entire day in Cancun. We went because Sharon had on her bucket list a visit to Museo Subacuatico de Arte (MUSA) ever since she read about it in NY Magazine in 2010. While Sharon went snorkeling at MUSA, David took the kids to the aquarium in Cancun and they got to touch stingrays.
Here are two examples of the underwater sculptures that are part of MUSA - one of a spider/human and the other a solitary figure in front of a podium with a book open. These sculptures become artificial coral reefs, subsumed by their environment with the passage of time.
Once I returned from the snorkeling expedition to MUSA, I met up with David and the kids for an afternoon submarine adventure. We took a water taxi to our partially submerged submarine to see natural coral reefs.
Here are the amazing coral reefs we saw while riding the submarine. We also got to see sting rays and tortoises swimming by!
Dinner in Cancun was at Vegan Planet, which had delicious salads, pizza and enchiladas (with phenomenal homemade guacomole) - ALL VEGAN!
We spent our last morning in Mexico at Aktun Chen, rated one of National Geographic's Top 10 Underground Walks in the world. We got to see stalactites and stalagmites, some that have been forming for thousands and years and others just beginning to form. The Mayans considered this area sacred ground, and we were awed into silence by the underground lake we encountered at the end of the tour.
Alexi at Aktun Chen, demonstrating the amount the stalactite must grow to reach the ground. I was happy to have on my hard hat to duck under the the stalactites, and Mateo loved going through all the "tunnels".
While at Aktun Chen we got to see many animals in natural habitats: deer, tortoises, green parrots and spider monkeys. We loved watching the monkeys; we saw one mother carrying her baby on her back and some males climbing trees and playing around. When Alexi fell down and skinned his knee, the mother spider monkey looked on very concerned as David cleaned and bandaged him up. Such empathetic creatures with whom we share so much!
We spent our last night in Tulum, Mexico eating at Restaurare, a vegan restaurant that got a beautiful write-up in the NY Times for the article "36 Hours in Tulum". The restaurant setting is beautiful, outdoors under a canopy of palm trees.
We tremendously enjoyed the vegan food at Restaurare. David ordered the salbutes, a vegan twist on a traditional Mexican dish, and Sharon took the waitress's advice and ordered the marinated vegetables special which was phenomenally delicious (the fresh smoothies were also heavenly).
We had such a wonderful trip we definitely want to return to Mexico one day!