Cabo.... I Mean Cancun! — Double Dose Of LA

-Barenese

Well……. First rule of thumb which I completely disregarded while planning my 7 day, what I thought was going to be pure relaxation vacay to Cabo San Lucas, during hurricane season. Brilliant, I know. As most of us know this hurricane season did some severe damage to some of our favorite destinations especially in the Caribbean, even damaged several parts of the United States. Unbeknownst to me, hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin which includes, the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, takes place between Mid-August to late October. Me, Barenese, being the “Los Angeles minded” gal that I am, I totally pay no attention to weather nor do I even know what a hurricane really is, so off to Mexico in September I go!

First Stop

While planning this last minute trip to Cabo, airfare was extremely expensive flying from New York and there were very few direct flights available. Since I am a save-a-holic, I picked the best flight I could find for the money I was willing to spend, and that landed me on AeroMexico for the first time. MISTAKE! I had never heard of AeroMexico before buttttt I saw it was a Delta affiliate (Team Delta!) and the price was right so I gave it a shot. The flight I selected had a layover for a few hours in Mexico City (another MISTAKE) change of planes then off to Cabo. Or, so I thought!

I landed in Mexico City, Mexico at 11:15am on Thursday, August 31st, after sleeping the entire flight. I am totally the lady on the flight that is sleep before takeoff and I don’t wake up until it’s time for landing, it’s a gift. Anyways, after deplaning, I check the monitors to find my next gate and it shows my flight to Cabo has been canceled. Not delayed but canceled!!! TUHHHH!!! On the bright side, it does show a later flight to Cabo that evening. WHEEEEWW (blood pressure returns to normal)!!! I jump in a long line at the AeroMexico’s customer service desk and patiently wait my turn. After waiting FOREVERRRRRR I get my turn only to find out these lovely ladies speak little to no English but are able to tell me that I need to leave the terminal to go wait in another line to speak to someone else to get my flight changed. FLAG ON THE PLAY! I’ve taken several flights, changed several reservations and I’ve never had an airline tell me I need to exit the terminal to get help, mad tricky! So, I exit the terminal as calmly as possible reminding myself to keep it cute aka don’t act a fool. Outside the terminal is a mad house, people are laid out napping on the floor, wall to wall people everywhere, and of course AeroMexico’s customer service lines are CRAZY! After waiting for at least an hour and half, I am able to get my flight changed to the next flight to Cabo and the journey continues.

Back to the waiting game. On the bright side, Mexico City airport has lots of restaurants even shopping located outside the airport security, so killing time isn’t a problem. After several hours murdered, I find out that ALL flights are canceled to Cabo for the night due to a really bad storm (tropical storm cause by the Hurricanes) that would take place for several days. Soooo back to customer service I go. At this point I am demanding managers, my phone is dying not to mention these are now international minutes being used, lines are even longer, everyone in the entire airport seemed pissed, including the AeroMexico employees, it was a HOT MESS. After stalking a manager, several phone calls to AeroMexico customer service (on international minutes), another several hours of waiting (no exaggeration), I was finally able to figure out that I wouldn’t be able to get on a flight to Cabo for another 2 days, weather permitting, and I couldn’t get a flight back to NY for another 3 days (NO BS), because all flights were completely full!!! I CAN NOT MAKE THIS UP! Since all of the above was not an option, my only option was to buy a completely new flight to a new destination because no airlines were flying to Cabo from Mexico City until the weather got better. By the grace of GOD, I was able to find an affordable flight on Volaris Airlines (another airline I never heard of) for the next day. And the most majorest shout-out to my hotel who had a sister hotel in Cancun, Villa del Palmar Cancun. I was able to switch my reservation from the Cabo hotel to the Cancun Hotel. YASSSS GAWD!

Next order of business, a place to sleep for the night. Apparently, I just missed a storm in Mexico City also, hints the people sleeping on the floor, and the airport had been shut down for a few days prior to my arrival. Since this was the case, alllllllll and I mean allllllllll, the hotels near the airport were sold out which was about 8-10 hotels. After an intense search, I was able to find a boutique hotel in downtown Mexico City called Hotel Ritz. Not to be confused with the Ritz Carlton, hahaha. I took really took a gamble but I was left with little to no options since all the big name hotels were sold out. I arrived at the hotel at about midnight (yes, I was in the Mexico City airport for about 12 hours) and to my surprise the hotel wasn’t bad and the hotel staff was super friendly and helpful! The room had the basics, a clean small bed, a nice renovated bathroom (important to me), and American cable. I locked every lock on the door and was fast asleep in no time. Hopefully you are never put in this situation where you are stuck in Mexico City and all the hotels you’ve heard of are sold out, but if this is the case at least you know the beds and the showers are clean at Hotel Ritz.

Villa Del Palmar Cancun

Friday September 1st, I finally arrive to Villa del Palmar Cancun. Villa del Palmar Cancun is a beautiful resort located outside of hotel zone so it is totally intimate and perfect for relaxation. The rooms at the resort were nice, clean and well maintained. The resort is less than 10 years old so all the accommodations are very up to date. Each room comes with a cute hammock on the balcony providing you with the ultimate paradise vibes without leaving your room. This resort is super kid friendly so if you have kids bring them, if not expect to see lots of kids on the property.

The food at the resort was good! I spent many nights eating at the Hiroshi which is a contemporary Japanese restaurant, definitely my favorite. You can find the best breakfast at Caprichos, which is a buffet (you already know how I feel about buffets) but they had lots of choices and endless mimosas with a great ocean view. If its too early for liquor at breakfast try the green juice. I get it everywhere I go in Mexico, its an amazing healthy option.

A resort highlight of mine is the free yoga classes on the beach they offer every morning. Take advantage, you won’t regret it!

The resort is pretty quiet after 10pm but Cancun has a night life so it isn’t hard to find entertainment. Since this trip was for pure relaxation, I did just that, and I didn’t make it out not one night of the 7 days I was there :) I rate this resort a 4/5.

Isla Mujeres

My favorite part of this vacation was venturing off to this little island called Isla Mujeres. Isla Mujeres is a short beautiful boat ride from Cancun. Once I arrived at the island I rented a golf cart, did some site seeing, bar hoping and I got a massage on the beach for $25 for a full hour! You can travel the entire island via golf cart where you will find some cool local bars and restaurants. If you make it to Isla Mujeres make sure you find Zama, it’s a beach front bar providing the ultimate vacation vibes!

Notable Excursions

I feel like every Island pretty much offers the same excursions but you can’t visit an Island without at least doing one excursion. With that in mind I found an excursion that gets you the most bang for your buck, Jungle Tours. In Jungle Tours you drive your own two person speed boat through Cancun, takes about 35 minutes each way, to Nichupte lagoon for snorkeling. I snorkeled for about 30 seconds before I was back in the boat and ready to go :). The water was beautiful and super clear but the fish were huge and I’m afraid of fish, don’t laugh! But the boat ride was well worth it, so give it a shot.