Second Thoughts

Today was a travel day, from Mexico to Belize. All in all, not a bad drive, though there were a few incidents on the way, and it took a couple of hours longer than planned. But, we are here, at the Orchid Garden Eco - Village Hotel in Hattieville, Belize.

Up and on the road by 7:30, quick stop on way to the car for a Starbucks, a little cinamon to flavour the coffee (as we find their joe a little burnt tasting), with knapsacks strapped on we took the short walk up the hill to the car park. I must say, the much maligned Mexican highways were excellent (again with the exception of speedbumps). There are so many speedbumps, there is no need for traffic enforcement. The road from Playa del Carmen to Belize has been (still is) under construction, and they have incorporated a number of design elements that would be useful back home. Now some of the older sections have tight curves, and they do not use spirals (engineering speak for sharp turns), but the new sections are A1.

We stopped about two hours south, at the Mexican equivalent of a greasy spoon, and had a traditional breakfast of pork and fish tacos. Again, it was fun trying to converse in Spanish, and we seem to be doing all right. Now, I am an easy going, live and let live type of guy, but there are two things in life that I hate with a passion. The Montreal Canadians and onions. The world would be a better place without either. So, when ordering the Tacos I said "cebollas por mes esposa" "no cebollas para mi por favor". He looked at me, smiled and nodded his head in understanding. However, when he served the tacos, they were all full of onions. He watched closely as I picked them out, smiled and said "no like cebollas". After lunch, we took a chance on road side food (against all guide book advice) and picked up some deliciously sweet pineapple.

We managed to take the wrong turn, rather we missed our turnoff , when we saw Belice not Belize on the interchange sign (yes, I know, dumb ass) and ended up going all the way into Chetumal. After finally realizing what happened, as the prison we were passing looked identical to the one from half an hour before, backtracking was in order. Not a fan of backtracking, or prisons for that matter.

At the Mexican side of the border, we were in the wrong line when the customs officer smacked the window and waved us over. No issue there, just five more minutes. Now the Belizian border, that was another storey. When you go through with a car rental, you have to buy special insurance. The large building on the right is the main insurance office. We were quickly out of there, and headed to the car spray (again required for all vehicles coming from Mexico). It was 80 pesos and we had to scrounge all the loose Mexican change in the car. Then came a knock on my window, some guy on a bike bringing me the drivers liscence which I had left at the insurer (scam? or more stupidity on my part?). He wanted a tip so I gave him my only US dollar, which left me one dollar short of the car spray fee. We offered them Canadian money to make up the difference, and you should have seen the look of disgust on their faces. They waved us through and said give me a $10.00 US tip on the way back (fat chance). With $500 US travellers cheques in my pocket, we had to stiff them for 10 pesos. This would come back to haunt us again at the toll bridge an hour south where once again they declined payment in Canadian dollars, letting us go through for free. So, our money is worth less than nothing. I got the last laugh at the ATM machine later and found 80 pesos in my other pocket.

OK. Now to customs. As we were getting out of the car, a guy in a red shirt (red flag for tip hunter) came over to offer his assistance, but soon left when informed we were cleaned out at the border. The customs agent, asked how long we were staying, and was not pleased when the time was longer than the paper from the car rental company authorizing us to take the car to Belize. You will be fined she said, if you are not out by the 25th. I resisted the urge to ask "How much?"

OK. Off we went following the Belieze map purchased at the Worlds Biggest Bookstore. Unfortunately, there were a number of shall we say, inconsistencies, and we ended up: 1) in endless sugar cane fields 2) going in the wrong direction and 3) lost. They will recieve an email on this .

The main highway is chip sealed and remind me of the road to the Lake back home (like Muskoka for my Upper Canadian friends). They do eventually get you there. I am fairly sure that Mexican contractors sneak across the borders at night randomly installing speedbumps on the Belizian roads, not telling anyone, and not marking their location.

Eventually we arrived at the White Orchid Eco Lodge after the better part of eight hours on the road. As usual, a couple of hours longer than planned. It is set pretty close to the road, but is completely secluded from it, and the surrounding homes. The owner informed us that the other guests had left for a couple of days, and would not be back till Wednesday. We liked the sound of having things to ourselves. Unfortunately, they were going to give their staff the day off, till they got my email at 7:00 am this morning. Not to worry she said, they had a day off a month ago.

One of the unique features of the resort is a natural swimming pool, that was enhanced to help protect it's longevity. The pool is about 30 feet wide, and a hundred long, protected on the bottom by a mesh. There is a dock along one side and an area to dive at the far end. And there are fish in the pond. The water is warm, bordering on hot, which pleased Mary Lou to no end. Now in keeping with the natural theme of the lodge, the fact that there were no other guests around, the water was warm and the fish were small, one of us chose to swim "a la booff".





There are a variety of plants around the site, some of it well goomed, some of it running out of control; there are even mushrooms growing directly in the main walking paths. It does look like something right out of a movie. There is a pond made specifically for iguanas. We saw a few around but they were not nearly as impressive as the ones in Isla Maujeres.

For dinner we were seated in at large dining room table that could of held another 20 people. I felt like British royalty sitting at opposite ends with each having their own server. The meal was simply delicious, consisting of a creamed vegetable puree, bean sprouts in a light vinegar dressing, a rice and vegetable medly and talapia, a mild tasting white fish (for the uninformed). Desert was a chocolate cake with cantelope, and a few beer when I got back to the room.

But lest you think the night was over, wrong you would be, as we waited for an 8:30 night walk in the jungle. Lots of different wildlife to see. Had to dress in long pants and long sleeves because of the mosquitos, but in the end they were not that bad. The walk took about an hour and we saw: a tarantula, bats, moths, all kinds of green glowing eyes; and heard a bunch more. We could hear something follow us up the stream, and at one point, I could hear a low growl. Not a spectacular success in seeing things, but the experience of walking through the jungle at night in humid stifiling heat was fantastic. Was worth the $40.

So, here I sit finishing the blog. For the first time since leaving last Friday, I miss my guitars. I have two of them, the first one over 30 years. It has a lot of sentimental value. But I think I would rather have the newer one. The second one is much more colourful, has a deeper and richer sound and fits perfectly in my arms. I have played that almost exclusively the past two years. It would be wonderful to lie back here in the hammock, with it on my lap, serenading the mosquitoes, igunas and the stars.

Oh. Second thoughts. Nothing to do with the drive. It is Mary Lou thinking about staying two nights in a room where I had to kill two spiders about three inches long and there are two gekos on the wall.

OK. Good night. Busy day zip lining and cave tubing tomorrow.

All Daya to Playa

On the Road

Today ended up being a series of little laughs, some at our own expense. It started off first thing this morning. After waking up early, and needing to perfom a series of exercises required of a man who made the foolish mistake of going for a checkup. I put on my ipod and did the obligatory stretching routine. Now I have about 10,000 songs on the ipod, playing on shuffle. The first song was I Would Give Everything I Own by David Gates, and the second was The Other Side of Town by John Prine. You will have to look up the lyrics, but you couldn't find any more diametrically opposite views on the same subject. I found the randomness of the situation to be quite funny, and that set the tone for the day.

Mary Lou finally woke up, with a shriek. She had managed to sprain her finger getting out of bed. It would be the first of her injuries today. I had to pack her knapsack and lift it on her shoulders. We said a quick good bye to Kate and Safari. They are two very nice people running a very nice hotel. I will do a full review of the Hotel Las Palmas when we are back in Toronto. Highly recommended.



The trip over on the catamaran was great, with sunny warm weather. The cab ride to the rental car location was cheap and fast. Unfortunately, we found that the Continental Car Rental had sent someone to pick us up. Great service all around. Small problem in that we had not told them in our reservation that Belize was in the picture, so a different car had to be brought in from the airport. We had some time to waste.


To kill the half hour we stopped next door for a burrito breakfast, at a family owned restaurant where no english was spoken. Fortunately my 11 years of trying to learn Spanish paid off and I was able to come up with such phrases as " dos cafe, pocito lache, por favor", "mui bien" and " donde este la bano". Fantastic meal, fantastic family. Soon after we were on the way with our little Chevy rental.

The trip to Playa del Carmen was quick, and not much different than any expressway anywhere else (that is if you ignore the Mexican love affair with speed bumps). Smooth sailing, though we did go through one check point where 7 men in army fatigues and carrying semi automatic assault rifles were waving us through. I think it was a practice exercise as they did not stop anybody.


I had booked a place on hotel.com the night before called Hotel Villa del Mar, or so I thought. Got great reviews on Trip Advisor. Since the reservations were made on my net book, there was no printout , and I had to fire up the computer to get the confirmation number when we arrived. Unfortunately, it was the wrong hotel. So the owner sent us off with directions, we wrote down the reservation number, but we should have written down the hotel name as well, because by the time we got there, yep, forgot the name. Sooo.. into the nearest hotel to ask them if we had reservations there, and ask them if we could use their wireless key to get the hotel name again. They graciously consented, though not before trying to book us on a timeshare presentation, and we found the right spot, the Kimbe. Quaint setup, kind of Robinson Crusoeish. The room is as big as a tree house as well. Just enough space for the two of us and our knapsacks.

The weather was beautiful, low 30's, so it was a perfect beach afternoon. Just before our first dip, we watched an extremely buxom young lady (she was actually 30 something but they are all young to me at my age) fuss for about five minutes trying to get her top back on after her suntanning session, and she was finally successful in tiying it tight. I laughed out loud that after all that fussing, she dove in and her bottoms came clean off. The top , however, held it's ground, so to speak. To the left of this was an older woman siting waist deep in water, applying a mud pack to her face. Another big contrast, another big laugh.

After several hours of sun, we cleaned up and walked along 10th avenue, a pedestrian mall about a km long with shops, restaurants, bars,etc. Alot of stores were selling brightly colored scarfs and funky colored dresses. There was a place selling cowboy boots at half the price we pay at home. We will be doing a bit of shopping on our way back through towards the end of the trip. We picked up a few head bands for Mary Lou and a hand rolled cigar por moi.

After a full scouting of the street we settled at a place called Frida's. You may have seen the movie starring Selmah Hayek. In her never ending search for rice and beans, Mary Lou had a chicken burrito, and I settled on grouper for the third time on the trip. We were both disappointed. The only meal so far we have not enjoyed. So she goes.

We finished the night out with a moolit walk on the beach. Lots of bars along the strip, with live music in many of them.

Tomorrow morning we step outside the box and head for inland Belize. We are both excited about this part of the trip. The morning will see about a five hour drive, then who knows how far we'll go.


Well, time to go. I will finish things off with my brand new stogie. Night all.

Thrice Around the Horn
After a great night sleep, voila, sun when we opened the curtains. I had told Kate last night, the owner, that we always bring the good weather. That's what clean living and pure thoughts do for ya.

We hopped quickly out of bed and headed for the roof with a fresh cup of coffee from the community pot. What a difference a little sun makes. Even at 7 in the morning you can feel the heat. The water had already turned turquoise, and everything that had been rained on for two straight days had already dried out.

Next up was the morning walk along the beach. There wasn't as many people out as we expected and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was nice to feel the salt water between the toes. We just kept on walking until a restaurant called our name. The tables were set directly in the sand, with a nice view of the docks and Cancun in the distance. Breakfast consisted of avocado salad and mexican egg and ham. Tasty. They even give you mini tortillas to mix all the pieces as you see fit. I had a chuckle at the difference in condiments from what we get at home. No Heinz in sight. You have chillie hot sauce, chipotle hot sauce, habanero hot sauce and some other kind of hot sauce that burned your skin just touching it. All good.

We had decided to rent mopeds for an hour before it got hot, but since the price was $250 MD (translation approximately $22 canadian) for the full day, we said what the heck, and took two of them. As usual, it would be a blast and in the end we rounded the island three times.

In our first trip around, we got all decked out in our bathing suits as we figured the water would beckon at some point before the return. It took Mary Lou no time to get her scooter legs on and the rubber hit the road in minutes. The scooters have what the guys call " a place to store your skirt", a bit of a derogatory term as scooters are not very "manly", but neverless, we filled it with a towel, first aid kit, water bottle, etc. Enough to keep us alive for a week if we got lost.

Our first stop was at something called "Tortugranja". Now, you wouldn't believe my surprise when after paying my 300 pesos, I walked in and there were hundreds of turtles. Jeeze, I thought the place was going to be full of whips, chains, racks, washboards, and so on. But since we were in there, might as well enjoy. Quite an interesting little site actually. They have turtles in all stages: from buried eggs through to a seaside pen used for the final release from captivity. The largest ones we saw were around five feet long. One of the pictures showed a man stealing eggs as they were being laid by a turtle twice the size of a human.


The next big stop was at the tip of the island, which is advertised as the eastern most point of Mexico. There is a small Mayan ruin there, which I believe was used to pay homage to a sun god of some kind. There is a fairly grotesque statue of a half naked busty sungoddess giving birth standing up. Yes, that's what I said. The most interesting part of this stop, other than the breathtaking views of a sparkling turquoise Caribbean, was the dozens of iguanas. Really neat. They are completely still basking in the sun, I believe thinking we can't see them because of the natural camouflage. The pic to the right was taken with my NIKON 70-200 mm zoom.


Now, that Mary Lou is a devil behind the handle bars. Once you get her going it's hard to keep up. A real speed demon.


Along the east coast there are a number of beautiful villas set high above the water. They are all concrete construction set far enough above the storm surge of even the strongest hurricane. Many family names on the gates were english.

In between our drives, we headed to the main beach by our hotel. We had seen a sign called Tarzan's the day before. As we approaced the beach , this guy, well Tarzan, asked us if we wanted to rent a chair. We then new why the place was called Tarzan's, cause he looked just like him, albeit an old version. We paid 100 pesos for two chairs and an umbrella, then swam and slept for a couple of hours.

The rains came late afternoon. This was the first time in 11 years we had been rained on in the Caribbean, at least during the day. Back to the hotel for some socializing and we met some more interesting people. Two sisters flew in today, one from PEI and the other from Halifax. One of sisters, Dorothy was an engineer with a son named Mitch. A year ago she had enough of the executive world, quit her job and opened up a yoga studio. Kudos to you Dorthy. She was bored with her job, so she did something about it. In fact, she also wrote a chapter of a book, one of 16 by different women called, Sekmet Rising. "It is about the recognition and celebration of a womans journey into her own power". Got that from Amazon, and you can get the book there. Sekmet was an Egyptian goddess (I've seen a few of those myself). You meet the most interesting people on the road.

Everyone we have talked to thinks the winging it in Belize trip is a great idea. We have also been told that crossing into Guatemela is a must. Right now, we have booked a car for Sunday and will drive to Playa del Carmen to stay for a night, then have reservations at the Orchid Bay Garden Eco Village in the jungles of Belize. Zip lining, tubing through caves and a jungle hike are on the menu over three days. After that, who knows.

Read another great quote today, an old Turkish probverb " No matter how far down the wrong road you have travelled, turn back." Love it. Now, the trick is how do you know you are on the wrong road.

OK. That's it for tonight.

And So It Starts

Well, today turned out to be a little gem. With the weather in Cancun not so great, we thought day one would be a little disappointing. We were wrong. It wasn't end to end action, but full of little surprises.

Things started just like planned. Woke up from my hour long sleep a couple of minutes before the alarms went off. Up and showered and out the door in a little over half an hour. Surprisingly, our packs weren’t full, and they weren’t that heavy. A far cry from the norm.

Quick trip to the airport. We got to the Sunwing line and there had to be 50 people in front of us. The great thing (and I will take full credit for this) is we paid $40 dollars more for the seats to get extra legroom , which bumped us to super elite and we got to bypass everyone. Saved a good hour of standing around. I must say, it doesn’t take much to be super these days.

The flight down was nice, with little turbulence. The movie was The Blind Side. That was definitely a great flick. Sandra Bullock has never really done it for me (same with Jesse JamesI guess), but I must say, she looked hot in the movie. Even though the plane took off 15 minutes late, it made up time and we landed at 9:30 as advertised.

There was a great quote in one of the Sunwing magazine adds "you will soon question every decision you have made, except for the one that brought you here". You know, that will be the theme of the trip. LOTS OF TIME TO THINK. Introspection, reteospection, meditation...Gotta plan those next thirty years. What better way than while sitting with a cold one, or two, gazing out at the turquoise sea.

At the airport, it looked like once again Mary Lou’s bag didn’t make it. On the trip to Cuba the previous year her bags arrived three days after we did. But lo and behold, hers was the very last bag through the turnstile. Getting through customs was a breeze and we were quickly in a taxi heading for the ferry. The drive was almost 45 minutes, but we caught the ferry right away and were soon walking to our hotel on Isla Majeures ( pronounced eessla mohairess according to cabbie). After several weeks of hot sunny weather, it had rained all day yesterday and on and off today. However, our Caribbean weather record remained intact and we saw none of the wet stuff.

After a quick walk to the hotel, we were greeted by the owners, Kate and her daughter Safari. Kate is a self professed ex hippie who bought the hotel a few years ago (hmmm, don’t give me any ideas), renovated it and opened it up to great reviews. The girls live here and it has the feel of family members over for a visit. For you Canadian hockey parents, it’s kind of like being in a small hotel on a tournament, where you sit around talking and bonding with parents from all different teams. On day one we met four different individuals and couples in the court over beer and wine. The room is basic, but colourful, spotless and has a fridge, toaster oven and hotplate. Our room is actually outside the main court area, and is the only one with direct access to the street.

Not a great beach day so we went for a walk through town, and stopped for lunch at a cafe for fajitas and grouper. It was fantastic. During our beach walk we came across condominiums fronting on the beach for $65,000. Hmmm...don’t give me any ideas. Away from the beach we stumbled upon a grave yard that was unlike anything we had seen before. Like N'orlins, the bodies are entombed instead of buried and the graveyard was full of bright coloured tombs, icons, and statues of Mary, Jesus and a host of angels. Not sure if it was good form, but I couldn’t help but shoot dozens of pictures. Very impressive, and an almost spiritual experience.

After an afternoon snooze we spent a few hours drinking in the courtyard, meeting Safaris’s baby, the dog and other guests. We then headed out to town walking along what could best be described as the latin version of Bourbon Street. Live music, bars, restaurants and teeming hoardes of people. Another meal of grouper, rice and beans, and three for $5 Sol beer. It was really neat sitting there people watching, and I could have tied a good one on. But everything in moderation.

Tomorrows action will be tied to the weather, but it is time to make the reservations for car rental, and head out to Belize Sunday AM.

OK. That’s it for tonight.

Ohhmmmmmm.

Countdown

OK. Here we go. Less than 12 hours.

I always feel like a kid on Christmas Eve the day before any vacation. Won't be able to sit still most of the night, and there is every chance I won't sleep, at best nodding off around 2:00 in the morning. That does't give much of a rest as we have to be out the door to meet the limo at 3:30 am.

To make sure we don't oversleep, I have set the Blackberry, the television, the alarm clock and even have the Limo driver calling; all for 3:oo am. But, it doesn't usually matter, I will wake up 1 minute before any alarm sounds. Just the opposite of my daily routine where it takes me three tries to drag my tired arse out of the sack in the morning.

The past few evenings have been spent doing all those last minute things; packing and unpacking and repacking, getting sunscreen and bug spray, looking at the weather in Mexico and Belize a dozen times, cleaning the bathrooms and compiling all the financial information into one spot for the kids, just in case we don't make it back (we are going through Mexico by car afterall). The kids always tease me about that, but it will be alot easier for them if they don't have to run all over the place to find the money they will have coming. Jeff said on the weekend, with a grin, " don't go getting kidnapped down there, that's just no good for anybody".

Now, to make sure this trip goes as smooth as possible I am checking over my travel tip list from previous years. Some key ones include:

• don't take any white underwear.


• don't forget the Toronto Maple Leaf hat. It is perfect for flushing out the Canadians ( as in citizens not Hab fans) wherever you stay. The responses range from " can't believe you have the guts to wear that" to simply bowing of the head and saying "42 years", but wearing it works every time.


• No need to bring half the library with me. One book is plenty as the odds of reading more than a chapter or two before falling asleep on the beach is slim to none.


• You can never have too many Tommy Bahamma shirts with you. And no, they are not only for gays and big fat party animals (not that there is anything wrong with either of that).

I am committing to keeping the blog up on a daily basis, unless we end up somewhere with no wireless on a given night. I will also commit (but not necessarily promise) to not write any drunken blogs, which if you have been on the recieving end of a drunken email or text in the past, will understand why. I should have daily pictures downloading from my camera to the web book nightly, and will probably put a few up on Facebook as well.

Finally, I am dusting off my Caribbean hat. It is a simple beige (or it was at one time) ball cap with no logo, that fits perfectly. I purchased it for our first trip to the Caribbean, with Gary and Diane way back in 1999, and it has made every subsequent trip with me. Starting to look a little ragged and stained, but then again, so am I.

OK. I guess that is it until tomorrow night. I will try and improve on these each day.

Paradisus Rio de Oro - Guadalavaca, Cuba

This is actually a couple of years old. It is a review I did for trip advisor of probably the most overall enjoyable place we have stayed in our years of travel to the Caribbean. Figured I might as well have all these things in one place.

Paradisus Rio de Oro

April 15, 2008

Without a doubt this is the best overall "all inclusive " that Mary Lou and I have stayed including other five stars in Cuba, Mexico and Dominican Republic. The search for the perfect, or almost perfect, resort is over for us and we will return here. Often on our trips I will think what could they do better here; what changes could they make to improve the overall experience; how best do the parts fit together? The people at Sol Melia must have read my mind.

The Trip Down

We booked through TD Visa Travel for a Sunwing package, leaving Sunday 6th April. Prebooked our seats to sit up front. Although the flight was late taking off, it was a smooth check in. The meal was quite good, a pleasant surprise I must say. The movie as usual was for kids which never makes sense to me, so I just used the ipod. Nice landing, first off, first through customs, my bag was first off, so the plan worked perfectly and I would soon be out enjoying a beer while the rest of those suckers were in line. Then the wrinkle, Mary Lou's bag didn't make the trip. We were last out of the airport, thinking my she would have to wear my clothes for a few days, which would be tough as there is a six inch height and 80 pound weight difference. Not a good start to the trip, but hey, we were in Cuba so we left the bad attitude at the airport.

We eventually got her bag on Wednesday, minus about $400 worth of clothing and goods. We'll see how Sunwing comes through. (In the end. They did not come through. Wanted to see a reciept for everything that was taken. We ended up with $50 given to us at the resort)

First Impressions

Although we did not get in until after midnight, you could sense the place was special, and we and knew this was going to be a winner. Great staff, beautiful lobby and the disco was hopping. I had asked for a specific room in advance by email, and they came through. Not just close to where I asked, but exactly. We were on our way to the room in about 8 minutes with about a four minute walk.

Room

We had a superior junior suite, unit 4932. It was worth the extra dollars, big time. Our hammock out back got great use each night before happy our, and the "al fresco" shower made the entire room look bigger and brighter. The shower was basically in a 5' by 8 ' garden patio surrounded by 7' high concrete walls. Tastefully decorated and planted, and had what I like to call a "viewing bench". It will bring out the closet nudist in you. We did not use the bathroom shower once during the trip.

Some say the rooms are dated, but can't say we noticed. The only unusual thing was the lack of clothing drawers. The only time we had bugs was when we left the back door open. Even at 4:30 am I laid out back on the hammock, and was bitten once by a mosquito in 7 days.Track down the guy who restocks the fridge and he will make sure you have what you want. The option is to call room service and they will have someone do it.

I would recommend the upgrade to any one, and further suggest you select the lagoon side which gives you a large backyard and lots of sun. The ones on the ocean side looked quite dark to us, and had only a small area out back. Some had a shared hammock. I guess the partial view of the ocean is the bonus there. If you do pick the ocean side, stay away from the end units by the garden suites as the utility building was noisy whenever we walked by.

Layout

Although the resort has over 50 buildings, it is surprisingly compact and you can get around it quickly by foot. There is always a cart going by offering a lift if you have trouble walking. We also noticed they are adding 50 new rooms past the spa. Lots of trees, bushes and flowers and they seemed to have many gardeners working on it through the day. Very appealing. There were also a wide variety of statues around the resort, some of which were quite amorous. Great for setting the mood.

Pool

I am not a pool guy and can never understand those that stay there without touching the beach, but to each his own. Nice layout though, and we usually came up late afternoon for a swim and a few drinks. We found the raised covered chair areas (not sure what the proper term is) scattered around the pool amusing, as those who used them were on show all day.

One of the unique things on this resort is the transition area between the pool and the beach. The resort sits on the cliff overlooking the beach, and has a wooded area with loungers scattered between the pool and the stairs to the beach. You could sit and view both the ocean and the pool from here, and it provided refuge for the sun burned or from the late afternoon winds. We parked ourselves there on two days.

Beach

From a traditional view of the beach, I would have to say the one at Royal Hideaway was better. However, after a week of use I have changed my mind. There are many beaches in one at the Paradisus. Directly in front of the resort is a series of coral reefs that provide access to great snorkeling simply by stepping into the water. There are many brightly colored fish and I followed a barracuda around on one swim. The Paradisus palapays are spaced closely together, a problem for some, but not for us. If you want, head further down the beach towards the Luna y Mares where they are spaced further apart.Just past the Paradisus beach is a coarse coral sand with full access to the ocean. You still have to watch it here as there are some individual pockets of coral/rock, and my sister in law unfortunately took quite a hit on one toe. The water sports are in this area. Just down from here the beach changes again for a short section to some exposed rock, with a shells and coral great for the collector. Just past that the beach turns to a fine packed powder that fits many peoples definition of the perfect beach. Lots of chairs and palaypas, and you have full access to the Luna y Mares facilities so you can sit any where you please and get a quick drink. I found the Pinta beach grill at Luna to be worth a lunch stop. Great atmosphere. Total length of the beach is 743 metres, measured off of Google Earth.

Food

For us, and there were four of us, this was the best overall food experience yet. Mary Louwent from being able to find something to eat at the buffets in the previous resorts, to loving the food here. Food preference is always personal, but there is no doubt the food at the Paradisus is a cut above. There are lots of reviews on the a la cartes, so all I will say is that the Japanese night was fantastic, and get the Veal at the Mediterranean.

Food tips and comments:

• the worlds best orange juice, bacon and eggs.


• if the bacon is under cooked, as it often was, take it over to the egg grill and he will cook it to your liking.


• there was a neat breads area as you enter the buffet.


• I am a devout Heinz ketchup guy, but I will say there is no need to bring along your own as the ketchup they have is just fine. It's not Heinz, but neither is anything else.


• they make a great cappuccino at the lobby bar. Great place to have a pre breakfast cup and people watch.


• go to lunch at the beach grill. Great food and a three piece band playing Cuban music at lunch. They do a neat version of Hotel California.

Patrons

This is an older crowd with a large percentage 35 -65. Generally quiet but there is fun and activity to be had if you want, or places to hide if you want to be left alone. People will respect your wishes.We met a lot of people from different places including the Sault, Bracebridge, Yorkshire, Halifax and even some people that lived down the street from us. Most people are not only approachable, but look forward to talking to strangers. Great spot.

I was surprised to see how many of the Europeans smoked. Quite a large percentage.

The Canadian Olympic shouting team referred to in an earlier review on Trip Advisor did in fact show up the last couple of days of our stay. They were a much younger crew, from Northern Ontario I believe, who hung around the pool bar and swore a lot, and from what I could see drove away a number of the previous pool people.

All round, we were happy with the mix.

Excursions

We have always taken excursions in the past but decided to go our own way this time. Some suggestions:

• there is a bike tour every other day. The one we went into was the market at Guardelavaca. My suggest is if you are over 5' 10', don't do it. It is hot, hot , hot and you won't be able to bend your legs past 90 degrees as the bikes are too small. However, the bikes are in decent shape if you find one that fits.


• no matter what the tour guides say, take out the scooters. What a hoot. If you watch the road, and stop when you want to look at something on the side, you will have no problem. The Cuban drivers are very respectful to the tourists and will give you wide birth. We went out twice, once for an hour, and a second time to Boca de Sama when we met a lot of locals on the way, handed out gifts and shared coconut milk with them. We loved it.

Booze

Brand names, and even some premium names if you wanted to pay extra. No need to bring anything with you. My comments:

• beer was great, all of it.


• the Whitehorse scotch was a decent blended scotch. They have single malts for extra cost.


• seven year old Havana Club rum is the best. It is good enough to drink straight up. Ask for it in your mixed drinks if you like.


• try the Nazareno Merlot (black label) if you like a full bodied red. I would of liked to bring a case home with me.


• best blender drinks are in the lobby bar. The pool and beach pina coladas bars were not so good.


• mohitos were OK, but not great.


• had a nice cognac at the Mediterranean a la carte. Can't remember it's name.

Service

Second to none. They have plenty of staff on , and most wear a permanent smile. Friendly to talk to and many liked to crack jokes. As a bonus, at least for me, all of the ladies, and I mean all, had great legs to boot. Add a "y" to that if you like.

Service was almost instantaneous, sometimes before you even sat down. There were one or two times that we waited , but they were busy serving others. We were never ignored or neglected. I expect if it happens regularly to someone, they likely deserved it. We tipped small and regularly, because we wanted to, I'd say about $10-15 per day. We should get service this good in many Toronto restaurants.

Summary

The owners, management and staff have got it together. They continually improve the site, as an example the outdoor Cuban Street added just past the lobby bar, and the recent addition of the new beach grill. Best resort yet and I can't wait till next year.

Toronto to Belize and Back Again

Well, never thought I would do something like this but a good friend suggested to me it soothes the soul. I guess when I think about it is also a great way to remember all the different things we do. Mary Lou and I often lament on how boring a life we lead, but the other day some friends of ours commented on how they wished they could do all the things we have done, go all the places that we do. Well, next time we take to whining, the evidence to the contrary will be at our fingertips.

In the past few years we have been to Mexico, Cuba , San Andres (Columbia), and Dominican Republic among other places. We have travelled all through New England and the midwest following our son around at prep and college hockey, camping in the White Mountains, to Mount Tremblant, Florida and made our share of drives back home. Last fall we took a bit of a different trip to New York, basically with no idea what we wanted to do other than bike around the City. That turned out to be a wonderful experience and we saw parts of New York that I bet you even the residents don't know. All on bike. So, that got us thinking, maybe it's time to get away from the all inclusive format and get out to the guts of the countries we visit. After deciding Europe could wait for a couple of years we settled on Belize.

So why Belize you might ask. The answer is simple, "don't know". Well, maybe one reason is that I have been reading in International Living about the best places for Canadians to retire, and this keeps coming to the top of the list. The climate is great, beaches are beautiful and you can live there very reasonably, even find a cheap home or condo if you don't need to stay in the la de da areas. So, " why not Belize". The planning began.

After visiting the Toronto Travel show and talking to the reps from Belize, flying into Cancun seemed to be the best option. We could enjoy the area a few nights then travel down the coast through the Mexican Riviera into Belize, then back . To do this we would need two weeks, which will be the first time either of us has taken two straight weeks off work since we were married almost a century ago (that is except for the child bearing thing).

After waiting for the prices to drop by flying last minute ( TIP: doesn't work if you are going for more than a week) we booked our flights last week. Friday morning at 3:00 am we get up to get showered (that is if I even get to sleep) and head to the airport for a 6:20 am flight. We land in Cancun at 9:30 am. From there we take the bus into Town, hop a cab to the ferry to Isla Mujeres and get off the boat with only our knapsacks as we are travelling light ( well that is if you exclude our idods, cameras, mini stereo system, web book, water proof ipod case, mini flip HD video camera, power chords and chargers, batteries).

We have been to the island before back in 2005 ( on a trip Mary won as part of an employee award) spending half a day on a side trip from Cancun. We decided then that some day we would come back and stay. Well, this is some day. We are staying for two nights at a small Botique hotel called Hotel Las Palmas. The place costs $60 US for the night, has air conditioning, neat little courtyard, a shared fridge, and wireless. It is owned by a Canadian. Found this location on Trip Advisor and it got rave reviews. It is located at the tip of the island right in the middle of town and within a short walk to the best beach on the island.

We have high hopes for this place, and I am certain they will exceed expectations. I can tell it will be a friendly visit just from the tone of our email exchanges. Who knows, we may like it so much we hang around for an extra couple of days.

We will plan the details of the next leg of our trip while sipping a Carona in the courtyard at night.

I am certain that Mary Lou will want to hit all the nude beaches so I will pay particular attention to that.

OK. that's it for now.