Mayan Riviera Getaway

Our Mexican one week all-inclusive vacation began very early on Sept 23 – up and gone at 3:00AM for a 7:00AM flight with a stop-over in Calgary before arriving in Cancun at 3:30. A quick trip to the resort, Ocean Coral & Turquesa, settled into room 9408, 4^th floor overlooking the pool and the ocean!  Hot & humid, temperatures 26-32C all week, interspersed with the odd brief thunderstorm. Excellent room, actually more space than our motorhome, several restaurants, 3 pools and bar service everywhere, including while sitting at the beach or pool! Only downside was an abundance of seaweed washing up every day (a problem all along the Mayan Riviera).

view from our balcony

view from the plane

view from our balcony

Mexican cooking class

Our first full day we were wandering along the beach and checked out an area that was all fenced in – turned out to be a turtle enclosure.  Staff had “rescued “ turtle eggs after they were laid, putting them in a new nest until hatching, then releasing them into the ocean. Over 100 had hatched that day and we were able to watch the release, pretty special!

baby turtle release

We took in a couple of the evening shows; both times I was pulled up to dance with one of the dancers! Embarrassing indeed!

The resort offered bike trips into the nearby town of Puerto Morelos, we did this twice – good exercise and a change of scenery. We had been in this town about 10 years ago, we were surprised at how big it has grown and we were happy to see the restaurant Los Pelicanos was still there.

old leaning lighthouse in Puerto Morelos

look closely, entirely made of butterfly wings!

The Air Transat rep suggested a “free” trip into Playa del Carmen; only required a stopover at a jewelry factory and a tequila shop (complete with tastings), so off we went. We were finally “released” from the jewelry store after I broke down and bought a pair of earrings! We wandered the touristy street for a bit then found a side street with a square full of taco stands (the ones the locals go to) and had an excellent lunch! Really going to miss being able to do that this winter!

Robin, taking over the tequila tasting

taco stands

The coral reef is several hundred feet offshore along the coast; I took a panga (boat) out for a snorkel trip that was excellent. The water was almost bathtub warm, loads of fish and no crowds – just 4 of us.

the reef is the white wave line on the top of the photo

Otherwise we spent our time in the pool, by the pool, on the beach – but never very far away from a drink or a buffet! We tried to balance that with always taking the stairs and lots of walking. We spotted several iguanas sunning themselves, a racoon and a couple coatimundis (strange long-tailed critters).

Mexican market one evening - these lights are carved from PVC pipe!

a coatimundi

iguana

a quick thunderstorm

We tried all the restaurants, dining at the Sensei, Japanese show cooking twice. We met several very nice folks and enjoyed some good conversation.

Japanese show cooking

Mexican restaurant

Reluctantly we had to return to reality, but luckily still had time for a quick dip and some sun before leaving for the airport at 12:40 on Sept 30. The trip home was long and painful, delays both in Cancun and in Calgary; airline seats that seem to get tighter every year and no TV in the seatbacks. After 12 hours we exited the parking lot and headed back to the RV – to a balmy 4C inside! We had left the furnace on but very low so it was rather chilly!

Cancun airport, another shower

flying over Cancun

Back into our routine, counting down until we head south – getting really tired of the early winter (and no fall). Back to trying to complete the Elk Island hikes, as of today only one left!

ruffed grouse

more Elk Island hiking

Robin helping out the beavers, freeing a stuck tree they had felled

and now the leaves are gone, Oct. 6

We managed to scoop free tickets to the opening week of the royal Alberta Museum (we are on a fixed budget you know)! We enjoyed it thoroughly, especially the geology section.

phosphorescent rocks

look close -all insects!

a very large spider

We are spending time with the kids and grandkids’, including a Thanksgiving visit at my brother Colin & Lesia’s and have a trip planned to Grande Cache to see Adam and family. 

helping to make a gate

  The RV is organized and almost ready to roll and the latest dump of snow is definitely encouraging us to “fly south”. Our next installment will be posted from somewhere “south”, Living the Dream!

 

Oct 8 - this is so unappreciated, soon we go south!

Life in a "Tiny House"

Life rolls on, getting used to living fulltime in a “tiny house”. Missing having an oven, the micro/convection just isn’t the same but otherwise it’s great, especially having 2 bathrooms! And our front & back yards are immense!

The campground has a 2 km hiking trail that we walk most days, and we are working towards completing all the hikes in Elk Island Park, (there are 11), ranging from 2 - 16.8km. (the park is only 4km away). We usually see bison along the roads in the park and luckily we have not come face to face with any on the trails!  

bison at Elk Island National park

hiking in Elk island park

our campground trail

Elk Island retreat Campground

hiking at Elk Island national park

the fire needed a bit of help1

We took the canoe to the lake in Elk Island for a paddle and another day we took the bikes.

The smoke from the BC wildfires has made its way here, a creepy orange one morning.

our motorhome with the orange glow from BC fires

Two of our kids joined us for a wiener roast and a visit in our new home, along with a bit of a hike.

We took in a day of the Fringe Festival in Edmonton, lots of delicious street food and fun performers, but not used to having to drive at least 30 minutes to get anywhere.

Another day trip took us to Lamont for the Babas & Borscht Festival – had an amazing Ukrainian lunch, watched some dancing and checked out the market.

Ukainian Easter eggs

We did a few more markets, including a new one in Spruce Grove, where a couple of fellow vendors gave me wonderful help with our market Facebook page.  We scoped out the Ft Saskatchewan Farmers Market where we hope to set up next summer.

I have begun wirewrapping, a lot of practise needed, but enjoying it – we have a rather large collection of rocks that we have cut and will polish that will need wrapping, should keep us busy this winter. Robin has been busy with some new dream catchers as well.

We happily spent a day babysitting Rosemary while Shane & Sarah enjoyed a dinner out to celebrate their anniversary. She kept us busy, such energy – and we all slept well that night!

Shane & Sarah

Rosemary

Our Remax agent that sold our condo took us out for a wonderful dinner and a good visit, felt guilty but still had steak & lobster!

 We were unpleasantly surprised on Sept. 13 when we got a dump of snow – way too early, even for Alberta. 

Sept 13, snow!

migrating Sandhill cranes

Decided to stay in this campground until we head south in mid-October, it has what we need but we moved over to the next site. Nicer “back yard” and a tree for shade. There are nice folks that are also “fulltimers” as well as the friendly owners here; it’s quiet, no magpies, close to Elk Island, about 45 minutes to Edmonton and pretty good WiFi. It is fairly close to continue our visits with Scott and with Shane, Sarah & Rosemary. We also got together with Adam, Jen, Emma & Ty at Shane’s – celebrating Scott’s birthday, unfortunately minus Scott!

Best day for a while, 12C, so we headed to Black Nugget campground to spend the day canoeing on the lake on Sept. 19, then another dump of snow on Sept 21!

not funny! Sept 21

Because we will not be going to Mexico this winter, we decided that a beach vacation was in order. We booked a one week trip, all-inclusive resort of course, for Sept 23-30. Details to follow!

Definitely Living the Dream!