Sete-Sonos: Riviera Maya

The decision of doing this travel became the fact that I'm getting old and I need relaxing places to rest… kidding!!

I did this travel with more 12 classmates in order to com commemorate the ending of my degree (finally or not :S).

As we were 13 and we wanted to relax and have fun at the same time, we decided to choose a place where we would stay all the time without caring about lunch, dinner and those kind of things!

Riviera Maya is a tourism district following the caribbean coastline of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, located on the eastern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula. This zone historically starts at the city where I was hosted which is Playa del Carmen, and ends at my favorite place in Riviera maya, a small village called Tulum.But at the same time we wanted to get some more historically knowledge and for that we needed some cheap place which combine culture interests with night life and if possible with tropical weather! So we found MEXICO… more specifically Riviera Maya.

My personality as a traveler is close to the “backpacker way” but Riviera Maya is famous for its all-inclusive resorts and luxury.

I must confess that I used to think that was not my style at all, and for me that was not a real travel. Well I keep think in thew same way, but I have to admit that for the type of travel that I was include it felt SOOOOO GOOOOOOOD!!!

OMG! I had to do nothing, I had everything under my feet! All kind of food, cocktails, swimming pool, beaches, sports on the beach, discos and so on!!! And the best part was…. ALL-INCLUDE! I still prefer travel like a backpacker BUT for relaxing moments this is so appropriated!!!!

A major attracting throughout the Riviera Maya are coastal and reef aquatic activities dependent on the coastal water and the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System (also known as the Belize Barrier Reef) which begins near Cancun and continues along the whole length of the Riviera Maya continuing southward to Guatemala.This barrier reef system is the second longest in the world.

The activities at the most visited locations include Jet Skiing, snorkeling, scuba diving, swimming in cenotes (I just loved! For who doesn't know Cenote is a sinkhole with exposed rocky edges containing groundwater), swimming with dolphins, etc...

Archeology is also a big tourist draw in the area, including the popular archeological sites operated by the Instituto Nacional de Archeological such as Tulum (check!) on the coast, and Chichen Itza (check!) and Coba (check!) located some distance inland. The self-named ecoparks of Xcaret and Xel-Ha also include some smaller archeological ruins as part of their attractions, but these natural water theme parks operated by private business consortia attract much larger crowds due to the diversity and range of activities provided, such as swimming with captive dolphins.

As they use to say: an image is more powerful than a thousand words. So enjoy the pictures!