HEY RAIDER

[schmerl]

Hey Raider, 
  Did you make it home safe and sound? I hope you had a great time. We are anxiously waiting for a full report.

[Jude]

Ditto!

[schmerl]

Now I'm starting to worry about Raider. He had said he'd post from the hotel also and he never did. I hope everything is OK with him!!!!

[Ducky77Jen]

I'm sure he just couldn't pry himself from the ice cream bar  long enough to remember us.
lol.
Raider come back, we miss you and your updates.

[schmerl]

I don't know where he lives and was wondering if he had difficulty getting home because of all the snow on the east coast Friday.

[blacker]

I think Raider hails from Denver; in one of the threads a direct flight from Denver was mentioned......

I would think that it may still be a shock to the system to return, also there's all that Christmas shopping yet to be done !!

I'm sure that we will hear from him soon.

[raider]

hey everyone!!!! i did make it back late on friday and did a lot of shopping that weekend and got sick from all this american food, so just back to work today. it was very cold on my return which was not fun but we all had a great time and wouldnt have asked for anything different. Seems there are some other posts here from when i was there so i will tell what i know and answer any questions if there are any.

Arrived at the airport and shot thru customs very quickly. got onto the bus and waited for about 20 minutes for the stragglers. We did have a broken suitcase leg but we were there so didnt really care to much. arrived at the resort was getting dark, got settled into our third floor rooms with great view of the pool (3443) and meet with our friends and took them to the ocean. The next day i had the tough time of choosing to sleep by the pool or by the ocean, we chose the pool that day. went to town on sundy, FYI they dont sell acohol on sundays just like us so had to make a return trip for tequila for parents. WE GOT RIPPED OFF AT A REST IN TOWN CALLED LOS PINTAS, we chose this because of the great view they had. lets put it like this i had a really bad hamburger, my wife really bad fajitas and our friends had fajitas and tacos, plus five corona......grand total $100, bottom line we should have paid more attention to the prices we just didnt think lunch would get near that price and the fact that the menus is in english EXCEPT for the part that says they add 15% right on top for tip, but dont tell you that then got upset when we didnt tip beyond the 15% they included. so we were mad but on vacation so shrugged it off.

we went to Xel-Ha and that was everyones highlight of the trip, i will go there everytime im in the riveria maya, it was beautiful with good food and lots of different activities. i snorkeled and saw many large fish (2-3feet) and lots of stingrays, even some baby barracudas, i could go on about xel ha all day so ask if you have any questions. there was a small section of xel ha closed but that only included one resturant and a few shops, very little damage to the jungle down there.

Tuesday our friends went to tulum and i sedated myself with beer and ice cream by the pool most of the day, to be honest dont remember much of that evening, did goto two of the shows that was a first for us, really enjoyed them. The pool had a slight taste of salt water when we arrived and time went on we either got use to it or most of it evaporated away.

The jungle is starting to green up very nicely, they have cleaned up pretty much all the debris, regulars will notice the jungle just not as thick, still beautiful and now green. It is worse by the beach but didnt really bother us, we are not jungle people. All resturants were open at the delmar/beach we ate at the steakhouse,brazilian,and japanese, loved them all, brazilian may not be for everyone but i like how they bring this big skewer of meat around about 7 times 7 different meats, the meats i enjoyed were cooked perfectly for me nice and juicy but cooked enough to be safe. the theatre should be done shortly but was welcomed at the lindo theatre no restrictions on drinks there. there is a temporary beach bar for drinks set up at the delmar and lindo, i heard they are cooking at the lindo one already but did not see that ourselves.
i tried using the internet and emailed my mom, one day was down the others were really slow i assume because other people using it the same time as me. hard to stay in that room to long with the sun and warm weather calling out to me.

So as usual the service was great, rooms were clean and beautiful, our friends our now addicted and were already talking about a return trip before we left. thanks for the concern everyone, i do have pictures but dont know how to post them, if you want to see some pm your email to me and i will do it asap, i am helping a friend move so could be busy the next three nights, but will do my best got friends and family waiting on them also, so i will do when i can.

[schmerl]

Welcome home Raider. We were starting to worry about you! So glad you had a great time. I hope you left some ice cream and beer for us!!!

[assilem73]

Welcome back!!  Thanks for the update on the Del Mar.  I'll be there this time next month, and I can't wait.  Nice info on Xel Ha.  I considered booking a trip there when we were at the Del Mar last year, but the resort was so  nice, we chose not to leave it.  Maybe this time we will venture out.

[raider]

they may be out of chocolate, but i tried to save a little i ate about 3 a day. thanks for worrying i wasnt feeling well after about two days back. assilem if you do an excursion i strongly recommend xel-ha. you can check them out at www.xelha.com.

 we also did the horseback riding which we did last year but our friends wanted to do it so we went again. Only down side to the horseback riding was there was some stinky standing water on the trail to the ocean. but it is only a 5 minute drive from the resort and its only about 3 hours from arriving there to arriving back at the resort, plus they feed you so its a nice short excursion. I thought it was cool how friendly the staff was and how willing they were to take pictures with your camera even though they would be trying to sell you there pictures later. They would actually say this is a really good spot for a picture would you like us to take one with your camera for you! umm SURE!!.lol plus they unsaddle several horses and take you intot the ocean with them which is really great and if you chose so they will lead you and your horse on a full sprint down the beach, which i am not good enough a rider to do but looks really fun!!  unfortunately i never meet anyone from the board down there but last year i grew a chip on my shoulder about the "rudeness" of the europeans, well was i wrong we meet many people from europe and they were so very nice and friendly must have just been bad luck last time, so i was glad to see how wrong i was in that respect.

One thing that surprised all of us was how little people were tipping. Now we know you dont have to tip, and if the service isnt there we wont tip, but for example at the japanese rest. our waitress was the best waitress we ever had anywhere we thought we must be her only table(show table) but we werent she was just that good, our drinks never got below 25% and she was extremely nice and upbeat. of nine people at the table we were the only ones who left a tip, and i watched because i had noticed this trend so i was paying attention to see if they slipped it to them on the way out or something, nothing was left. the wives at the table were wearing 10,000 dollars rings or really nice fakes and they cant drop a buck or two for really great service?!?!? there were many instances like that which seemed mean to us but to each there own i suppose, those we did see leaving tips left very generous ones, which was nice to see and as usually we tipped very well. So dont forget your servers if they deserve it TIP THEM!!! rant over. thanks!

[George]

Welcome back Raider!!!

Thanks for very informative report. 

I bet you are thinking about your next vacation right now          


George

[hlsess]

Tell me a little more about Xelha- how far of a drive from Del Mar- is it included in price- transportation- do you need a full day- we will be there in March from Sunday to Friday and thought we'd go to XelHa  on Wednesday- do we book when we get there at Del Mar- My kids love to snorkel so it sounds like the place to go- what else to do- for kids ages 8-13? I saw jumping off cliffs and a rope swing- what else??

[luv2bwarm]

Raider, glad you you had a great vacation.  Our family will be at the Del Mar in the spring and I'm interested in the horseback riding excursion you took.  What was the name of the Ranch?  Did you book through the resort and was transportation included?  Cost?  Where/what was lunch?  Most importantly (for me), did the horses seem healthy and well cared for?  Sorry for all the questions...and thanks.

[blacker]

Good to have you back Raider !

We missed you & are anxiously waiting for PICTURES !!!!!   

[raider]

hlsess, Xel ha, includes a large lagoon to snorkel in with great snorkeling, like you said the kids will love that, love lazy river can be fun for all ages because there are two or three cliffs to jump off of throughout the river. You can kayak, snorkel in a cavern, there are many other things you can do which you can see for yourself at www.xelha.com. This excursion has to be a full day due to the fact it is about an hour and half bus ride to get there we did a full day and didnt get to many of the things i would have liked to do. I booked thru apple the cost was $90 per person included all food and drinks at xelha, admission, and transportation. They have a few resturants to chose from and several ice cream shacks and hambuger huts also. the ice cream was GREAT!! There are several options on how to pay, you can book online thru xelha.com and figure out another form of transportation, so if the price is to steep i have heard there are ways to cut corners and knock $20 per person off of that, however i didnt do that so i dont know exactly what those options are. If you do go, i strongly suggest the first thing you do is snorkel before lots of people get in there and scare away the bigger schools of fish. Dont get me wrong you can still see great fish at 3pm but it is a fresh water inlet connected to the ocean which means when you get in there and start churning it up it can get a little oily look to it. It doesnt mean you cant see anything you still have good visibility its just not as nice as when it is all settled and calm. I have done only about 5 different excursions in mexico and xelha is my favorite by far has something for everyone. any other specific questions let me know.

luv2bwarm:
the name of the ranch is Bonita Loma i booked thru apple and transportation was included the price was $60 per person, you can book thru the resort or perhaps thru the ranch itself and a taxi would probably only be a few dollars and not sure how you would get a taxi at the ranch. The lunch was mexican food and i dont eat mexican food, looked like rice and beans and little piles of stuff on mini tortillas. my wife and our friends said it was pretty good though. I am no horse expert but they look in pretty good shape, especially considering the hurricane put a damper on getting hay for them. But they treat them well they look very healthy no ribs showing or anything like that. let me know if you need anything else.