Honeymoon

Feb 8 – 13, 2018

Resort: Valentin Imperial at Riviera del Maya (south of Cancun)

Screen Shot 2017-10-12 at 1.12.39 PM.png

Delta Vacations_Itinerary_10_11_2017

Feb 8
Flight: ATL – Cancun
DL 0535 12:30 -3:02pm

Valentin Imperial AI Deluxe Junior Suite Number of nights: 5

Valintin Imperial is an all inclusive resort. It has been years since I’ve stayed at an all inclusive and for our honeymoon it was just perfect. We didn’t want to break the bank on this trip but at the same time we wanted to have a nice honeymoon. Our total const, flights included sat right under $4k.

The resort by far exceeded my expectations. It was top notch and a lot nicer than I thought it was going to be. All of the restaurants were 5 star with the food to justify it.

We landed in Cancun and travelled about 45 minutes to our resort which was ticked away down a long windy road up on the beach.

Our Room was in Villa One. This was the perfect location as it was right next to the pool and the walk to the beach as well as the first villa to the restaurants.

After putting our things down we wanted to make it to the beach for a drink and to watch the sunset.

The resort published an activities flyer for each day. On the back they announced honeymooners who were arriving that day.

“Welcome Mr. and Mrs. Barron” (hehe)

As the first day was coming to an end, we headed to the Mexican restaurant, La Hacienda.

Incredible tuna ceviche with a watermelon salsa

On our second day we decided to adventure in to the Yucatan for a Day Trip:

We ordered room service and ate while we were getting ready.

We had an early morning! We had to be up at 7am and ready for the van to pick us up by 8am.

We joined a tour group that we booked through Viator. I can’t say enough good things about this tour group. The prices were excellent and the tour van was clean, with A/C and a very safe driver and friendly tour guide. You’re only with about 15 people on the van so it’s nice to not be on one of those mega buses.

Screen Shot 2017-10-12 at 1.33.32 PM.png

When driving in to the Yucatan our destination was Chichen Itza. The drive is about two hours from our resort so we made some stops along the way to break it up.

Our first stop was in Valladolid, Yucatan. We hopped out and visited this cathedral which was beautiful. It was really sweet to be able to stop in a small village and see a city off the beaten path and see how locals live and their history.

We hopped back in the car for another 45 minutes to journey to our lunch spot.

As with any tour group they take you to their “souvenir shop” which was fine. We did get some goodies but it was, as expected, over priced from what you can get from the street vendors.

The art work and the colors were just so fun!

We had a buffet lunch with our van mates. They had delicious local juices. I enjoyed a hibiscus juice with my tacos for lunch.

We then hopped back in the car for 20 more minutes and made our way to Chichen Itza.

We wandered the site for 1.5 hours and listen to our guide as he unraveled Mayan mysteries and fascinating facts. Gazing at the iconic Kukulcan Pyramid, also known as El Castillo, and marveled at the symmetry and skillful craftsmanship of the structure. We learned about how the structure was built according to astronomical research, and discover why the 365 steps represent each day of the solar ear.

Listen to the calls of exotic birds as you wander through lush vegetation and peer at a cenote with great sacrificial significance. Visit the colossal ball court to learn of ancient athletic events and decipher elaborate murals that depict Mayan scenes. Discover the mystifying acoustics of the ball court before hearing gruesome stories of decapitations during football games.

At the end of our tour the skies opened up for about 5 minutes of rain. Everyone cleared out which was perfect for us as we were able to get some pictures with hardly anyone in them.

We bought a cool souvenir to hang in our house.

As we finished up we were just so happy to have visited one of the new 7 wonders of the world.

It was now time to head on to the Cenotes. A cenote is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath. Especially associated with the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, cenotes were sometimes used by the ancient Maya for sacrificial offerings.

Chip loved jumping off the rocks in here into the water.

If you look closely you can see him jumping

After our long day, we headed back to our resort. We were beat and took some cat naps on the way home.

With our Day trip behind us, we then had three full days of beach time!

We scouted out a beach spot and posted up for the day.

We occasionally would head up to the pool for lunch and a break from the beach.

Happy hours were our favorite time of the day. We posted up at the tiki hut on the beach to watch the sunset.

We ventured to the french restaurant for dinner that night.

I woke up pretty early the next morning to snag a better spot on the beach.

We ventured to a different breakfast spot that morning, and then quickly learned it was the same type food with no view of the beach.

We hung on the beach and read and took in the sunshine. And then headed up to the pool in the early afternoon for the foam party. Yep, that’s right, an adult foam party…and Chip loved every moment of it.