Riviera Maya with Rooooskis!

Ernesto and Roman have been friends since college. I got to know him when we all lived in Columbus. The last time that we saw him almost 5 years ago when he came to visit us just after we had bought our house. He and his girlfriend had a trip planned to Riviera Maya (just south of Cancun) and asked if we wanted to meet them there. ahhhh yes!! Neto's lights had died down since it was the week before Christmas......so he booked 3 nights for us at the same hotel as Roman and his girlfriend Tonya.

BIENVENIDOS A CANCUN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
There is this cute little bar as soon as you step outside. We had a corona while waiting for our shuttle to the hotel. Did you notice my new cute ass beach bag in the above photo?? It has little owls on it!! Once we got to the hotel I was loving all the wildlife..

LOOK AT THIS BIRD...Have you ever see a prettier one??

Que Lindo el pavo real!!
Maybe you are not as fascinated by the colors as I am...this next pic is the most amazing one. It looks so professional, verdad? The pink flamingos are so beautiful too!!

and of course, no beach paradise is complete without parrots....I bugged the shit out of these african greys everyday, and they still didnt get on my finger.....

Iberostar paraiso del mar is an all inclusive resort, and although it was beautiful, I really wouldn't recommend it, or go back. The buffet everday was good, a mix of mexican and european, which were the bulk of the guests. We were able to make reservations two nights at one of the 5 specialty restaurants, and neither one was any good.

Im not sure why, but one night we reserved a table for the Mexican restauant, where they welcomed us with tequila shots while we waited for our seats ... we had fun...my only complaint is that it wasn't a good tequila. That is one of the downsides to all-inclusive...when they are catering to a huge amount of people, it seems the quality of the food/drink goes down. The other restuarant was a Brazilian steakhouse, and that was HORRIBLE! The meat was dry as hell. I admit that I am a bit of a steak snob, but this was unacceptable! They even ruined the palmitos (hearts of palm) with mustard sauce!!! HOW DARE THEY!!! One of the days we rented a car a headed south to TULUM. The Tulum ruins are the third most-visited archaeological site in Mexico, after Teotihuacan and Chichen Itza. It is popular for the picturesque view of the Rivera Maya......We toured the ruins and then went swimming and hung out on this gorgeous beach. Before my camera battery died, I was able to take this picture.

After that, Roman took all the pics and promised to send. We took the BEST photos here..playing in the water, posing, creative shots with the ruins ......but Roman called Friday to say that they LOST THE CAMERA! UGGGGGGGGG!!!! Darn it, one of those I was planning to make the header of my blog!! Im so disappointed!!