A Week In Cancun
For many, travel is still a virtual concept. We broke that notion two weeks ago and ventured to Cancun – or to be more precise, Iberostar Paraiso Maya resort in the Riviera Maya area. I already shared my impressions as a week in sunrises, but as you can imagine, I have a lot more pictures to share.
We like active vacations where you live hotel in the morning and you come back at night, happy from all the new experiences, but incredibly tired. We also like relaxing vacations, where your whole day runs a small sequence of events in a circle – food, sand, waves, cocktail, food, sand, pool, food, cocktails, sleep – that’s it. There is pure joy in doing nothing, just enjoying the sunshine, as long as you can take your mind under control and tell it to relax together with the rest of the body.
Our week in Cancun was exactly like that – relaxing. This also means taking lots and lots of pictures – whoever invented digital photography – thank you very much. And thus I have the pictures to share with you.
I used to travel with my trusted Nikon and a few lenses. The iPhone camera doesn’t replace the Nikon, but it has a “good enough” advantage. Comparing the advantages of the DSLR versus the simplicity of the single device to carry around, if you are okay with “good enough” and not looking for perfection, your phone camera is all you need.
I love the versatility of the iPhone camera, where you can have both zoomed-in and ultra-wide pictures, as well as the capability to build a panorama. I’m not good at taking panoramas, as it requires you to hold your phone absolutely still while you are turning around – nevertheless, I made an effort to take sunrise panorama shots every morning together with the pictures of the sunrise. Here are the panorama sunrise pictures which I found to be good enough to share:
The resort we stayed at is called Paraiso Maya, and its main building is shaped as a Mayan pyramid. It is very well lit and changes colors at night:
Here are a few more pictures from the resort:
A few flowers:
And, of course, the food. We ate at a buffet and at 5 restaurants, out of which only the Italian restaurant was really good. We also found a new favorite wine – 2014 Oscar Tobia Rioja Reserva – the wine was outstanding, with dark fruit and cedar box notes, fresh, and vibrant as only Rioja can be.
And last but not least – sand and waves:
Here you are, my friends. If you still can’t travel, I hope these pictures will help you cope.
You will travel soon.
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This certainly helped my travel itch for a bit. Thank you. Lovely post and great images. I too rarely carry around my Nikon. The iPhone provides great pics. Curious to know what things are like down there right now with tourism so flat. I’ve been to the area many times and can’t help but wonder. Perhaps the beach beds are easy to find, that’s one upside.
First, thank you for your kind words.
I have to say that travel itself feels a bit strange. Once you arrive, it is still a vacation. Mask is required only when you are walking into the restaurant or buffet, and when you get up to get food in the buffet. Otherwise, guests don’t wear masks. Personnel all wear masks.
You are right about beach beds – lots and lots of open ones, but only because in the Iberostar Paraiso where we stayed, open only one hotel out of four – this will change in the coming weeks as the resort is opening more hotels for the guests. The somewhat challenging part was the trip back to the USA, and only because of the logistics – one person is checking everyone’s test results and puts stamps on your boarding pass. Very poorly organized, we spent 2 hours getting through the checking process.
Otherwise, it is still a real vacation.
Good you had a chance to get away. I’m sure the travel part is very different, but the vacation part is equally enjoyable. Thanks for your reply. Interesting to hear. At least in the US many are vaccinated. We Canadians are still waiting. Travel is still a ways off for us.