Cenote and Mayan Coffee: A Must Do

One of the outings we enjoyed while in Riviera Maya was our visit to Alux.  Alux is a underground Cavern / Cenote that is said to be 10,000 years old  that is now turned into a restaurant.  It's amazing to think that anything could be THAT old, but that is what the info says.

Alux was about a 15-20 minute cab ride from where we were staying in Riviera Maya to Play Del Carmen.

When we arrived we were greeted by the hostess upstairs (on street level) and then made our way down into the cave.

As you go down the steps you are greeted by another hostess in this bar area. There is an $8 cover charge which includes the tour and a drink from the bar. We thought this was well worth the charge to just visit and tour the place.

Since there were not any patrons dining at the time we arrived, we were able to walk around the cavern by ourselves and take our good old time.

What makes this place unique is because it was a cenote (underground sink hole) that is all dried up except for a few spots that still had a bit of water running through it.

The main dinning area.

They had a main dining area and then these cute little alcoves for couple or private parties. I'm pretty sure I remember seeing a couple on one of the seasons of the Bachelor/Bachelorette having a date here.

I don't recall if they mentioned the name of the place but the little tables in the cave look so familiar.  Does anyone else remember seeing that?  If not, it's the perfect place to have a date!

When we finished our tour, we had our drinks and learned more about this unique place.  Our friends from the area visited here  last month so this is how we knew to check it out. They said one thing that was not to be missed was the Mayan Coffee.

Ordering this coffee was probably the highlight of the evening!  They bring the coffee cart right to your table and make it. It really is a show the way they caramelize the sugar on top of the glass and the whole process of mixing the Mexican coffee, alcohol, and American coffee.

There were some flames involved.

The coffee was not included in the price of the cover charge but it was so worth it.  Of course I didn't remember to take a photo until the drinks were already consumed.

I thought it would be a little chilly in here seeing it was underground but it was not. It was just the opposite. They actually had fans plugged in around the place.

Throughout Riviera Maya there are tours you could take to visit Cenotes that still have water running all through them, they've turned them into water parks and similar tours.  We opted not to do those tours because they involved a lengthy bus ride and it made for too long of a day.  This place gave us a very authentic experience as to what a cenote was like, we didn't have to go far, we didn't have to take an all day excursion to do it, plus we got some yummy drinks.

A Week at Grand Riviera Princess in Riviera Maya

We spent this past week at the Grand Riviera Princess Resort and Spa in Riviera Maya, which is on the Yucatan Peninsula.  For our Weekly Wrap I thought I would share what kind of activities we did while there. Quite honestly I do not remember what days we did which activities so these will not be in order.

First and foremost we did a lot of eating. This resort is basically like a cruise but on land. There were 11 different restaurants to choose from, each with a different theme (and several buffets too).  Some of  the specialty restaurants we tried were the Italian, the Swiss, the French, and the Mexican. Is that not the largest pepper grinder you've ever seen?

Fortunately with all that eating came a lot of walking. We would get up early each morning and walk around the resort or down to the beach since it was a beach front resort.

Some of us tried running but it just became too hot so it result in runs on the treadmill.

One morning we got up for sunrise yoga.

One day was spent at the spa. We each got massages and then got to spend the day using the rest of the facilities.

 I was hoping that Lacey would do the fish spa but in the end she decided against it. I don't blame her as I didn't want to do it either.

We did get to watch someone else do it though. If you've never heard of a fish spa, here is the process. You get your feet washed and sanitized and then you put them in this tank with these special little fish that will nibble the dead skin off your feet. They love callouses so I bet they would have a feast with runners!

One day we went into Playa Del Carmen. This is the downtown area. Here we did a bit of shopping and walked along the beach area.

Part of this area reminded me of a flea market with people haggling you. This was not my favorite part.

Back at the resort we participated in organized activities like volley ball and water aerobics. My shoulders are still sore from those. Can you find me in the pool?

We also participated in target shooting.

The promenade were some of the nightly entertainment took place.

Each night there was nightly entertainment. We were too tired to go every night but we did see a fire dancing show, a song and dance throughout the decades show, and a rendition of the musical Grease.

One of the neatest things we did was to visit an old dried up cenote ( ancient sink hole) that was turned into a restaurant. We got to tour the cavern and than have drinks afterwards. We than had Mayan Coffee which was an experience in itself. The making of it is quite a show. Perhaps I should do a separate post on this experience.

Although the week away was fabulous, it's always nice to come home. However, the weekend after this vacation was anything but fabulous. Stay tuned I may write about that too!  -M