To read previous part click here -
Mexico, vacation... Ek Balam, part 4 As you can see our second day in Mexico was really busy. We were
traveling and seeing some landmarks and it took most of our day. Chichen
Itza and El Bakam weren't the only places we stopped by on our way.
But before we look at the rest of the sights, let's return back to the
resort and look at it. Because it is worse looking at.
Sandos
Caracol Eco Resort (by the way, Sandos means 'sun for everybody') is
located just nearby Playa del Carmen, the small beach town about 40
minutes away from Cancun airport. Just a couple of decades back Playa del Carmen was wild and
uninhabited,
but now this is a busy and popular spot for beach vacation. Originally a
small fishing town, tourism to Playa del Carmen began with the
passenger ferry service to Cozumel, an island across the Cozumel Channel
and a world-famous scuba diving destination.
Actually,
before we look at the resort, let's talk about the surroundings first. The Yucatan peninsula is
covered by jungle and mangrove forest along the coast line. This
mangrove forest plays an important role because this is natural defense
against wind. Forests absorb and dissolve wind and protect main land from
being destroyed. There was a thick line of mangrove forest all along
the coast line until the 70s, when Cancun began to grow.
When
development of the area as a resort was started on January 23, 1970,
Isla Cancún had only three residents, caretakers of the coconut
plantation of Don José de Jesús Lima Gutiérrez, who lived on Isla
Mujeres. Some 117 people lived in nearby Puerto Juarez, a fishing
village and military base. But the city was growing fast, very fast (and
still growing). Something like 168K people were living there in the 1990s
(compared with 120 people in 1970) and jumped to 628K in 2010!
And...
first thing they did during this conversion jungle to the resort place
was destroying mangrove forest and jungle. So now you can barely see
mangrove forest close to the place where the people live and can't
really see it in the resort area. Locals complained the mangrove forest
was absolutely destroyed around Cancun.
But when
one moves along the coast line, one still can find the mangrove forest
in undeveloped areas but more resorts means more "mangrove free" zones.
Sandos Caracol Eco Resort is a bit different from other resorts. When
Sandos had bought a small hotel in the area, they didn't start with
destroying the forest, but built a resort around the forest instead. They
saved mangrove forest and jungle and implemented nature in the
resort. That is why now we can not only enjoy staying on the beach, but
also can walk through thickets and enjoy deep shadows even on the hottest
day.
Actually, it is possible to have more
buildings and bring three times more people if they remove the forest from
resort infrastructure, but I hope this never happens.
Anyway,
let's just list what one can find when he stays at Sandos Caracol Eco
Resort. First of all - trees, plants and flowers. Mangrove forest, thick
and dark, wet and scary. Rainforest, wet and bushy. Absolutely
impassable jungle. Real Mayan ruins. Five cenotes - sinkholes filled
with crystal clear water. Jade river connects cenotes and is also clear
and nice. Monkeys, raccoons, friendly coati tejons (Mexican raccoons),
iguanas, turtles, peacocks, cats and small zoo made from rescued animals
(they have rabbits, deer, donkeys). Birds (just think Yucatan Jay).
Beaches. Three pools and one Aqua-park. Eight restaurants and hell knows
how many bars. Educating and entertaining programs. Yoga, gym and spa.
Souvenir stores. Kids area. Bike path. Ugh... seems I didn't miss
anything...
As you can see, Sandos Caracol Eco
Resort is kind of different from the majority of the resorts you can find
all along the Mexican Caribbean coastline and can bring not only sun,
beach, meal, entertainment and crowd. Maybe Sandos Caracol is not as luxurious as
many others, but
it gives you a bit more feeling of privacy
(you just step off the beaten path and feel like no one is here), ability to walk on forest trails, learn more about nature
and more and more and more... We felt really good being in this place and were glad we chose this one, but not the standard "All inclusive asphalt + stone + beach + pools" :).
More details
are coming... For now just look at these pictures and imagine staying there.
Pictures were taken in March 2018.
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