Mexico, vacation... Sandos Caracol Eco Resort, part 5

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.

 

To continue reading click here - Mexico, vacation... Valladolid and Chemax, part 6

Pictures were taken in March 2018.