Good Morning!

Since I went to bed early last night, I was up extra early today. I used that time to setup a little sunrise video here.

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Here is an activity schedule for the week.

I am looking for coffee. It’s 6:50am so I figure at worst they open in 10 minutes. I saw two coffee shop looking places by the front desk. One on the lobby bar. The other in VIP check-in.

But closed.

The lobby bar looked like it had one.

But closed.

I stopped by the front desk. They said you have to go to the buffet for coffee. I went down to the buffet. It just opened so I grabbed a few bites.

The area where the pour your own beer station is also has a bartender and coffee area. I asked if that’s where you get coffee. The guy said you have order from a waiter.

I’m not a fan of having to sit down and order coffee from a waiter everyday. I do have a coffee maker in the room but I prefer to get coffee shop coffee on vacation. I make my own coffee most of the year. It’s nice to have a coffee shop available on vacation. I sat down and the waiter brought me regular coffee. I asked for a mocha. He said he’d get it. . 

I have now finished my coffee and the mocha isn’t here

As far as the food goes, I ate the ham and cheese thing. It was pretty good. I took one bite of the cheese quesadilla. It had a double tortilla which was just too much tortilla. It was more of a tortilla quesadilla than a cheese quesadilla. I just nibbled around the edge of the tostada.

I waited a few more minutes for the mocha and just left. The guy who was my waiter at the Italian restaurant last night had come by earlier and asked if I needed anything. I told him I already ordered coffee from another waiter. I probably should’ve reordered from him. Two is better than none.

I decided to walk to see if I saw any signs of coffee shops at the other resorts. They sure are working on that seaweed. Several groups throughout the beach. It’s a mess.

I do like that I can walk down the path and be close to the water without having to get in the sand. The beach itself is more walkable than Planet Hollywood was. At Planet Hollywood you had to cross the bridge to get to the beach and you would sink in the sand. I’m not sure you’re going to be building huge sandcastles here, but the beach is easy to walk on.

I walked all the way down to La Hacienda at the Palace again and was rewarded handsomely.

I thought maybe a pastry or something would go good so I went to the back and found they a churro station (not self-service) that was to my liking.

I liked the service here so much I ordered a Bloody Mary. They even have Tabasco.

Thank you sir may I have another?

I’m walking back to the hotel using the path that takes you through all of the hotel lobbies. It’s a nice walk. It’s shaded and there’s a lot of scenery. Plants, pools, statues, and iguanas.

I came upon another theater at the Colonial Resort.

I would love to see some live table games in the casino but I doubt they have them.

Plaza Mexicana – Authentic Mexican Handcrafts.

The casino doesn’t open until 6pm but I’m going to take a peek inside.

There are some table games in there by the bar. I can’t tell if they’re the electronic ones like they had in Jamaica or if they’re real. I’ll have to check it out tonight.

This is in the Beach resort which is next to mine. It seems to not have many guests and be undergoing some renovations.

I made it back to my hotel. It’s a long walk down to the lobby from my room. I walked past 63 rooms on my way down to the lobby/buffet area this morning.

This is what the swim out rooms are like.

I decided to try out the hot tub before lunch. With a couple pina coladas.

I found something that is close to the room. That pool bar. The walkway on the right goes inside to the elevator close to my room. So while the tub was filling up, I ran down and grabbed the two pina coladas.

I’m going to shower, change, and go looking for lunch. I’m thinking one those beach grills.

Just before I left the room a guy knocked on the door with a cart of items for the fridge. I guess he was going around restocking fridges. I got some water and Coronas to stock my fridge.

I decided to try this grill. It was packed yesterday.

The parts of the buffet that weren’t self-service didn’t really have anything I wanted. I’m going try the grill at Palace. I think you order off of a menu there. If not I know of a good taco station in their buffet.

While I’m here I’ll get a margarita.

It looks like they’re setting up for a wedding reception on the beach.

Unless T&J is Tom and Jerry and they’re just going to play cartoon reruns.

The Coral Grill at the Palace is open.

They have a nice view here.

This is a weird one. The server said something to the effect of “Its a buffet.” I think okay…. There must be a buffet somewhere I didn’t see. I assumed people were ordering off of menus because I saw people eating in here and I didn’t see a buffet. 

I walk to the back. I see no buffet. I ask a sever. Apparently the coral grill  is a place where you bring food from a buffet and eat it here.

Its just across the hall. But if this an extension of the buffet they should call it buffet. The view is better. But no. I’m not going to go get buffet food and carry it over here. I’m going to drink this beer and then I’m going to go eat in La Hacienda. 

Maybe I’ll drink one more first.

I’m at la hacienda and I have a seat that can show the bar/coffee shop area. The buffet is behind the pillar.

Now we’re talking! They have a nacho station and a steak station. Even the desserts have people serving it. Only the salad is self-service.

Since they’re serving desserts, I decided to try one. 

I asked the server for suggestions. She said the chocolate cake or this. I went with this since it looked different and not too big. It’s good. It has a coconut macadamia nut thing happening.

I like this coco bar. It’s probably the closest they have to a beach bar.

Boom that’s it. The good drink from yesterday. It’s a strawberry banana daiquiri.

The Barcelo WiFi is spotty. I have to switch back and forth between that and my AT&T. Fortunately I have unlimited talk, text, and data in Mexico. I’ll have another daiquiri.

I wish I knew about this ahead of time. I’d show up in a Tom and Jerry shirt and be like what the heck? Who are Tim and Jane?

A couple of things watching volleyball here. 

First a ball is going out of bounds and one of the players busts it trying to kick it. I’m not a professional volleyball player or anything but I don’t think you’re even allowed to kick it. So why risk injury trying to do it?

Then a ball goes over to this hammock area and bounces into a guy’s lap as I was walking by. I told him “I saw this on The Karate Kid. He’s interested.”

This sounds good.

They have a pirate ship bar. That’s cool!

I wish I could sit at that bar. I wonder if that’s the thing or if it’s just a COVID precaution.

Oh heck it’s showtime.

Here are the highlights.

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I’m guessing they wouldn’t get my Tom and Jerry joke.

Here is the long version.

You do these things in a public setting like this and you end up with people like me and this guy in your wedding photos.

I thought this was a legitimate cultural experience and now they’re playing rolling in the deep.

I decided I wasn’t hungry for my 6:30 Japanese reservation so I went to guest services to see if I could push it back. She said she couldn’t change reservations after 5pm. Well I’m sorry but I can’t force feed myself at 6:30 either. I decided to take matters into my own hands and go door to door trying for a later reservation.

I went to the Japanese place and was told they are full tonight. I went to the Mexican place and was able to get an 8pm reservation.

I went back to the guest services and asked if I could get Japanese on Wednesday. They only had stupid times like 5:30 and 9:30. I pushed it back to Thursday and was able to get 7:30pm.

Now that I freed up a couple hours before dinner, I’m going to check out the casino. I stepped outside and the shuttle bus was there.

The good news is they have live table games. The bad news they don’t have anyone playing. I won’t play alone so I grabbed a beer at the bar.

I don’t think they change that beer often. It’s flat as heck. My friend who went to Cozumel with me started texting asking about my day so I got a vodka tonic for him.

There is a haunted house across from the casino but I believe it is closed due to COVID.

I’m sitting here waiting for a bus. I start to get on one and the driver tells me the next bus is the one that goes to Riviera. Just when I start to contemplate walking, my ride gets here 

We pull up at 7:58 and I am heading to my 8pm dinner reservation.

I am at the Mexican restaurant tonight. Here is a look at the menu.

I want to know what’s going on at the taco bar. That’s a special reservation you can make that is just tacos.

That beer took so long I forgot I ordered it. I mean I’ve been seated for over 20 minutes.

Crab filled with Tampico. This is really good. It’s the best thing I’ve had at the resort so far.

Lime soup

Peninsula Shrimp. That’s a pineapple sauce on the left and a chipotle sauce on the right. I used the chipotle sauce and then had to use a little of the pineapple when I ran out.

Mexican bread pudding.

I thought there was a show here at 9:30. Apparently you have to go to the colonial resort for that. The bus is packed to the gills.

On the way from the bus stop to the show I passed this. I guess this is where they have church on sunday.

It’s a fairly short walk from the theater to the casino. I headed there after the show.

They only had three chairs at each table. I’m guessing that’s due to COVID. I wouldn’t have jumped in until the shuffle anyway. One guy left so I jumped in and took his spot. I dropped down a c note. At the shuffle the couple that was playing at the table got up and moved to another table. Now I don’t know if they just didn’t want to wait for the shuffle or if they were trying to get away from me. I don’t want to play alone and I don’t want to move to the other table in case they were trying to get away from me so I just cashed out and left. I broke even.

Apparently the Jaguar night club is closed due to COVID but they have a makeshift nightclub outside of Strikers in the Maya Mall.

After that I headed back to the room for the night. Tomorrow it’s time for a little adventure.

Continue to Barcelo Maya Riviera: Day 3

• all-inclusive
• Barcelo Maya Grand Resort
• Barcelo Maya Riviera
• Mexico