From Jim and Charles, Atlanta; trip 12/16/04 through 12/23/04
We have just returned (12/24) from a week at HBR. From the moment the gates opened to welcome us, along with champagne, we felt like we had died and gone to heaven. Actually, if heaven is like this….there would be a rush of people all the time. There was but a few people there the entire time…but who wants a crowded resort when the whole purpose of our visit was enjoyment and relaxation. Our room was tastefully decorated and had anything there one could image including the complimentary bottle of champagne which we saved for later on. We loved our visit to HBR because you could do anything you wanted from participating in many of the daily activities to just laying near the beach and chilling out. One of the activities we liked was the ceramic paintings…we did one each, Jim a fish and Charles a little covered dish….the best souvenirs one could bring back from Mexico From reading some past reports, there were complaints about the new pool not being open. Well, we didn’t come to HBR to stay in the shade…you can do it anywhere else this time of year. When the covered pool opens, it will open….so be it. The weather was spectacular the entire time we were there. Even though the water was a little cool in the canal and pool areas, that didn’t stop us. Taking time to get Charles into the “pool canal for a morning walk,” Jeff gave plenty of encouragement. The funniest part came when we were walking and Charles came to the first suite crossover….Jeff mentioned that he didn’t think the crossover would open up for him so that he didn’t get all wet…needless to say, Charles went under this like he was doing the limbo (-: The staff at HBR was superb in every respect. They knew our names and went out of their way to make us feel comfortable. I know that is part of the “policy” of the hospitality industry, but in this case, we felt their efforts were above and beyond. Another delight was the food….the presentations were lovely…changed each day for the breakfast buffet. The variety of items available, including some we tried for the first time was numerous. Needless to say, this is not a place to come if one is losing weight. One of the side trips took us to the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza. You stand there in awe trying to visualize the spectacular efforts with this civilization. From what we were told, there were about a dozen “buildings” unearthed with the thought there could be as many as 600 buildings of some type to be found. On a sad note, the climb up the temple is to end around the end of this year…as the steps of the temple have been worn down due to all the foot traffic. Granted, our guide rambled on and on with a little too much information, but that did not prevent us from having a wonderful night. The other trip was the snorkel boat trip. Yes, we enjoyed it very much even if Jim had trouble with the deep water snorkel…but the inland one, he made it without any problems, even to the point that his tushie got sunburned…and you can imagine the feelings when jeans were put on…ouch! But, this is one event that one should not miss while at HBR. The ending of a vacation like this can be the last night and the morning goodbyes. Well, we made the best of it by spending the last night, under a full moon, laying on the beach – the water was warmer than expected for December -- and having that bottle of champagne we saved from our arrival. How could things get any better than this? We think it would be impossible to be any better. Our week was full of fun, of sun, of meeting good friends from around the USA, Canada and England. Will we come back in 2005 --- you bet.