Riviera Maya

I headed down to Rivera Maya, Mexico last week and stayed at the Valentin Imperial Maya, which is an all-inclusive adults only resort. All-inclusive is the only way to go down there. I've been to the Moon Palace before in Cancun, Mexico and both were great experiences

The first morning I ran the beach. It was gorgeous, but very tiring. Running on sand is not the same as pavement or a track, thats for sure! One side of the resort's beach was rock and the other was for swimming from beach straight into water. These pictures were take around 6:30 am, so the sun was just starting to come up.

 This resort had six different restaurants to choose from each night, with buffets for breakfast and lunch. Don't get grossed out by the word "buffet." These are unlike any buffet you've ever been to. Beautiful presentation and amazing food. They had restaurants for all of the following cuisine: Mexican (of course!), French, Indian, Italian, Hibachi/Sushi, and a steak house. Each one was fabulous and presented in the most elegant way possible. 

Below is my favorite dessert from the French restaurant... Cannolis! I love them and these were a new twist on the cannolis I'm used to. 

 Part of the Hibachi dinner was an appetizer of sushi. They were the perfect size and delicious.

Knowing my sweet tooth, you can imagine that I got pastries, cake, and ice cream at each restaurant. My favorite pastry is the one below. It reminded me of a doughnut hole with powdered sugar on top. There was a light butter on the inside, but after sitting for a bit it turned into a boston cream filled doughnut taste or cream puff. Super light. I loved them so much, we asked for the name and recipe. However, it does not translate to english. 

You can't go wrong with mimosas at breakfast each day either...with this view.

Out of all the restaurants,  I would have to say that its a toss up between the Italian and French restaurants. I had filet mignon at the French and ravioli with beef medallions at the Italian. And as we know, I run on ravioli, so I was in heaven. They were delicious too. 

That is all for today, but I will share the rest of the resort and our snorkel adventure later this week!