A Stereotypical Spring Break (Mexico, 2024)

Did you really go to college in the US if you didn’t go to Cancún for at least one spring break? Nope! So, 4 of my roommates and I set off for Mexico.

We flew through Orlando, and despite some painful delays, all’s well that ends well and we arrived in Cancún (after my friend Rajat forgot his passport on the plane when disembarking and had to sprint through the airport). We got to the resort, the Grand Mayan, and after waiting for some of my roommate Mehul’s friends to join us, we got dinner and drinks at Salum, a resort restaurant. It was late and we were gassed from the flight, so we decided to relax at the resort by walking on the beach and eventually falling asleep for a short while on the beachside beds. It was a little too relaxing, as waking up and returning to the room felt like a herculean task, especially since our room wasn’t walking distance from the main area and needed a golf cart.

We woke up late the next morning and headed to Waves and Tacos (another resort restaurant) for brunch. The food the night before was pretty solid, so we had high expectations. Unfortunately, this place did not meet those standards. We wanted to hit the gym, but we were turned away after not bringing closed-toe shoes. Instead of accepting defeat, we took the 30-minute journey back to our room (walking + golf carts) to pick up our shoes to workout. The vibes were off, but they were revived with a bit of post-gym cornhole. Our competitive spirit combined with our gambling addiction (kidding!) made the game exhilarating. I also discovered my latent talent for cornhole and was the league’s MVP for the day. We wrapped up the afternoon by playing pool volleyball with other guests in the resort. As a note, there weren’t really any college kids at Grand Mayan and the younger crowd was around 30. It was still a vibe, but we decided to spend all our nights outside the resort because of that,

Once our spirits were all uplifted by this glorious game, we got ready and headed into Playa del Carmen for the night. Our first stop was dinner at El Fogón, a local taco spot and we were excited for some local cuisine. The food was amazing, but looking around at the touristy crowd, we realized that if our resort taxi took us here, it definitely wasn’t the hole-in-the-wall spot we were looking for. We ventured around PDC (that’s what the cool kids call it) and sampled various bars and clubs, but only the ones that did not have a cover! They were fun but considering it was a Monday, it was underwhelming. After getting a taxi home, it was time to hit the hay.

The next day was eerily similar to the previous one, but I guess that’s life at a resort. After lunch at Balache (another resort restaurant, this time delicious), a visit to the gym (with shoes this time), some cornhole (another masterclass by me), and pool volleyball/football, we got ready and set off for central Cancún. We fueled up with some pizza and headed to the world-famous Coco Bongo that frequented our social media all too often. As soon as we walked in, we realized what the hype was about. For the next 5 hours, we were treated to a Vegas show combined with a club combined with acrobatic performances and so much more. It was a blast and the hours flew by like minutes. At around 3, we got some water from the local pharmacy and taxied back to our resort.

The next day was eerily similar to the previous one, but I guess that’s life at a resort. After lunch at Balache (again delicious), some cornhole (not an MVP-caliber performance this time), and pool football, we got ready and set off for Playa Del Carmen. First, though, we had to get the resort staff to unlock our safe, since we had accidentally changed the password. They were super helpful and quick, so we made it to PDC for dinner in no time. We grabbed tacos at the spot across from Coco Bongo’s PDC location. We ended up at Clandestino Rooftop, where the DJ was throwing it down. I was more impressed by the mixing than the actual venue. At around midnight, Mehul, his friends, and I decided to take a spontaneous trip to Tulum.

Tulum, though, was shockingly underwhelming. I wasn’t sure if we were in the wrong district or on the wrong day, but quite literally everything was closed and the streets were deserted. It felt like we were inside a GTA server, complete with abandoned vehicles, a man falling off his motorcycle at a stoplight, random dogs, and stray wires. We called it a night after walking around for a couple hours and headed back to our resort. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, our taxi broke down on the side of the highway. At first, the situation was funny and light-hearted, but after about an hour, we became restless and were wondering if we would reach the resort before 6 AM (which is when we had to head out to the airport). It took quite a while to get another taxi willing to come get us and even longer to figure out payment (since there was no connection for his card reader to work and we did not have enough cash).

Once again, all’s well that ends well and we made it back to the hotel around 4:30AM and paid our second driver (after he tried to price gouge and then promptly offered his business card for the future). A quick flight later and we were back in the States.

Takeaways

• Mexican food, even in resorts, is fire
• Some things with social media hype are worth the hype and some things are not. Coco Bongo is worth the hype
• Tulum is either the quietest city of all time, or there are two Tulums and we went to the wrong one
• Cornhole can revive the vibes like nothing else. Bonus points if you put money on it

Rose-Bud-Thorn

Rose (what went well): Lots of great food and fun times with friends. Couldn’t ask for more from a spring break
Bud (what was good but could be improved on): We probably could have organized our excursions into the city better to meet up with friends and hit well-known spots.
Thorn (what did not go well): The resort was definitely not for spring breakers. We got a once-in-a-lifetime deal, though, and had a lot of fun. No regrets!