A Week in Paradise {part 2}

Yesterday, I recapped our days in the sun which were of course amazing, but our nights in Mexico were equally as memorable. The El Dorado Royale has 8 incredible dinner restaurants of which we ate at 6. I really cannot express the caliber of food this resort serves. Everything we ate was SO delicious. And being that we're all such good friends, we shared pretty much everything we ordered so that everyone could try it all. Every night consisted of dinner, a show, lots of cocktails and then room service. But, because I want to remember every detail of this trip I'm going to recap each night separately.

After all 4 of us were showered, dressed and ready, we'd meet outside and wait for our favorite, crazy, hilarious shuttle driver Edy, to swing by and pick us up to bring us to dinner.

No matter the duration, shuttle rides with Edy were hilarious! We loved him!

On Sunday night, we got a late start as we didn't get to the resort until late afternoon. We had dinner at Rincon Mexicano which they describe as "Mexican author Cuisine". This was probably my favorite meal of the trip. I had Tortilla Soup and Beef Brisket and it was to die for. They also had a serve-your-self-tequila bar which we couldn't resist partaking in.

After dinner we headed to the main bar called Guacamayas for a Michael Jackson show. The show itself was pretty brutal but it was a blast to watch the bad impersonation and listen to Michael's classics. After the show Sharisse and I took the floor for full on sweaty dancing. We busted a serious rug, made friends with a small British man who copied all of our moves, lost about 15 pounds of sweat and whipped our hair so much our necks were in serious pain the next day.

Monday night we started off at a wine tasting hosted by the Jackson family, which both Jason and Colin sell! It was a total coincidence and an awesome surprise.

After the tasting we went to dinner at JoJo's Seaside Caribbean Grill. I think across the board this was our least favorite meal - I had a Pepper Alfredo that was good but nothing special. After dinner Sharisse was feeling pretty exhausted from the previous night's shenanigans so we escorted her back to the rooms where we encountered a raccoon eating someone's old room service. Then out of nowhere a cat shows up, hisses at the raccoon that's double it's size, scares the raccoon half to death causing it to run away and then eats the food. It was, without a doubt, one of the weirder things I've ever seen.

Me and the boys weren't quite ready to call it a night so we stopped by the gift shop to buy some cigars then hit up the martini bar for a nightcap. 

Tuesday, we had dinner at Kampai, which was (on our honeymoon) and still is my favorite on the resort. They serve sushi and Pacific Rim cuisine and it is SO FLIPPIN good.  We shared sushi, satays, and spring rolls along with our delicious meals - mine was a noodle and beef stir fry that was to die for. After dinner we went to the show at Guacamayas which was another night of medicocre impressions - this one included Beyonce, Britney and LMFAO among others. It was definitely hilarious and entertaining. We also played a few games of Hockey which is a very intense and competitive card game among our group of friends. And then, more sweaty dancing ensued.

Wednesday night we decided to mix it up and head in to Playa del Carmen for the night. We ate at a fun Mexican (you'd be surprised how many non-Mexican restaurants there are) overlooking the mall. It was fantastic people watching but most of our attention was drawn to a group of men charging people to hold baby cheetahs.  Our dinner was good, but we were definitely spoiled by our resort's amazing food. After dinner we strolled the streets of Playa, shopped for souvenirs and stopped for a drink at another one of the bars. 

Thursday is famously referred to as "fancy night". While planning our vacation, Sharisse and I were very excited about having a nice night with our boys where we could dress up. We made our reservation at the fanciest restaurant at the resort and were pumped.

Fancy night took a turn for the worst when walking to dinner my heels and the ground decided to catapult me flat on my face. I have a nice scrape on the side of my face and chin along with my left hand, left shoulder and right knee. I felt like an idiot and was in some pretty annoying pain but nonetheless we made it to our fancy night dinner. We ate at Fuentes which is a "culinary theater". It's super cool because they have big screen TVs all around the restaurant and in between the courses the chef comes out and explains and prepares the dish so you can see how it's made. The food was delicious! We were all obsessed with the beer, bacon and potato soup along with the shepard's pie with whipped potatoes. 

We did however, bail on our dinner early because it took forever in between courses and we were stuffed. After dinner we were all exhausted and extremely full so we stopped by the show but left early. Colin and Sharisse headed to bed while Jason and I stopped by the martini bar for one more cocktail. Needless to say fancy night was a bust and became a running joke the rest of the trip.

Friday night, Sharisse and I were both disappointed that we only got to wear our fancy night dresses for a short time, so we agreed to re-wear them and in part redo fancy night. We had an incredible 5 course dinner at D'Italia along with bottomless glasses of wine (one of the many benefits of all inclusive). After dinner we went to the show which was El Dorado Idol also known as a karaoke contest. It was so entertaining and so fun to watch! We also had a rematch of Hockey and hung out/danced with our favorite guys from the entertainment team (see yesterday's post).

Saturday, our last night, we had dinner at Sante Fe which was a family style 5 course meal. The chef prepared the appetizers, salad, and soup and then we all chose our entree. I sound like a broken record, but it was incredible. We were all so full from the week, we were certain this final meal would cause us to burst. Per usual, we headed to Guacamayas for the show which this time took place on the beach. It was a fire show and was the best show of the week. I mean, just check out this video:

How on earth do they not burn themselves? Crazy! After the show we went back to the bar to bid farewell to our favorite guys which was super sad. Jason and I got one last margarita and walked to the end of the pier to say goodbye to the ocean. Then, obviously, ordered room service one last time.

This trip was more than I could have ever anticipated. I feel so incredibly grateful that we were able to go and spend quality time as a couple and with our dear friends. There aren't enough thank you's in the world that I could give to our parents for taking Kenley so that we could enjoy this time together. Life is crazy and busy and with little ones it's not always possible to take time like this to yourselves and we are so lucky we were able to do so. I am also grateful for such amazing friends. To be able to spend a full week together and get along so great and not get sick of each other is pretty awesome. We came home with killer tans, great stories, and countless new inside jokes {worms, yeah yeah yeah, i retract my boom, sunglasses, warm tequila, extra inch....}. We are all in a post-vacation funk and are so sad this fabulous trip is over.  Now to figure out when we can go back.....