Paradise is Very Nice – another week @Las Hadas

February 1st marks the start of the new year for travel for Vacation Sus. First up, is a week of slow and easy at Las Hadas resort in Manzanillo, Mexico. Maybe it’s boring that I keep coming back to the same resort year after year, but of all of the travelling I do in a year, this week away seems like my only true vacation.

I’ve gotten to the point in life where every meal I eat requires extensive thought. Whether it’s a meal I”m making, a lunch out or researching for a trip, I spend hours and hours of time in advance thinking about  what to eat. Sometimes I wonder what I could have become if I channelled all the time spent thinking about food into something more useful, but usually that thought becomes sidetracked with a hunger pang, or the want for something delicious to put into my mouth.

All this thought about food can be exhausting, and it’s one of the reason’s why I enjoy my week at Las Hadas so much. Because on top of the wonderful 30 degree sunny weather and getting to lie on a beach all week with no thoughts other than those from the pages of the many books I read, it’s also a bit of a break from the constant thought of food.

So it may surprise you that in my constant search for the best food experiences, I can exist quite pleasurably in the world of food mediocrity for a week. I have even found that it’s easiest to maximize decompression in a week through routine, which I fall into quite comfortably at Las Hadas.

I start every morning by wandering around the resort to watch the sunrise and to rustle up some coffee.

The food at Las Hadas can be described as good, not great, although at some points just ok. Every once in a while it’ll surprise you and be very good.

Breakfasts are the pinnacle of my day, and I can put together a very good meal. I start with the mystery “green juice” and visit the egg station to have a sunny side up, or a quesadilla filled with mushrooms and cheese  or sometimes an omelette, and then finish that up with a bowl of yogurt with delicious fruit sprinkled with coconut and pecans. I’m happiest at breakfast but who wouldn’t be, in an environment like this.

After breakfast I hit the beach. I like to sit up in the front row and remember to pick my head up every once in a while to appreciate the beauty of where I am.

At lunch, I could eat at the beach, but I find it more civilized to go to the restaurant under the big palapa to be treated to a view of the water coupled with a salad of some sort or a shrimp cocktail.

Dinners? Well that ‘s usually where I find myself a bit wanton, but after a stop at the gorgeous lobby bar for a margarita on the rocks, I can’t help but forgive the fact that the beachside party or Mexican fiesta don’t quite meet my food expectations. Even if I go to sleep dreaming of better meals, there’s nothing that can quite temper my need for food adventure like another morning quietly watching the sunrise with a warm (albeit mediocre) coffee in my hand.

One of the best things about my leisure week away is the stack of books I tackle, where there’s usually no shortage of food related literature I’ve been waiting to read all year. This year, I’ve had the pleasure of reading 2 very good food books, Grant Achatz’s Life on the Line and The Sorcerer’s Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at El Bulli. So while my culinary adventures at Las Hadas may not be a blip in my food radar, I do gain food knowledge while I’m away.

With my week almost done, I’m recharged and ready for another year of great food experiences. But not before I enjoy one last margarita or 2…