mayaflya
17th April 2007, 09:48 AM
I had seen some photos of the HBR entry and reception areas (as well as other parts of the resort) on line, but it really looked better in person. I don't know if the shots I had seen were taken before landscaping had really gotten established, but the whole place, while not large in size, was very lush and colorful. It felt intimate and elegant. The main resort building is two story and built in a wide "V" with the restaurant anchoring the landside point of the "V". The reception building was on the grounds behind this main building, but there was very little activity here, except for uniformed staff going about their duties. No nudes in sight, (although it was perfectly fine to wander the grounds nude).
Check in was fairly simple, just filling out an address and information form, agreeing to the resort rules, etc., while getting the cool towel and champagne treatment. The concierge said that our room was not yet ready, but would be available in an hour. She said we could leave our luggage and/or clothes there in reception, and they would find us when the room was ready. We opted to leave the luggage, but kept our clothes on (there was no pressure or expectation either way from staff, and I figured the wife would prefer to get the lay of the land first). It was near enough to noon, so we decided to eat lunch while waiting for the room.
HBR has one restaurant, "La Vista", but there are both indoor and outdoor (poolside) dining areas. The indoor dining room was deserted, but it appeared that not many people were eating outside either, yet. We decided to eat inside, as we didn't want to be conspicuous (one of the ironies of nudist resorts, is that you draw much more attention wearing clothes than being naked!). Lunch was ordered from the menu, very good....I had some kind of seafood dish that I've since forgotten about...but my mind was really not on the food at that point... The service was very attentive. The two waiters, Angel and Jesus, introduced themselves, asked our names, and then called us by name the rest of the weekend. It was a leisurely lunch, as we needed to kill time until our room was ready.
We finished eating, but hadn't been "found" yet. It felt a little awkward to hang out by the pool in our travel clothes, so I told the wife, I was going to take reception up on it's offer to hold my clothes... There was a restroom between the restaurant and reception, so I went in there to disrobe....another irony, no? When I came out, the wife suggested I ask about the room when I went to reception. So I walked over there, where the concierge told me the that our room was now ready. She gave me the keys and some other resort information, and said that someone would escort us to the room shortly. I found the wife outside, the staff found us, and off we went around the rear of the main building.
The "entry" doors to the suites are all on the land side of the building. The ground floor rooms have the patio doors on the ocean side as well, but access for upper floor rooms is from stairs at the back. I was glad we had opted for the swim up suite, as that had a much nicer relationship with the amenities of the resort.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/177/462924675_af8ef67c15_o.jpg
The "swim up" aspect was cool, but the real practical advantage to the suite was that you could step out of your room and get to the beach, bar, pool, or restaurant directly. We entered the room from the "official" door (we only used that door twice, once when we arrived, and again when we left to check out!).
I was very impressed with the room. The bed was a like a vision from heaven...after the thin beach mattresses at SOP. It was also one of the tallest beds I have ever seen. I had to "hike" myself up to sit on it.. The jacuzzi was filled and there was an iced bucket of champagne sitting on the edge. There was an armoire with TV, dvd player, and mini fridge, and a liquor dispenser on the wall...we never used these while we there, however.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/209/462920632_55464a0efe_o.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/207/462920462_f5e0000983_o.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/189/462920424_a4c6da57fd_o.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/253/462920396_25b8331a79_o.jpg
The staff person said that our luggage (and my clothes!) would be brought to the room shortly, and excused herself.
I thought the wife, might want to "hide out" in the room for a while, but she surprised me, by taking her clothes off and saying she wanted to check out the beach. (I think she has learned how to "blend in" at a nudist resort!). We went out onto the patio, which had a couple of chairs and a hammock, and then crossed our "bridge" to check out the beach scene. HBR is small.....42 rooms...which translates into 84 guests, tops. But between the rooms, the restaurant, the pool, the hot tub, the bar, and the beach, it was easy for the place to "soak up" all of those people....you would only see a handful of other guests at a time. There were about a dozen palapas with swing beds on the beach, and many more portable loungers and "umbrella type" palapas as well. There was always a spot available on the beach. Big fluffy beach towels were stacked everywhere.
We grabbed a few towels and claimed a vacant swing bed on the end of the beach nearest our room. We had the next to last room on the north end of the building (opposite of the EDSS side). I had e-mailed a request for an isolated room earlier, and was pleased with the location. I had read elsewhere that room assignments are made about two weeks before arrival, so I had timed my request to coincide with that schedule. I hadn't heard back, but they either got the message, or we got lucky. We were very much in the minority, as most guests were there for a week or longer, and the swim up rooms were sold out, so I didn't know how much pull we would have, but I couldn't have been more pleased. So we had our post lunch nap on our beach bed...very pleasant.
We stayed out on the beach for an hour or two, but it started to cloud up. There was a massive storm that was passing onshore south of us, at one point the cloud build-up, while not overhead, started to block the sun. It wasn't cold, but the wind was blowing pretty hard, and it seemed like a good time to "check out" the room.
I mentioned that the jacuzzi had been filled when we arrived, and there was a bottle of champagne on ice. We weren't quite in the mood for that then, but now it sounded pretty good....and amazingly, the water in the tub was still warm. I really am not a fan of champagne....carbonated wine is pretty disgusting, but when in Rome....and the glasses and ice bucket were very elegant. We opened the bottle and had a couple of toasts to a side of Mexico that we had not yet had the pleasure to experience. Five stars...four stars, who cares, it was all up the hill from where we normally live!
to be continued....
Check in was fairly simple, just filling out an address and information form, agreeing to the resort rules, etc., while getting the cool towel and champagne treatment. The concierge said that our room was not yet ready, but would be available in an hour. She said we could leave our luggage and/or clothes there in reception, and they would find us when the room was ready. We opted to leave the luggage, but kept our clothes on (there was no pressure or expectation either way from staff, and I figured the wife would prefer to get the lay of the land first). It was near enough to noon, so we decided to eat lunch while waiting for the room.
HBR has one restaurant, "La Vista", but there are both indoor and outdoor (poolside) dining areas. The indoor dining room was deserted, but it appeared that not many people were eating outside either, yet. We decided to eat inside, as we didn't want to be conspicuous (one of the ironies of nudist resorts, is that you draw much more attention wearing clothes than being naked!). Lunch was ordered from the menu, very good....I had some kind of seafood dish that I've since forgotten about...but my mind was really not on the food at that point... The service was very attentive. The two waiters, Angel and Jesus, introduced themselves, asked our names, and then called us by name the rest of the weekend. It was a leisurely lunch, as we needed to kill time until our room was ready.
We finished eating, but hadn't been "found" yet. It felt a little awkward to hang out by the pool in our travel clothes, so I told the wife, I was going to take reception up on it's offer to hold my clothes... There was a restroom between the restaurant and reception, so I went in there to disrobe....another irony, no? When I came out, the wife suggested I ask about the room when I went to reception. So I walked over there, where the concierge told me the that our room was now ready. She gave me the keys and some other resort information, and said that someone would escort us to the room shortly. I found the wife outside, the staff found us, and off we went around the rear of the main building.
The "entry" doors to the suites are all on the land side of the building. The ground floor rooms have the patio doors on the ocean side as well, but access for upper floor rooms is from stairs at the back. I was glad we had opted for the swim up suite, as that had a much nicer relationship with the amenities of the resort.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/177/462924675_af8ef67c15_o.jpg
The "swim up" aspect was cool, but the real practical advantage to the suite was that you could step out of your room and get to the beach, bar, pool, or restaurant directly. We entered the room from the "official" door (we only used that door twice, once when we arrived, and again when we left to check out!).
I was very impressed with the room. The bed was a like a vision from heaven...after the thin beach mattresses at SOP. It was also one of the tallest beds I have ever seen. I had to "hike" myself up to sit on it.. The jacuzzi was filled and there was an iced bucket of champagne sitting on the edge. There was an armoire with TV, dvd player, and mini fridge, and a liquor dispenser on the wall...we never used these while we there, however.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/209/462920632_55464a0efe_o.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/207/462920462_f5e0000983_o.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/189/462920424_a4c6da57fd_o.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/253/462920396_25b8331a79_o.jpg
The staff person said that our luggage (and my clothes!) would be brought to the room shortly, and excused herself.
I thought the wife, might want to "hide out" in the room for a while, but she surprised me, by taking her clothes off and saying she wanted to check out the beach. (I think she has learned how to "blend in" at a nudist resort!). We went out onto the patio, which had a couple of chairs and a hammock, and then crossed our "bridge" to check out the beach scene. HBR is small.....42 rooms...which translates into 84 guests, tops. But between the rooms, the restaurant, the pool, the hot tub, the bar, and the beach, it was easy for the place to "soak up" all of those people....you would only see a handful of other guests at a time. There were about a dozen palapas with swing beds on the beach, and many more portable loungers and "umbrella type" palapas as well. There was always a spot available on the beach. Big fluffy beach towels were stacked everywhere.
We grabbed a few towels and claimed a vacant swing bed on the end of the beach nearest our room. We had the next to last room on the north end of the building (opposite of the EDSS side). I had e-mailed a request for an isolated room earlier, and was pleased with the location. I had read elsewhere that room assignments are made about two weeks before arrival, so I had timed my request to coincide with that schedule. I hadn't heard back, but they either got the message, or we got lucky. We were very much in the minority, as most guests were there for a week or longer, and the swim up rooms were sold out, so I didn't know how much pull we would have, but I couldn't have been more pleased. So we had our post lunch nap on our beach bed...very pleasant.
We stayed out on the beach for an hour or two, but it started to cloud up. There was a massive storm that was passing onshore south of us, at one point the cloud build-up, while not overhead, started to block the sun. It wasn't cold, but the wind was blowing pretty hard, and it seemed like a good time to "check out" the room.
I mentioned that the jacuzzi had been filled when we arrived, and there was a bottle of champagne on ice. We weren't quite in the mood for that then, but now it sounded pretty good....and amazingly, the water in the tub was still warm. I really am not a fan of champagne....carbonated wine is pretty disgusting, but when in Rome....and the glasses and ice bucket were very elegant. We opened the bottle and had a couple of toasts to a side of Mexico that we had not yet had the pleasure to experience. Five stars...four stars, who cares, it was all up the hill from where we normally live!
to be continued....