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I've been blessed to have great friends that enjoy traveling as much as I do! I guess that's why we're friends!
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This morning we had our last bit of time in Mexico.
We had just a few hours at the pool before having to leave for the airport.
Things went nice a smoothly and we got back home with no issues.
We've already went to get the dogs and I guess now it's back to reality...in the snow and cold.
Today was the last full day we had in Mexico.
It was a lot nicer out today even though the temperature was only supposed to be in the 70's. The sun was out and shining.
After breakfast we went to the pool. I didn't even get in the water all day, but it was really nice.
I did get yelled at by the staff in the snack buffet room because I went to get us hotdogs and apparently should have had shorts on. Although I had a t-shirt and shoes on and there were many people in even less. I was just going to take the hotdogs outside but they said I couldn't do that either, even though yesterday we did and others were too.
I just felt a bit annoyed, plus we didn't eat the food so they were just sitting on the plate next to the edge of the room for hours until we were ready to go in and eat a full meal.
Oh well!
The rest of the day we tried to spend outside too. We had dinner reservations at the seafood restaurant, and it seemed to be the least favorite restaurant that we tried. I had the salmon, and it was good.
After dinner we walked down the beach and saw a few weddings and also a work party. The work party was HUGE. They had a large section of the beach roped off and filled with tables, food, and multiple bar stations. But the best part was the live band. They sounded good!
We may just take it easy tonight. Sorta like how I do most nights.
Well today was a little cloudy and gray with a little rain sprinkled in.
It wasn't that bad, and we still sat out by the pool for a bit after breakfast.
After a little lunch we decided to take a trip over to Tulum. We had a really nice day walking around the ruins here.
It is a really impressive area of Mayan ruins because they're just off of the beach. We learned that a lot of their placements for buildings and windows had to do with the astronomical alignments. It's just impressive.
Also at the site were some amazing beaches with gorgeous clear blue water, white sand and coral just off the shore. One of the beaches was closed due to the sea turtle eggs though.
It was a really fun day and a perfect little getaway from the resort on a cloudy day.
We had dinner reservations at the Italian restaurant tonight and I had one of the best meals I have had here. I ordered the penne with a spicy tomato sauce because the waiter recommended it and I was not disappointed. My dessert was equally delicious.
It is really hard for me to not have a bunch of Mexican food while I'm here in Mexico, but the resort food has been good. They do a great job of offering a good variety of foods. I personally love the cantelope and cucumbers. Yum!
We did a little shopping tonight and pretty much just bought a few fake pairs of Oakley and Ray Ban sunglasses.
Today Bryan and I spent the day at the pool. It was probably the hottest of the days we've had here. But I think it was probably just the least windy.
We also went into Playa del Carmen this evening.
It was just a short cab ride from the resort and it was fun to walk up and down 5th Avenue with all of the shops.
We ate dinner at a little taco shop which was pretty tasty. Bryan ordered chicken and I had the pulled pork.
We left when it started raining, which felt really cold after being in the sunshine all day and still wearing shorts and a tanktop.
It was another fun day here!
Sorry for a lack of pictures today. The one was of the big blimp that kept cruising over the pool area. The other was from walking around Playa del Carmen.
Today Bryan and I took a day trip to Chichen Itza.
I was really excited about this because it's more of what I normally would do on a vacation.
We got up early to go catch the sunrise on the beach, eat breakfast and then be ready at our pick up location by 8 am.
There were a lot of stops on the way, and to be honest- being in such a large group became a bit frustrating. It seemed to take us so much additional time to get all of these people, transfer buses, wait for people at each stop - that it probably would have been better to have a private tour.
However, we did make 3 stops along our way.
We first stopped to swim in a cenote. The water was cold, but manageable. We also enjoyed a lunch here. The cenote was so deep but it was basically like swimming in a cave but there was just this small opening above the water.
Our next stop was at the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza. The grounds are fairly large and there were a lot of tour groups there.
Our guide took us around everywhere with also giving us an hour at the end to ourselves.
I really liked hearing about the history with the Mayans and their ballfields. It may be a bit gruesome to know they'd cut the heads off of the losing team, but it happened.
They no longer let you climb on top of the ruins, and we actually saw two girls who climbed a wall to get a picture and they were caught and being spoken to by the police!
I had to laugh a little bit with our day here. Our guide talked significantly about how the Mayans would go to Guatemala to get jade or Quetzal feathers and I impressed him with my knowledge that the Quetzal is also the name of currency in Guatemala. I owe that to a wonderful trip there with Christa. The other thing was when I asked Bryan if he wanted to take a picture and pretend like I was decapitating him, he said no and I responded with, well Mesa would have done it.
I've been really lucky to travel with such fun people.
After leaving this stop, we just stopped very briefly at the church in the city of Valladolid. It's a large cathedral that may be one of the first in the Yucatan.
It's been a long day. We made it back to the resort and just had dinner at the buffet.
With the risk of sounding too repetitive, I will try not to mention just how beautiful of a day it was.
Bryan went down to reserve us some chairs by the pool again this morning before we had breakfast. We knew it was going to be an even hotter day because there was hardly any wind.
We saw a few iguanas and geckos which was fun, and we also walked down by the dolphins to get a few pictures. I even participated in the water aerobics class they had at the pool.
We've met a lot of people from Canada, and it seems like a bunch of Minnesota people are still here. I guess it makes sense since it's the perfect time to get away from the cold and snow back home.
I'm still getting used to just lounging around each day and the sun just takes so much out od me.
Bryan took a nap back in the room for a little while, but unfortunately I couldn't fall asleep then.
I took a quick stroll down to the beach just to get around and move for a bit.
Dinner tonight was at the Japanese restaurant, but our reservation wasn't until 9 pm. Which means this is clearly the night I've stayed up the latest.
Tomorrow will be an early day.
Well I was officially lame and fell asleep last night before 9:30, but I blame that on the long travel day.
This morning bryan got up before me and went to save us a few lounge chairs by the pool. It was another beautiful day here and we really enjoyed the sunshine.
We basically spent the day at the pool and we also walked up and down the beach. We caught a bit of the class of those that wanted to swim with the dolphins. The dolphins were great but I just feel bad that they shouldn't be living like that in such a small space.
We had a reservation tonight at the steakhouse and I had the rib eye and Bryan had the pork chops. Everything tasted really great.
After dinner we sat at the bar for a while watching football and then went over to the theater to see a bit of the show tonight.
It was basically a live music show with different artists for each son, and we didn't stay long though.
You know, for this to be so different from the type of traveling I normally do, I've really had a great day.
I like that I haven't had to stress about missing a train or excursion that would screw up the rest of my plans. It was sort of nice to just relax for once.
This morning sure came quickly for Bryan and me.
After dropping the pups off down at Bryan's sister's place and finishing our packing, I think I got about 3 hours of sleep.
It was great to have a direct flight into Cancun. Unfortunately our shared shuttle to the resort dropped 3 other people off so it was almost 2pm by the time we arrived.
The resort is beautiful and huge! I'm totally out of my element. This is no where near the kind of places I usually stay at when I travel.
We had a late lunch at our buffet and were checked into our room by 3.
We have a view of the pool area, but it's not right outside our balcony - which is nice.
We had a nice sunny day so we put our suits on and headed to the pool/beach. It is so amazing. It is gorgeous blue water, and soft white sand.
It was starting to get a little cloudy but we still jumped into the pool and swam up to the bar for a few Coronas. There were so many people from Minnesota and Wisconsin that we chatted with a little bit.
We has a little rain, but it didn't last long.
We had a nice walk along the beach and around the resort. We tried walking from end to end and the area is so expansive that there seems to be something new around each turn.
All in all, it's been a fantastic day.
