Mexico Anniversary Trip

Dan and I went on a trip to Cancun last month for our anniversary and it was everything I dreamed of and more.

The girls were even great for the car ride up to VA to drop them at Nana and Papa's. And this is my favorite picture of Lilah ever. 

Aside from our flight being moved from Lynchburg to Charlottesville (sorry Dad!) and the car rental place taking an eternity to get things together, the whole trip was perfect.

Our room got upgraded for free from day one (always travel off-season) and we got THIS view:

Since it was the off-season, I was worried about storms. It had stormed the entire week before we arrived and did again the entire week after we left, but the weather was fantastic while we were there. The only day it rained was our first full day, Sunday, and we spent that time in a somewhat awkward timeshare spiel situation to get free tickets to Chichen Itza and Cenotes anyway, so no skin off my nose. 

The next day, we utilized our free tickets. Cenotes (or The Cenotes? I'm not sure of the proper name) was the first stop. A cenote is a natural pit or cave made of limestone which exposes underground rivers, creating awesome pools. The one was saw was beautiful and much bigger than I was expecting. 

Not everyone wanted to get in and swim, but we brought our suits and YOLO, y'all. It was freezing but really incredible and I'm so glad we did it. 

After a truly horrible buffet lunch (which is saying something coming from me), we headed to Chichen Itza where we sweated like crazy and occasionally picked up some of what the tour guide was saying. He gave a lot of specific information, but not a lot of general information, so I'm still not totally sure if this place was a university or religious training center or city or what...but the specifics were still really interesting. 

I particularly enjoyed this artist's rendering of the victorious team captain's neck spurting blood after he entered paradise via beheading because he won the ball game. 

On Tuesday we took a boat ride to Isla Mujeres. That was a lot of fun and very relaxing. 

When we got to the island, we went snorkeling as a group. 

Then we came back and had another truly horrible buffet lunch and relaxed like I've never relaxed before in my life. 

We rented a little golf cart for an hour or so and drove around the tiny island. There was a TURTLE FARM so of course we hightailed it there so I could spend some time with my spirit animal. 

There were so many of them and so many different kinds. I loved it. 

I saw a sign for cold coconut, and I wanted to try it, so I embarrassed everyone (especially me) and took a picture to memorialize the occasion. 

Turns out it was pretty gross, but I think it would have been almost tasty if it had actually been cold. 

Then we all went to the downtown market and got harassed to buy overpriced crap, as God intended. 

I also had the best ice cream I've ever had. It was custard and nutella flavored, I think. I ate it before I could take a picture. Plus, who takes pictures of their food, or the people on the side of the road who sell it to them? Weirdos, that's who. 

On Wednesday we signed up for another tour called the Jungle Tour. I couldn't take pictures because it was all in the water, but trust me, it was really fun. We were in a group of 5 couples or so plus a guide and each couple got their own little two-person motorboat. We drove the little boats out to a reef and snorkeled for about 45 minutes (and touched an octopus!) then drove back. I guess it doesn't sound like much, but it was great. 

On Thursday, our last full day, we drove down the coast to see Tulum. We didn't want to pay for a tour and I'm so glad we didn't. It's beautiful but we were both drenched with sweat by the time we got to the actual ruins. It was so hot I think I would have strangled a tour guide who'd made us do anything other than head down to the water immediately. 

There were iguanas everywhere. They were all over Isla Mujeres and Chichen Itza, too. We probably looked to the locals the way Californians look to me when they stop to marvel at a squirrel, but I took a picture of every iguana I saw anyway. 

And this really pretty bird. 

I didn't get great pictures of the ruins, but we saw them and it was deathly hot, so it was a pretty short day. It kind of felt like Pompeii because you could see the homes and streets and almost picture the people living there. Although they must have been small people if even Dan has to stoop to get through a doorway.

That night was our last night and we didn't really have much to do. I took some really noteworthy naps on this trip, and I think that afternoon was one of them. So that evening after we'd eaten, we were just hanging around the hotel balcony. I saw a little commotion down on the beach and thought it might be something to do with the small turtle sanctuary at the base of our hotel, so I insisted we go down and check it out. 

I'm so glad we did because I got to HOLD AND RESCUE A BABY SEA TURTLE. 

Some eggs had hatched earlier that day and most of the turtles were gone. However, apparently some of them got lost and came back to the shore that night, so we found them wandering in wrong directions on the beach. There was a British couple and a German couple fretting over them as well, and the British people named the turtles Peter, Paul, and Mary. I got to release Mary back into the water (after checking with the turtle caretaker at the hotel, of course) and it was the most magical end to a vacation ever. 

When we got back to Virginia, we watched the 10-Miler with the girls (and Nana and Papa).

And then Dan finally had his first Cheesy Western. He didn't love the relish, but at least it won't be another Waffle House situation where he refuses to go just because he's never gone before and doesn't want to break the streak. 

We even got to be in town for my friend Bree's wedding, which was so charming and fun. 

The next day, we were home in time to put the kids down and watch the finale of Breaking Bad.

Happy 7th anniversary to us. We should definitely stick it out for number 8.