Hi y'all! This past week we went on a spur of the moment trip to Mexico. Back in June we went to a timeshare presentation and even though we did not buy a timeshare we got a free 7 night stay at a resort. They had a lot of options; however, the certificate only allowed us to see 30 days ahead of the time we could go. So based on plane tickets it was actually quite difficult to find a place that was affordable to fly to with such short notice. But Mexico made it possible. We got the hotel and flights two weeks before we left for the trip. It was last minute alright, but so much fun and worth it! Here are some of the highlights from our trip!
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| The front entrance to the resort |
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| The couches were designed as beds, and 2 more beds pull out from under them. |
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| This is where we ate oatmeal for breakfast (everyday) and ramen for dinner (almost everyday)! |
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| This is only part of the resort's pool! This place was huge! The beach is right behind us in this picture. |
The first day we visited the Coba Ruins. These Mayan ruins were awesome. However, I am not going to tell you all the history because I'm sure you would all skip over it anyways. But if you do want to know more about them click
Here. Our favorite part of the tour was being able to venture off and explore the area on our own and then climb the 130 steps of the Mayan Coba pyramid! Right before the Coba tour started the guides took us to several cenotes which are sinkholes in the limestone that are filled with subsurface water that moves through the rock.
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| Tortuga Cenote |
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| A Dry Cenote |
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| Swimming inside a cave Cenote. It was kind of creepy and there were a ton of bats! |
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| Coba Pyramid! |
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| At the top overlooking beautiful, hot and humid Mexico |
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| It was super steep |
Next stop took us to one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Chichen Itza! You were not allowed to climb the pyramid even though it was shorter than the Coba pyramid, but we didn't mind. It was very grand and this particular area was much larger than Coba and had a lot more to discover. I wish we could have stayed all day here, but it took over 2 hours to even reach the ruins! Chichen Itza had a lot of interesting history as well, but more in particular to the pyramid and how it aligned with the stars and planets for the solstices throughout the year. If you want to know more click
here.
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| This is a "court" where the Mayans played a game similar to basketball and soccer. They used a rubber ball made from ashes, tree bark and a plant syrup. Then using their hips, elbows, feet, knees and shoulders they tried to put the ball through a circular hoop on each side of the court. At the end of the game there was usually human sacrifice of the players, but there is speculation as to if it was the winners, losers or both. Watch the cartoon movie "El Dorado" and you will understand even better, plus its an awesome movie! |
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| A rubber ball made from tree bark, ashes, and the plant syrup. And it bounces! |
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| A cenote that was used for human sacrifice. They found human remains at the bottom. |
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| Chichen Itza - look up pictures of this pyramid during the solstices |
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| After Chichen Itza we went to a beautiful cenote called Ikil and did some cliff jumping and swimming |
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| Can you see Colby? |
The next few days we went snorkeling in several different areas and swam with a whale shark. Whale Sharks are gentle giants; they eat plankton and krill. We didn't get to see the whale shark very long, but it was worth it to swim next to such a huge and beautiful animal!
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| Our first beach was Xcacel! It had tons of turtle nests, hermit crabs and lots of fish to see! The best part was it was not crowded! Not many people know about it. |
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| After exploring Xcacel we went to Akumal Bay where they have tons of sea turtles everywhere!! We saw at least ten of them! They were all over the place! |
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| The next day we went swimming with a whale shark! Oh Yeah! We look good! |
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| Whale Shark! It was so big and we were so close that it would not fill the camera screen! About 40 feet in length! |
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| After swimming with the whale shark we went to Isla Mujeres and they had the best beaches for relaxing! |
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| Hanging out on the boat. Everyone on our boat got sea sick. Even though we got a little sea sick it was not too bad. Neither of us got so sick that we couldn't enjoy ourselves. But for others it was a different story. |
Through out the trip we traveled via Mexican "colectivos" and buses. We really enjoyed walking around Playa Del Carmen and enjoying the beautiful beaches. Colby even caught a fish off the pier late at night. Of course not everyone was allowed on the pier, but the man let us on if we gave him a few coins for a drink. So of course we did and Colby caught his first ocean fish! We also got a 70 minute couples massage right on the beach for $20 each! It was totally worth it!
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| Playa Del Carmen |
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| The one night we actually ate at the resort. We decided we deserved one really good dinner besides the ramen noodles we had had for the whole week. |
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| Besides getting a massage this was about the only other time that we really relaxed while on vacation. We were busy all day long the whole week trying to see everything that we could! |
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| On our last day in Playa Del Carmen it started raining pretty hard. We went inside to the nearest place. It was called "The Cupcake Boutique." We didn't have intentions to buy a cupcake, but we did and it was delicious! This cupcake was Oreo. Yum! Colby loved it so much that we got another one later that was Strawberry. These cupcakes were definitely not like American scupcakes. They were more dense and less fluffy, and the frosting was amazing!! |
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| We Went to a true Mexican restaurant and they cooked our meals right out in the open for everyone to see! The local Mexicans suggested this place and it was great! And we got all this food for about $10! Way cheaper than the one time we ate at the resort. |
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| The beach where we relaxed and were given massages. |
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| Colby's first ocean fish! The fellow Mexicans on the pier gave Colby a dead sardine to help him catch a fish, but this fish was smaller than the sardine! hahaha We still don't know how that worked out. |
We love traveling when we can and can't wait for our next adventure!
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| Goodbye Mexico! I am sure we will see you again :) |
