Smiling Mom

Hubby and I took our first real vacation together since we were married six years ago.  And we took it without kids!!  Thanks to my mom and dad, we were given the gift of time to reconnect, relax, and enjoy Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.  It was gorgeous!!  Hubby decided to blog send daily emails to our family to let them know how our trip was going.  I called this a blogging, he did not.  Whatever.   Since he did the leg work, I thought I’d steal his words and sprinkle in a few additional pictures for your enjoyment! 

Mmmmmm breakfast. Nette and I thought we’d go native today and had a different kind of meal. We, of course got our fresh-squeezed orange juice, coffee, and assortment of melons, but wait, there’s more. Today we had Motulenos. It’s a fried corn tortilla topped with re-fried beans, three eggs over-easy, ham, green peas, tomato sauce, and goat cheese. Very tasty. Oh, and don’t forget the staple fried banana (at every meal).

This is the view from where I sit…

The above blog post email made me laugh until I cried.  I told Hubby that next thing we’d know, he’d be taking the iPhone into the bathroom with him and doing a “View From Here”, narrating every move….  Apparently I laughed too loud and for too long because moments later he sent out this blog post email to our family looking for suppot.  Heheehe!!

Nette is laughing at me right now. She says you’re laughing at me, too. She says you think I’m ridiculous because I’ve “sent like 82 emails since we got here.”  You don’t think I’m ridiculous, do you?

By the way, this is just one example of the cool little things they make with our towels everyday. One day was swans, one was Eskimos and one was these elephants…

For the remainder of our trip, I narrated most every activity Hubby and I did as if I was writing a View From Here. “And here we are, walking to our bedroom (eyebrow wag) life is good with no kids…”  “As you can see, this is a picture of Nette putting sunscreen on, it’s really hot out here!”  “As you saw from the last picture, I was on page 152 of my book, now I’m on page 154…”

I can be SO clever sometimes!! Right?? Hey, if no one else thinks I am, I’ve always got me because I think I’m hilarious!!

Hubby and I took our first real vacation together since we were married six years ago.  And we took it without kids!!  Thanks to my mom and dad, we were given the gift of time to reconnect, relax, and enjoy Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.  It was gorgeous!!  Hubby decided to blog send daily emails to our family to let them know how our trip was going.  I called this a blogging, he did not.  Whatever.   Since he did the leg work, I thought I’d steal his words and sprinkle in a few additional pictures for your enjoyment! 

Today we took the big trip to Chichen Itza. Rose at 6:20, van left at 7:45. 3 hour ride there with one tourist-shop stop midway. Once we arrived, we were certainly in the middle of the jungle. The heat was stifling.

The ruins were incredible.

Our tour guide, Sergio, was a wealth of knowledge, having been in the tourism industry for 28 years. He not only gave us details about the ruins, but he told us about history, geology, and anthropological facts that I’m certain weren’t widely disseminated.

He did the entire tour in both English and Spanish as we had people from Spain, Argentina, and us in our little 10-person tour group.  Nette and I were amazed at the precision of construction, the sheer size and complexity of some of the structures, and the interweaving of science, math, and the calendar into all aspects of their life and building. Not to mention, the mandatory decapitation for the captain of the losing team for Mayan basketball was pretty cool.

(I felt a wee bit lame doing this…as evident on my face.)

After the ruins, we headed off to an “authentic” (translated: “dive”) Mayan buffet. The place was crappy, but the food was great.

Next stop was going to be an old Spanish town from the 1400’s, but while on our way there, it absolutely started pouring. When we arrived in the town (very quaint, by the way), all the streets were completely flooded. We drove once around the town square and headed out to our final destination.

A cenote, a limestone cave filled with fresh water.  It was breathtaking. The bottom has filled with water up to 16 feet deep in some parts. So, naturally, we had to swim in it. We walked down many limestone steps maybe 100 feet underground or so and swam in a giant limestone cave. Very cool.

Then another 2 hour van ride back to the hotel. Total time: 12 hours.

Dinner consisted of an awesome shrimp-filled avocado appetizer, soup, a chicken main course, and a chocolate mousse dessert. Of course, I had to have my sangria with dinner (I love me my fruity drinks) while Nette partook of a piña colada.

We hit the sack right after dinner because we are so absolutely exhausted from the day. Hence, the view from here…

Hubby and I took our first real vacation together since we were married six years ago.  And we took it without kids!!  Thanks to my mom and dad, we were given the gift of time to reconnect, relax, and enjoy Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.  It was gorgeous!!  Hubby decided to blog send daily emails to our family to let them know how our trip was going.  I called this a blogging, he did not.  Whatever.   Since he did the leg work, I thought I’d steal his words and sprinkle in a few additional pictures for your enjoyment! 

It’s now 6:50 pm on Sunday, July 27th. We are sitting at the beach awaiting dinner in 10 minutes or so. Our day consisted of a walk into town where we managed to only buy lunch, Nette a sarong, and some water to drink. Once back at the hotel we booked our spot in a van bound for Chichen Itza tomorrow. Then we spent the entire afternoon swimming in the Caribbean and reading under a palm shade.

This evening we couldn’t miss the sangria and mojitos at happy hour, then back to the beach where we now sit waiting for dinner.

There will likely be no update until tomorrow night as the van leaves at 7:45 am and doesn’t return until 7:30 pm.

Until then, enjoy the view from here.

Hubby and I took our first real vacation together since we were married six years ago.  And we took it without kids!!  Thanks to my mom and dad, we were given the gift of time to reconnect, relax, and enjoy Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.  It was gorgeous!!  Hubby decided to blog send daily emails to our family to let them know how our trip was going.  I called this a blogging, he did not.  Whatever.   Since he did the leg work, I thought I’d steal his words and sprinkle in a few additional pictures for your enjoyment! 

Well, it’s about 8:50 am on Sunday, July 27th. We just got back from breakfast which consisted of about 8 different fresh fruits (including Papaya and Mango), pastries, cereals, and Denny’s-rivaling combinations of eggs, bacon, sausages, ham, pancakes, and French toast. The coffee was rich and all the orange juice was fresh-squeezed. Total cost: $2 (for the tip).

We finally got to the hotel last night at about 9:30 pm (7:30 pm our time). The trip was relatively uneventful except for the tremendous a-hole sitting next to us from Dallas to Cancun. He didn’t bother us, but I was certainly impressed with the decorum our flight attendants showed with his never-ending string of bitching. He eventually ceased the majority of his entitled griping somewhere into his 4th or 5th round of drinks (he ended up having 9 or 10 rounds total on a 2-1/2 hour flight).

The hotel is beautiful. We are on the second floor of a 2-story bungalow. Each floor is one room with a bathroom and a walk-in shower. We have a thatch roof, fan, and the all-important A/C in our room. Our deck (not shared with anyone) is

where I write this from. There are two hammocks on our deck they installed when we got here. It’s hot, humid, and peaceful. Really, the only sounds I hear right now are the strange sounds of birds I’ve never heard before and the waterfall of a fountain in our courtyard.

Every path is covered over with sand. We are surrounded by palm trees of all different sorts, including coconuts. We will probably walk into town layer today (a few miles round trip) for some lunch. Our grandiose plans for the entire week consist of one trip to Chichen Itza (Mayan ruins), maybe some snorkeling, and a whole lotta nuthin’ else. We are going to read, relax, swim in the pool and the ocean, read, relax, sleep, eat, read, and relax.
For now, please enjoy a picture with a view from where I am sitting right at this moment. We send our love and are thinking about all of you.