#2279 Mexico memories & musings

Hola amigas! We are back from a nice vacation on the Riviera Maya. I love to go on vacation and I am happy to come home as well.

We stayed at a beautiful resort, Ventus at Marina El Cid. The room was nice; the only thing I didn't like about it was the location, directly across from the elevator. It was kinda noisy. We had two beds plus a murphy bed, so we each had our own little space. I don't think the regular beds were queen size, but maybe they were. I was comfy in my own space, and I think MT was too. The murphy bed was quite firm, but T slept well.

I won't bore you with the day-to-day details because my days were all the same: have breakfast, go sit by the pool, read, have lunch, drink beer in the afternoon, and then have dinner.I ate chips and guacamole every day. MT went snorkeling three times. The guys went on an adventure excursion at Selvatica. I think they did the one called Off-Road. They rode ATVs, went zip-lining (something neither of them had done before) and swam in the cenote. They had a great time.

On Thursday the three of us did an all-day excursion in which we went to Chichen Itza. We have been fortunate to see several of the Mayan ruins in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. I wouldn't say that Chichen Itza was my favorite, but El Castillo is enormous.The Mayans were remarkable in their engineering and mathematics.

From there, we went to a cenote where we shopped, had lunch, and swam. The final stop was the city of Valladolid for a quick walk around the square.

I will write in more detail on Wednesday about this epic day of touring. I'll post photos too! 

One thing that I decided while I was in Mexico is that I don't like being mono-lingual. It is ridiculous that so many people in the world speak their own language plus English. I need another language or two. I'm working on one right now, French, and I'll be adding Spanish to my lessons.

Another thing I figured out is that when I don't do much else but sit around and read, I can get through a book in a couple of days. I finished three books while I was gone. I was about three quarters of the way through one book when I got there and finished it on Sunday afternoon, which was our first full day there. I started the second book and read it in two days. The third book also took two days. The fourth book took a little longer because I started it on Friday and was reading it on Saturday which was the travel home day. I watched a couple of movies on the plane - and the Utah football game! - which took away from my reading time. I finished that book on Sunday afternoon between dealing with loads of laundry.

I don't really understand when people say "Oh you must hate to be back from vacation." I actually don't hate to be back. I understand that vacation is a break from reality. When the vacation is finished, I am thankful for the experience and looking forward to where I might go next. I will admit, though, that the snow that came today did make me long for the balmy temperatures of the Riviera Maya.

Here's another thought that crossed my mind: I'm lucky and fortunate. We've been able to go to Mexico several times and it has always been great. Before we went, both MT and I were thinking, "Oh, we are going back to Mexico. La di da. Been there, done that." Each trip is different, even though we might do similar things (I am a pro at sitting by the pool). And even if we were not as excited about this trip, I realize that to another person, this trip would be flat-out amazing and wonderful and their dream vacation. So I thank my lucky stars and the hard work that we do in order to be able to go on trips like this and spend time together and get away from real life for a week. It's fucking glorious.

In the end, we had a great time and I actually wouldn't be sad if we found ourselves back at Ventus sometime in the future. Good times!