May

This month has been absolutely glorious!  May is always a good month, but this year was extra special.  From celebrating our anniversary and my birthday, to traveling around Mexico and welcoming a brand new member into our family, this is a month that we will always remember!

Of course our anniversary came first.  Two years married to this handsome guy!  He is the cutest and sweetest person in the world.  He brought me home some fresh picked lilacs (my favorite!) and we celebrated with dinner at Pizzeria Limone.

As mentioned, I love lilacs!  They always make me think of spring and all sorts of happy thoughts.  Plus they smell delightful!  I have so enjoyed frolicking through all of the lilacs this month.

Kylie and I celebrated our birthdays with a trip to Mi Ranchito with the fam!  We have done bigger things for our combined birthday celebration in the past, but we didn't want to plan anything too big as baby was already a week late at that point.  We had so much fun though, and got this birthday picture!

On my actual birthday, Bailey and I made falafel for dinner.  I do love a good falafel!

Baby Warden came just in time for us to meet before we ran off to Mexico!  I missed him so much during the trip and have seen him almost every day since we came home.  I'm obsessed with the sweet little guy!

When we were in Amsterdam we found this cute little onesie with a map of the city which of course we had to buy for our future little nephew.  I think he looks pretty handsome in it!

Work has really died down now that the Tulip Festival is over.  It has been fun having it slow, though, because I've gotten to know my coworkers better.  On one especially slow (and rainy!) day, my supervisor sent me out to practice on the segways.  It was so fun!  I enjoyed my little ride through the gardens, which I had practically to myself.

And as always, let me include a picture of our little furry baby.  Yuki always makes us smile!

Hope you guys have also had a great month!  Spring is a wonderful season!

Merida, Yucatan

This morning we got an early start in order to make it to the free walking tour of Merida that they do every morning. While in our Uber, it started raining like crazy! Our driver dropped us off where I thought the tourism center was supposed to be, but it was nowhere in sight. It took about thirty seconds for us to be completely soaked, and we decided that even if we could find the office, we didn’t love the idea of an outdoor walking tour. So we headed to an Oxxo for breakfast! Chocolate cupcakes count as breakfast, right?

Bailey was feeling sick and we both liked the idea of dry clothes, so we decided to go back to our Airbnb to take a break and dry off a bit. After our break we went to Parque de Santa Ana where we watched pigeons for a minute and then grabbed a tasty lunch. We both tried the sopa de lima, a Yucatecan special. It was really delicious! By then the rain had cleared up and it was super sunny and hot outside. Not sure why hot soup is such a trend in that kind of weather!

We then walked up Paseo Montejo because apparently it is a must see in Merida. We did see some gorgeous buildings, but I wouldn’t say it was a highlight of our Merida experience! We ended the walk at a Walmart where we bought drinks and real Kinder Eggs. Bailey had never had them before! We had fun just sitting there and waiting out the second rainstorm of the day.

We then hit the Grand Plaza to see Casa de Montejo. It was interesting! I wish that there was more house to see, I thought that part was exceptionally interesting. The photo galleries were cool too. It was nice to be in air conditioning for a minute!

We also enjoyed some air conditioning paired with ice cream in a Dairy Queen before heading to the Palacio Municipal. We loved climbing to the top of the Palacio and seeing the view from there! What a gorgeous place.

We were going to also hit the Palacio del Gobernador but they had closed by that point. So we did some more sitting and and resting (we’ve done a LOT of sitting and resting today - we are exhausted!) before heading to dinner.

We decided to give La Chaya Maya another try just in case we had ordered the wrong things or something. Bailey was not disappointed by his meal - he ordered some delicious pork!

I decided to try a Yucatecan specialty - queso relleno.

It was terrible! I usually love all Mexican food, but my friends, this was not Mexican food in my books. It was a ball of Dutch cheese stuffed with ground, compressed pork. Maybe I shouldn’t say it was terrible, because I would totally eat it all if I was super hungry. I just wouldn’t necessarily enjoy it. I opted instead to eat 2/3 of it and finish off the bowl of chips with salsa, along with a little bit of Bailey’s food. He’s so nice!

We called it a night at that point. We have to be up at 4am for our flight tomorrow! We are bummed that our vacation is over, but we are also looking forward to being in our own bed. I’m most excited to go home and snuggle little Warden!

Overall we have really loved Mexico. We were a little bit worried about safety before our trip, because of all of the things we have heard about the country. Well, we felt completely safe the entire time and I would recommend a trip to the Yucatan for anyone! The Yucatan is statistically the safest part of Mexico, though of course it is always a good idea to take some extra precautions. We are huge money belt fans! I love my SPIBelt!

I love the food in Mexico, I love the culture, and I love the people! Everyone is so nice! Everyone was so kind and patient with us travelers, even with me who can only understand a little bit of what they’re saying. Let’s just say I am SO grateful for Bailey and his serious Spanish-speaking skills. I really had to depend on him to help get us to the right places and order the right food (very important!) He doesn’t think his Spanish is that great, but you should hear him just chatting away with our Uber drivers. I’m so proud of him!

We counted this as our 2 year anniversary trip/my 21st birthday trip. Really, we just couldn’t resist the $250(!!!) rountrip tickets to Merida when they came along last year. It wasn’t necessarily a destination I had on my radar, but that’s part of the fun of grabbing random flight deals. There’s so many adventures out there that we don’t even know about! I’m so grateful for this one Bailey and I got to share!

Chichen Itza, Yucatan

WOW. What do I even say? Chichén Itzá is absolutely amazing!

We got a bus this morning and brought all of our stuff with us. Not that that is very much - we are light packers these days! We also don’t smell that great. The two things go hand in hand.

We rode a bus ride through clouds and rain while the bus played “Room” in Spanish. We sat and watched the entire thing and now of course I’m freaked out. It’s horrifying because things like that totally happen! I was a little surprised that they played that, as there were kids on the bus and it’s a little intense. But the next movie was about zombies, and they were attacking and eating each other, making “Room” seem more tame.

Anyway, we reached Chichen Itza and entered the park after locking up our luggage. The first thing we saw was the beautiful El Castillo.

It is absolutely breathtaking! I could stare at it for hours! So could many people, it turns out. There was quite the crowd!

The rest of the day was spent roaming the grounds. There’s tons to see there, as it is a huge complex.

Bailey thought the Temple of the Warriors was pretty cool!

My favorite thing to see is all of the detail carved into each building. I can’t even imagine how much time it would all take!

We wandered and wandered and ignored all of the vendors. We took a few breaks and tried to stay hydrated. After we had made it through the entire complex, we sat on a bench for me to stare at the main temple a little longer. 

Tip for visiting Chichén Itza: they don’t sell food inside, just chips and ice cream. Eat before! I was grateful for the squished granola bar I found in my backpack from last week. Upon leaving the site we stopped for some quick food at the entrance. It was some very subpar American food, but we were so hungry we didn’t care!

We then hopped on a bus headed towards Merida. We will stay here for two more nights and then head to the airport. I’m bummed that our trip is so quickly coming to an end!

Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo

This morning we went straight to Gran Puerto to catch the ferry to Isla Mujeres!

We loved the boat ride because we love boats. It was crazy windy though! Some guy and his guitar provided some live music while some tourists danced. It was just a quick ride but we enjoyed it!

Once on Isla Mujeres, we realized that we forgot to bring extra cash for taxis. No problem - we like to walk anyway. We walked over an hour to our destination, and I loved it! We really got to see the island that way. Parts of it were nice and parts of it were not so nice. Bailey said that I don’t even need to go to El Salvador anymore, because what we saw looked so similar! It was so lush, colorful, and beautiful to me.

About halfway through our walk, we stopped at a restaurant for some good looking tacos. They were also good tasting! Nothing beats street tacos, but we were so happy to have the food to fuel us for the rest of our walk. 

Finally we reached the Tortugranja. On trip advisor someone said “worth a visit if you like turtles” and that was good enough for me! I love turtles! Indoors there were pools with smaller species of turtles. Or maybe they were just young turtles, I don’t actually really know. I preferred the pools of the big turtles because they were outside.

We bought some food and had so much fun feeding them! I fed them one piece of food at a time so you can imagine how long we spent there. They’re just so cute!! I loved how they chomped the food!

We then started walking to Punta Sur. Well, we thought that’s where we were walking. After walking for ten minutes in the wrong direction, Bailey discovered that we were going the wrong way! We also discovered that we had brought more money than we thought, so we went back to the Tortugranja and caught an overpriced taxi to our next location.

Punta Sur was gorgeous. We sat and admired the view for quite a while! We also people watched which was exceptionally fun because some Chinese tourists came by and they’re the best. We watched the dad try to throw some rocks near some lounging iguanas to get them to move, and we also watched his wife hitting the rocks out of his hand haha.

We walked around there for a bit, but it’s mostly just a place you go for the view. I enjoyed this chacmool that we found.  I put my head where the sacrifice would be.

When we had soaked in all the view that we could, we decided it was beach time! We walked to a nearby beach which included beach chairs. We didn’t last long in the chairs though and were soon out playing in the water! Unlike the beaches we went to in Cancun, we had to walk on some pretty treacherous rocks to get out to the deep water. Ouch!

We had gone to that specific beach because we read online that it was great for snorkeling. Unfortunately it turns out those people were lying or we were in the wrong place or something. All we saw were sea plants and sharp rocks! So we just played in the water and floated around. Then we played in the sand and just sat. What a peaceful day!

We got a taxi back to the ferry. The ferry ride was a little choppy, and at one point it had reversed all of the hard drying off work we had done! We bounced on a wave and watched it come straight towards us, soaking me completely! Good thing this place is so hot! It was funny. 

We stopped at Parque de las Palapas for some dinner and were shocked by how cheap it was. I got four tacos, Bailey got a GIANT torta, and we got a plate of guacamole and chips to share. We spent about 7USD overall for our food which I feel is insane. It was super delicious too! I wish I could have eaten it all, but there was just too much.

Despite our crispy sunburns, we have so enjoyed our time here in the Cancun area. To be honest, we probably won’t come back anytime soon because I feel like we have done all we could here. But we are glad to have seen it! The beaches are gorgeous and the food is tasty. We felt pretty safe everywhere we went. And nobody mugged us so that’s always good!

Cancun, Quintana Roo (Day 2)

Last night Bailey and I learned that we had gotten quite sunburnt from paddleboarding. Mostly Bailey. After seeing the overcast sky, he didn’t think sunblock was necessary, but oh man was it necessary. The poor guy is so red! I wore sunblock for part of the day so I’m red but not too red, mostly just my shoulders are sore. We didn’t think to bring any aloe or anything, so sleeping was pretty uncomfortable.

Anyway, this morning we decided to sleep in a little bit before heading out for the day. Our first stop was to Walmart to see if they had any aloe! The store had about 5 different sections for sunblock, but we could not find any sunburn relief. Bailey asked someone where it would be and the employee said that they don’t have any! So weird!

Finally we found some “after sun” gel looking stuff in the women’s clothes section. We figured we would buy it and try it and guess what! It feels great!

Anyway, we then went to Playa Langosta to meet up with our Airbnb experience host and another couple that would be joining us for a day of scuba diving. We were so excited!!

Then our Airbnb Experience host arrived with some terrible news. Boats would not be allowed on the ocean today for weather reasons, making our scuba trip impossible. We were so sad!!! But we knew there was nothing anyone could do about it, so we tried really really hard not to be bummed.

We didn’t really know what to do, but then decided to hit the Mayan Museum before getting all wet on the beach. It wasn’t very big but we enjoyed it anyway.

There was a small covered outdoor section, and while we were out there it started raining like crazy!! I have never seen such a rainstorm in my life! We then understood why boats weren’t allowed out for the day.

After the rain let up, we bought some snacks and headed to Playa Delfines. It was overcast weather but we ended up in the water anyway! Unlike yesterday’s beach, Playa Delfines had waves and we had so much fun floating around in the water and jumping over the waves. I think we might be becoming beach people!

The only part about the beach that we really dislike is after you’re done swimming but you’re all wet and covered with sand. It’s so uncomfortable! We rinsed off the best that we could and then just sat and watched the waves for quite a while while we air dried a bit. We could sit and watch the ocean for days, it is so beautiful!

We decided to head back into town to find some dinner, but while we were on the bus it started raining like crazy! I do not like being out in rain, even when I’m already soaking. We thought maybe it would be best to just stay on the bus all the way to Walmart, where we bought some frozen food and McDonald’s for dinner.

The evening ended with some hot chocolate and watching El Dorado on Bailey’s phone. It felt so good to be all showered and cozy in bed! Though the day started out as a bummer, it turned out to be a great day anyway.

Cancun, Quintana Roo (Day 1)

Around 6am we woke up to a loud rainstorm. I couldn’t believe how loud it was! When it was time for us to get up and head to the hotel zone in our taxi, we were basically driving through rivers. There was not a spot of blue in the sky, and I was nervous that our plans for the day would be spoiled. We ate breakfast at a Starbucks while we waited for our 9:00 meeting time, and luckily by the the time 9:00 came the clouds had started to break a little bit. We decided that it was going to be a beautiful day!

We met up with Maxime (our Airbnb experience host), and Charlotte, a solo traveler from Germany who would be joining us for our paddle boarding experience. Maxime and Charlotte were so nice! We learned to paddle board pretty quickly. It’s not that hard. And we were off!

We paddled and paddled surrounded by mangroves. We were the only ones on the water! We saw lots of birds and quite a few fish. It was a beautiful, quiet, and peaceful way to spend the morning!

After we had paddled for a little bit, we stopped at a “secret beach” to take some pictures. I took the opportunity to wade in the water. It was so warm!

We took a different route back, and Maxime took us to a spot where we could paddle right over a sunken ship. So cool! Then Bailey saw a stingray and I accidentally paddled into a tree. Also, at one point I saw a creepy orange spider crawling up my leg (probably from the tree I ran into) and I didn’t even scream! I flicked it off and then spent the next two minutes trying to chase it off of my paddle board with my oar. Freaky! That got me behind the group just a little bit and I had to catch up. Turns out I’m not a very fast paddle boarder!

Overall, we loved paddle boarding and would totally do it again. I’m so glad that we had the opportunity to experience this experience today!

Afterwards, Charlotte, Bailey, and I headed to Playa Langosta for a swim. We hung out in the water for a minute, and even after Charlotte had to leave, Bailey and I hung out in the water! It was just so warm and the sand was so soft! Well, and we had left our towels at our Airbnb and were dreading standing back up in the wind.

We dug lots of holes underwater and found plenty of shells. But eventually we had to stand up because I got very nauseous suddenly. Maybe seasickness? Anyway I thought I was going to puke but was fine once I got back to solid ground. The wind had died down at that point, so we then went on a little walk around the beach to dry off. What a beautiful area!

We stopped for some tasty food for lunch, then we went back to our Airbnb to shower. We spent our evening at Mercado 28, finding the perfect ornament to represent Mexico on our Christmas tree!

We also ate some delicious dinner. My favorite part of dinner was the pineapple juice that I randomly ordered. It was so tasty!

We caught a taxi back to our Airbnb and are now just hanging out like we do every night. It’s been a wonderful trip so far, and we are only halfway through!