Un-honeymoon?

In the absence of any interesting events recently, I've decided to delve into the past in order to keep my sister satisfied.

I've heard many different stories about family vacations. Some hate them, some love them, but usually there's some of both. In my experience, they're mostly good, with only a spat here or poor weather there to mar the perfection. I love my family a lot, so vacations are always great. Since Rob and I were married, however, the dynamic changed. Suddenly we had to split our time between our two families. Who got summer vacation? Christmas? Thanksgiving? It created a bit of tension.

So last summer we skipped it all. Rob and I went to Mexico. It was an absolutely perfect vacation. The weather was hot, the water clear, our day trips wonderful adventures. The food was fantastic, so we ate a lot. It was even better than our honeymoon. We never had a single discordant thought, and enjoyed everything together. Our vacation was relaxing, exciting, filling, and romantic.

Our first day trip took us into the desert. We stopped to swim at a cenote- a deep cave filled with crystal clear water and lots of fish. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Plants on the surface sent down long trailers to reach the water, and shafts of sunlight highlighted the colours. It was amazing, and the cool water felt great after the 45 degree C. weather.

In the afternoon we visited the ruins of Chichen Itza. So much history in one spot. I had always pictured just the main pyramid, but there are hundreds of other buildings and smaller pyramids, each with their own story.

One day we went to a small town nearby to shop. The vendors were very pushy! "Come in, free air-conditioning!" "Just come in and look!" "Pretty jewelry for a pretty lady!" We spent way too much.

On our last day trip we explored an underground river system. We were issued wetsuits and helmets with a light on top. This trip is not recommended for claustrophobics! The tunnels were narrow, but would open up into vast caverns where we could see stalagmites and such of all different colours. I guess the people that run this tour are a little short on money, because the way in is a dirt, much-rutted road which we traverse in the back of an actual WWII truck (no shocks) with branches whipping our faces the whole way! It was kind of fun in a very jolting, slightly nauseous kind of way.

In the mornings we went to the beach before it got too hot, and enjoyed the white sand and clear water. I'm not a sun-bather, but it was so peaceful down by the water.

I think the evenings were my favourite. After the sun went down a breeze sprang up, cooling the air and filling it with the faint perfume of flowers. It was very calm and quiet, except for the chirping of crickets and distant laughter. Overhead the stars shone so bright!

Rob and I dream of going back some day.