Ohhhhh, Mexico!

Mark and I spent four wonderful days in Cancun in April. It couldn't have come at a better time.  Mark has been working verrrry looooong hours at work and really needed a break.  Which means I was working verrrry looooong hours at home and I really needed a break.  My mother sacrificed her spring vacation to come stay with the boys and re-live the life of a soccer/piano/scout/homework mom. THANKS MOM!

It's always nice to leave behind most responsibilities and spend time with the person I decided to spend the rest of my life with nearly 14 years ago. We put away the roles of being parents, organizers, counselor, attorney and business partners at home, and were able to enjoy one another as best friends. Sigh. It was awesome.  Mark scheduled a couples massage right after we arrived.  This will be our tradition for any other vacation we take together, because it set the tone for a very relaxing vacation.  I nearly cried tears of gratitude when I said good-bye to the masseuse. We didn't have anything scheduled except flights and a hotel.  We were three hours behind any schedule we would have followed at home.

The view that greeted us from our room = automatic relaxation.

We took many walks along the beach after eating extremely delicious non-Mexican food. One night the moon looked red and fuzzy over the ocean, though you can't tell here. 

We signed up to take a jungle cruise (through ocean tree type things) in small speed boats for two, out to a buoy in the ocean where we snorkeled.  Snorkeling is probably one of the most relaxing activities in the world.  The sound of the water outside and under are so soothing and you just feel like you are in a different world, feeling lucky to be able to intrude upon fish who calmly swim from one rock to another.  Sigh.

We went to Chichen Itza - Mayan ruins, which were awesome!  It is amazing what people so long ago could build without power tools!  It was interesting to learn about their culture and what they worshipped and why. Before arriving at Chichen Itza, we stopped at a cenote - a sinkhole.  Some of our tour group swam in the sinkhole, others (us) took pictures and ate the only Mexican food we would eat during the whole trip! One lady asked me if I had a good lunch and how many tortillas I ate.  I purposely did not count, because I ate too many!! They were soooo good!

The sinkhole was cold, but very beautiful!

How happy and relaxed do we look?  Loved it!

After a long, hot tour.  Head for the ice cream stand.

The iguana is not for sale.  Though I'm sure if we asked one of the many, many vendors, they would have taken money for it.

Those rippling muscles can hold up a pyramid -with one hand and he's still smiling!

Our last full day in Cancun was one of our favorites as we literally swam with dolphins!  They kissed us, danced with us, sang to us, jumped over us, swam around us, and let us touch them over and over again.  It. Was. Awesome. Really, we were in awe.  How amazing it is to be around creatures which are so smart and so different and so friendly!

 We knew the dolphins were going to jump over us, but when it happens you are surprised and amazed!

Mark is being pushed by two dolphins, one on each foot. He got so far out of the water that it looked like he was water skiing! 

 Mark was a little jealous.

We spent a good amount of time just touching the dolphin as he swam around our group of four.  The trainer told us that they loved to be touched. 

I never was a very good dancer, and my facial expression shows that.  I was a nerd dancer, complete with "Rock Lobster" down on the floor. Obviously I don't care what other people think about it though, because I had fun anyway! 

We also went to the Cancun flea market, which gave me a lot of practice in saying, "No, gracias" though I had a lot of practice in Chichen Itza as well.  Our favorite line was, "Sir, come buy cigars from my store!" Mark: "I don't smoke." Salesperson, "You can always start!"  We bought some trinkets for the kids (what we called Mexican beyblade - though they were just wooden tops), a cool, wood inlaid Mayan calendar and a bow and some arrows for the boys, which brought great disappointment to Spencer since they are supposed to be used for decoration only. When we got off the bus, a man led us to the market and talked with us on the way.  I was surprised at how much Spanish I remembered from three years in high school (long, long ago), which was enough to learn about his family and talk about mine and a few other things.  He led us to his shop which was full of jewelry that I felt obligated to buy since he had been our guide to the market.  But Mark helped me get over my feelings of obligation and buy from other vendors who berated us for saying "we'll be back later." Pushy, pushy!

Our spoils of the flea market.  And the obsidian knife (which really does cut, good thing we have band aids) Mark purchased at Chichen Itza, represents power, which is now on display in his office.  Beware, clients!

What a great relaxing trip.  We would do it all again, though we were a little uncomfortable not knowing enough Spanish and making currency conversions.  Still, a great and adventurous trip!