Mexico, Day Quatro

Dukey got up with the sun on Wednesday morning to take pictures of the sunrise. I stayed home and got dressed, but I regret not going because the pictures are to die for.


We had breakfast at about 9:00 a.m. at Kampai and then walked to the beach. We set up in a little cabana and pretty much didn't move until lunch time.


We went to lunch at La Isla, and we loved it of course.

We went to dinner at Cocotal and did not love it as much, so we went back to Kampai (which is a 20 min. walk) for another helping of fried ice cream. YUM!


After dinner, we decided to walk around and get some pictures of the resort.



Our building...

And some more of the beach...


And we even met a new friend who lived right outside our building. We named him "El Gato".


And then Dukey really decided to channel Jack , Lost-style, and cracked open a coconut for us to try!


We had an early night again to get ready for our excursion the next day.

Mexico, Day Tres

On Tuesday, we woke up around 6:30 a.m. to get ready for our excursion. We had a big breakfast before we left at Cockotal. They served us with orange juice, coffee, any kind of fruit, every type of sweet bread, and any other breakfast food you can think of (bagels, waffles, pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs). We were so happy to eat a big breakfast because we knew it was going to be a long day.

The bus arrived at the hotel lobby, where we got on. We were served refreshments and snacks on the two-hour trip to the ChinChin Itza, which the locals call "Chicken Pizza". We survived a long tour in the blazing hot sun, and it was well worth it. We got to take lots of pictures of the pyramids, and walk around the Mayan village.



Our tour guide, Beto, told us everything about the pyramid ruins that were left at ChinChin Itza. He also told us all about the Mayan culture and certain myths and beliefs. He also explained that the belief in America that "the Mayans predicted the world is going to end in 2012" is not true. He said the Mayans have cycles in their calendar, just like us (days, weeks, months, years, decades) and the end of a cycle does not mean the end of the world. Some Mayan children sang to us after the tour and picked up our water cups after they were done with their song.




After the tour, we ate lunch at a local restaurant in the Mayan village, and it was delicious.


We were given the opportunity to walk around and view the pyramids on our own after we had eaten, which we did. The village had a big market, where you could buy several different souvenirs.


We were not keeping the right time, so we completely missed the bus back and got left in the Mayan Village. We realized what had happened about an hour after we were supposed to be back on the bus, so we booked it to where the bus used to be. Whoops! Right when we got to the front of the village, we saw our other tour guide, Diego, and we have never been so happy to see someone in our lives!! Diego said, "I've been waiting on you", as we walked up to him. Diego explained that the rest of the group was snorkeling in a cave about 50 minutes from where we were, so our only hope of catching up with them was to take a cab. He told us, "cab is verrry expensive". We were scared out of our minds, being that we only brought $35 US with us because we were told not to bring much. We met up with the cab driver and we asked him how much it was going to be and he said, "300". Holy crapolla. I almost had a heart attack until Diego asked, "yes, but how much in US dollar?" "$30", said the cab driver. Wheew!!! We even had enough to tip the guy, thank the Lord.

We met up with the rest of the group at the "cenote", which means cave. We missed the snorkeling, but we had just enough time to snap a few pictures. Yes, we are dripping from the shocking situation we were just in mixed with a little sprinting back to the bus, so please excuse the glistening.


We made it back to the hotel and got dressed for dinner. We went to La Isla that night, which was one of our favorite restaurants at the resort. We aren't really sure if the food was really that good, or if we were just extremely hungry.

Mexico, Day Dos

On Monday, we woke up early and met with the Olymus representative and scheduled our excursions. He was very helpful to us, and we a're very happy with the excursions we picked. He referred to me as "Kate", and to Dukey as "Jack" because he swore I looked exactly like Kate from lost. Some things never change, even in Mexico! On our way to the lobby, we even snagged a pic with an iguana!! These guys were everywhere, and would let you get very close to them.



We were able to grab a cabana at the pool and I took a nap while Dukey read a book. The cabanas were the hot item the whole trip because they blocked the sun and provided a wonderful breeze.




We left our stuff at the cabana and went to lunch at the Pizzeria. At this restaurant, these little black birds roamed around freely, but did not bother anyone at all.


This is what I ate. We were halfway done eating before I remembered to take pictures, so we only have pictures of my meal.


We spent the rest of the day laying in the lounge chairs at the pool and reading. At dinner time, we decided to go to the Japaneese-inspired restaurant, called Kampai. We knew it was going to be a hit when we were told we would have to wait about 30 minutes for a table, which did not happen anywhere else.

This was the best meal we had the entire time. I started off witht he California Roll and Dukey ordered the Spring Roll for his appetizer.

I can't remember what the name of Dukey's meal was, but here it is.


I had the Mahi-Mahi for my main course, and we shared the pineapple fried rice. YUM!


The dessert was the best part of all, though. Fried ice cream. Yeahhh. It was absolutely unbelievable. We won't even discuss what Dukey got because he was very, very jealous of my order.

We headed back to the room for bed right after dinner, because we knew we had to get up bright and early the next morning for our first excursion.

Hola, Mexico

We have some wonderful friends & family to thank already for helping us on our trip. First of all, a big thank you goes to Dukey's parents for keeping our little Noah baby. We are the least bit worried about him & know he is in good hands. Second, we would like to thank one of Dukey's high school BFF's for taking us to the airport at the wee hours of the morning and allowing us to leave our car at his apartment. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We arrived at the airport with a couple of hours so spare, so we spent our time talking about everything we wanted to do once we got to Mexico and how we wanted to spend our time there. We hopped on the plane and enjoyed a very short flight (2 hours) to our honeymoon spot. When the flight was over, we got off the plane & were greeted by the longest line I have ever seen to get through Immigration. This is that line that it took us another two hours to get through.
And this is us waiting, waiting, waiting.
Who took the picture, you ask? Oh, just Chatty Cathy who sat next to me on the plane, followed us through immigration, and all the way through baggage claim. Now, I love hearing a good life story, but this girl was exhausting. After almost 5 hours of hearing all about this girl's broken off engagement, getting her life back together, and her business, we were so happy to see our private (no Chatty Cathy allowed) car, which would take us to the resort. We were greeted in the lobby with 2 glasses of much-needed champagne and our room keys. We were immediately elated when we saw our room and we didn't want to leave it because we were so tired!




We forced ourselves to put on our bathing suits to grab a snack and head out to the pool to soak up the sun. I'm so glad we did because we had so much fun! We ate at a restaurant called "Jo-Jo's", which we learned they pronounce "Ho-Ho's".

After our snack, we walked to the pool, and were acquainted with a group of people who were ready to par-tay. An old woman who, let's just say, had a few jumped on my back and asked me to "start the train". No old lady, but thanks so much for the warm welcome! We spent a couple of hours hanging out at the pool, trying to stay away from the eager beaver old lady, but enjoying ourselves very much.

At about 5:00, we headed to the room to shower and get ready for dinner. We walked to the restaurant, La Fondue, and had a wonderful dinner. We split the "Mexican Cheese" appetizer, a fondue dish wish mahi mahi, salmon, mushrooms, seabass and calamari, and the "classic chocolate" dessert fondue, which contained strawberries, marshmallows, grapes, and some other things.

After dinner, we went to a show and got to see the Mexican dancers. They can really shake it, let me tell you.

Gluepalooza

Today is the day before we leave for the honeymoon. We had everything all laid out to pack.


Everything going smoothly, UNTIL....


Gluepalooza. It killed two of our shirts & a sofa. One shirt old, one brand spankin' new. Dukey opened a container of glue, which the bottom fell out of. We forgot packing and spent the rest of the night trying to get the glue off of our hands. We tried washing our hands with goo gone, fingernail polish remover, and water. Want to know what worked? Ice. After all the hardcore chemicals we used on our hands, ice is the one that worked. The ice managed to freeze the glue so our hands were no longer sticky. We still basically have gloves on our hands, so we can not feel textures. Let's hope it will peel off somehow!

Last Minute Goodbyes!!

We are dreading tomorrow. Well, maybe just me. Tomorrow is the day we will have to give our Noah up until we get back from the trip. We are doing our best to play with him extra, give him extra hugs, and squeeze him extra a lot!!


Seriously though, how can we leave this face in the dust behind us when it's so cute?!?!