Mexico!!!

Sorry it's taken so long for the post. Blogging after a vacation is like unpacking a suitcase for me. But here it is finally. The trip was so much fun and first of all I have to thank my parents for taking us with them. We stayed in a presidential suite, which is about 2600 sq. ft, at the Aventura Spa Palace Resort in the Mayan Riviera. The Mayan Riviera is a stretch of land between Playa Del Carmen and Tulum. The resort is all inclusive which means all the food and drinks you can handle, and we definately had our fair share. I'm going to put everything in one post so it's going to be a little long.

Our pad:



Hanging Out at the Resort

Like I said the resort is all inclusive so we enjoyed lots of food and lots of drinks. There are workers that walk up and down the pools and beaches asking if you want anything and you just tell them what you want and they get it for you. Our two favorite drinks were the Miami Vice (pina colada and strawberry daquery mix) and the Prestige (cranberry juice, apple juice, coconut cream, and grenadin something like that were not exactly sure).



We also enjoyed snorkeling in the different lagoons. Surprisingly you can actually see a lot of different types of fish, crabs, and we saw a weird slug thingy.



There are about 6 different restaurants at the resort. We tried to visit different ones throughout the week to get a taste of them all. Of course the favorite was the mexican restaurant. It's so weird ordering your food and then after your done you just get up and walk out. No bills or tips to worry about!



For staying at this resort you also get a free manicure, pedicure, and back massage. I had never had a mani or pedi before and Christy made me try it. I have to say I don't see a reason to ever have it done again. I was not impressed. I would rather have them massage my arms and legs the whole time instead of messing around with my nails. Sorry we don't have any pics of the spa treatments. (actually i think my mom does but i'm not going to put them on my blog).

Tours

The tours are also included with the hotel. We did the Tulum tour and a zipline adventure tour. This was my third time visiting Tulum and Christy's first, and it still impresses me everytime. It is such a beautiful place with the ruins and the torquoise blue water down below. We had a tour guide telling the history behind it and he had some really interesting things to say about it. All in all the Mayan people were very smart and way ahead of their time. They knew things about the sun, stars and planets 5000 years ago that we recently can confirm with all the technology that we have.



The zipline was so much fun. It was a series of about 12 ziplines. You zip from one tower to the next and make this big loop and end up almost back where you started. They harness you in and give you a stick to use for a brake.



Campeche

For those that didn't know, I served my mission in the Yucatan peninsula from 2002 to 2004. It was an awesome mission and I met so many good people. I was able to visit an area I served in and see some old friends that I haven't seen in about 5 years. Christy and I took an 8 hour bus ride friday night and arrived in Campeche at 4 in the morning. We spent the day there and left at 1130 at night to treck back to Playa.

At home it definately felt like a long time had passed since I was in Mexico on my mission. But when we got to my old area it felt like I was just there yesterday. Before going on this vacation I was really nervous that my spanish was going to be horrible because it's been so long. But I was pleasantly surprised that it really came back quick and I was able to understand them and speak to them again.

We spent most of our time with one family, a mom and daughter, that I taught and baptized. The mom, Ermalinda, has really bad arthritis and recently her hip went out on her and actually the next day after we left she was going to have a hip replacement surgery. The daughter, Wendy, she drove us all around the city and we visited a few historical sites. The city was built by Spaniards about 400 years ago and it was surrounded by walls and forts to protect itself. All the forts and most of the walls still stand. In the evening we went by the church and saw it was open so we went inside to see what was going on. The missionaries were having baptisms and so there were some ward members there. It was great to see familiar faces and they were surprised to see me as well and happy to know that I am married and have a little girl.

It was hard to do a whole lot in the short amount of time we had there, but it was a great experience to visit some people that I hold close to my heart.



Cozumel

One of the days we took the ferry over to Cozumel. My dad and I did 2 dives. It is always awesome to be able to dive in such nice warm and clear water. We saw many cool fish, lobsters, and some weird fish that kinda looked like a really small shark with a flat head. We didn't get any pictures of Cozumel or the scuba diving. :(

The Summary

All in all the trip was excellent! I love Mexico and I feel so lucky that I served my mission in such an awesome place that I can go on vacation and have fun and see some old friends at the same time. I hope to go back soon and spend more time visiting old mission areas. Here is one last collage of a bunch of other random pictures of our trip.