Well…as you know. We got married! Whoop (As those Aggies would say…..)
And you know how the story goes. We lived happily ever after.
Hah!
The day after the wedding we flew off to Mexico.
Actually, that’s not true.
We had a really romantic “First Breakfast” date. This was our first meal as husband and wife..It needed to be special, right?
Which is why we ended up at Cracker Barrel.
After breakfast (and numerous texts/emails about our delayed flight) we headed to the airport. Our wedding gift from my parents was Jon Hart luggage which I am in LOVE with. We got it just in the nick (nic? nik? IDK.) of time and were able to take it on vacation with us. And of course I gave it all to Cody because that’s what husbands do!
Upon arriving in Cozumel we had an hour and a half drive to our hotel. By the time we got there I was exhausted and HANGRY.
Monday greeted us with a storm looming overhead. We got ready to head down to the beach. Cody lathered on mounds of sun screen, cause that’s what he does. We weren’t down at the beach for more than fifteen minutes before the sky opened up and started raining.
We grabbed some lunch and waited the storm out before heading to the pool. We spent probably two hours laying here reading and people watching.
When a hammock opened up we made our way over there and proceeded to read and nap for another couple of hours. It was glorious and everything that a beach vacation should be. I finished up the book “Talking as Fast as I Can” by Lauren Graham. It was an easy read. I wasn’t super impressed with it. But I had just finished Gilmore Girls so it only felt fitting that I replace my grief by reading a book written by Lorelai Gilmore.
Finally around five or six, we decided to head back up to the room and get cleaned up for dinner.
They kept bringing us goodies every night before dinner time. I don’t even think we ate or drank half of it. But it was so pretty and a fun treat!
After dinner we went and sat in the lobby and watched some bands they had playing.
We knew a tropical storm would be coming in during the night but I had no idea it would be as strong as it was. Our room was closest to the beach and on the outside of the building. So we were getting the brunt of all of the wind and rain. I woke up in the middle of the night. I think it was like 2:30. Of course Cody was sleeping right through it. So I woke him up. The power started flickering. I went into the bathroom where I found water leaking in through the window. I was confident that we might not make it past two days of married life.
Luckily I was able to fall back asleep and when we woke up in the morning the rough stuff had passed.
We spent Tuesday in the hotel spa. It was AHH-MAZING! We scheduled an eighty minute couples massage. But they told us to come an hour early. When we got there we got to hang out in the sauna, the steam room, and the hot tub. Then we had our massages. Those little Mexican ladies KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING!
After our massages we hung out in the pavilion thing. It was seriously the most relaxing thing I have ever experienced. It was outdoors so we could hear the rain falling. The ceiling was made out of banana leaves and water was dripping down all around the edges but we were perfectly protected. I fell asleep for at least an hour laying there. We spent the afternoon napping and reading in this beautiful view.
We got there at noon and I don’t think we left till 5:30.
Another round of dinner at the “steak restaurant” which played a George Strait CD on repeat.
Finally by Wednesday the storm had passed. We I got up early and relaxed on the hotel balcony. Finally Cody woke up and we made our way down to the beach. This was our last “lazy day” and I intended on enjoying every second of it.
We ate breakfast down at the beach. They had this one restaurant that was only available to guest with our package or the package above us. And I know why. It was the only place that had REALLY good food. All the other food was okay, but this place was legit. They also had better alcohol. #WINNING
My heart smiled so big when I found my FAVORITE breakfast food at this little restaurant on the beach.
We also ate lunch there because it was that good. And I saw that they had fish tacos. So that pretty much means I am eating there. Oh. And this sign. Which is pretty much my life motto.
We relaxed on the beach some more. Held a parrot. People watched. And read some more.
Thursday arrived and it was the first of our excursions. Initially Cody had scheduled Tuesday and Thursday to be our adventure days with a day of rest in between. But the storm messed that up for us.
We left the hotel at 7:00 in the morning and rode around for two hours just picking up other people. That part sucked, but luckily I am able to read in the car without getting sick, so I was able to keep myself entertained. Finally we had all of the people on our van and we headed out to Chichen Itza- which is an ancient Mayan ruin.
I didn’t really think about how in Mexico you are way closer to the equator so it’s way hotter. Or the fact that it was the middle of August and a shirt that had sweater like material maybe wasn’t the smartest outfit choice. OMG I was miserable. I was silently cursing Cody for taking us on this excursion that made me sweat more than I ever had in my whole life.
And use a bathroom that didn’t have toilet paper.
We toured the ruin before making our way to a cenote.
A cenote is a sinkhole full of water. They are really cold but really beautiful. We spent about fifteen minutes swimming around in it before making our way back up and snacking on some chips and pumpkin hummus. (I think that’s what it was…I can’t remember, either way it was delicious and I wanted to eat more but I was with like fifteen strangers and didn’t need that kind of judgement on my life.)
The final stop of the night was a little town called Valladolid. We ate dinner at a local restaurant there and it was delicious!
Then we had some free time to walk around the town and explore. We went into the church there in the city square. There was a park perfect for people watching in the center of the square.
Also…can we please just take a moment to acknowledge Cody’s total Dad outfit. That’s what pale skin will do to a man- make him dress like a dad when he’s not one.
Finally we began our trek back to our hotel. I don’t think we made it back till 7:30 or so. So needless to say it was a LONG day.
I was dreading Friday because we would be ziplining. If the storm on Monday night didn’t kill me…ziplining surely would!
We had another early morning, leaving the hotel around 7:30. Fortunately this time we were only going to Tulum so our drive was MUCH shorter! We made it to the Tulum ruins and got to go on a self guided tour. These ruins were so much prettier because they were literally along the beach.
Then we began our venture into the jungle. They literally just throw six random people on an ATV and ask one of you to drive. It seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen…but maybe things are different in Mexico.
Anyways, we made it out there. They briefed us on how it works. I started crying. It was splendid.
I asked the man getting me all geared up if I would die. He clearly didn’t speak English cause he said “yes.”
After the first zipline, I apologized to Cody for making such a big stink about it. Because it actually WAS fun.
This is personally my favorite picture of our time on the ziplines. It really does a great job capturing the emotion I was feeling at the time.
Show off….
After ziplining we had the opportunity to rock climb which I didn’t originally plan on doing, but after ziplining I felt like I could do anything, so I gave it a try! Cody had to come rescue me half way up and coach me through getting to the top. But I made it!
Then we got to go swimming in another cenote. I enter them by slowly walking in. And you can see how Cody gets in…
We snorkeled around the cenote for a bit.
Then we left that cenote to go in another. It was a tiny hole we entered and I was a bit skeptical. But I felt like I was on such a high from conquering my fear of ziplining that I pushed through it.
Once we made it in, it was pitch black. Then out of no where, they turned on the lights and this is what we saw.
It was really one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. And the whole time we were in there I just kept thing “God created ALL of this!” It’s so fascinating to me to see all of the things He creates and this one was no different.
We got to snorkel through the cave before heading back out. They provided us lunch before we hopped on the ATV and drove back to civilization.
Friday evening we celebrated with one last dinner at the “fancy” restaurant down by the beach. I really wanted to do dinner on the beach but it was $150 to sit at the beach and eat lobster. And Cody and I are quite the tightasses so…we opted to sit on the deck of the restaurant overlooking the beach.
It’s also important to know that I really wanted a picture in this outfit. So I got all dressed up and did my hair and makeup.
The dress was really uncomfortable. It was hot and humid and my hair was sticking to the back of my neck. We passed our room on the way to the restaurant so I ran upstairs and changed into a dress, flip flops, and pony because SWEAT.
Saturday was our last day and luckily our flight did not leave till six in the evening. Which meant we had all morning to lounge on the beach reading and relaxing. I got to start my final book on the beach and I tried my best to soak up every second.
We landed safely back in San Antonio Saturday evening exhausted, hangry, but so grateful for our time together to decompress after the busy-ness of wedding season. We ended our evening with a trip to Chick-Fil-A because why not? And were greeted with sloppy kisses from Milo when we got home. (Scout came home the next day and greeted us with lots of tail wags.)
Oh. and of course we had Mexican food Sunday night….
Until next time,
