Back from the Grand Palladium in Riviera Maya, Mexico!
Back from Mexico! I'm still exhausted... But the trip was great. It was nice to break up the routine and spend some time in a tropical paradise with Casey and his family. The wedding was lovely, and our own excursions were a blast. It was perfect weather too - only rained the very last day, as we were getting ready to leave.
My favorite moment was the underwater sea trek at Xel-Ha - what a wild experience - can't wait to have the photos developed from the waterproof camera! Basically, we put on these 60lb underwater diving helmets full of air - like the antique scuba masks - and, assisted by scuba divers and holding onto a hand rail along the path, got to walk along the bottom of the ocean!!! We saw lots of fish swimming all around us and got to feel the waves push and pull at us. They even had us kneel down and baited over sting rays to swim by for us to pet. The best part was when they would use a piece of food, which lured tons of tropical fish and the huge sting rays, and hold it above your head, so you'd be caught in a flurry of beautiful striped fish and there'd be this huge sting ray like ON your head!!! That was the coolest thing we did in Mexico I think. I mean, we got to walk below the sea along the ocean floor!
Aside from that neat experience, the next best thing was really getting to spend all that time with my in-laws. The Bolands are great, and the whole family was so welcoming. Everyone had a good time and I really felt like part of their family. I mean, I am! It was nice to just relax on vacation with them. Terry said that it was a shame Riley and Andy didn't come, but in a way it was nice, because they got to spend time with just the two of us. We had a lot of fun in the waves all together! The ocean was a perfect temperature and the water was unbelievable. The colors didn't even seem real they were so saturated. I've been on a lot of beaches in my life, but nothing matched this in terms of brilliant turquoise water and beautiful sandy beaches.
I also particularly enjoyed all the Mexican wildlife - the iguanas that were EVERYWHERE, the flamingos, the fish, the sting rays, the hermit crabs, the racoons, the coatis, the butterflies, it was all great.
And surprisingly, I very much enjoyed the haggling! I had many opportunities to bust out my Spanish on the trip, but it was in shopping where I really had a good time with it. We practiced haggling a lot in Spanish class with Sr. Bowman, and I always thought I'd find haggling uncomfortable or confrontational, but it was actually quite fun. I'd go in deciding what I wanted to spend, they'd initially offer like, 5x that much, and we'd chat until the price came down to around where I'd wanted it. Like, I got this bracelet for my sister. I wanted to pay like $10, but since it was sterling silver I knew that wasn't gonna happen. He offered $65. I said no way, and that I only had a little bit to spend on my sister. He said I must not love my sister very much! We laughed, he lowered the price a bit, I chatted more in Spanish about my sister and what we were shopping for in Playa del Carmen, he lowered the price because I spoke some Spanish and we were having fun. I said it was too much and started to leave, etc, after some back and forth I kept saying ten, he finally said 20, final offer, I said 15, and he accepted! It was a good game. I also got my coral necklace for $20, down from $45. I've seen what necklaces like that cost in the mall in the states, and I got an awesome deal. I love it, though I couldn't wear it much after the wedding because it'd poke the sunburn on my neck! Kathy and I also got a good deal on earrings because we each got a pair together. I like the ones I got but have NO idea what stone they are, something that's blue, green, and yellow. In all my rock shows as a kid I've never seen it. My best guess is chrysocolla, but it doesn't look quite right. Photos later perhaps. In any case I'm really happy about the few souvenir pieces of jewelry I got.
I've so enjoyed editing and posting the photos today. I can't put up the images from Britt and Zach's wedding yet though. They wanted us to wait to post those until after their Iowa reception, where they'll be showing a slideshow of the ceremony. I can respect that.
Sans Ceremony, Here is a sampling of my favorite photos from the vacation!
My favorite moment was the underwater sea trek at Xel-Ha - what a wild experience - can't wait to have the photos developed from the waterproof camera! Basically, we put on these 60lb underwater diving helmets full of air - like the antique scuba masks - and, assisted by scuba divers and holding onto a hand rail along the path, got to walk along the bottom of the ocean!!! We saw lots of fish swimming all around us and got to feel the waves push and pull at us. They even had us kneel down and baited over sting rays to swim by for us to pet. The best part was when they would use a piece of food, which lured tons of tropical fish and the huge sting rays, and hold it above your head, so you'd be caught in a flurry of beautiful striped fish and there'd be this huge sting ray like ON your head!!! That was the coolest thing we did in Mexico I think. I mean, we got to walk below the sea along the ocean floor!
Aside from that neat experience, the next best thing was really getting to spend all that time with my in-laws. The Bolands are great, and the whole family was so welcoming. Everyone had a good time and I really felt like part of their family. I mean, I am! It was nice to just relax on vacation with them. Terry said that it was a shame Riley and Andy didn't come, but in a way it was nice, because they got to spend time with just the two of us. We had a lot of fun in the waves all together! The ocean was a perfect temperature and the water was unbelievable. The colors didn't even seem real they were so saturated. I've been on a lot of beaches in my life, but nothing matched this in terms of brilliant turquoise water and beautiful sandy beaches.
I also particularly enjoyed all the Mexican wildlife - the iguanas that were EVERYWHERE, the flamingos, the fish, the sting rays, the hermit crabs, the racoons, the coatis, the butterflies, it was all great.
And surprisingly, I very much enjoyed the haggling! I had many opportunities to bust out my Spanish on the trip, but it was in shopping where I really had a good time with it. We practiced haggling a lot in Spanish class with Sr. Bowman, and I always thought I'd find haggling uncomfortable or confrontational, but it was actually quite fun. I'd go in deciding what I wanted to spend, they'd initially offer like, 5x that much, and we'd chat until the price came down to around where I'd wanted it. Like, I got this bracelet for my sister. I wanted to pay like $10, but since it was sterling silver I knew that wasn't gonna happen. He offered $65. I said no way, and that I only had a little bit to spend on my sister. He said I must not love my sister very much! We laughed, he lowered the price a bit, I chatted more in Spanish about my sister and what we were shopping for in Playa del Carmen, he lowered the price because I spoke some Spanish and we were having fun. I said it was too much and started to leave, etc, after some back and forth I kept saying ten, he finally said 20, final offer, I said 15, and he accepted! It was a good game. I also got my coral necklace for $20, down from $45. I've seen what necklaces like that cost in the mall in the states, and I got an awesome deal. I love it, though I couldn't wear it much after the wedding because it'd poke the sunburn on my neck! Kathy and I also got a good deal on earrings because we each got a pair together. I like the ones I got but have NO idea what stone they are, something that's blue, green, and yellow. In all my rock shows as a kid I've never seen it. My best guess is chrysocolla, but it doesn't look quite right. Photos later perhaps. In any case I'm really happy about the few souvenir pieces of jewelry I got.
I've so enjoyed editing and posting the photos today. I can't put up the images from Britt and Zach's wedding yet though. They wanted us to wait to post those until after their Iowa reception, where they'll be showing a slideshow of the ceremony. I can respect that.
Sans Ceremony, Here is a sampling of my favorite photos from the vacation!