Excellente! Perfecto!

     Mexico was a dream. A really, really good dream. Phil and I keep day dreaming about it and reminiscing over pictures. Here's the recap! Getting to the airport was kind of a fiasco because we had a lot of snow and the road out to rexburg closed right as we were getting to it! Thankfully, we had some time in SLC scheduled for a haircut for Phil, so we just skipped the haircut because it took longer to get out there. Traveling without kids is so much easier and actually enjoyable. Our time spent together was already meaningful just as we were traveling! We didn't get in to Cancun until 12:30 or so and then it took another hour to get to our hotel. When we arrived at about 1:30, the hotel was absolutely silent, like we were the only ones there. It smelled fresh, tropical and warm. Even though it was so late, I loved checking in that way. We ordered some food once we got to our room including some mexican churros which became a nightly room service tradition. 

     Thursday we woke up to the most beautiful view! Holy smokes. Phil worked for a bit out on the balcony and we ordered room service breakfast up. The air was the thick and warm--perfect! We spent the morning checking out the hotel, arranging gym time and excursions and laying by the pool. It was a great day of relaxation and getting acclimated to our life for the next several days. For dinner, we got dressed up and hit up the mexican restaurant, Cueva Siete and had the most excellent server. He brought us the yummiest drink, mango something, and we tried SO many things!! It was really good. That evening we also tried to rent a car in Playa Del Carmen, which turned into a fiasco, but the story isn't worth it. ;) The night concluded as nearly every night did, on the balcony soaking in the tub, with dessert delivered to the room to eat in bed. Winning!

    Friday we headed out to Tulum, to rent a car, this time we succeeded and first stopped at the ruins in Tulum. The views up there were incredible: the old buildings, the palm trees and blue-green ocean. We opted to have a tour guide take us around and tell us about the buildings and the culture of the Mayans. Holy smokes, they were really smart and really barbaric at the same time. After the tour, we spent a little time on our own before feeling like we were ready to cool off. I should just add that the weather was so perfect. After a bit of exploring and trial and error, we ended up at Cenote Tortuga, in between Tulum and our hotel. Niether Phil or I had even been to a cenote before and this stop offered four different cenotes to swim in. The first was literally like the Garden of Eden. I'm not sure I've ever seen a place more like paradise than that! We jumped in and snorkled for a bit. The water was SO clear, clean and a bit cold, but it felt refreshing. Phil lost his phone for a minute as well as his sanity, but thankfully we recovered both. Actually it was kind of interesting. The water made you feel heavier, harder to stay afloat and Phil had a brief panic moment. But he calmed himself down, then retrieved his phone and by then it was time to move on to the next cenote. The next cenote was more like a river with tall walls on either side. We swam from one end to the other, again in incredibly clear water. At the end we sat a little dock where our guide told us we could put our feet in the water and little fish would come and pick off the dead skin. That was fun and weird and it tickled a lot. The next cenote was a cave and totally creeped me out. You had to hike down a bunch of stairs and then it was nearly pitch black. You could barley see the the light at the other end. I porbbaoy wouldn't have gotten in if I couldn't see the end. We swam through and our guide explained that the water went super deep. At that point, I kept my head up above water and didn't want to know how deep I could see down below! Scary, right? The last cenote was another cave, this time it had a bit more light filtering through, but it was the first one that had stalagmite and stalactites all over, above the water and under. As we navigated through the small cave, we saw some little fruit bats and I stayed close to Phil. Thank you Phil! After the guided part of our tour was over, we headed back to the first cenote, warmed up a bit and swam around some more. It was beautiful. The water was much deeper than it looked and we took turns diving down and recording footage on the go-pro. We didn't see too many fish, except a pair of little dark purple beta fish playing...or fighting? I'm ready to go back to that spot and spend the day there. The rest of the evening was spent getting fancy for dinner, this time at 20.87. It was our least favorite place, but still good and the vibe was fun as it was beachy and right against the palms on the beach.  After dinner we changed and spent some time on the beach. I was surprised to see no one else out there! We hauled a blanket down and were amazed at how pretty the stars were as we looked at them through the palms trees. Then don't forget the tub on the balcony and dessert in bed. My favorite dessert became the mexican churros and Phil's was the crem brûlée. 

     Saturday we caught an early breakfast and headed out to Akumal to see if we could catch any sea turtle sightings! This was top of the to-do list and ended up being Phil's favorite thing we did and a close second for me! We were definitely the first one out on the water and ended up with an excellent guide named, Arie. This time it was my turn for a panic moment. We were told as we were gearing up that once we were deep enough to swim, that we couldn't put our legs down because it would stir up the water and ruin the delicate sea grass that the turtles eat. As we started going out, I had my face in the water and I could literally see nothing except cloudy, sandy water. I couldn't judge how deep we were or how close together we were and Arie started getting excited about a turtle and I couldn't tell what I was looking at, a turtle, the bottom of the ocean? It totally freaked me out. I knew I had to just get over that and so I clung to Phil until the water got deep and the sand settled and I could actually see!! Phew! We saw so many sea turtles! What an experience! We would watch them eating the sea grass and then come up for air. That was the most exciting part. They would slowly float to the surface and just as they were about to poke their heads out of the water, you would look up above the water and see them come up! Their exhale was audible, almost like a whale breeching and blowing out, and then they would gulp a breath and dive back down quickly. That was by far the coolest part. Watching them under the water you don't quite realize how big they are, the water distorts the view, so when they come up out of the water, you can see just how big they really are. You can also see their beautiful markings around their heads so well. It was an awesome experience. We only wished it had been a clear and sunny day! It would have made the ocean brighter and a bit warmer! But it was such an awesome experience to be so close to those animals! After the turtles we came back to the hotel to warm up by the pool. There was one pool that was more secluded and more protected by the trees from the wind. There we had some lunch while we waited to catch our one and only excursion to... the dolphins!!!

    Okay. I have loved dolphins my whole life. I have also been a scardy-cat my whole life. Ha! When I was a little girl, maybe 5, I tried feeding some dolphins at sea world, but it ended up scaring me as a stupid gull game down and snatched the fish out of my hesitant hand. That was the closest I ever got to a dolphin. But I always wanted to swim with them! This was finally the time! I had finally become adventurous enough to do it. We splurged and it was worth every penny--even paying for the pictures and videos at the end. I think those ended up being more than the actual excursion. We opted to do it privately too, which was even better. It was a little intimidating at first when they tell you to swim out into the middle of the water all by yourself. Our dolphin was a 3 year old male and for the first 10 minutes or so, he just swam back and forth between Phil and I, letting us pet him. How awesome. The next phase included us instructing him to do tricks with hand signals. We also got a little lesson on dolphin anatomy, mostly surrounding their head, which was fascinating and I learned that they have a mucous membrane that covers their eyes to keep them healthy and working. Super neat, who knew? After a bit another dolphin came out and all of sudden we realized how small our 3 year old dolphin was. This one, a 32 year old female was huge!! Holy smokes. The last part of the experience included us riding the dolphin, holding the dorsal fin. They were very specific of how to do it and what not to do. We also both took a turn doing the foot push, which had to be the highlight. You lay on your belly in the water like superman with your feet flexed, then two dolphins come up from behind and push your feet so you come up out of the water and forward. It's amazing! They are so smart to be so coordinated with each other! They are the ones keeping your balance from front to back and side to side. It was so awesome! Lastly, our huge dolphin girl friend, she was so pretty with a spotted belly,  jumped over us. SOOOO high. It was incredible. And because we overpaid for pictures, we have it all documented and I am just so pleased. The dolphins were the highlight of my trip!! But honestly, there were so many. This one was the highlight, just because I've wanted to do it for sooooo long. The rest of the evening included more dressing up fancy and dinner at their Italian restaurant, Mi Carisa, and some evening time spent on the beach. We hauled our blanket back down and found no one out on the beach again. No people any way. This time we saw quite a few crabs and of course it creeped me out. We saw a couple hermit crabs and one strange, almost translucent slender crab. When we settled on the beach, I made sure the blanket was tucked in tight so no critters could crawl through. Ahh! There's something calming about the ocean crashing in the night sky while laying on the beach. It was so nice to share that time together, be disconnected from the world and talk on and on!  Then it was on to the tradition of a soak in the spa and dessert in bed. This trip just keeps getting dreamier and dreamier, right?

   Sunday, we were going to go golf, but opted to take a day at the beach since the weather was less windy. We stuck to our hotel beach that day, to see what it was like and it proved to be a great day! Hardly anyone else came out and we still had awesome service for drinks and food. Phil discovered his favorite drink, Miami Vice and ordered 4 that day. Ha! We swam in the ocean, read books, listened to podcast, but just enjoyed our quiet and relaxing time together. It was amazing how fast the time went by.

   Monday we ventured out again toward Tulum and stopped at a beach that we had out eye on called Playa Pariso. It was beautiful. I knew Phil was really itching to do some legit snorkeling, and this area offered it. We booked a boat and a guide and headed out. I was super nervous to be swimming so far out, but felt a little reassured we would have a guide. Okay, our guide was pretty terrible. But actually, the reef was pretty boring. I'm guessing because of all the tourists, the fish know to hang out on the far side, where they don't let you go. We did see a couple of sting rays togethers, which was cool. Phil was not impressed with the coral or snorkeling since saw one fish and the coral was just brown and not very colorful. The water was super rough, which made me a little sick. I realized that if I got vertical with my head out of the water I would feel better, but after a couple of times of doing that and not seeing much, we called it and went back to the beach to snag some chairs at Playa Pariso. w  White sand, blue water, umbrella chairs, amazing civce, local music and big waves. It was a chill morning. After quite a while, we ventured out a little further off the highway to another cenote. We knew we wanted to check more out, but we also had different opinions on what kind we wanted to go to. Phil wanted to do a cave and I was more a fan of the ones that were open. I think I didn't really know what I was getting into and I think I was glad because I'm not sure I would have gone. It was incredible. Even just hiking down the stairs to the open part of the cave was extremely gorgeous. Vines and greenery against the clear blue waters and tall cavern wall. So good! The guide took us first to the center cavern. It was neat and had a giant root twisting down toward the water from a hole above in search of water. Super cool. After that we swam along where the cave was open, only then did I wonder what I had gotten myself into. Above the water everything was awesome and picturesque. Under the water led to a dark underworld with unknown creatures and monsters. Okay, not really. There were literally no animals at all, or at least none that we saw, but it felt like the place where horror movies end. Columns and pillars of limestone shot down off a ledge into the darkness. It was the creepiest thing I ever saw. We then ventured into the cave, which was amazing, so breathtaking and other worldly. There were some parts of the cave where they had installed lights to make it bright and so you could see all the features. There was one room that opened up to a large cavern. Here there were roots shooting down into the water through the cave walls for a drink of fresh water. In this room we also dove under the water to see what kind of world existed. The water went deep and far, but the water was clear and the lights from above and our own flashlights made it so we could see fas down! Holy moly! We have some of the footage on our go-pro. It was so strange to view the room from only above the water and then see how things morphed and opened up beneath. Super cool experience. 

   Our last full day was Tuesday. We heard that there was good snorkeling on Isle Mujures as well as an excellent beach so we left early to catch the ferry that left from Cancun Tuesday morning. Phil brought his laptop and working before we left and while we were out as well. We nagged a golf cart right off the ferry and hurried over to Playa Norte. By then the sun was already hot, but once we got there we realized the beach club we wanted to chill at for the day didn't open until 11. Ha! I was glad that we came early though to admire the views without all the people. It really was a dreamy tropical paradise. We left to check a couple things off our list, the main shopping area and souvenirs for the kids. We headed over to the market and spent a while walking up and down admiring the Mexican (tourist) culture and trying to find souvenirs that weren't way over priced. Phil is so good at the bargaining but it still stresses me out! After the INTENSE sun lit up even more, we headed back to Playa Norte to the Green Demon Beach Club. By the time we arrived back, there were plenty more people, but it was still beautiful. The service at the beach club was so good and the food was yummy too. I feel like we found kindred spirits in one of the servers, Hemi. He told us in a lot of words that he appreciated and liked our vibe multiple times and that he hoped we would see him again some time. He was super cool guy with long dreads and worked hard helping everyone out. Being able to rub shoulders with him on and off the day was a highlight for me. The waters and beach there did not disappoint. They say Playa Norte is the most sought after beach in all of Mexico. The waters were warm and clear and because of how the beach was oriented, it wasn't windy at all. You could walk out really far and the waters were calm and it wasn't crowded. An excellent morning and afternoon. It was by far the most chill and beautiful place. After quite a while at the beach, hours and hours, we decided it was time to get a bit out of the sun and explore the rest of the Island. We decided not to snorkel and just drive around and see what we found. On the way we found some yummy eats in the form of aqua de coco and a banana chocolate combo wrapped up in a crepe. We drove all the way to the southern tip of the island, which was only about 4 miles. On the way we drove along the rocky east coast, which was windy and stunningly different than any place we had been on our trip. At the southern tip we found another ruin, which we didn't pay to go up close to, a giant iguana statue and a giant fertility statue. We made a funny little video for the kids, acting scared that we saw the biggest iguana ever and were scared. On the way back up the coast, we stopped on the rocky shore and took in the different views for a little while. Once again we were shocked with just how clear the water was, even with waves crashing against the rocks. After out little detour we got a real detour by the police and it led us to the middle of the city where people lived and had little shops. Phil started experiencing some PTSD from his mission, the sights and smells (sewage smells, yuck). Since it was our last evening we headed back on the ferry to make back to start to pack up and enjoy our last evening. We ordered in our room, ate in the tub with our bath salts and enjoyed the beautiful evening. It was a really great and a little sad that it was our last. While we were sad that our trip was ending, it felt right to be wrapping things up. While we weren't missing the cold and still enjoying all our adventures, being on our own schedule and the warm sun, we were missing our kids!

     Wednesday we spent the morning enjoying our favorite breakfast food, chilaquiles with eggs and chicken. So good. You know what wasn't good in Mexico? All chocolate. The only chocolate that was okay was in their chocolate croissant that we had nearly every morning at breakfast and those were for sure just pre-packaged stuff. After breakfast we packed up the rest of our things and headed out to the pool to catch some last minute sun at the main pool before we headed out. We got a good couple of hours, another couple orders of Miama Vice and a few dips in the pool.  Driving to the airport was kind of a drag, but everything went smooth returning our car, checking our bags and getting through security. We were finally on our way home. We landed in SLC at about 9:30 and were on our way home at 10 pm and got in to the house at 2 am. Phew! 

    We were so extremely thankful to our babysitters who loved on our kids the whole time. I knew that they were in great hands and didn't worry at all while we were gone. Ashley came for a week with Layla and did most of the babysitting. She went way above and beyond, starting with just being willing to come for a week! That was a huge sacrifice for her and for her family. She was so wonderful for the kids and Riggs loved having her so much! I was actually surprised to find him happier than ever! We were all so lucky to have her be the one to watch after the kids.

   We've been back for a few weeks now and Phil and I both are so thankful for the experiences we shared and for how our love grew. Often we find ourselves looking at pictures or thinking about the fun times we had. I think both of us have realized that we need to make those trips happen more than every 15 years. Ha!! I am so thankful for Phil and how we have grown together over the years. We went to Mexico to celebrate our 15 year anniversary and it was the perfect way to celebrate. We celebrated the the accomplishment of getting to 15 years. We acknowledged the lows and we're grateful for how they stretched us out of our comfort zone, think deeper and change for the better. There has been a lot that Phil and I have been through, things people have seen and things that have stayed behind closed doors. But so far we have triumphed over it all. We have learned and morphed into more loving, understanding and patient humans. Here's to the next 15 years and forever!