Mexico Continued

More highlights from Mexico!

We celebrated St. Patty's Day the way we imagine the locals would:


We ate some delicious tacos with a sauce that deceivingly looked liked avocados, only to slather it on and realize that it caused a small firestorm in your mouth:


We went for a bike ride through the Mexican countryside:


We saw some amazing ruins:


In general, we just had an amazing time. The perfect mix of adventure, relaxation, good food and great friends! To sum it all up? This is pretty much how we felt the whole time:

VIVA MEXICO!

The Best _______ Ever

My roommate Kate always makes fun of me for saying that things are the "best ever!" So I've now been limited to making such narrow statements as,"that was the best turkey and cheddar sandwich with granny smith apples I've ever had!" instead of "that was the best sandwich I've ever had" because in fact that may not have been the best sandwich I've ever had... especially since I probably just stated that I had the best sandwich ever the previous week. Anyway, after that lovely run-on sentence, I'm assuming you get the picture.

So as you know, last week I was in Mexico with my friend Leslie. We found an amazing deal on LivingSocial.com for a resort in the jungle and somewhat spontaneously, off we went to the backwoods of Mexico (you know, if Chetumal was the deep South.) FIve short hours after we landed in Cancun, we arrived with our rental car at the resort and proceeded to have the best Mexican vacation ever at the Explorean Kohunlich!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had been concerned about the drive down to the resort, but it was totally fine. The only issue was came across were these pesky road bumps. Actually the road bumps were quite big and the sign to indicate them. Well... let's just say they looked less like a bump in the road and more like this:



So we started our trek down the the Explorean with a bang. Literally. Leslie went flying over one of those bumps and I'm pretty sure the front of the car was not happy with us. Thankfully the rental car company was less than precise in checking the car when we returned it. Needless to say, the rest of the trip consisted of me shouting "boobs!!" every time I saw that sign. You know, as an indication to slow down-- not because we are 12 year old boys and cracked up every time it happened.

After we finally got there though, nothing mattered, because we were at a place like this:


The next day we headed out on our first excursion, kayaking and swimming in a lagoon:


And every morning we were greeted by hot coffee, fresh orange juice and a small delicious house-made pastry of some sort. We were also greeted with one little random animal after another all searching for some crumbs:




Most importantly we met some amazing people! You know how I was worried that I wouldn't meet people during my trek through Southeast Asia? Well I am totally not worried about that anymore. We met some of the most awesome people on our trip to Mexico, that I'm pretty sure Thailand is going to be twice as awesome. They absolutely made the trip about ten times better than it would have been otherwise. We even met a couple from Boston and a guy who is going to be in Thailand the same time I am!

Our Family Portrait:


So, yes, it was the best Mexican vacation ever. Maybe not the best vacation I will ever have in my life ever, but for now, it's right up there. I'm guessing my trip to Southeast Asia will trump this trip about a thousand times over, but that is not a vacation, it is a life adventure and remains to be seen. Stay tuned...

Mexico, Here I Come!

As I may have mentioned in posts past, I have been working a lot lately. And by a lot, I mean like 60 something hrs a week, which pretty much makes me want to lose my mind. I keep telling myself that there is an end to the insanity, and quite a fabulous end at that (um, hello, Thailand!!!) Anyway, to keep my sanity in the meantime, my friend Leslie and I are heading to Mexico next Wednesday. We are staying at a resort in Chetumal which is a five hour drive away from Cancun. We are renting a car and driving down the coast, which I'm hoping is going to be safe. I'll be honest, the thought of getting car jacked or kidnapped is not appealing to me, but I suppose if we just don't stop along the way we'll be fine (note to self: do not drink anything before getting in the car.) Either way, I'm sure the end result will be well worth it:

My New Life Plan, Part One.

I have a new life plan! My new life plan is that I am going to Southeast Asia for 6 weeks in June and then in September I'm moving to NYC. Okay, well maybe I'm moving to New York. It's all still a bit in the air. RIght now, I'm just trying hard to focus on the first part. It's amazing how many details need to be worked out when you decide to take a trip across the world. VIsas and dog sitters, and subletters, and what the hell I'm going to do about my job... Yeah, I haven't quite figured that out yet. However at this point I'm prepared to quit. I'd prefer not to, but sometimes it feels like it's my only option. Anyway, enough about that-- back to the fun stuff!! So Southeast Asia! This means I'm going to start in Thailand, move through Cambodia and leave from Vietnam. And can I be perfectly honest? Aside from all of the amazing and beautiful things I imagine I'm going to see there, the thing I am most excited about right now is the food. Are you surprised? You shouldn't be. Other than eating a lot though, I've got nothing. So far my plan is to purchase a ticket to Bangkok and book a hotel for the first night to sleep off the jet lag. After that, well, I'll be flyin' by the seat of my pants. It's exciting for sure, but also a bit nerve-wracking. The thought of being alone for all that time is not all that appealing to me as I am not really one who likes to be alone with my thoughts. In fact I prefer to avoid them. I recognize the irony in this being a social worker but it's true. I'm sure I will meet people along the way, but being by myself will certainly be interesting... Although I suppose as long as I'm here, I think I'll be okay: