Mexico: Riviera Maya/ Playa Del Carmen

These pictures are completely out of order and I'm too

lazy to fix them. We went to Secrets Moroma Beach in Riviera Maya.

It was the first time we've been anywhere away from the kids longer than

 a weekend since Mia was 2, so 6 1/2 years. I had a harder time than Rick leaving them

and having anxiety and it's only because Kellan is so different than Mia was at this age.

He's just busy busy busy. I knew they were in good hands with both grandmas, it's just

my own anxieties. Once I talked to them every day, I was fine. 

Anyway this is our beautiful beach. We picked this resort and paid

more for this beach. It's one of the top 5 beaches in the world. It's beautiful!

We walked a ton while we were there and our resort definitely had the better beach

which is where we spend most of the time! I think we got in the pool once to take a picture. 

hard to get pics when it's just the two of you

quite a few abandoned places along the beach, some even had

people living in them.

an old boat washed up ashore. It was cloudy 5 out of 7 days

It rained every day. We had one huge storm that came in and 

even flooded our room and took out the power, it was fun and scary at the same time.

from the top of our balcony and where all the bugs live!

 I got tons of bites, Rick too!

from our room

tons of lizards...

we went on an excursion to Talum which in one of the 

Mayan ruins, it was actually amazing and our tour guide is the only
Mexican run tour company left and let me tell you he was amazing

he's of Mayan descent and he is very bitter about how big his country is now

with Tourism. The Mayans did not believe in anything circular so even though they 

had already invented the wheel, they carried each block which was 5 miles away in a quarry

to build these from their enemies. Playa Del Carmen use to only have 30,000 residents just 10 years

ago and now it is at 800,000 , the fastest growing city in the world.

there was a fertility building which I stayed very far from.

the mayan ruins were a protection from people coming from the ocean and 

all around,

I had to get a coconut on the way

then we went to this place where you swim in a cave and they have 

monkeys, boars, alligators, etc they also see Pumas, they are not made to

stay inside the enclosures, it's mostly for us.

they love drinking from the water bottles

I realized that I won't be the old lady on the huge bus 

doing guided tours because there are so many rules, example 

I could not even bring something to throw over me because I couldn't bring my bag

or my towel that I desperately needed after 70 degree water.

We did a lot in this excursion, my favorite part was 

snorkeling with the sea turtles. This is where they come to eat

so they make you wear life jackets so you can't sink and touch them

since they are protected. Our tour guide did not even want us wearing sunscreen

He's very protective of these animals. He was right there the whole time snorkeling with us

and says it never gets old , he just absolutely loves it here.

We also saw tons of sea rays, not sure where that pic is.

this is our room, it was super nice...

these cute little things were just wandering around 

the resort and they were so cute.

they would just share the road

after days of excursions, I made Rick go 

play volleyball and he met a group of guys and 

had a blast doing that until we left. It was good for both of us :)

Asian restaurant: they had asian, italian,

French, Mexican, Seafood, Steak, and a few buffet options, 

tons of choices...

We went into Playa Del Carmen one day and went shopping

seriously expensive

very Americanized even had a Forever 21

back to the underground caves, I was pretty nervous about being enclosed,

 with a mask, in water with sharp rocks, but mostly the temperature. I learned that 

it wasn't too bad except the water temperature. I just couldn't get past it. I also wanted

my towel that I wasn't allowed to have.

more from Mayan Ruins

yikes

bites

lots of virgin dajuires

fish from a fisherman

Rick playing volleyball

Rick playing volleyball where he met Bruce who was

like an army crazy guy from England probably 60 years old 

and hilarious, they got along great.

italian restaurant

Downtown Playa again

We had a great time! It was a fun trip. I got super sunburned the last 

day so the flight home was very painful and the sun is brutal, it's actually still hurting

in some places after almost a week. Rick managed to loose weight even after ordering desserts 

every single night and getting room service after dinners. Ugh Men!!! We actually went to the gym

every day and I still managed to gain. Whatever. We did notice that nothing was super sweet so they

must use a different kind of sugar. We also heard some very sad stories from people who work there and it's just amazing how much they do for people at the resort and get paid so little, so we definitely tipped a lot. It was a great trip for our 10 year anniversary :)