Mexico!!!!

In October I had the wonerful opportunity to got to Cancun with my two sisters and mom. It was SOOOO much fun!!! We were a little nervous at the beginning of the trip because four girls that don't speak Spanish trying to figure out how to get places by themselves is a little scary, but it turns out we are braver than I thought (or at least I am). It was quite the adventure and so much fun! I can't wait to go back someday, but I'll take Cameron with me next time ;)

We weren't actually in Cancun, we were in the city just south of it called Playa del Carmen. Our adventures included:

*finding our way too and from Wal-Mart which in itself doesn't sound very adventurous, but let me tell you, it was! The resort we stayed at was about 20 min from town and it sat right on the highway. We had to stand on the side of the highway and wait for the "colectivo" or bus to pick us up, lucky for us there was one that just got there right as we were crossing the street so we didn't have to wait. We told the driver we wanted to go to Wal-mart and he just nodded and took our money. This bus doesn't have any designated stops, when you want to get off you just walk up to the front and the driver will pull over and let you off. When we started to get close to town we got a little nervous because we had heard the bus didn't drop us off right at wal-mart and since none of us knew anything about the town my sister Carie was brave enough to ask the man in front of us if he knew where Wal-mart was. Because luck was on our side the man spoke English! But he had never been to this town so he didn't know, BUT he did talk to the bus driver and eventually told us where to get off. We had to walk 4 blocks but we finally got there! After we got our groceries we decided to take a taxi back to the hotel since we weren't sure where to find the bus. Anyway, it was quite the day.

*shopping in Playa del Carmen. We of course had to get souveneirs for everyone so one day we went into town to do some shopping. There are little shops all along this one street and they just go forever it seems like. It was fun to see all the knick knacks and different things you could buy, but....after one evening there I was ready to leave. It was just very overwhelming, the people that owned or worked in the shops would sit outside and yell at you to try and get you to come in, and after a while it was just annoying and sometimes a little obnoxous. BUT, we did find some fun things and we ate at a delicous Mexican restaraunt.

*SNORKELING! For many of you that might not be a big deal, but for me, it was HUGE! I DO NOT go into the ocean past my ankles and I do not swim in lakes or rivers because the thought of things that I can't see swimming around and underneath me just CREEPS me out! But one day we went to this "eco park" called Xel-Ha where you can see dolphins, and swim with them if you pay extra, snorkle, float down a river, see manatees, swim in cenotes (underground rivers), go on nature walks, or just sit in a chair or lay in a hammock and relax. It was TONS of fun. I actually really enjoyed the snorkeling until I saw a 3 foot long baracuda swim next to me after that I was done I couldn't get over the creepiness of it.

*the Tulum ruins. This might have been my favorite thing we did. We saw the Mayan ruins in Tulum and they were amazing. For those of you who are LDS if you ever go to any ruins you must get an LDS tour guide! Ours taught us SOOO much! I was never that interested in ruins before, I mean I thoght they were cool and all, but after learning about who actually built them and that they were patterened after King Solomon's temple. There was SO much information that he shared with us that was just SO incredible. I would like to go back and just tour the ruins.

*swimming in the Caribbean. Like I said before, I DO NOT swim in the ocean, lake or river. But I could NOT resist the beautiful warm waters of the Caribbean :) The sand was like powder and there wasn't a single rock or even shell in sight. I was out in the ocean up to my head! The water was so warm it was like bath water. I could have stayed there ALL day. So I guess if I ever go back I would like to tour more ruins and just go to the beach.

*I don't know if it was very adventerous, but one day all we did was sit by the pool at our hotel. Literally ALL-DAY-LONG. lol, it was wonderful :) Actually we spent a lot of time just laying by the pool reading, sleeping, swimming and working on our tans ;) But one day that's all we did, literally. It was amazing :)

*befriending Marcos the taxi driver, haha. The day we went into town we decided we would just take a taxi into town instead of riding the bus. At our hotel you could just go to the lobby and tell them you wanted a taxi and there was a line of taxi's outside the hotel just waiting for someone to need them. We got the best taxi driver ever! His name was Marcos and if I ever go back I have his business card and I will call him and make sure he is my driver again. He spoke a little bit of english and my sister Carie could speak a little bit of Spanish (I think she was surprised by how much she knew) and between the two of them we were able to communicate fairly well and it also made our trips entertaining. So he took us into town and then told us that when we were done to call him, give him 15 minutes to get to us and he could take us back to our hotel. So we did. On the way back to our hotel we talked about how the next day we were going to the ruins in Tulum and he told us he would take us. We laughed and thought he was joking because he said that he would take us wherever we wanted to go and spend the day with us. After a lot of misscommunication, lol, we finally understood each other and we did have him take us to Tulum the next day and after the ruins he took us to the beach and just waited for us while we relaxed and then he recommended a restaraunt for us to eat at that was SOOOO good!!! I even liked the guacamole! (I don't like guacamole). When we were finally on our way back to our hotel we were saying our goodbyes to him and somehow it came up that we were leaving at 4 am in two days to head back home and he said he would take us, lol, we thought he was joking, who wants to get up at 4 am!! But apparently he did and at 4 am on the dot he was there to take us to the airport! We became very fond of our friend Marcos :)

So that was our super fun trip to Mexico!! I can't wait to go back someday!!

Okay now I will post the pictures, it was just easier to write about it all first.