Trip to Cancun

We got back from the Mayan Riviera on Saturday. It was a great, relaxing trip. We had planned to go in November and to spend a lot of time siteseeing, but plans change. Wilma made sure we didn't go in November, and since we're returning next month to a place closer to the ruins with Megan's family, we decided to forgo the off-resort excursions and instead spend time playing water volleyball, eating nachos, and working on our tans.

The trip coincided with our 3rd year anniversary and Megan's birthday, not to mention Brett's tenure notification, so we had much to celebrate. The resort had great restaurants for dinners and we met some really nice people from all over, so we had ample opportunity t0 eat, drink, and socialize for all occasions (and non-occassions). Brett got to eat seafood almost every night and Megan was able to avoid it (be sure to check out the food pics, everything tasted as good as it looks!). They also had great raspberry mousse and tiramasu most nights and creamy ice cream by the pool in the afternoon, so again, we had everything we needed to be happy.

We took some pictures of sunrise a few mornings. The big cloud on the horizon in most of them is actually smoke. All of the fallen trees from Wilma are now drying out enough that wildfires are becoming an issue in the area. It certainly gave our room air conditioner a nice "tent camping by the fire" smell. :) The area behind the resort (that our room faced) was a swamp. The signs say that there are crocs in the water, but we never saw them. I think they might've been victims of Wilma. The swamp did attract many water birds of various flavors. I tried to get some egrets, but had to use the digital zoom. There are also some other birds that were less afraid to land nearby someone with a camera. Megan's no Jerry, but they're here if you want to see.

We did a little bit of shopping while we were there, but are mostly saving our efforts for Playa del Carmen next trip (so much so that Megan didn't even buy a Mexico spoon!). We are trying to collect cool ethnic pieces from our travels, and this time we found a neat reproduction Mayan mask and snatched that up. The jewelry seems to be very reasonable, even in the price-tagged shops we went in. In PdC, the shops are all on a haggling basis, so I imagine a skilled person might be able to get REALLY great prices.

We went out to one of the reefs by kayak one day and that was amazing. We had been warned that the reef itself had suffered much Wilma-inflicted damage, so we didn't expect much. While the coral was certainly not that exciting (a few orange and yellows here and there), the aquatic life seemed to be rebounding faster. For a while, a family of rays swam alongside us, flipping upside down so we could see their white bellies. We also saw lots of blue tang, easy to spot since they're REALLY neon blue/purple. We can't wait to go back and do some snorkeling or a glass bottom boat tour.

We've posted some pics for any who'd like to see. Mostly they're of us headed to dinner, dancing, or of the beach.