Greg and I were able to go to Mexico for his childhood friend Brady’s wedding. It was amazing!

Day 1 –
We left on a Wednesday, we flew from Boise to Dallas, Dallas to Cancun. We had a very easy travel day. We got to Cancun and had to get our rental car. Once we got our rental car we had to drive south an hour to our hotel.

Love this lady and her glasses sitting next to Greg, ha!

Once we got our rental car we headed to our hotel. We were very hungry and had no idea where to eat. I just picked a place from google maps in Playa Del Carmen. It was raining off and on our on way to the restaurant. And we were lucky that it was later at night so traffic wasn’t bad. It was interesting driving on the freeway. We got off hoping to use a bathroom at a gas station but it didn’t look like it had one so we got back on. Getting back on the free way, there is no ramp to slowly merge on it is just go!

We made it to the restaurant and luckily it wasn’t raining. We got a seat outside and we were the only ones there. We ordered some guacamole, (we were so excited for Guac!) tacos and a couple of drinks. Including tip this was $38! Very cheap compared to here. You can’t even get a small lunch with that much food for less then $50.

We left the restaurant and headed to our hotel.  When we got there it was probably 10ish. Security walked us to where we needed to park and gave us the key to our room. Our room was beautiful. A huge room with double sliding glass doors that open up to a deck right next to the ocean. We were pretty tired from a day of traveling so we got settled in and went to bed.

Day 2 –

Our first full day we woke up to a beautiful view. The weather was not as beautiful. It was windy and rainy. We knew it would be from checking the weather before we left. It is rainy season there after all. They were having a tropical storm – which was needed in the area. It was still warm so I didn’t mind.

We laid in bed for a bit and then got ready to go get breakfast about 10. We walked over to the hotel’s restaurant. We were pleasantly surprised when the selection for breakfast- which was included with our stay was amazing! You get a drink, mexican pastries, a full breakfast off the menu. It was absolutely delicious. We had plenty of time so we sat there a bit and ordered a mimosa and bloody mary.

After breakfast we went back to our room. We got a break in the weather so we went out and walked the beach collecting shells and looking for hermit crabs. It was such a nice relaxing afternoon.

That night we met up with all the wedding party and guests for dinner. We were supposed to all go out on a boat but because of the weather that was canceled. Plan B was pretty great though. We had delicious food, drinks and live music. We got to meet Brady’s  fiancé Sasha and all her family. I got to meet Brady’s family – his parents and sisters with their families. Everyone was great.

After things started to die down at the restaurant a group of us went back to Sasha’s parents villa. We were in Puerto Aventuras. Their villa was beautiful – a big heated pool in the back where all the kids were swimming at night. We had such a great time and it was so fun getting to know everyone.

At about midnight we headed back to our hotel. I drove us home – first time driving in another country! I was lucky there was no traffic and it was an easy drive.

On the drive down the road to our hotel in the dark we saw a coati – looks like a cross between a racoon and ant eater to me. I only took one photo of one of my drinks from that whole night…cuz I was just having so much fun.

Day 3 –

Wedding Day! The wedding wasn’t until the evening so we had the whole day to ourselves. We got up around 10 again and went and got breakfast. Yumm! After breakfast we went back to our room to relax. Greg was watching Ninja Warrior from Japan with Spanish narration. He was entertained … I watched season 3 of Bridgerton. Again, it was just nice to have nothing to do and just relax. We went back to the hotel restaurant for lunch.

While we were at lunch we saw all the staff gathering behind the pool and knew something was going on. Greg went to see what was happening and he came back to the table and told me I needed to go look myself. I walk over by the dock and see a 6-7 foot boa constrictor!

Look at that view from the restaurant!

We asked our waiter about it and he said it’s a wild boa and he’s seen it several times. He said one time he saw it near the road you take to the hotel and it was wrapped around a racoon. So crazy! We finished our lunch and went back to the room I wanted to get a picture of the boa with my big camera. By the time we came back it was gone.

The weather was pretty nice, the sun even came out for a bit so we decided to walk around. We met a lovely couple that lived there from Colorado. They said they retired and had plans to buy an RV and travel around the US but came to Paamul and loved it. They decided to take the plunge and move their full time and love it.

That evening was the wedding. The venue was just down the beach from our room so we walked there. We were one of the first people there. It was stunning! So beautifully decorated with real flowers and leaves.

Everything was set up for them to get married in the covered are abut the weather cooperated and they moved the flower arch and chairs outside.

The ceremony was beautiful, their kids and some cousins were all matching and walked together down the aisle. Keetan and Torin were ring barriers. Sasha’s brother is the one that married them. They said their own vows. I just love love! It was a beautiful ceremony.

After the ceremony it was party time! The food and drinks started flowing. It was delicious. We just kept dancing, eating and drinking.

Several hours in they announced they had some entertainment. We went outside and there was a fire dancer and a drummer. The drums had water on them and as you banged them the water would bounce up with colors, it was so fun. They let people give it a try. The kids all did it, then Sasha & Brady, even Greg and I took a turn.

They asked Greg to put the flower on Brady to take pictures. Brady sent this to him, love it.

 

 

By about midnight I was pretty tired, everyone was leaving so we started the walk back to our hotel. I saw a large hermit crab just as we were headed back.

I was a little freaked out about walking back in the dark after seeing that large snake earlier. Greg said we would be fine. We turned the lights on our phones and started. Greg was ahead of me and as we were walking something threw sand at me. I freaked out and screamed, he turned around and was like what? I told him something threw sand at me. I turned around and saw some sand fly again. We walked a little closer and found a huge sea turtle! It was creating a nest for it’s eggs. I took some pictures and video and then we continued on. As we did we saw 2 more turtles. It was so awesome. The whole day was just incredible. It was a beautiful wedding with lots of love and laughter. Best of all Brady looked so happy.

Day 4 –

The day after the wedding we had planned to go to Chichen Itza. It’s one of the 7 wonders of the world and we were that close we decided we had to. We got up and had breakfast at the hotel. I finally remembered to get pictures. The egg and bean dish Greg has was so good. We ate that almost every day.

The drive to Chichen Itza was about 2.5 hours. The drive itself was an adventure. It started when we tried to find an ATM. I googled it and we drove to one place, it was a bank but we didn’t see an ATM and there was a big line at the bank. So I googled another one, we drove towards it but a guard at the entrance of the community wouldn’t even let us come in. We decided to just forget it and continue on. It was raining pretty heavy on and off. There were piles of water in the roads at points. Lots of  people on bikes. Drivers turn on their hazard lights for reasons we still don’t know.

As we got close we were stopped and asked where we were going and if we had tickets. They made us detour to a small tour stop. We were able to get tickets into Chichen Itza and a personal tour guide.  They asked us if we would like a blessing from a Mayan priest, we thought why not?

Before going to the priest, they took us into the gift shop and gave us Mayan names. Greg’s was Mol and mine was Yaxkin. The translator told us to use those names when we meet the priest – which was the grandfather of the translator.

We bought a few things some obsidian bracelets and rocks.  They told us to take those with us so they would be blessed.

The blessing was a unique experience. We went into a door on the side of a Chichen Itza temple replica. The priest blessed us by using water from a cenote near and sprinkling it on us with a branch. He said a blessing in Mayan and when he paused his grandson told us to say our Mayan names. We did and he continued. He  blessed the items we held in our hands. Then he burned some incense and gave us each a small little piece. We were told to think of something we wished for as we put the piece of incense in the hot coals. He continued speaking in Mayan as he waived the incense around us.

We both really enjoyed it and felt a good energy. We all wear our bracelets for luck and blessings. This all very well could of been a tourist trap but in the end it made us feel good so was worth it.

I didn’t take any pictures while we were there but I found these on social media. This is the same Mayan priest that blessed us.

Got these off social media too, this is the temple replica we went into for the blessing.

We finally made it to Chichen Itza. We met our guide there. It was getting late in the afternoon so there were not a lot of people there. Which was great!  Our tour guide was awesome! I loved that it was just Greg and I with him. He gave us so much information.

We started at the temple. He took us to the center and clapped. You could hear it echoing Then he took us to the side and clapped and nothing. He stayed on the side and told us to go back to the middle he clapped again and we could hear the echo.  The echo is supposed to sound like the cries of their sacred bird the Quetzal. It was so fascinating.

You used to be able to climb the steps and see in the door at the top but you no longer can.

He showed us how the Mayas learned about days and years by marking the ground every day and seeing patterns repeat year after year. Each of the pyramid’s four sides has 91 steps which, when added together and including the temple platform on top as the final ‘step’, produces a total of 365 steps – the number of days in the solar calendar. There are other significant numbers from the Mayan calendar also built into temples architecture. They also created the temple with serpents at the end of the steps and at certain times of day s the shadows make it look like a feathered serpent is crawling down the temple.  Interesting for sure.

We were so lucky that while we were there the rain stopped.

Thank you to our guide for taking this picture of us.

This is the  Temple of the Jaguar.

I don’t recall what all these buildings were for and to be honestly our guide said they are not sure either. They can make good assumptions. This one I believe he said was for marriages. They have found drawings on the columns that depict what they believe is marriage.

It’s hard to tell from this photo but up in the corner is some of the red and blue color this would of originally been.

Lots of serpents and jaguar imagery and sculptures.

This area would of been the entertainment area where they played games and had performances. The acoustics in here was also incredible. As you yelled it seemed to just keep bouncing off.

This is where the royalty would of sat to watch.

They played a game where they used a rubber ball to go through this hole.

Our guide replicated what the ball would of been. He made this out of a rubber tree. He let us hold and bounce it. It felt like a rubber band ball.

The images on the wall told the story of the games they played here. It was their form of basketball with much higher stakes. The winner or loser – they are not sure would be beheaded.

This depicts the beheading with blood spurting out with serpent heads at the end.

Lots of parakeets in the trees.

This is a jaguar and eagles on the side.

Our guide told us this would of been the market.

This is the observatory. Our guide told us that at certain times of years the dome shines sun through the windows. It reminded me of the Pantheon in Rome.

There was still a lot to see but it was getting close to closing time. Our guide left us here to wonder around on our own.

I did purchase a few pieces of art. This was my favorite. It has the feathered serpent on one side and the jaguar on the other. I was told it was hand carved and painted by the artist but I take that with a grain of salt, sadly you can’t believe everything you are told. They are all salesman.

We were pretty hungry by the time we left Chichen Itza. I googled and found the closest place to eat. It was a restaurant pretty close. The food was ok. Just us and one other family were in the restaurant.

After dinner we drove back to our hotel, we had a 2.5 hour drive back. By that time it was getting dark. The drive back was another adventure. It was raining again and now dark.  At one point a car was passing another in front of us. The driver just turned on his hazard lights, we had to slow way down to avoid hitting them. It was a heart racer. I was glad when we got back to the hotel.

We decided to go back out and see if we could see more turtles. While we were venturing out a couple of ladies came up to us and told us we couldn’t use a flash light, we had to have a red light. It’s better for the turtles.

We turned off our lights, we were lucky enough that it was a full moon and we could see pretty well. We did see 4 more turtles. We stayed out there a while and watched one go back out into the ocean and one come in. It’s pretty amazing. We learned from our guide earlier in the day that some people come here specifically to see this happen and don’t get to.

At the bottom of this grainy photo you can see a round shell being highlighted, it’s one of the turtles.

Day 5 –

This was our last day. We got up and ate breakfast and then headed to Cancun where we were flying out.  I could not find a flight that got us home on Sunday. We had to fly to Austin then to Dallas. In Dallas we had to spend the night. They have 2 hotels at the airport. I had booked a room there.

We ate lunch at Guy Fieri’s in the airport. It was really good – best fish and chips Greg says he’s ever had but very expensive.

We had the easiest time in customs at Austin – breezed right through. Got on a plane to Dallas which was very quick. By the time we got to Dallas it was almost 10 and we were hungry. The only thing still open in the airport was subway. We grabbed some sandwiches and called the shuttle for the hotel. When we got to our room it was late. We ate and went right to bed. We had to get up early for our flight back home.

Jaelee picked us up from the airport. Sometimes it is very nice that those kids have their licenses.

Greg and I had the best time.  It was like the honeymoon we never took.