For the last 3 years we have spent Christmas in Fort Myers, Florida with some of our closest friends. Even though we were away, we would still decorate our house and get into the Christmas spirit before we left, usually having dinners with family, my annual BFF Christmas evening, putting up a tree, and visiting Santa.....even though we would be on a beach on Christmas day, it still felt like Christmas... This year was the first time it didn't.
For sure there was decorations everywhere, Spanish Christmas music blaring from the most random stores (what is with the retails stores in Central America and Mexico blaring club beats onto the streets???) there was even a Santa or two walking around. I just felt a little blah about the whole thing and it was hard to muster up my usual Christmas spirit. We did not do our shopping until the last week, (what do you buy for two kids travelling around the world? Things that are as small as possible and able to transport!). Johnny and Anneka made snowflakes for our windows, Santa emails were sent, and Christmas Eve was spent decorating a little tree with coloured paper. Girls were really excited and even though our teeny little tree and teeny little presents looked pathetic compared to some, they were thrilled with their haul and loved every minute of it.
The best Christmas present of all was having all three of my kids with me! We picked Jesse up from the airport on Christmas morning and he was spending 5 short, glorious days with us.
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The beach in Playa Del Carmen
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Xaman Ha-Mayan ruin in Playacar
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We had an action packed week, (unfortunately Jess got quite sick on day two, but he quickly recovered and was good to go the next day It was so great to have him with us...we had beach days, a full day at the water park, Xel Ha, a booze cruise, and trip to Isla Mujeres, a Cenote visit and lots and lots of booze. The girls were thrilled to have their big bro with them again, even if it was for such a short time. hopefully he is able to meet us again somewhere along the way.
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| Isla Mujeres |
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| Catamaran |
After Jesse left, we spent this last week really exploring the area. Our new fave place to eat is in a park a few blocks away from the tourist area, there are street vendors selling the most amazing food, we can all eat for $12! We are exploring the most beautiful beaches around, (our favourites so far- Isla Mujeres, Puerto Adventuras, and Playacar beach). The best snorkeling we have found is hands down- Yul Ka. We got to swim with sea turtles in Akumal and we found an English movie theater near our place (only $10 for all of us to go-score!). We also met a few families that have now made Playa Del Carmen their home and we managed to get together for a wing night one evening, good food and great company ...all the comforts of home.
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Puerto Adventuras
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Isla Mujeres
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| Ya Kul snorkeling |
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| Beach at Puerto Adventuras |
While we really are enjoying our stay here, I think we are all done with Mexico. It is very beautiful and there is so much to do, but I think we realize a month in one place almost seems too long, it's too short to get truly settled but too long in terms of travelling (sounds weird I know, its hard to explain, we seem to fall into this grey area of not quite local but not quite tourist)...gives us something to think about as we are in planning mode for SE Asia.
1 more week...YIKES!
