We were quite jet-lagged for our first few days in Cancun with the 15 hour time difference and woke up by 5am. On our first day, we took a walk on the beach and watched the sun rise!
We discovered the beach bar at the resort.
There were lots of these cabanas everywhere. Little did we know this beach would be the site of our wedding a few days later!
Sev gave one a try, it was pretty comfy!
We ran into Don having a cup of coffee and also watching the sun rise!
Then we checked out the gift shop - this hat was surprisingly heavy!
That day we lounged by the kids pool with James and Frankie.
I avoided the sun while cuddling baby Jude as we've learned to do living in Australia!
James spent the day snorkeling in the pool and taking us down the water slides! I think I was more afraid of the slides than any of the kids!
That evening a bunch of friends arrived from the states and we hung out in the hotel bar.
I had a hard time staying awake, but it was great to catch up with everyone!
The day before the wedding we had some cocktails in the beach cabanas with everyone. It was so cool that our different groups of friends and family all got to mingle a bit!
After the beach, we had a family dinner at the Sunset Grill, which was a delicious steak and baked potato!
Our family was split across two tables so we decided to spend half the dinner at each table.
For the second half, we went to my family's table!
And baby Jude slept through dinner as he does with most things!
The day of the wedding Sev went jet skiing with his friends while I was at the salon. We later learned that the lagoon where they jet skiied doesn't allow swimming because of crocodiles!
The day after the wedding, we had a slow start and then took the ferry over to Isla Mujeres, about a 20 minutes ride. This is the public beach in Cancun where the ferry leaves from.
Nice views are everywhere in Cancun!
We met family at Isla Mujeres who had been there all day and saw that Frankie had gotten her hair braided, and James had gotten sunburned!
Isla Mujeres is frequently on the top 10 beaches lists, and we saw why!
Poor Alexandra is still recovering from an appendectomy and I made her run to this beach to get a picture!
Baby Jude was as happy as ever, and hung out in his stroller most of the day. This is when he decided he was ready to go!
When everyone else went back to the resort, we went to the cheapest restaurant we could find for lunch, which we should have known would be a mistake. It had a gorgeous view nonetheless.
After we ordered, I looked around and thought it might not be very smart to eat there but I was starving in addition to being hungover so I ate one fish taco and a bunch of salsa and guacamole before letting my common sense win over. It was too late though: these tacos gave me two days of stomach maladies. I'll leave it at that.
We saw lots of these birds (pelican?) and I decided I think they're very cute and cuddly looking! None of them would let me get close enough to cuddle, however.
On day two of married life, we went to Chichen Itza and stopped at this small town called Valladolid on the way where we visited the third oldest Catholic church in the Americas.
It's a Franciscan church, so there is minimal decoration.
Several of our friends came on this tour which made it very fun despite my stomach problems!
We stopped at a great gift shop that had wonderful ceramics, leathers, and our favorite - Mexican wrestling masks. We sure could have used a few of these at Kellie's party last month!
Then we went to Cenote Hubiku, which is an underground lake (they're very common in this region). This one is very large compared to some others and even had a stairway into it. Many of them have no stairway and you just have to jump into them from above and climb out!
It looked like a stairway to nowhere!
We came across some interesting attire on the way.
The cenote was a beautiful dark blue color with small black catfish swimming around.
It was so peaceful and quiet, and there were dozens of little birds nesting in the walls and ceiling.
The water was damn cold, but so refreshing on that warm day.
I immediately persuaded myself that a water monster would emerge from the depths and hopped out, but Sev swam all the way across.
Our final stop of the day was Chichen Itza, the most powerful Mayan city during the period of 700 - 900CE. This is the temple of Kukulcan underneath which there is a tomb for the rulers to be buried in. Kukulcan is a feathered serpent god, who originated from the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. I learned that Chichen Itza history and beliefs have more similarities with Aztec culture than with the traditional Mayan culture, and this is because it was conquered by an Aztec group before it became prominent.
This is the ball court, which was highly important in Mayan culture. A snake lies along one wall, again referring to the feathered serpent god Kukulcan.
Chichen Itza has the largest ball court in Mesoamerica, and the only ball court with vertical walls. Other ballcourts have walls that slant out. And this one is easily twice the size of other ballcourts I've seen.
There were carvings of scenes from the ball game on the lower part of the walls. According to our tour guide, but contrary to other information I've read, the winner of the ball game was sacrificed to the gods. There are carvings of players being sacrificed by having their heads cut off - but in other Mayan cities and (according to 2 books I've read) in Chichen Itza as well, the loser was sacrificed. Either way, their ball game was a life and death matter.
This carving of a reclined person is an example of art that's unique to Chichen Itza, and these carvings are seen in several places throughout Chichen Itza, including one in the temple on top of the pyramid of Kukulcan.
As with many ancient cities, new buildings were constructed on top of old buildings. This is part of a building that's currently underground and was discovered just 9 months ago - it's still being excavated.
This plaza with columns once had a wooden roof on it. It's called Temple of the Warriors because the square columns have carvings of warriors on them and there is a structure underneath this building that was called Temple of the Warriors. This style of architecture was first used in Chichen Itza and is seen in the Aztec city Tula as well.
More columns - the small stones in between the large stones are pretty interesting up close considering there were thousands of these columns in the city.
Another reason it was so powerful are the cenotes, or underground lakes, that were considered sacred. People would make pilgrimages from all over to give offerings to the gods in the cenotes at Chichen Itza. So Chichen Itza remained an important religous place for hundreds of years after its political influence declined. We weren't able to see the cenotes or give offering in them; in fact I was laughed at when I asked if we could still make offerings!
This is the back side of the pyramid of Kukulcan which has crumbled and not been rebuilt like the front side.
We had a good time hanging out with Paul and Lanette that day, and they were patient with my frequent need to sit down due to stomach cramps!
We weren't able to climb the steps which was fine with me - I've climbed steps of other pyramids and found them terrifying! In fact, the only way to safely get down the steps is to go backwards and use both hands and feet which our tour guide informed us is the intention of the steep stairs so that no one would be able to turn their back to the temple.
The cloudy day was a relief - there is not a lot of shade at Chichen Itza and the sun would have been pretty strong!
That evening we went to Il Pescatore, the Italian restaurant at the hotel. I had a very upset stomach and asked the kitchen to make me macaroni and cheese, which they did! Then I had this delicious panna cotta for dessert.
Pam and Andy joined us and had the carrot cake for dessert, which was also delicious.
Grandma and Dick also joined us.
And Lanette joined us with an empty seat where Paul should have been. He was tired and disappeared from dinner before it started!
Sev had the tiramisu for dessert, which he said wasn't really tiramisu but was still good!
Sev and Lanette had Mayan coffee after dessert - the process is quite impressive!
The next day we were very lazy and didn't take any pictures, but the day after that I was feeling back to normal and we took a snorkel trip to the island Cozumel. That morning at breakfast we had a bird friend hiding in the flower bed just a foot away from us! I thought it might be injured but as soon as I got close to it, it stood up and walked a couple feet away then layed down again!
We took a shuttle to Playa del Carmen then this ferry to Cozumel, which is about a 45 minute ride.
The views from the ferry were as nice as ever.
Other side of the boat, just as pretty!
There was a Disney cruise in Cozumel when we arrived. Those things are bigger than I realized - it's like an entire city on the ocean!
View of Cozumel from the ferry - there were several boats anchored just off the coast.
We were herded from one place to the next and began to feel that the tour was slightly less professional than the pricetag suggested. For example the tour we bought included lunch, and upon arrival we learned that this lunch consisted of a sandwich and some fruit in a styrofoam box which was kept un-refrigerated in the boat during the tour. After my experiences earlier that week, I decided to eat the sandwich before it had time to get very warm!
There was a photographer who fed the fish to make them swim around us for pictures. I later learned that this is illegal and really wished I had said something to him! I love how Sev is pointing his finger here - the water was cold and he said he was trying not to lose his wedding ring!
More finger pointing and fish feeding!
It's hard to smile with a snorkel in your mouth!
He took some individual shots of us which were terrifying for me. I nearly panicked when I had 50 fish swimming around me and in my face!
I'm very afraid of the ocean and have to be holding on to Sev while snorkeling, so I was even scared to be alone in the water while he took pictures of Sev! But I survived!
The water was very cold and it was a windy day, so I was shivering in the water all day! You know you've been in Australia for a good amount of time when you think the water in Mexico is too cold!
After the snorkel trip we had some time to walk around Cozumel which mostly included dodging aggressive vendors and the occassional donkey ride.
I'm not sure what this building is but it looks very colonial Caribbean to me.
There was a nice view from the boardwalk but no shade so we didn't walk along it for too long!
We finally decided to hang out at a restaurant to avoid the vendors and found this one with an ocean view.
We shared a huge, spiked mango sorbet drink and had the biggest bowl of homemade guacamole ever!
Sev spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to build one of these himself before we hopped back on the ferry to Playa!
We had dinner at the resort as soon as we got back - it was our first dinner alone as all of our guests had left. We both agreed that it was no fun at all to honeymoon by ourselves! I drowned my sorrows in this giant wheel of parmesan cheese since I no longer had to worry about fitting into my wedding dress!
The next day we checked out of the resort and went down to Playa del Carmen, which was much more our style. This is the view from our hotel room.
We loved having a simple, cheap hotel room with bars on the windows and felt very much at home.
Luckily our solitude didn't last long - we met up with Wes and Diana who were staying in Tulum, about 30 minutes south and hung out for the day in Playa.
Our day consisted of hopping from bar to bar and walking along the beach. It was a perfect day!
Diana and I both had fresh coconut water.
And I contemplated what life would be like with coconut sized breasts.
We stopped in at a couple souvenir stores, one of which claimed to have the largest selection of tequila in the world. I kind of believed it.
They even had some bottles with blown glass figurines inside them and cost $700! This is where we learned that good tequila doesn't have a worm in it.
The obligatory beach shot! The cool things about Playa is that the beaches are public, whereas in Cancun you have to go through a resort to access the beach.
Our second stop, where the club music was blaring despite the fact that it was 2pm. This seems common in Mexico.
These little beach swings are everywhere in Cancun and Playa.
Janine and Lisa gave me some flip flops that make this imprint in the sand which I debuted on the beach!
That afternoon we befriended a little gato who I learned is very dirty after I pet and kissed it for a few minutes.
After Wes and Diana went back to their hotel, we walked around looking for a dinner spot and found a little market with a cool sculpture.
We also found a cute church with a great view!
It's right on the main street in Playa.
We settled at Wah Wah's which had tables on the beach, a live band, and delicious shrimp tacos! Based on the cleanliness and serving size I wager that it's owned by an American.
Our last day in Mexico we found the best restaurant for breakfast.
It had amazing food and awesome decor!
Sev really loved his cow couch even though it made him appear very short!
The OJ was fresh and the coffee was the best we'd had on the trip so far!
My breakfast was 2 fried eggs on top of fried corn tortillas with ranchera sauce, refried beans, guacamole and a side of plantains. Heaven!
My purple friend held my ice cream while I tried to fit in.
We swam in the pool for just a few minutes before we had to catch our taxi to the airport.
We really enjoyed our hotel in Playa!
I used my sarong as a towel for my wet hair and thought I could pass as African or Jamaican for a few minutes.
We had a day layover in LA where we met up with Greg and Carolyn, and had an amazing time! They took us to Malibu where we had some wine at this beach hangout.
It was perfect weather, and such a relief to have some time to relax in the middle of our long trip back home! Sadly we didn't get pictures of the seafood restaurant we went to for lunch but it was heavenly! I've eaten seafood almost every day for the last 2 weeks and loved it every time! Sev on the other hand admitted that he's sick of seafood when I suggested cooking it for dinner as soon as we got back to Brisbane!
There were a few of these adult jungle gyms which we enjoyed watching!
Our final stop was Santa Monica Pier which I remember from the sitcom Family Matters! We had a great vacation, and were surprisingly ready to get back to normal life after such excitement!
