Our Jeep for the island tour. Missing floorboards, no seat belts, no a/c or radio, no fifth gear. Just a shell and an engine.
Instead of doing the normal out to dinner and exchanging of gifts for our anniversary, Dan and I decided to take a trip. To Mexico. For our spring breaks which (thankfully) overlapped for a week. It was a solid decision, though it would take the rest of my internship money and then some to get us there and back. Whoops.
We opted for an all-inclusive resort in Cozumel, Mexico. Cozumel is a small island known for its awesome scuba diving, located just off the coast of Cancun and Playa del Carmen (the place where I vacationed for my senior spring break in high school - I guess everything comes full circle).
We arrived, looking forward to five days of warm, sunny weather. We flew straight into the Cozumel airport, and let the Orbitz taxi pick us up. Right away, you could tell we were in a different country. The language, the people, and the way the air smells - like diesel gasoline, humidity and sweaty people. The ocean is gorgeous though, with shimmering azure blue water out of a dream. You could see all of the cruise ships parked offshore from the air as we were landing.
The taxi dropped us off, and Dan and I were greeted with glasses of champagne. The hotel itself was set up as a series of separate buildings with garden walkways in between. Our room was on the top floor of the building furthest from the water, but closest to the courtyard and dining room. We unpacked and headed straight to the bar/restaurant for dinner. The hotel had multiple restaurants, but apparently you have to book a reservation at one of the specialty restaurants days in advance, which we did not realize. So instead we ate at the less-than-gourmet general restaurant and washed it all down with our strong all-inclusive drinks. We spent our days on the beach, sunning (with tons of sunscreen) and reading. Our relaxing day was always interrupted by the announcer at the activity pool shouting, "Wakey wakey! Time for beach volleyball!" but we let it slide in light of free bottomless margaritas, pina coladas and corona.
After a two days of sunning in which Dan and I both got awesome tan lines - Dan forgot to sunscreen his right arm only and I had two distinct strap marks where my bag had rubbed off my suntan lotion - we joined a day tour of the island. It cost a little extra, but it was totally worth it. Dan and I got put in a Jeep with the newlywed couple (we later found out that everyone assumed that we too were honeymooners). Only two of the four of us could drive the stickshift Jeep, so I alternated with the other man in our car. Our tour took us from the snorkeling spot, to the ruins, to a tequila factory, to a lunch of fajitas on the 'wild' side of the island, to a beach break, to the nature preserve on the north side of the island, and finally back to our hotels (whew!). I loved every minute of it. It was totally worth it just to experience the rest of the island, though I was definitely ready for bed that night, followed by the beach the next two days, then back to Boston for the remainder of my spring break.
We opted for an all-inclusive resort in Cozumel, Mexico. Cozumel is a small island known for its awesome scuba diving, located just off the coast of Cancun and Playa del Carmen (the place where I vacationed for my senior spring break in high school - I guess everything comes full circle).
We arrived, looking forward to five days of warm, sunny weather. We flew straight into the Cozumel airport, and let the Orbitz taxi pick us up. Right away, you could tell we were in a different country. The language, the people, and the way the air smells - like diesel gasoline, humidity and sweaty people. The ocean is gorgeous though, with shimmering azure blue water out of a dream. You could see all of the cruise ships parked offshore from the air as we were landing.
The taxi dropped us off, and Dan and I were greeted with glasses of champagne. The hotel itself was set up as a series of separate buildings with garden walkways in between. Our room was on the top floor of the building furthest from the water, but closest to the courtyard and dining room. We unpacked and headed straight to the bar/restaurant for dinner. The hotel had multiple restaurants, but apparently you have to book a reservation at one of the specialty restaurants days in advance, which we did not realize. So instead we ate at the less-than-gourmet general restaurant and washed it all down with our strong all-inclusive drinks. We spent our days on the beach, sunning (with tons of sunscreen) and reading. Our relaxing day was always interrupted by the announcer at the activity pool shouting, "Wakey wakey! Time for beach volleyball!" but we let it slide in light of free bottomless margaritas, pina coladas and corona.
After a two days of sunning in which Dan and I both got awesome tan lines - Dan forgot to sunscreen his right arm only and I had two distinct strap marks where my bag had rubbed off my suntan lotion - we joined a day tour of the island. It cost a little extra, but it was totally worth it. Dan and I got put in a Jeep with the newlywed couple (we later found out that everyone assumed that we too were honeymooners). Only two of the four of us could drive the stickshift Jeep, so I alternated with the other man in our car. Our tour took us from the snorkeling spot, to the ruins, to a tequila factory, to a lunch of fajitas on the 'wild' side of the island, to a beach break, to the nature preserve on the north side of the island, and finally back to our hotels (whew!). I loved every minute of it. It was totally worth it just to experience the rest of the island, though I was definitely ready for bed that night, followed by the beach the next two days, then back to Boston for the remainder of my spring break.
Check out my strap burn on my right shoulder.
Post-snorkeling. I got stung by some tiny jellyfish, which was more uncomfortable than truly painful.
Flowers
Iguanas, the chickens of Mexico
Beautiful ocean
Our rides...
...their rides. It took them the ENTIRE day to take the segway tour around the island
Boyfriend
More beautiful flowers
The temple of the goddess of fertility. None of the men let the women come close to this thing.
More of the temple ruins
"Free Pee-Pee Station Here"
Agave, which is the distant cousin of the pineapple. Technically, tequila can only come from certain regions of Mexico; anything else is considered Mezcal. That means that these agave plants were going to turn into Mezcal, not tequila. It's kind of like bourbon versus whiskey.
The island road
My favorite picture. Here I am, so excited to be in this gorgeous water, totally oblivious to the two honeymooning couples making out around me.
Crocodile!
Close-up
The "wild" side of the island
Shells on the beach
Towel animals
Small pool
Big activity pool, with the ocean behind it
Where we spent most of our time.
The pier on our last night
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