Mexico and Doc Appt.

Hi All,

We returned from Mexico on April 22nd. We had a wonderful trip! Great weather - sunshine and warm water. And no, we did not return with swine flu.

Our first three nights were spent at La Selva Mariposa, 15 minutes outside of Tulum and on the road to Coba ruins. The B&B is located in the jungle and it was a wonderful, relaxing place with fantastic breakfast. The owners are ex-pats from Vail, Colorado. While staying there we explored the Coba ruins. Pretty cool but very hot. We swam in a cenote (fresh water sinkhole. The cenote we went to was about 5 stories below ground. We walked down a tight, spiral staircase until we entered a cave essentially. The water is crystal clear and warm. I was a little freaked out at first. It was a different experience to swim in a cave. The top of the cave had a light. Necessary to avoid swimming in the dark and there were a few cracks in the rock that let in natural sunlight. That evening we went to the beach for dinner. It was our first look at the ocean this trip. White sand beach with very blue water - beautiful. The next day, April 15 - August's birthday, we had planned to go to the ruins at Chichen Itza. We heard they are incredible and have great colonial towns to explore. We didn't go. We would have been driving for fours hours total that day and it's hot at the ruins so we went to the beach. We went to a beach club on the South end of Tulum beach and basically had that part of the beach/ocean to ourselves. It was very relaxing. We swam, read, soaked up the sun, and August flew his kite. A wonderful birthday for August. Unfortunately for dinner, we went to a road side taco stand just down the block from our B&B. I choose not to eat there. August was starving and went for it. 24 hours later his stomach was feeling a little more normal again. Poor Sir. On the 16th, we drove to our next hotel, Casa Carolina, in Xcalak.

Xcalak is on the southern tip of a peninsula and very close to the Belize border. A very quiet, little town. The water here is described as lagoony and very shallow and thankfully, shark free - as this was the snorkeling part of our trip. There is turtle grass in the ocean, which makes the water very warm and shallow. We had to walk out to the end of the dock to be able to swim. We snorkeled out to coral 'outcrop'. I saw a southern ray as we were swimming back to the dock.
The next day we did a boat trip with the other couple staying at our B&B. (It only had four rooms, two of which were occupied. Our last night there, we were the only ones. Xcalak is very quiet and just starting to get discovered. Of course, a few people from Crested Butte had already stayed in our hotel - we found out from the owners. CB folks like to travel to quaint locations.) Our boat was going to bird island and on the way we passed Mangroves: trees and shrubs that grow in saline waters. They also help protect the shoreline from hurricanes. They are a crucial element to the environment. The water was amazing bluish green colors! At one point, in a canal, Belize was on our left and Mexico on our right. Our boat captain stopped twice so we could snorkel and he pointed out southern rays and turtles. Our boat trip was about 5 hours and a definite highlight of our vacation. Any time we are near water, a boat trip is mandatory as it's one of August's favorite things that I also enjoy. The next day we took out the tandem kayak, which I had to do most of the paddeling - my experienced, I've kayaked the Grand Canyon expert lazed in the back of the boat. Go figure. August snorkeled at a couple coral areas, I snorkeled at one. Xcalak was very low key and relaxing. It was now time for Tulum.

We stayed on Tulum beach for our last three nights in Mexico. We had a cabana on the beach with sun beds and hammocks. While here, we swam, August snorkeled, read, and soaked up the sun. We spent a couple of hours walking around the town of Tulum. We ate a lot of Italian food. There are many Italians who have relocated to the Mayan Riviera. I was being careful about what I ate so this worked well for me. We strolled the beach in the evening looking for restaurants and at one place, we ran into a family from Crested Butte. In general, we enjoyed a very relaxing stay.

The Yucatan Peninsula is very safe! I felt safer here than I did in parts of Maui. It was more expensive than our trip we took on the Pacific Coast of Mexico five years ago but for that trip we camped for 1 1/2 weeks for $10/night and ate incredibly delicious, and cheap Mexican food. This year's trip was a lot more structured but still enjoyable. I feel like we got ripped off a couple of times because we do not speak Spanish - though credit to August for trying. We did get ripped off at a gas station, which was the one bad thing we read about the Yucatan. I must say, those guys are clever. And wow, they never let you go with a dirty windshield. Pictures to follow.

Baby update. We had our 18 weeks check up and everything is looking good. Heart beat is great, blood work looks good and I feel good. However, I am back to napping almost daily. I'm back at work full time as spring is here and the garden center is gearing up for another, hopefully good, year. It's great to be back with the ladies. We will go for an ultrasound in a few weeks and while I have been tempted at times, we have decided to not find out the sex of the baby. I still feel strongly that it's a boy but August likes to remind me that my intuition is not all that great.

In other news, Ida had her ACL surgery. :( Actually, she had TPLO surgery, which removed her ACL and cut the top of her tibia to change the angle of the bone. It is supposed to be better than your typical ACL surgery with a faster recovery. We hope so because right now she is miserable and is not allowed to walk outside on her own or for very long. Cross your fingers for a speedy recovery. Hope all is well with everyone. Sorry for the long post.

We have tons of great photos, it was hard to choose just a few.
Cj