Finding Sunshine ~ the Mayan Riviera

We have been back to the real life for a week now, 

so I will share a few snapshots of our time in the Mexican sun before it is all a distant memory.

We stayed at a resort not far from Cancun...

...in Puerto Morelos.

It was a lovely place...

quiet and peaceful in the areas we frequented.

There were plenty of pools ...

many that overlooked the Gulf of Mexico.

Every morning we went for a long walk on the beach.

We usually met a few others doing the same. 

Our resort had a tractor and 'seawood picker' that cleaned up the beach bright and early in the day.

All the other resorts used manpower.

Rake.  Shovel.  Wheel.  

It was an unending job, with seaweed washing in almost as fast as they could clean it up.

The silky soft white sand was easy to walk barefoot on for miles. 

We watched birds...

...and at times even managed to 'shoot' the pelicans diving for fish.

And once we were back from our walk...

we found us a comfy seat under the palm tree and read books.  

And the birds watched us!

This 'not so little' iguana greeted us every morning in the exact same spot.  

Unblinking.  Unmoving. 

Alive?  

We think so.

We had para-sailors provide our entertainment at the beach daily...

...while sailboats came and went.

Sailing was not a problem...since the wind never let up. 

We had to hold onto our hats!  

But that's a good thing when it is sunny and hot every day.

I took a daily dip in the ocean. 

Hubby watched from his dry perch.

 

Weddings also happened daily on the beach...

...which were always fun to watch. 

Wedding guests waded out to take photos.

Mango smoothies...

 

...or coconut ice-cream were delivered right to the chaise lounge.
Who knew?

Though we read many books and barely left the resort...

 

...we did take a day-trip to the Mayan ruins at Coba.

And we climbed the pyramid, of course.
All 130 steep steps.
This is the tallest of the Mayan pyramids and the only one that allows tourists to climb.
Chichan Itza closed their pyramid to the public in 2006 after a woman fell to her death.

Up was easy...and the view at the top was great.  

Going down was downright scary. 

We lived to tell of it...though we did have sore leg muscles the next day!

And this is what an ancient Mayan ball park looked like.  

We enjoyed our historic immersion trip to Coba.

 

Breakfast on our patio was on option...so why not?
As you might guess, we never needed lunch!

In the evenings we got out of our beachwear and headed to one of seven restaurants. 

 

My favorite cuisine?  The Mexican, of course.

Give me guacamole and fresh salsa at a patio cafe on a warm evening and I'm happy.

By the time our stay on the Mayan Riviera was over,
we were quite accustomed to sunshine and warm temperatures...
and could only imagine that things had warmed up back home as well. 
Not so much.
The almost daily rain since our return,
makes me all the more thankful for our interlude in the sun!  
It was lovely.

Have a wonderful and blessed Easter.

March ~ is it spring yet?

'Tulips of the Valley' one year ago on this day.  This year we will have to wait a bit. Did I fool you into thinking our valley tulips were in full bloom over here?

Spring got a slow start here this year.  We are not used to having snow in March...and it snowed most every day until March 9th.

A crew showed up one morning to trim off all the trees damaged in the ice-storm.  Then came the big clean-up...and massive bonfires.

I brought spring indoors...or visited the garden shop to get my fix of spring colour.

As the snow melted, the rains came...and the ditches overflowed.

There were ponds and lakes everywhere.

Though the sun was mostly nowhere to be be found...I did get some great evening photos.

The crocuses are blooming now...a good month later than last year.

The eagles have not left for their summer home as yet...and can usually be seen keeping watch in the trees around our yard.

Our grands had two weeks off for spring break. There weren't many days without rain...but we found one dry evening for a wiener roast. Unfortunately, the oldest two grands were scheduled to work at DQ that night and were sorry to miss out.  So we told them we would keep the fire stoked, pick them up from work at 10:15 and they could come roast some hot-dogs before going home to sleep.  That was the plan!  As it turned out, someone crashed a stolen vehicle into our field and then escaped...just before Emme and Spencer arrived for their wiener roast.  Police officers came with tracking dogs to search...and we were told to abandon our fire and stay inside.

And so they had hot-dogs at the dining room table late at night...while outside a manhunt was taking place. A most memorable spring break wiener roast all around!

The driver of the stolen vehicle was not found.  A tow truck arrived early in the morning to rescue the SUV.  End of story.

March was one of the coldest and wettest on record for our area.  That's our excuse for going in search of some sunshine.  I'll be back in a few days and by then...I'm sure it will be spring!

Thanks for stopping by...