Saturday, August 8, 2009

A Trip To Remember

In 2003 we took a trip to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. We actually visited Cancun, Mexico in 1998 for our honeymoon, but due to a hurricane everything was closed down. My best friend from college & his wife also went on the 2003 trip. I didn't want to risk taking my "good" camera but I did get a hand full of shots I thought I could share. There was also a couple of funny stories from our Mexican vacation.


When I took this there were people on the beach. I later digitally removed them using photo shop. Most photos are never what they seem.


This is our resort. The best thing is it's all you can eat anytime..........

..........& drink too!

Have you ever seen those talk shows where people have to confront their fears? Well Cari & I both had one of those moments on our trip.

Unlike me, Cari is not crazy about dancing, especially in front of people. She will dance but I sometimes have to drag her out on the floor. Well....every night our resort would put on a huge show for the hundreds of guests staying there. Every night there was a different theme. Before the show they would do a lot of audience participation stuff. Around the middle of our stay Cari & I were somehow picked out to participate in a couples activity. We agreed but told the lady "I won't have to take off my shirt...right"? She assured me my rolls would stay covered up. We made our way onto the stage with about 6 other random couples. We were to do different couple games and by applause the audience would name the winner. The first thing we were to do was DANCE. Oh yes Cari, dance in front of the crowd of over 500 people. The song.....'I've Had The Time Of My Life' from Dirty Dancing. Ok I can't tell you how many times we would goof around in the mirror at home and imitate that famous final dance. We were first up as the entire room was dark except the one spotlight on us. Just like in the movie, she stood with her back to me. There we were Johnny & Baby dancing just like we had rehearsed many times for fun. I even through in alittle funny....showing Cari" this is your dance space, this is mine" and "spaghetti arms" just like Patrick did in the movie. The other guests liked it & we won that round. We did several other tasks & won the overall but I was most proud of Cari for overcoming her fear & dancing in front of hundreds. After it was all over I put Baby back in the corner! It was the time of our lives...



These were just a couple of shots from the shows the resort would put on every night. They were very entertaining.

This is an aerial view of Xel-ha which is between Cancun & Playa Del Carmen. I definitely recommend visiting this attraction. Basically it's where natural river water empties into the ocean. It's sorta like a narrow lake but opens right into the sea. Swimming with sting rays & other fish is sort of its selling point. A lot of Xel-ha is fairly shallow so you can see the bottom pretty good.

My dad is a huge fisherman & growing up I spent almost every weekend during the summer at PK Lake lake. As a small child I can remember seeing someone accidentally snag a (3 foot)Gar out of the Brazos river. For those who have never seen a Gar. They get HUGE and some have long snouts and sharp teeth that you can see while their mouths are even shut. Here's a photo of one I found on the net.

Dad assured me countless times that Gars were just trash fish & they more scared of me than I was of them. After seeing that monster-of-a-fish being pulled out of fresh water (and Jaws a few too many times) I wasn't about to set foot in deep water...especially alone. It's too bad really because besides fishing dad would always find time for us to ski & play. Not me...because when the boat stops you will eventually be all alone just a bobbin' head in that 80 foot deep water just waiting for a Gar to tear off your foot. lol
As I got older I did become less afraid of the lake water, I guess because I never heard of any fatalities involving Gars & missing swimmers from PK Lake. Still not crazy about swimming alone....... like a 2 year old my feet & hands don't stop moving while in the deep. lol

Cut to 2003 & there we were about to snorkel in waters where there could actually be shark that would love to tear off your foot for a snack. This was a big deal for me to put aside any silly fear and just relax & have fun....and we did. It was awesome to float around and see the natural beauty of Xel-Ha.

At the end of our excursion we found ourselves going as far as they would let us go. It was clearly the deepest point where the river ends and the Caribbean begins. There were schools of HUGE fish swimming around us. I've seen shark week on Discovery and I know what follows schools of fish. We decided that maybe its time to pack it in for the day...

We enjoy walking along the beach to see what kind of shells etc. we can find. The sights are unbelievable.


Several hundred yard from our beachfront, the beach ended at a large cliff. I guess it was the end of the line so we could turn around. We did notice a very small almost hidden trail that went up the cliff. Should we take the trail......


Then we noticed handmade sign with beah nudista & an arrow pointing to the trail. What is that. I didn't know spanish. I've always been a curious person so I said lets take the trail. You literally had to rock climb to get on the trail. We found our way to the top where the trail really started. The dirt path was about 1 foot wide and surrounded by tall grass on either side. It was just us on a real excursion until....................
suddenly we were met by a completely naked man and topless woman. This pathway only big enough for one way traffic. Awkward.... we let the nude couple pass by and continued on the path in shock. A light bulb went off as I realized that "beah nudista" meant Nude Beach! There wasn't actually anyone on the "beah" when we ended the trail. Of course our clothes did stay on but now we could say we have been on a nude beach.
So....it was a clearly a trip to remember full of excitement & firsts. Having our good friends there to share it with made it even better.

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