Ray spoke about the Yucatan region of Mexico for some time and made it sound like the most tranquil adventure. It doesn’t take much to agree to caribbean sun and beaches so when he suggested taking the trip for Thanksgiving and my birthday I had to agree! The plan was simple: get to Cancun and drive south!
November 24, 2011
We arrive in Cancun, pick up our rental car and head south on 307 to the first stop…
We ate authentic Mexican food, did some “window” shopping, met a monkey or two 🙂 and strolled the beautiful beach at sunset. The sounds of a live reggae band jamming drew us over to the perfect beachfront bar and the perfect hotel for our one night crash- Fusion Hotel
Must do: pay for the pic with a spider monkey! The play time is worth it!
November 25, 2011
We continued south on 307 to our most anticipated destination…
We had a blast spying all the tightly situated hotels on the narrow strip deciding where we would spend our two night stay. This was not a “commercial” town. It was the most beautiful blend of eco-rustic and eco-chic intimate hotels, many of which were eco-friendly with salt water showers and hydro powered energy. PERFECT for us! We decided to settle at a sweet bungalow hotel and search for a place to have lunch. The aroma from the kitchen at one of the hotels we checked out forced us to give it a try. We had the most amazing exotic Mexican lunch and fell in love with the hotel, staff and FOOD! Needless to stay, we checked out of the first hotel and into a fantastic stay at – Playa Azul Beach Hotel.
Must do: Spend an insane amount of time on the white sand beaches!
November 26, 2011
The next leg of our trip was a longer stretch, heading to see one of seven World Wonders, the Mayan ruins in Chichen Itza! In route, we stopped in the colorful and friendly city of…
We stopped in the tourism office and met Alberto, an awesome tour guide who spent the afternoon showing us around town and sharing his extensive knowledge on the history of the city and the modern day culture. After escaping his encouragement to stay the night in Vallodolid, we forged on in the late evening to… Chichen Itza and the beautiful grounds of The Lodge at Chichen Itza.
Must do: Shop at the old school yard turned flea market for handmade leather goods and support the Vallodolid community!
November 27, 2011
The morning was perfect at The Lodge at Chichen Itza. We strolled the grounds on our way to breakfast with close encounters of the most beautiful peacocks, iguanas and bird life. We shared breakfast with nature and head to our backyard sight seeing, the amazing Mayan ruins…
The Proposal!!!
It happened perfectly during our afternoon sightseeing. Ray had an unsuspecting single man take our picture in front of The Kukulcán Pyramid. The stranger took a few photos, following Rays instructions to “come in a little closer”, just enough to catch our expressions as Ray got on his knee to propose and quickly agreed in surprise! It was brilliant to have the moment captured for us to share! The next best moment came when a clueless tourist asked us to scoot out of the view so that she could get a picture of the Pyramid before realizing, “Oh my, there’s an engagement happening!” 🙂
In our bliss we took our time through the afternoon before taking the scenic route back up north to Cancun. We parked at the ferry port and took a twenty minute ride to the tiny, muy tranquillo…
Must do: Spend $3 for an unforgettable childlike time at the Isla Mujeres Turtle Farm!
November 28, 2011
This was the one destination with planned lodging for our final 2 nights in the Yucatan. We couldn’t imagine our luck being the only to reserve a room at this beautiful private home, Magi Azul. We fell in love with this peaceful, carefree island. It was the perfect way to celebrate the closing of the most amazing vacation we’ve had to date….bring on the HONEYMOON!!!