A Thousand Miles From The Place I Was Born

Oh, there is nothing in the world quite as depressing as coming home from a fabulous relaxing vacation and having to jump right back into five straight days of work. And considering that I do the RN schedule at the hospital, I have no one to blame but myself. What was I thinking???

But today is a better day. I have the weekend off and my baby is on a plane headed home from Ecuador even as we speak. She went on this Disney Adventures vacation with her Dad and his family. And I haven’t seen her in two whole weeks! I’m getting all my housework done now so that when she comes home, I’ve got nothing to do except cuddle my sweet little girl and hear all about her trip.

And if you were wondering about MY trip, here’s the scoop:

1. It was BEAUTIFUL! Turquoise blue water, white beaches – absolutely stunning! This was the view from our hotel room:

2. It was HOT! Over 90 degrees and so humid you couldn’t breathe. We spent the majority of our time lounging on the beach under a thatched umbrella, sheltered from the sun and loving the cool breezes coming off the Caribbean Sea. It was heaven, let me tell you!

3. We made new friends! This guy introduced himself by jumping into our basket of tortilla chips.

And this little guy was carting around his home and getting annoyed with us because we kept giving him mountains of sand to climb over.

4. We did some shopping and found some interesting items. I think these are candlesticks which begs the question, why would anyone want a penis candlestick?? Maybe they’re some sort of drug paraphernalia. I don’t know.

Maybe they would come in handy at this place.

5. We searched out amazing little places to eat. Whenever we go on vacation, our first goal is to find restaurants that are frequented by the locals – places that serve authentic regional dishes at a cheap price. Our first discovery was a little place called El Fish Fritanga. We read about it on the blog, A Canuck in Cancun, and we absolutely loved it. They had amazing shark pescadillas (who woulda thunk that shark was delicious?) and we loved their little “secret garden” next to the lagoon.

One of the odd observations, however, was that they had a shower right next to the bar that the locals apparently used after coming in from the lagoon. We were so unnerved by the sight of strangers showering next to us while we were eating that we just had to get a picture of it.

But I think CCB would agree with me when I say that the best meal we had in Cancun was also probably the strangest. We took the bus downtown to check out the sights, and chose this place primarily because they had a sign for Pepsi and I hadn’t had one in days! It was a little trailer that had a corrugated metal extension on it, large enough for three small plastic tables and six plastic chairs. The woman behind the counter didn’t speak any English, but we managed to convey our order with help from a friendly local. And to add another surreal layer to the experience, we were served by a little person. (I would have said “Mexican Midget” but I don’t think that’s politically correct.) We had a ceviche mixta, which included white fish, shrimp, squid and octopus. It was served with the most delicious homemade tortilla chips I have ever had, and it was insanely delicious! I don’t know the name of this little shack (I don’t think it was posted), but if you’re ever in Cancun, take the R1 bus to the end of the line, and when it drops you off next to the park, the shack is located on the opposite corner. We realized that we were taking our lives in our hands by eating marinated seafood from a nondescript shack in a foreign country, but it was so worth it!

All in all, we had an amazing time. So amazing, in fact, that we bought a time share and will be going back next year with the girls. And maybe (just maybe) we’ll get married while we’re down there again. Don’t get your hopes up or anything!!

And now if you’ll excuse me, my baby girl just called and said that she is minutes from my house. I have some cuddling to do! Later, ya’ll!!