I thoroughly apologize for the massive delay in posting, it was not due to how much I’ve loathed blogging thus far or for lack of material (Opposite of both, actually!). I was on vacation in Mexico with one of my very best friends and was unplugged for the last 5 days. Felt very refreshing to not be checking Facebook or Twitter, or responding to email…just taking in the ocean and sunshine. It was great!
In my first blog, which I haven’t referenced too much, I chronicled my study abroad travels. Many of those blog postings were about trips I took and for my family and friends back home. One of the fun things I came up with in the process was looking at a ‘Top Ten’ (of Five if the trip was short) of trip highlights. These ‘Top’ lists usually provided some humor as well. I’d like to describe the “Chelsea and Betsy, Mexico 2012 – Top Ten”…mostly via pictures:
1) Upgrades. Chels and I had bought a Living Social deal for our resort so we got a heck of a deal. The package included a basic room, airport transfers, all-inclusive food/beverages and 2 50-minute massages. We thought we won the jackpot with that deal! Anyway, our basic room was already wonderful, simply for the fact that we’d be in Mexico! When we checked in, and they brought us to our room, we saw we did NOT have the basic room, but a big suite complete with washer/dryer in the unit, a full working kitchen, jacuzzi and large balcony! We were flabbergasted! So we made sure we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as we felt incredibly lucky. Picture of the living room/kitchen below and our balcony view:
2) Fun, Fruity Drinks. Not much needed to be said here, but we enjoyed tasting as many fun drinks as we could. A favorite of mine was the Miami Vice – half Pina Colada and half Strawberry Daiquiri. Yum!
3. Food Pictures. If my blog doesn’t already attest to this, I love taking pictures of my food. I realize this made me appear even more touristy than I already did, but I couldn’t help it. A few of my favorite food pictures are below: Caprese Salad (I had this many, many times) and Chelsea’s Flank Steak Cheese Fondue. Oh my was the latter delicious. She LOVED it too!
4. Breakfast. Similar, but different from food pictures…breakfast. Possibly the best meal of the day down there. We felt the need to include Nutella in most of our breakfasts, but our last day also included a fantastic Lox bagel. I need to make that more often at home. So good. (The first picture is of the breakfast Chelsea and I shared, just so you don’t think I’m completely piggy.)
5. The Swing Bar. This was a favorite stop of ours throughout the day because it was just, plain entertaining. This was an outdoor tiki bar on the beach that had swings on three of its four sides. You sat on the swing, sipped your drink and thought about what a great idea a swing bar is. Here’s a picture of us enjoying it below:
6. The Spa. Oh goodness. So you may be into massages, but I’m a huge wimp and they’re not usually my thing. However, as mentioned above, Chels and I got 2 50 minutes massages with our Living Social deal, so who was I to turn it down?! We decided our first full day was perfect, early afternoon. That way, we weren’t burned to a crisp yet (we hoped). We were told to come to the Spa an hour before our massages. Which we did. We were instructed to head to the steam room. We were to be in the steam room for 15 minutes. Chelsea was in heaven. I was dying after 2 minutes. Apparently my lungs don’t like steam. I proceeded to use the shower head in the steam room to continually douce my face with cold water alternating with going outside into fresh air. Like I said, I’m a wimp. I fully admit. Post-steam room we went into three different little pools. The first was FREEZING, on purpose. Something to do with your pores. Then a really hot one. Then a warm one which was in between. This last one was my favorite. After our skin had been thoroughly assaulted by the steam and varying water temperatures, we were ready for massages. Chels opted for a deep tissue massage which to me sounded extremely unpleasant. (The wimpy thing comes in here again). But my normal massage sounded good to me and…the massage was great! I was very skeptical beforehand, but it was very relaxing, my body did not hurt afterwards and there was no painful sunburn to worry about. Excellent Spa experience all around. (Except that silly steam room.) Below is a picture of the Spa, which is nestled amongst a ton of foliage, trees and shrubbery.
7. Hats. Chels informed me she had a floppy hat for Mexico and all I had was my trusty Twins hat. Wanting to have something fun and girly Chels and I rushed to Target at 10:50 PM on Saturday evening. We made it in with 2 minutes to spare and were hustled out. But not before I found a great, white floppy hat and Chels found much needed pink wedges. I get to Mexico and put on my floppy hat and am no longer able to see a thing. The floppy hat was in fact, too floppy. How’s that possible? Chels rocked her hat during the trip and I went back to my Twins hat. Hard to beat the classic. Shaded my face at least!
8. Sunburn. Yes, this happened. Not surprising considering my freckled skin and strawberry blonde hair. The funny thing is, the most sunburned part of my body was my feet. Who burns the tops of their feet?!? Me. I will forever more coat my feet in sunscreen in addition to all other appendages and spots on my person. However, the sunburned feet didn’t deter me from joining Chels back in the spa for pedicures on our last full day. Check out a necessary beach, pedicure and sunburn picture below:
9. The Staff. I highly recommend staying at the resort we went to – Villa del Palmar Cancun. Not only because it’s a great resort with delicious food, great pools, tasty beverages and a beautiful beach…but very friendly staff! We had great experiences from meals, to the front desk, to the bartenders to those in the Spa. Great staff made this such a great vacation. Can’t say enough great things about them.
10. Twit. My friend Chelsea is fondly known as ‘Twit’, ever since I’ve known her. We met freshmen year of college and now in our first year out, we are still close friends. She too loves to cook, travel and lounge. I couldn’t have asked for a better trip due to Chels being there. We are already planning another trip…perhaps this will become an annual thing?! 🙂 Here she and I are on one of the nights we dressed up for dinner.
That wraps up the Top Ten! Great trip and I wish I were still lounging on the beach with a cocktail in hand! More blog postings with recipes will be coming this weekend – I have a few that I haven’t posted yet and am planning a few in addition.
Spatulas & Buttons 