Category Archives: Message

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A seal, a manatee and a dolphin!

February 23, 2015 Monday

[If you missed the earlier part of my trip, click to catch up]

Mexico Day 1 
Mexico Day 2 – Swimming underground
Mexico Day 3 – Chichen Itza

Mexico Day 3 – Part 2 Dinner in the city

Mexico Day 4 – Seafood

Mexico Day 5 – Isla de Mujeres
Mexico Day 6 – The Perfect Sunset
Mexico Day 7 – Beach lunch
Mexico Day 8

12:35am
Finally got photos from our Isla Mujeres Dolphin Discovery visit.  I couldn’t take my phone into the water so I pulled photos from their web site and the ones Sis bought from their cameras. They have huge open ocean tanks we got down into. There’s nothing like being kissed by a sea lion named Michelle. Fish breath! She ate a lot of fish. She was wicked smart. 

12:39am
I also got smooched by a manatee named Sabrina! She is big but gentle. I got to feed her lettuce. They love lettuce! That’s all they do – eat lots of lettuce. They have interesting snouts.

12:42am

Finally we swam with dolphins. Madonna and Picasso put on quite a show! I thought I’d like that part best, but the waves were a bit too much for me and the weather turned cold, so after I got to touch their fins (yes that’s me) and kiss a snout, I watched everyone else ride their backs standing up!

http://www.dolphinworld.org/mexico-locations/cancun-isla-mujeres-dolphin-programs/

10:43pm Phil
Welcome home

11:20pm
Thanks

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I posted a few trip photos every day this week. If you want to see all my trip photos in one place, click over to Google+ for either: 
1) The trip highlights album (46 photos)
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Unlikely Friendship

February 22, 2015 Sunday

2:21pm
Went out for a birthday lunch at the Ninety-Nine for a project peep.  So fun to see people!

9pm
For all of you who adore mixed species pals, here’s a beautiful series of 14 photos.  There are some of my relationships that feel like this most days!


“The Unlikely Friendship Of A Dog And An Owl by A Professional Animal Photographer Tanja Brandt”
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Mexico Day 8 and home

February 21, 2015 Saturday
[If you missed the earlier part of my trip, click to catch up]

Mexico Day 1 
Mexico Day 2 – Swimming underground
Mexico Day 3 – Chichen Itza

Mexico Day 3 – Part 2 Dinner in the city

Mexico Day 4 – Seafood

Mexico Day 5 – Isla de Mujeres
Mexico Day 6 – The Perfect Sunset
Mexico Day 7 – Beach lunch

8:03am
Good morning from Mexico!

9:04am Phil
Gorgeous

10:06am
Another day, another Facebook quiz.  “What song best sums you up?”
http://bitecharge.com/play/songsum/h6

I got “Hey Jude.”  Na na na nanna na na

“You’re a smart, cultured, unconventional individual, but you’re also humble.  You’re highly respected in your circle and people genuinely love you for your quirks and all. You can be very playful but your brain is full of knowledge and wit.  You’re fascinating…”  
Like to believe all that!   

11:09 am
We strolled over to the hotel next door for a look around before we head to the airport. Please send all traveling mercies my way!

 Pool and view of the ocean.  Going to miss those palm trees! 
 Lobby
 Flowers in February. Outside along the walkway between the hotels.
 The lagoon, as seen from the walkway between the two hotels
The map of the two hotels. 

12:34pm

[photo of a bottle of Scotch for sale in the duty free shop at the airport with a $65 price tag]
Is this a good price?

1:20 pm

We’re on board and ready to fly. Next stop Boston!

1:53pm Phil
No. fifty in the states


3:00pm
Ha ha.  Figures. I’m in the air over Fl.

3:19pm Phil 
Oh, not a bad price though. I get it at the exchange

5:51pm
We’re on the ground in Boston! 

6:10pm
Good

7:21pm
Picking up Chinese food from my favorite place! 

7:51pm
Made it!  There’s no place like home. 

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I posted a few trip photos every day this week. If you want to see all my trip photos in one place, click over to Google+ for either: 
1) The Mexico trip highlights album (46 photos)



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Mexico Day 7 Beach lunch

February 20, 2015 Friday

 [If you missed the earlier part of my trip, click to catch up]

Mexico Day 1 
Mexico Day 2 – Swimming underground
Mexico Day 3 – Chichen Itza

Mexico Day 3 – Part 2 Dinner in the city

Mexico Day 4 – Seafood

Mexico Day 5 – Isla de Mujeres
Mexico Day 6 – The Perfect Sunset

7:42am

7:55am Phil 
Awesome!

11:54am
Happy Friday!   Saw this shop, thought of you.  I’m having a quiet day at the hotel.

1:46pm

Nothing like a limonada at the beach


1:57pm
Lunch at the hotel beach bar listening to the waves
 Caprese salad
Shrimp ceviche

2:34pm
Passion fruit raspberry tart – dessert at the hotel beach bar


10:08pm
Another dinner with the teppanyaki show

 Beef tenderloin and scallop stir fry
 Chocolate fondant dessert with fresh fruit and coconut sorbet 
 Banana tempura dessert with green tea sorbet
Chocolate spring roll with mango sorbet 
with a mango strawberry relish.

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I’m posting a few trip photos every day this week. If you want to see all my trip photos in one place, click over to Google+ for either: 
1) The Mexico trip highlights album (46 photos)


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Mexico Day 6 The Perfect Sunset

February 19, 2015 Thursday

[If you missed the earlier part of my trip, click to catch up]

Mexico Day 1 
Mexico Day 2 – Swimming underground
Mexico Day 3 – Chichen Itza

Mexico Day 3 – Part 2 Dinner in the city

Mexico Day 4 – Seafood

Mexico Day 5 – Isla de Mujeres


 8:35am
Good morning!


10:10am
Hotel breakfast buffet with the usual US fare, plus Mexican, sushi and dim sum! Oh, and unlimited BACON! Nom nom nom…
 My plate. 
All five food groups – meat, cheese, eggs, fruit and a donut. With gyoza dumplings in the middle.
 Dumplings! Rice! Miso soup!
 Sushi close up.
 Sushi!
 Dim sum! Sesame balls!
 Fruits! I adore the papaya!
 Bacon with bacon! 
The crisp is on the top and the less cooked on the bottom. Wow…
 Mexican treats – refried beans, chilaquiles with mole, quesadillas (not shown)
 Meats and cheeses
 Baked good including a chocolate croissant and a moist banana bread for me!
Peanut butter, caramel and nutella!  

10:28am
I had a leisurely stroll back to my room, perused the huge hotel map and then a lovely shower using the most complicated hotel shower fixture I’ve ever seen!

Our rooms are along the gardens on the lower right, looking out over the wedding gazebo. #22 and the ocean.

 I’ve never been in a shower with no door or curtain. Yes, I got water everywhere. I keep wondering if there is a trick to it I haven’t figured out yet.

You can choose four settings – aimed at your feet, the rain coming from above, and gentle or pounding on the hand set!

12:06pm
Had my first ever massage with oils…mmm.  It was a tiny lady I couldn’t imagine would have the strength but she pummeled me until I was completely relaxed!  

1:51pm
Lunch time!  Carne a la tampiquena at Mi Ranchito! We ate here 30-something years ago and it’s still here! 

2:09pm
Limonada at the place I first tried it years ago!

2:12pm
Carne al la tampiquena (marinated beef) and breaded camerones (shrimp) at Mi Ranchito, Mercado 28, Cancun


2:53pm
Shopping for souvenirs.  Who should I buy this tank top for? 
[photo of a shirt that says “Sex Instructor First Lesson Free”]

3:32pm

[photo of a Corona t-shirt that says “Save Water Drink Beer”]

3:53pm Phil

I agree!

 3:58pm

So many shirts, so little time!

3:54pm



4:19pm
Mercado 28 (read that aloud as Mare-cah-dough ventay o-cho) – the big flea market in the city


The boulevard on the way back to the hotel. 


 6:50pm
Sunset over the lagoon in Cancun last night, from the Lima 12 5 restaurant. Ahhh….this is the life!


We climbed the stairs to the restaurant on the second floor and were greeted with this view. I stopped to take a photo while the others went in, knowing this was the moment… could not wait.


8:00pm
Sunset supper @ Lima 12 05 on the second floor of a little strip mall.  Never had Peruvian food before.

 The view from our table out over the lagoon
 Free chips – banana, sweet potato and potato with two sauces and a bowl of fried corn.
 Appetizers – Mixed seafood ceviche and anticuchos: Traditional Peruvian charcoal grilled steak marinated in panca ají pepper sauce, served with a salsa criolla.
 My entree – Aji shrimp

Fresh fried donuts for dessert

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Mexico Day 5 Isla de Mujeres

February 18, 2015 Wednesday

[If you missed the earlier part of my trip, click to catch up]

Mexico Day 1 
Mexico Day 2 – Swimming underground
Mexico Day 3 – Chichen Itza

Mexico Day 3 – Part 2 Dinner in the city

Mexico Day 4 – Seafood

2:01pm

Rode a ferry to Isla de Mujeres and back. Swam with a sea lion named Michelle, four manatees (kissed Sabrina) and two dolphins (Madonna and Picasso)

The ferry terminal – leftover from the days when cruise ships docked here. They go to Cozumel now.

 Looking back at the pier as we head out to Isla de Mujeres

 Looking back at the coast and beautiful sailboat

 Choppy water on a cloudy day

 First glimpse of Isla de Mujeres

 The Dolphin Discovery complex, with dolphin pools out front.

Buffet Lunch and drinks included under the thatched roof

The dolphins enclosures in the distance, the manatees in the middle and the sea lions closest to the camera.  The sea lion we swam with was named Michelle – she’s 8 years old and very smart!  There will be photos of her eventually. They don’t let you take in your camera so they can sell you their photographers’ work.

One last look at the island as we head back to the mainland. 
7:31pm 
The towel elephant the hotel maid left us. Hee! 

10:37pm
Tonight’s dinner @La Capilla Argentina


Free bread with chimmichuri sauce

 An amouse busch of grouper with soy and lime
Limonada – fizzy lemonade

Crab chowder with bacon and corn

Pressed suckling pig with lime cucumber and sweet potato chips

 Seafood linguini
 Caramel chocolate crepes
 Chocolate cake


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I’m posting a few trip photos every day this week. If you want to jump ahead and see all my trip photos in one place, click over to Google+ for either: 
1) The Mexico trip highlights album (46 photos)
2) All the Mexico trip photos day by day (scroll down about 3 screens to February 2015)
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Mexico Day 4 Seafood

February 17, 2015 Tuesday

[If you missed the earlier part of my trip, click to catch up]

Mexico Day 1 
Mexico Day 2 – Swimming underground
Mexico Day 3 – Chichen Itza

Mexico Day 3 – Part 2 Dinner in the city

10:23am
Good morning from Mexico! 

11:32am
My Mexican morning! 

 Room service breakfast
 Hot chocolate in a very Mexican mug
 Sassy toes in the sand
Sassy toes in the surf

3:15pm

 Lunch by the lagoon at El Fritanga – my favorite restaurant all week

 Mangroves and the marina
 Shrimp cocktail, which was more like a virgin bloody mary with shrimp and avocado
 Fantastic seafood risotto
8:30pm
Dinner at the Crab House

 Sunset over the lagoon
 Seafood ceviche
 Another seafood risotto

Chocolate mousse

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I’ll post a few trip photos every day this week. If you want to jump ahead and see all my trip photos in one place, click over to Google+ for either: 
1) The Mexico trip highlights album (46 photos)
2) All the Mexico trip photos day by day (scroll down about 3 screens to February 2015)
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Mexico Day 3 Part 2 – Dinner in the city

February 16, 2015 Monday continued

[If you missed the earlier part of my trip, click to catch up]

Mexico Day 1 
Mexico Day 2 – Swimming Underground
Mexico Day 3 – Chichen Itza

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6pm
We took a walk around the hotel pools and beach before dinner


9:15pm
We took the bus (80 cents!) and found our way to a delightful Mexican restaurant in city tonight at La Parilla, complete with mariachi.


 Mariachi tuning outside the restaurant
 Shrimp ceviche with a huge lemonade
 Mixed grill – chicken, steak, shrimp and Lobster
Mariachis singing just for us (for a small fee) 
 Table tiles
 Flan and chocolate mousse cake
Creme brulee

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I’ll post a few trip photos every day this week. If you want to jump ahead and see all my trip photos in one place, click over to Google+ for either: 
1) The Mexico trip highlights album (46 photos)
2) All the Mexico trip photos day by day (scroll down about 3 screens to February 2015)
by

Mexico Day 3 Chichen Itza

February 16, 2015 Monday

[If you missed the earlier part of my trip, click to catch up]

Mexico Day 1 
Mexico Day 2 Swimming Underground

6:21am
I’m awake at O’dark-thirty. Oof. Off to Chichen Itza to see Mayan Ruins. Whee!


For a primer on what the ruins are all about, click over here. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichen_Itza

9:30am
Good morning from Chichen Itza!  Flowers… outside… in February!  Whee! 


9:49am
The temple. More massive than any photo conveys

9:58am Phil
Impressive

5:35pm
More photos of the grounds

A map of the grounds









Our van with a tour guide

Iguana! 

 The ball court for religious rituals

 The south face of the temple with snake mouths open at the bottom – 34 meters high. You can’t climb it anymore – closed in 2006 to preserve it.

The vendors set up along the way

5:33pm
We had a delicious buffet lunch in Piste at the gorgeous Hacienda Xaybeh Dcamara with many Mexican delicacies and a dancing show!

5:34pm

 We went on to Valladolid “a real Mexican city”

Headed home.  Easy roads to drive and no traffic!

6:23pm Phil

Great shots! Looks like such fun and better weather than New England!

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I’ll post a few trip photos every day this week. If you want to jump ahead and see all my trip photos in one place, click over to Google+ for either: 
1) The Mexico trip highlights album (46 photos)
2) All the Mexico trip photos day by day (scroll down about 3 screens to February 2015)
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Mexico Day 2 Swimming underground

February 15, 2015 Sunday

If you missed Mexico Day 1 – click here

8:39am
Good morning from Mexico!

1:29pm Phil 

[photo of the backyard of the model house like his]

My new backyard

2:08pm

Where?

We’re at Xcaret today – huge nature amusement park.   I swam the underground river!  And ate ceviche at the beach.  I couldn’t take my phone so I pulled these photos off the web.

They give you a pink life vest, so you can float along. They also give you flippers so you can move along faster. You can either put all your stuff in a locker you have to walk back to (what they recommend) or in a bag that will meet you at the other end (that I recommend).

The caves are 1/3 natural and 2/3rds constructed, but it is tough to tell the difference.


For lunch, we had a corner table on the lower left looking out over the ocean. The buffet is up the stairs in the middle of the building. The chicken lime soup, papaya and the shrimp ceviche were my favorites. I also tried the pork tacos, shrimp taco, cheeses, spaghetti, pasta salad, beets and flan. Lunch was free with the upgraded park entrance fee.

I rested in one of the hammocks on the left after lunch and listened to the waves for at least 10 minutes.

2:30pm Phil 

Cool! So glad you are having fun.

The new house, that’s the outdoor patios

2:37pm

You dreaming or decided?  To buy or build?

3:04pm Phil
Gonna build. I like the house. Housemate is a pain in the ass but lots of room to get away


4:51pm
This would be funny if it weren’t so close to the truth.


6:18pm
Mexican buffet @ Restaurante Mexicano La cocina, Xcaret 

Map of the place.  HUGE!  So bizarre that when we were here in the 80’s there was nothing but a beach and some palm trees.

 Macaws just hanging out in a tree along the path.
 Make your own street corn.  Yum.
Buffet! Outside under a thatched roof.
Buffet seating area right next to the horse show arena.
“Horse Spectacular!”  
Live horse show with a band on the platform across from us.

7:34pm 
Incredible day at Xcaret, the nature theme park – swam for an hour down an underground river, ate ceviche at the beach, saw a horse show and scarlet macaws and bought stuff.  Photos are not great but you can get some idea.  Thanks to everyone posting snowy photos from home so I appreciate it here even more!  

This is the first real vacation I’ve had in… forever.  I don’t have to plan or drive or pay, just sit back and go along with whatever Sis has planned!  

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I’ll post a few trip photos every day this week. If you want to jump ahead and see all my trip photos in one place, click over to Google+ for either: 
1) The trip highlights album (46 photos)
2) All the trip photos day by day (scroll down about 3 screens to February 2015)