Wednesday:
Trina and Jeremy flew in the early afternoon! Then it was time to hit the beach again! The guys decided to try out their snorkeling gear while us girls just sat and chatted while getting sunburned. For dinner we all went to the famous 5th street. We had drinks at a really fancy restaurant that Kathryn found online, but the menu was "limited" so we left. The smell of yummy food coming from a whole in the wall restaurant lured us into an amazing Mexicanized Asian food restaurant called Playasia. It was SUPER good and was even recognized by the food network on the Rachel Ray show. The restaurant was constructed of little pagodas hovering connected by bridges hovering above a pool full of giant goldfish. Most of the group indulged in the elaborately decorated sushi plates while the rest of us ate coconut shrimp (mmmm!). I would highly recommend that restaurant!
Thursday
Trina, Jeremy, DJ and I got up early and went to an all day adventure park called Xel-Ha south of Playa del Carmen. It was amazing! For a reasonable fee it was all inclusive and included unlimited food and drinks from the multiple nice restaurants and bars in the park. Xel-Ha is a natural wonder consisting of a gigantic natural "aquarium" that is basically a crater filled with all sorts of sea creatures where the ocean water is mixed with fresh water from springs. There we snorkeled, jumped of a cliff, swam in a mayan cave and ate lots of food. There were lots of unique animals there too, including manatees, dolphins, ringtail cats, parrots, and more! It was a blast and definitely worth using up all of our cash. All of our credit cards were denied so we had to scrounge through our coin purses to pull together enough cash for the four of us to get in. Luckily it was all inclusive and we definitely took advantage of that with the food and drinks! : )
Friday
Today we got up early (9:00am ; ) ) and met Felix, the boat captin, at the beach for a day of snorkeling and scuba diving in the reef. It poured rain and thundered all the way out to the drop point which didn't detract from the awesomeness of what we saw while snorkeling! I came within five feet of a huge stingray while wading through the crystal clear water! At the reef we saw hundreds of different fish species and even some squid and a "tortuga" (big sea turtle) flying through the water. I felt like I was in Finding Nemo! There were several "Dory" fish and even a "drop off" with a baracuda! It was extremely fun but very tiring. We ended the day at a Mexican restaurant on 5th street where we were serenaded by a Mariachi band and then took a stroll on the beach. It has been a great vacation and we already have plans on moving here in the future. DJ will sell batch plants while I fly people between Playa and Cozumel! : )
See you back in the states!
