Good afternoon!

I can’t believe it’s our last full day in Cancun. I’m going to post this real quick and then going to sign off and enjoy every hour we have left!

Wednesday:

I left off on Wednesday evening before dinner. Let me preface this with a few things. Number one – my family loves surprises. Number two – Sister and I were pretty frustrated with the family on Wednesday evening. For nearly three hours, my aunts disappeared without telling anyone. We were hungry but couldn’t find them so we couldn’t go down to eat dinner. And then when we finally DID find them and everyone got ready, they wanted to take pictures (which is a LONG process if you know my family).

When we finally sat down to order our food, my aunts were being really suspicious. They kept wandering in and out of the restaurant (since we were seated outside). Sister and I were texting each other underneath the table trying to figure out what was going on – frustrated that we couldn’t all SIT DOWN at the table together without people getting up to leave. The waiter somehow managed to get all our orders in and we all sat back down, engaging in somewhat bitter conversation, and waited for our food to come. 10 minutes later, the entire kitchen crew comes out with huge bowls and plates covered with aluminum foil. They, along with my mom and aunts, shouted out “SURPRISE!” as they unveiled each of the dishes.

It turned out that the reason my aunts were missing for a good portion of the day was because they were in the kitchen teaching the chefs how to cook Indian food. Earlier that day, the head chef followed my aunt out of the restaurant to ask her about common dishes in India – he was curious because, though they include ethnic cuisines in their menu, they haven’t had Indian food at the resort before. My aunt jokingly said she could show him how to make all sorts of dishes. Within a few hours, my aunts were in full cooking attire in the kitchen – hair nets and all – with a staff of 10-15 people, showing them how to make everything from raitha to sabzi.

It was such a fun surprise for us and they raved about their “behind the scenes” experience with the staff. Not to mention, we all got some really tasty Indian food with a bit of a Mexican spin on it.

Needless to say, we were no longer angry with our family and realized that, for ONCE, they were able to pull off a surprise successfully! 🙂

Thursday:

We woke up early to get ready and grab breakfast before setting off to Tulum for the day. Our tour guide, Luis, had no idea what he was getting into when he agreed to take my family on a road trip. But I think he ended up having a good time – even with all our shenanigans.

After a stop at Walmart to pick up some mosquito repellent, a 2-hour car ride of sing-alongs to Bollywood songs, and a full on feast in the car (thanks to my Masi bringing some of her leftover sabzi from the night before), we reached Tulum. We parked our car and walked about a mile to see the Mayan ruins.

We took my Nani in her wheelchair, not realizing it would be pretty difficult to push the chair over sand/rocks.

Let’s just say she has three INCREDIBLE son-in-laws.

When we first walked through the wall/trench, I was taken aback by how massive it all looked. It was not at all what I was expecting based on the pictures I had seen.

As we walked along, Luis shared with us a bit of Mayan history. The society was divided into three levels: governments, specialized craftsmen, and workers. The architecture was “East Coast” style – meaning the buildings were small scale and low in complexity and height.

We spent some time at the castle as he explained that it was most likely the most important building at Tulum. At the ground level, there were two small temples and in the upper temple, the main religious ceremonies were performed.

Walking through the ruins was amazing, but just in case that wasn’t enough, the location next to the beach sealed the deal.

It was a great experience and, though I’ve been loving my rest & relaxation time at the resort, I’m so glad we took this mini trip.

Friday:

It is our last full day here and I, unintentionally, woke up at 6AM so I did some reading while everyone else continued to sleep in a bit. I finally finished Molokai and I am now in a new book hangover and don’t want to start another one quite yet. The book was REALLY good – a nice blend of both fiction and non-fiction. I’m so glad to be part of a book club because it really forces me to read books that I wouldn’t read otherwise. This book, for example, is something I wouldn’t pick up and read on my own. But I’m so glad I did!

After I finished the book, Sister, Dad, and I went down to get breakfast.

I’ve gotten the same thing every morning and I’m still not over it. Egg white omelette topped with a TON of salsa, pickled onions and a side of goat cheese. So. Good. Now, I’m going to go do a 3.5 mile run on the treadmill (today was supposed to be a rest day but I didn’t do my run from yesterday so I flip-flopped) and spend the rest of the day outside enjoying the sun!

Have a great Friday! For those of you at work this week, it’s ALMOST THE WEEKEND! 🙂