Hiking Skaros Rock

Here’s a silly little video I made of us hiking Skaros Rock.

This hike wasn’t too difficult really.  The path was paved 95% of the way, and most of the video is just us walking.  I tried to add some comedy and interesting visuals though.  We could see the rock from outside our room and you can probably see it in many of our pictures that we’ve posted.  

Still, it was a fun little hike.  Give the video a thumbs up if you like it.  I’ll work on posting more videos as we travel.

Thanks for viewing/reading.

Jarrva Got Married

We got married! We are taking our dream honeymoon in Greece and I really want to document everything so I can remember it forever and I also wanna share it with you guys. So here it goes….

Honeymoon in Greece

June 5, Tuesday- Travel day. Our first flight out of Houston was at 3:50pm. We woke up early so we could pack since the days leading up to the trip, were packed with last minute family time. As we walked downstairs to meet our Uber, my Peruvian family started singing the wedding song whilst throwing flower petals. It was an emotional goodbye. Especially saying goodbye to my cousin Marisol. She’ll be leaving back to Spain in a few days so we won’t see her when we get back. As the tears ran, we got into our Uber and I cried almost the whole way to the airport. Even Jarrett got emotional. He’s become a softy since we got married lol. Even though it’s been a wild and hectic past few weeks, we’re really gonna miss having 8 people in the house.

We arrived at the airport with plenty of time hoping to upgrade our seats. But apparently it wasn’t allowed with our particular tickets. I dunno, but Jarrett managed to switch our seats to a front row so we got LOTS of leg room. It was clutch for a 10 hour plane ride. We sat next to a young attractive couple which we immediately bonded with and had lots in common with we soon found out. Their names were Chris and Lyla. They were married and have 2 small children that they left at home and were on their way to Naples for Lyla’s sisters wedding. They currently live in Oklahoma. Chris, a high school swim coach, was from the Lake Jackson area. They met at St. Mary’s University. They loved floating the Comal, but never had heard of the Gristmill. So we quickly gave them a lesson and recommendation. Lyla was in the medical profession as well. We soon exchanged Instagram handles and now we follow each other and will hopefully keep in touch. They went to Costa Rica on their honeymoon and said they’re treating this like their second honeymoon. We even had matching backpacks.

Chris and Lyla were determined to adjust to the upcoming time change and went straight to sleep. Jarrett and I watched Game Night and ate some dinner and we had some South African white wine and whisky and coke . He had the chicken teriyaki and I had the pasta. Lufthansa air bus was the smoothest airplane ride I’d ever been on. I hardly noticed we landed. It had a 2nd level (first class). I was very pleased with the friendly staff but the boarding was a little chaotic.

The 10 hours flew by, no pun intended. We both took a nap after our movie and then watched Black Panther. We took another nap and woke up to breakfast. They announced the eggs were without refrigeration for 2 hours so they did not serve it to be safe, so we ate a very light breakfast of fruit and bread.

We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany. The airport was quite large and a little disorganized. As soon as we started walking through terminal C, we saw countless rows of cots. We had a 5 hour layover here so we were excited we could get some sleep on something other than a chair. Well, as we took our train trying to get to terminal A, where our connection was, we saw our dreams of sleeping on those cots were fading. Terminal A was just filled with shops, restaurants and chairs. After walking up and down the terminal we decided to lie down on a row of empty chairs and take a nap, setting an alarm of course. Didn’t want what happened to me in South Korea again.

We slept a couple hours and with about 1.5 hours until our boarding time, we struggled to wake up and forced ourselves to start moving again. It was rough. It was about noon. We went to grab some lunch. We both ate a salami baguette and some water. It was ok. Jarrett forgot to put his glasses and contact solution in his smaller backpack, so it was in the checked backpack. His eyes were struggling a little bit so we searched a few shops and no one had any. I bought a large Capri sun that said it had some vitamins and waited to board our next flight to Athens. It was a smaller plane this time but only a 2 hour and 40 minute flight. I slept the entire time, no question. I slightly woke up to the lunch, but didn’t have it in me to stay awake. I later found out that I didn’t miss out on anything. Jarrett said it was some kind of weird chicken. I’m glad I didn’t sacrifice sleep for it. Jarrett slept some.

We made it to Athens! We didn’t have a shuttle set up so we either had to get a taxi or take a bus. We went to the bus ticket station and asked which bus takes us to Hotel Amalia. Our itinerary said something about a possible hotel shuttle, but it was too difficult to figure out so the guy told us to take bus X95. Jarrett misheard something he told us, and said “que?” Lol. He was still in Peruvian Invasion mode. Bus tickets were €6 each. So we got on the bus and hoped for the best. We contemplated getting off and just taking a taxi. So we said, safe? Or adventure? We agreed on adventure. Luckily Jarrett’s phone has service everywhere we travel for no additional charge, so we looked up the hotel on google maps and made sure we were going to the right place. We met 2 girls on the bus from Atlanta that had just arrived from Dubai. I heard them speaking English and said hello! They said Dubai was amazing and it was like all the greatest cities combined into one. We’ll remember that next time we wanna plan a big trip.

Athens looks a lot like all the places we’ve been. The busy streets, buildings, and restaurants reminded me of streets in Lima and Jarrett said it reminded him of Mexico. I think The States is the only one that looks like The States. I saw an ultrasound machine store, tried taking a picture but a big pole blocked a big portion of it.

About an hour later, we made it to our stop. We hit the 24 hour mark of traveling. We only had to walk about a block and a half to our hotel. It was a little bit of a uphill walk and I admit, it was a bit of a struggle. The hotel was right in the middle of everything so there was plenty of things walking distance. Hotel Amalia was a tall white building, 4 star, and our room number was 111. Nothing spectacular with our room window but we were only going to be here one night. It was about 6:30pm when we arrived so we wanted to get into our room, shower, and get some food. That shower felt so good. I was starting to blend in so this was highly necessary. Deodorant is not very popular in Europe. Lol.

We asked the front desk if she had any recommendation and she told us to go somewhere a few blocks away. But it seemed too far and we didn’t wanna waste any time So we ended up going to a little place right next door. It was perfect. Cheap. And delicious. I had a chicken gyro, jarrett got a pork gyro and for the first time, mine was a better choice lol. We also ordered hummus and pita bread. It was SO GOOD!

I’m so glad everyone speaks English. So far everyone has been really friendly. We walked across the street to a park called Syntagma Square. Lots of people walking around. Some fountains with pretty lights. A girl sitting on a bench sees us walk by and says, “Welcome to Greece”. I said thanks! I guess we stand out.

We decided to take a lap around the park and saw a crowd in front of a building which we found out was the Hellenic Parliament. They were doing a changing of the guards. So we stopped and watched for a few minutes. The 2 guards were wearing tights and some type of skirt jacket thing and their shoes had like a big black Pom Pom on the toes. They did a high kicking routine and touched toes. It reminded me of Serena and her kicking and bendiness. Lol.

We walked around the edge of the National Garden where the Temple of Olympian Zeus is but the gates were closed by this time. We’re coming back to Athens after Mykonos and Santorini so we’ll have time to see the big attractions then.

So we decided to explore a little and saw a charming outdoor wine bar called By The Glass in front of a stunning church. We sat down and had our first glass of Greek Pinot Noir. It was just what we needed to wine down (pun intended this time… I love puns) and soak it all in.

It was about 10:30pm and we decided it was time to go to bed. We had an early start planned the next day. We got to the room and saw there was an envelope on the bed with my name on it. It was our ferry tickets for our trips to Mykonos and Santorini. I’m so glad we had our travel agent friend Rachel plan this trip for us. Definitely helps make things go a little smoother. We set an alarm for 5am and quickly fell asleep.

June 7, Thursday- We slept through the night only waking up once to use the bathroom. Woke up to the alarm and quickly got on the move to get our stuff back into our backpacks and headed to the lobby. I’m so glad we packed only a backpack. I saw people struggling pulling around rolling luggage. Thanks Steven for the recommendation and for letting me borrow yours! Jarrett bought one just like it. His is dark grey and mine is blue. It has a detachable smaller backpack which is super clever. Breakfast at the hotel started at 6:30am so we would just have to eat on the ferry. We needed to be at the ferry about an hour before and it took about 18 minutes to get to the port in taxi from the hotel. The front desk helped us get a taxi and about 10 minutes into our drive, I started to think and make sure we didn’t forget anything and then I remembered and asked Jarrett if he got our things from the safe… he said nope and I tapped our taxi driver, Nikos, on the shoulder and said, “We need to go back to the hotel!”. He asked if we had time, and I told him we forgot our passports and he. Hauled. Ass. Luckily traffic hadn’t started and he even ran a red light. He earned is €6 tip. We made it to the ferry with an hour to spare. We read that we should arrive an hour prior to departure, so we did pretty well even though we had to turn around! There was long line already formed and as soon we we got in it, they started to board everyone. It took just a few minutes to board. The ferry is all indoor which is kinda disappointing but lots of windows. We took a seat and just relaxed and had some lattes and shared a chocolate croissant. It’s a 3 hour ferry ride so Jarrett and I put our headphones in and I started to write and he read his book. Life is good.

Update: Good news, we found an outdoor deck on the ferry. Jarrett almost lost his hat.

Seattle, day 1

You wouldn’t think that just a couple of days could alter your sleeping schedule that much, but when the alarm went off at 5am, it was harder to wake up than it has been for the last 8 months of school. Regardless, school is out, so that means it’s time for travel!

We woke our butts up early to make it to the airport. Our flight was at 7:30, and we had to load up, park, get a ride to the airport, check luggage, and all that good stuff, with Houston morning traffic.  Even though we didn’t have to stop much in the traffic, it still felt like we were going to be cutting it close, especially when we got to the airport and saw the security line and still had to drop out bag off. We did that quickly with Southwest’s do it yourself bag drop. Neither Nova nor myself had ever done it before and we both seemed to struggle with it a little bit. You’d think with as much as we’ve travelled, you’d be great at it, but the sticker process wasn’t very intuitive. 

With our bags dropped off, we tackled the security line. In all honesty, the line wasn’t that bad. It moved fast, and there were plenty of lines open. I really love being able to use my Apple Watch to get through everything without having to dig out a ticket or even a phone. Just flip your wrist over and have the machine scan it. Piece of cake. 

We had plenty of time once we were there to grab a quick breakfast and then get to our gate. Since Nova’s company bought her ticket (this is a work trip for her after all) she got the spot A1, which meant she was going to be one of the first ones on the plane. This worked out great for me, since I was in the middle Bs. She got one of the first spots on the plane, and I’m probably going to be spoiled now. There was so much leg room, and you don’t have to wait for what feels like an eternity to get off the plane after you’ve been on it for hours. 

While sitting in the airport, I realized that I had moved my headphone splitter to my other bag on our last trip and I hadn’t moved it back. That meant all the movies and stuff I had downloaded on my iPad could only be watched by one person now.  We usually enjoy watching a movie together on the plane rides, so I felt pretty guilty about it. However, even though it was a four hour flight, we both had our own forms of entertainment. Nova started and almost finished her new book Bare Bones, which I was very impressed with. I don’t think I could have done that. 

I continued my replay of The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. It’s a really good 3Ds game if you haven’t played it. 

The flight itself was easy. Not too much motion, not too many crazies either. And great scenery. 

It has been a while since I’ve flown Southwest, and it made me realize how much I’ve missed them. Free checked bag, free snacks and drinks on the flight, and mostly great personalities. I think if I have the choice I’ll go with them more often from here on. I am worried that I’m spoiled by Nova’s seat number though. 

Once we got to Seattle, we tried to head towards the baggage claim, but got lost. All the while, I’m trying to coordinate with my brother who is also landing in Seattle around the same time. As we got close to baggage claim, this guy tried to push through us on the escalator. It took me a second to realize it was my brother, and it took even longer for Nova. It was a great surprise and we were a group. 

My brother’s mother in law picked us up from the airport and we headed off to lunch since it was lunch time in Texas, it was still early enough to order breakfast in Seattle. Our hunger leave was high and we headed to Lunchbox Laboratory to get some burgers. 

The the hunger levels depleted, we went to check out our room for the next few days. My Aunt and Uncle were gracious enough to let us use their condo for the trip and I can’t expressed our blessed we are. The condo is just blocks away from Nova’s conference and right in the heart of downtown.  In fact, it’s right on top of the market too. I’m looking forward to all the exploring we’re going to have. 

We went by my brothers house after we dropped our stuff off. Arlo, my nephew wanted to go to the zoo, so we tried to muster up the energy to go and do a lap.  Most of us failed, haha. 

We split up and went to rest after that. Nap level was high. 

More to come. 

Cipher

We were handcuffed and thrown into the jail cell of a madman. Our wits were all we had to help us.   We knew that we only had an hour to escape the room or we would die, a fact heightened by the fact that there was a digital clock counting down the seconds until our impending deaths.  

Luckily, our capture wasn’t the smartest, because we were able to free ourselves from the handcuffs fairly quickly, and we would have been much better off at picking the locks if one of us hadn’t dropped the mirror on the other side of the bars just beyond reach. 

As we tried to rescue our fallen comrade and tool, the old telephone rang with a shrill ring. The voice on the other end seemed to be taking joy in our misery instead of coming to our aid. 

Sadly, although we were able to escape the small cell in which we started, we were not able to escape the mad man’s room. Luckily however, we didn’t really die. It was all just for fun. 

For my birthday this year, Nova surprised me by taking me to an escape room called Cipher, and then surprised me even more by inviting a group of friends to try to help us escape.  We all failed. 

we died

Upon arriving at Cipher, the place was very unassuming. In fact, I had been blindfolded on our way there and when it was revealed, I still wasn’t really sure where I was. There was a sign out front that read: Cipher, but there wasn’t much else. We headed down a really cute little alley way, that was lit with lights strung across it and adorned with outdoor patio furniture, and entered through a door on the side of the building.

Inside the building there was a waiting room with some comforable chairs, a couple of chalkboards with team names and times written on them (these were leaderboads), and a counter. The workers were very friendly and excited, and offerd us bottles of water. We started trying to think of team name, but they warned us not to come up with a name because they said its bad luck, which turned out to be true. 

Everyone had to sign a waiver which I’m pretty sure had more to do with us getting hurt than anything, but as they tell you before you start the game, nothing should hurt you, you shouldn’t have to pick up anything heavy or move anything. We waited for everyone in the group to arrive, then they brought us back to lock up our phones because they don’t want anyone using their phones to solve puzzles nor take pictures to let out spoilers. 

Our room guide also told us the back story to our room. The room we did was called Captive.  We were told that we were kidnapped by a serial killer and he had locked us up and would be back in an hour. He even starts a count down clock to mentally torture us. Our room leader was very animated and liked to joke around, but also tried to keep the mood tense. He did a good job I feel like. As he finished setting the scene and telling us the rules, he had one last little surprise in store for us: handcuffs. 

These were real, honest to God, metal and heavy handcuffs. Once we were all locked in he sent us into the room. The room was just as creepy as it could be. I can’t go into detail, again because of spoilers but it kept the mood intacted the entire time. The stress started before we even got to the puzzles. 

I don’t want to say too much about the puzzles because if you go, I don’t want you to be spoiled, but the puzzles were very tough. There wasn’t a whole lot of direction here, which I think was a good way to start. You should really have a blank canvas, however as you moved through the puzzles, it would have been nice to have some type of direction. Some of the puzzles connected, but if you didn’t see the one before it, or if you didn’t solve it, it would make things tougher. I also think that we had too many people.  I would like to try it with less people because I think it would be easier to form groups for tasks. We also could have been more organized as a group, which would have helped.  I think we had some people try a puzzle that would have helped us out if we had figured it out, but they got stuck with it and refused to give up. 

The puzzles really made you think and search though, and I really liked that aspect of it. It was defintely a mental challenge  and as we found out later there was a variety of puzzles, but mostly it was find the combination to a lock.  They could have found a way to change that up a bit.  Maybe if they had like fake panels in the walls, or clues that would only appear under black light, etc.

If we did ever get stumped for a while, or if we weren’t making progress, the room leader would call on an old corded telephone, whose ring was loud and shrill. It scared us a couple of times. Sometimes the calls would waste  time as caller chit chatted with whomever answered the call, but ultimately he would try to lead you in the right direction. 

Once the time was up and we failed, our room leader came in and showed us where we went wrong and how we should have proceeded further. At the time I rather liked it because it was eye opening, but now I can’t go back and try again unless they change things up. And I would like to go back and try another room. It was fun, but with less people and more of an idea of what to do, I think I could do much better. 

After the puzzles were uncovered and we were allowed to wallow in our pity, we were taken back to our phones, and they had us  take a group picture. There were signs we could hold, some for escaping and some for not escaping, and they posted the picture to Facebook. 

All in all, I had a great time doing an escape room. I would definitely like to try another one, maybe even at Cipher since they have 2 other rooms to try.  But Houston is a big place, and escape rooms are blowing up these days it seems. It’s a fun time in a group, and a great way to challenge your mind. 

Have you tried an escape room? Was it a good one? Would you like more freedom to solve at your own pace or would you like direction? Leave a comment below, and let me know. 

Where to go next?

Research papers are killing me.  I’ve graded about 20 a day this week, and I have about 20 left.  Alas, all this grading has kept me from writing like I thought I’d have time.  I feel like I haven’t had anything but excuses for a while now, but I’m trying.  I hope you guys don’t leave me.

On a recent road trip to my home town, Nova and I started talking about where we should go next.  I have a couple of weeks this summer set aside for travel, and I thought I’d write about a couple of my options, and put some thoughts down on paper.  We were supposed to write 5 each.  Here are my 5, but slightly modified from what I originally said.

San Diego:  My first pick is somewhere I’ve already been and close to home.  It’s not exactly the kind of trip you might think about when thinking of a big trip, but I’d really like to go re-explore it.  I want to get out more on my next trip.  I’ve stayed on the resort too much the last couple of trips, and I’d like to get out and explore this great country of ours.

I’d really like to get on a surf board too.  Ireally enjoyed my little bit of time there the last time I went, which was way back in 2001 I think, however I it has really stuck with me.  I’d never say no to a beach, and I think it’d be fun to explore again.

Hawaii:  If surfing and exploring the country are what I want to do, Hawaii is the place to go.  I’m pretty sure I’m the only one in my family that hasn’t been here, and that includes Nova, who went just before she met me.

The scenery is beautiful, the surf is amazing, and it’s far enough away to feel like a real vacation.

I’m not sure what else needs to be said about this one.  It’s freaking Hawaii.

Spain/Europe:  Next sends us travelling.  I’m not really sure why out of all the countries and places to visit I picked Spain.  I want to go to Europe, since I’ve never been before, and I hear the beaches are beautiful.  I’d really like to go to Mallorca, the small little island. It’s currently the home base for Rafa Nadal, but really I want to go because of the views.  It also looks like there’s tons of stuff to do there.  Hiking, surfing, biking, etc.  Plus, it wouldn’t be too difficult to get to other spots in Europe either.

We might be there at just the right time to go to Wimbledon and that’d be crazy amazing.  I don’t really want to go to Britian unless I get to see Wimbledon, so maybe that’d be a great time to go.  I wonder if you can get tickets still?  Plus we could go to any other European country.  I’d really want to go to Greece or Italy, but I want to save that for a special trip, like a honeymoon or something.

Jamica:  This is one of the only caribbean locations I feel like I haven’t been to yet.  The white sand beaches and the blue water.  I want to go here one day, and I think that’s why its on my list.  For this trip, I’d really like to get away from the Caribbean.  I’m ready for something new, but at the same time, I want to get here one day.

Peru/Brazil: I know Nova wants to go to Peru for a good event so that I can meet the family down there, and I’m really scared because mi español esta muy malo, but I want to go to South America as well.  With that being said, it’d be hard to be in South America and so close to Peru without actually going there.  Plus Brazil would be crazy because of the Olympics this year, but how cool would that be?  Same things apply here and most of the other places though.  I’d really want a beach, and some stuff to explore.

Regardless of where we end up going for our vacation, I’m sure as long as there’s a beach and some adventure I’m going to be happy!

Where are some cool places to go and see?  Anything you want to do?  Leave a comment below!

 

Day 4

 The day of relaxing or, our last full day

The morning was a rough morning.  I awoke with parts of the night before missing, a killer headache, and regret in my stomach.  I’m guessing the wine at dinner mixed with drinks at the show mixed to kick my butt.  I laid in bed worried for a while that I wouldn’t be able to do anything on our last day, but some medicine started to make me feel better.  I was happy I was able to rally, and soon we were walking out the door to breakfast. 

Once again, the food was amazing.  The coffee was much needed, and we topped it all off with a mimosa.  For the first time, we had to wait for a table.  I’m not sure why, there were a couple of parties in front of us, but there were plenty of open tables.  Regardless, it didn’t take long to get a table. 

Our next stop was the beach once again.  We found an empty cabana a ways down that was a front row one.  From here we were closer to the water and the sound of the crashing waves.  Between us and the beach was the sand volley ball pit, and as soon as we got lathered up with sunscreen, the entertainment team came out and tried to get a volleyball game going.  I thought about it for a while because I didn’t want to push myself too hard after the rough morning I had, but I ultimately joined a team.  Nova had really hurt her foot the night before when we were dancing so she didn’t think she could play. 

Every game was close.  I really enjoy beach volleyball and I don’t mind throwing myself around to get the ball.  In fact, I dove for the ball a couple of times caking myself with sand.  We played three very close games.  We split the first two games and lost the third by 3 points.  All in all it was a fun time.  I moved to the water as soon as the game was over to clean up a bit.  The tide was calm like the day before, but I went back to the cabana and Nova, whom had gotten some good snaps of me playing. 

We spent some time in the water and tried really hard to get a picture of us by the water.  One of the workers helped us out and took our picture, and I’m not going to fib, we look good. 

After a little while had passed, another volleyball game struck up.  This time, Nova wanted to play.  She felt like her foot was okay, and she jumped in.  This time I got to play photographer.  They played 2 games, and she won both.  She was definitely the MVP.

We took another quick dip in the water and then dried off and decided to go get some lunch.  Despite this being the last full day/ last lunch, we actually hadn’t had a buffet lunch the entire time we had been here. 

The food here was lackluster, but normal food affair.  The layout of the buffet didn’t really make much sense with things that go together spread out and separated on different tables.  I ate some American food for the first time in a while, pizza and a burger.  It was much needed. 

After food, we decided to change the scenery up some.  We went to the pool and floated around there for awhile.  Just as we got there, the entertainment team brought out a belly dancer.  She was really getting into it, and the older people around the pool were really into it as well.  She performed a few different numbers, brought the sword out and balanced it on her head and hips, and then before she was done the entertainment crew jumped back out there and said she’d be teaching people how to belly dance.  Of course she pulled up the drunk older man first, and he pulled up someone from his group. There were a few other women pulled up and they went through a few routines.  It was very comical, but the dancer never wavered in what she was doing. 

After the lesson, they put on a competition for all the students.  Once again, it was very entertaining, but everyone knew before it started who was going to win.  All in all, I was laughing my ass off.  After the show, we floated around the giant pool again, drinking our drinks and just relaxing.  There was a game of tequila volleyball being played, but we wanted to be lazy and not get hammered. 

After being exposed to the sun, I got out and reclined in the shade for a while.  Eventually, Nova joined me and we just soaked up some peace and quiet.  It was helpful that the resort had wifi covering all of the pool so we just played on our phones, updating our social media pages (follow me @JSSmith83 on twitter and Snapchat). 

We went back to the room to clean up for the final time and start to pack.  Dinner time rolled around again, and with it we cleaned up real nice.  Nova is so pretty all the time, but she looked even better tonight.  Tonight we planned on going to the Japanese restaurant, we wanted to see the hibachi but we didn’t reserve our spot in time.  Regardless, the food was great like always.  We had some sushi, fried rice, and some glazed chicken and steak. 

We finally made it out of dinner in time to make the beginning of a show, which we hadn’t done since the first night.  Unfortunately for us, it was by far the worst show we saw.  It was an Elvis show, and the Elvis was just mumbling the whole time and walking up and down the isles flirting with the older women.  We couldn’t stay long it was so bad.  So we started the walk back to our room, but instead of the path back, we went out to the beach and walked along the shore. 

You could see the lights of Cozumel and Cancun out in the distance, and there was no one else there.  It was as if the beach was all ours. 

It was a nice way to say goodbye to it all. 

Day 3

Day 3: Repelling

Early morning

the damn alarm went off this morning and I hated it. I’m supposed to be on vacation after all. However, it was for a good reason. We were about to go explore and go on our excursion.  We slowly got dressed, and loaded all the GoPros and snorkel gear in a bag and left the room before 7am.

We were one of the first ones in the dining room since the place opened at seven, and since we were there just after seven, but we had to hurry still because our ride was supposed to pick us up at 7:20. We scarfed our food down quickly, and made way for the motor lobby where we were to be picked up.  We were a few minutes late, and we saw a van that was decorated with Cenotes decals.  The driver jumped out and shouted out “Xecart!” and Nova thought that he said Jarrett and so we jumped up.  Fortunately, they were checking receipts to make sure people were getting on the right bus, because that wasn’t the ride we were supposed to get on. Slightly ashamed, we slowly scooted away and found as seat while we waited for our tour to get there.

Finally, a tall lanky guy drove up and exited his van with gusto.  This was our driver, and after getting our tickets checked, and loading the bus, we were on our way with Guillermo, or as he called himself Memo!  Once again, we were the last to get on the van, but this time there was plenty of space.  We got on the road, but didn’t realize that it would take almost an hour to get there.   There was one group of three that was from Canada, and another couple from New York.  We would come to bond with these guys as we faced our expedition.

The location we arrived to was pretty.  The area was well manicured and very colorful.  This was the farthest out we traveled from the resort, but it was hard to tell since it was still taken care of, unlike some of the view on the way there. 

We stopped for a moment at the first little building there.  It was an open air rest stop type place.  It was mostly for a bathroom break and water.  The restrooms were as well taken care of as the landscape.  There were shared outside sinks though.  The water was fresh and store bought we’re told often.  No one seemed to get sick. 

While waiting, more groups appeared.  I was worried that we were going to combine into a large group, but luckily we did not.  Our fearless leader told us about what was about to happen, laid out what we were about to do, and then reassured us that we would have fun today.  The plan was to ride this 4×4 jeep deep into the jungle where we would be given lockers, and where we would suit up for repealing, snorkeling, or zip-lining.  He would have to look into the schedule and see which we were scheduled for first. 

The 4×4 arrived, and we had to climb up into it.  It was about 5 feet off the ground, but the door to the truck bed where we would be riding was also fashioned into a step.  It was awkward, but not difficult to climb up into it. 

The ride itself was very bumpy.  Everyone was sure that the driver was trying to hit every pothole that he could in the trail.  He went pretty fast, although, I don’t really know how fast it was.  We had to grab hold of this bar was ran down the middle of the truck bed and hold on for  dear life.  I quickly tried to grab one of my GoPros and strapped it to the back of my head so that it could record the footage.  I had placed the floaty backdoor on it so the angle wasn’t very good.  Nova kept telling me so, and she was right, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.

With a little whiplash, we arrived deep into the jungle area.  We were given a shared locker and told that the only cameras we could take with us from this point on had to be strapped down.  We mounted up our GoPros and locked the rest of our stuff away. Memo lead us to the next section where we would put on our life vests, and receive our towels and mesh bags to carry around with us. He gave us a brief description of what we were about to do. The schedule looked like this: repel into a cave, trek through the jungle to the first zip line, hit the second zip line, and third zip line would go into the water. We would snorkel through one of the cenotes, have lunch, then zip line back, and finally we would be part of a Mayan ceremony.

So, off we started. We first had to take a shower to rid ourselves of any man made chemical. The waters we would be swimming in were all natural and the chemicals would destroy the ecosystem. So we had to shower off in these cold outdoor showers, in our swimsuits, but for the rest of the time, we went without insect repellant or sunscreen.

Our guide led us to the platform where we would descend below the earth.   We were given a safety/instructional demonstration which was very informative. They definitely had done this many times, and even had tips for how to best take pictures as you plummeted.

The one bad aspect of the excursion was that while the company running the event had plenty of photographers, the prices of the pictures were way too steep. The cost was probably driven up by people like me that come equipped with their own camera. However there were many pictures taken and they were of good quality.

After our instructions, our group made our way over to and up the scaffold above the pit.  We gathered around the railing that went around the pit, some careful not to look down. Mèmo picked the couple from New York to go first.  One went on either side of the pit, and got clipped in. They leaned back and started to slowly drop in to the darkness below, with stops every so often for added suspense and a quick photo op.

We were selected next. I had repelled before, and for some reason, the fear doesn’t overcome me like it should. I enjoy the challenge. Nova on the other hand seemed slightly frightened. We got on either side of the pit and got strapped in. I was quickly on the pit and leaning back. Nova was parallel to me in moments, and they asked for us to kiss and pose for a picture. Then we started downward. I went quickly, picturing myself as a soldier or batman going quickly without fear. I could see Nova above me moving slower. I laughed the entire way down. And soon, I found myself in the cold water in we would be swimming through shortly. The cave was dark and the water was cool. It was a pretty surreal experience. Once detached from the cables that bound us, we swam over to this ledge where we took more pictures and waited on the rest of our crew to make their way into the cave.

Once we were all together again and everyone had their pictures taken, Mèmo led us through the cave again to this really neat underground garden. We were told about the formation of the cave and how the water would come through and be filtered and help create the stalagmites and stalactites over time. The light in the cave was very sparse, only coming through the holes in the ceiling. The cameras didn’t do too well in this setting.

Next we went back above, and took our life jackets off while grabbing our shoes. We trodden through the jungle for about 10 minutes. It was pretty cool to be in the thick of the jungle on the trail, but it would have been nice to have a shirt on and some appropriate footwear. When we had booked the  excursion, our Best Day rep had told us to wear flip flops, and that we would be able to tuck them into our equipment. While this was true, the hiking through the jungle and the climbs up the towers to zip line were made difficult because of the footwear.

Finally, we made it through the jungle to our next destination. We were at the base of a tower that was at least 7 stories high. We put our harnesses back on, grabbed a helmet, and embarked up to the tower, still in our bathing suits. The sun was beating down on our already burnt skin.

The climb up the tower was arduous but safe. We also had a safety line attached to us, and the planks seemed securely fastened. It was like a suspension ladder. We climbed to the top and got to see the beautiful view from up top. There wasn’t anything but jungle under us for miles. It was a sight to behold. And soon, we would be beholding it as we sped through the sky just above and sometimes through the jungle. We were the first in line, so we didn’t have to wait long.  I watched as Nova was attached to the zip lines and then without fear, she launched herself into the jungle.  I watched as she faded off into the distance.

I was next, I was strapped in quickly.  I leaned back and felt the harness tighten.  I grabbed hold of the rope and lifted my feet.

I have done zip lines about 3 times, and I even had a smaller version in my home growing up.  The thrill of speed and the fall is always exhilarating.  This one was no different.  The lines were fairly long and provided a great rush.  But the rush was cut by the blocks that started my deceleration.  I was quickly unclipped from the line and directed to the side where Nova was safely waiting. 

We would repeat this process again.  Climb up a tower, zip line into the jungle.  The last zip line however was something new.  We didn’t have to climb up a tower, instead we were given a life jacket and walked over to a zip line that ran into a cavern. 

Our group made its way over to the last zip line and waited.  We weren’t the first this time, but we watched as the couple before us individually flew into the cave.  Soon we were strapped in and launched.  This was one of the coolest things about the entire process.  As we glided over the surface of the water and sloped downward, we flew into a cave mouth.  As we travelled further into the cave we lowered into the water with a giant splash.  Again, we were photographed on the way into the cave, and there was a guide there to unclip us and direct us out of the cave.

We swam out of the cave onto a wooden deck where we would traverse through another cenote.  Mèmo showed us a map of all the discovered tunnel that connected underneath Mexico, and gave us an idea of what we were about to do, and how important the caves were to the Mayan people.  Soon we were jumping into the water again and swimming through this dark cave. 

My one little complaint about the entire adventure was here.  While it was very cool to swim through the caves it was very easy to get separated from the group.  Not enough so that you were lost, but because of the lack of light, and some flashlights stationed around the cave, it was easy to lose the tour guide because you were trying to swim to one of these lights. 

Despite that, the diving in the cave was very cool.  The water was crystal clear, the caves were slightly spooky.  We went pretty far into the cave, and Mèmo told us more about how the caves were formed.  We swam started to swim again, and took all of it in.  Soon we were at the platform again. 

We toweled off, collect the whole group and made our way to lunch.  The lunch was the most authentic Mexican food we had.  It was made by the people that actually lived on the land.  There was a soup (which was slightly bland), some empanadas that were delicious, mole chicken, and beans and rice.  We also had a selection of teas and infused waters.  The whole things was great (minus the soup). 

Once lunch was consumed, we made our way back to the first tower we zip lined from, suited up in our harnesses, and climbed the tower again.  We zip lined down the same zip line we did first but once we detached from the line we went took a left instead of a right.  There was one more zip line that got us fairly close to the main hub of the place that we took once again, so for those keeping track at home, it was five total zip lines trips. 

We landed safely and then we had one more thing to do.  We followed our tour guide into one more cave, this one had a walking strip of rock.  We went deep into the cave, which had been lit by candles to meet a Mayan Medicine man.  We were told some Mayan words, and how the Mayan’s believed in the balance of the earth and elements and then the Medicine Man burned some amber and chanted some Mayan prayers.  We then turned and exited the cave. 

We were given some margaritas that were very watery, but free, handed back our towels and shown all the pictures that the company had taken.  They photos were action shots and very well done.  We were able to see all the photos they had taken and given the option to purchase them.  However, as I mentioned, the prices were outrageous.  $30 for one picture, $70 for a CD of all the pictures, or $90 for a USB drive with everything on it.  We debated for about a minute, because the pictures were nice and shots that we didn’t have, however the prices weren’t even close to reasonable.

We sat for a minute and drank our watery margarita and waited for our groups to be done with looking at photos and drinking.  Then we climbed aboard the 4×4 jeep again and whiplashed our way back through the jungle.  We boarded the van and headed back to the hotels.  Within moments, it seemed all of us had fallen asleep from the excursion.

We were the first to be dropped off after the 40 minute drive. As soon as we got there, we headed straight for the beach.  We had been away from it for too long.  A dirty monkey in hand, we claimed a spot under a cabana and watched the waves.

The surf had calmed down greatly from the day before.  It was still a pretty strong swell, but it wasn’t as scary as the day before.  We lathered up with sunscreen and swam for a while.  Eventually, we made our way back to the cabana and relaxed with our drinks.  I also had time to look at the GoPro footage we got by streaming it from the camera to my phone.  Technology is amazing sometimes.  Everything we got looked pretty great except for the cave diving.  It was too dark, which is too be expected when there is really no light.

Finally, we had enough and went to clean up for dinner.  We had planned to try the steak house now that we knew where it actually was, but once we got there we found out that it was closed on Mondays.  So we had to find a new plan.  We looked at all the different options and ended up going to the French restaurant.  While the menu had been populated by lots of seafood dishes, which I’m not that fond of, there was plenty of other options on the menu that were great.

The food really was superb.  The French onion soup was amazing, and the filet mignon was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had to eat.  All these great foods, and a constantly filled glass of wine.  We topped off dinner with some desserts, some even with fire! The food was all great.

With dinner now in our bellies, we walked over to where the nightly show was being preformed.  It was a Mexican show.  We missed most of the first part, but caught the next act which was a mariachi show.  They only really performed about 5 songs, but the entire show was very entertaining.  There was dancing and a conga line.  The lead performer was pulling up couples and really putting on a show. 

As the show wrapped up, we got some fresh drinks and headed into the sports bar where there was supposed to be karaoke.  We waited while they got stuff set up and played a couple games of Jenga.  Sadly, only one guy stepped up to sing a song, so we left and went back to the room to sleep.

It was a long day, but very active.  We fell asleep pretty quickly.  Our sunburns still keeping us warm, and our bodies exhausted. 

Day 2

Day 2

Today has been pretty active so far. We woke up and got ready quickly because we wanted to get food and then do a bike tour.

We got to breakfast, and I let loose a little. I ate more stuff than I’ve eaten for breakfast in a long time, but it was all so good. The potato and sausage was my favorite so far.

We then found our way to the gym where the bike tour would start, but we had the time a little wrong. Finding that we had some time to kill before the tour, we played a little ping pong. It was fun, but Nova got up on me 15-5. Luckily, I made a miraculous come back and won 21-19. We finished just in time for the tour, and got suited up.

I hadn’t really ridden a bike in a long time, and despite what they say, it’s not just like riding a bike. It took me a few minutes to adjust and remember how to do it like I used to. I also took my new tiny GoPro and it was kind of difficult to hold and control, I can’t wait to see how the footage looks.

The tour was really neat. We went all around the grounds with Marco our tour guide. He  was pretty funny. The grounds are still really beautiful. We even saw a baby alligator!

We got some exercise, saw some cool stuff, and hopefully got some good pictures.

After the tour, we had to meet with our travel rep to get our return shuttle. We got that all taken care of, and booked a excursion to the cenote for tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to it.

Then we went to the part of the beach where you can actually get in and started to relax.  The beach is beautiful, and the waves were super strong and large. I’d say they were ranging  between 3-5 feet, but it was a rough break. The impact zone is pretty much right at shore, and it feels like you are getting swept away. It wouldn’t be good surf, and it’s very hard to enjoy a swim if you’re not a strong swimmer. But strong swimmers and those that like to fight the waves will enjoy. I know I did.

It also seems that no matter how much sun screen I put on, I’ll still get burnt. While I didn’t feel it at the time, by the end of the day my stomach and legs became tender to the touch. 

After the beach, we started to go back to the main restaurant to get lunch, but we got distracted by the foam party going on in the pool. All of the chairs were taken at that pool, so we had to go to the next one and walk. At this point, Nova and I got mixed up in our plans. I thought we were just going to put our stuff down and go jump in the foam party for a few minutes. But since we were headed for lunch and they were serving stuff right there, she thought we were just going to sit down for lunch and then get in the pool. I was fine with food, but I just wanted to be quick and get in the foam. Sadly, we ended up missing the party, but we got some good tacos and ice cream.

We swam around the pool for while and then moved over to the lazy river where you can order food. We ordered some snack bar food, and Nova impressed all the workers with her Spanish. We chilled in the pool for a while, just floating around. We decided to go get ready for dinner. 

When we got back to the room and started to clean up, we started to see and feel the effects of the sun.  We weren’t as red as lobsters or anything yet, but we were getting there. The pain was real too. First full day on the beach and we managed to get pretty crispy. We put sun screen on 3 times and stayed in the shade a much as possible, but the sun down here is just too strong.

To make matters worse, the room we upgraded to didn’t have a hair dryer for Nova. We looked all over to no avail. Nova called the front desk and they said they would bring one, but it took way too long. We were both getting hangry and we thought we were going to be late for the show that night. Luckily, the schedule we were looking at was for Monday night.

Once the hair dryer made it here, we began to walk to the restaurants and caught a ride with one of the workers on his golf cart, or as we call it: el ubero. We chose the Indonesian place for dinner, and once again the food didn’t disappoint. I had the BBQ pork ribs, pad Thai, duck, and some tandoori chicken, followed by some cheesecake. Luckily the portions are small.  The four course meal usually fills me up. We finished dinner just in time to catch the end of the fire show, which was really cool to watch, but very hard to video.

We finished the night doing some people watching in the main area with some drinks. There was a reggae band playing, and a bunch of older people getting funky.  The older people are making song request for things like Elvis and Play That Funky Music and the singer wasn’t really having it. He was a good sport, but he seemed to make a much bigger deal about it than it really was. He also kept saying he was from Kingston, Jamaica and that his songs were from Kingston Jamaica. The first time it was funny/cool but by the 5 time in 30seconds I had enough.

The guy that requested Elvis did get his wish, but got so much more. The singer asked him if he was married, and the guy replied that he didn’t know. This seemed to really piss his wife off. They fought the entire night, and she told him at one point to go find a whore and stormed off but seconds later they were dancing together again. These old people crazy.

We watched for a while before we returned to the room and nursed our burns with lotion before we fell asleep.

Favorite drink of the day: Dirty Monkey

Riviera Maya, Day 1

The alarm rang way too early, and it took me a minute to realize why it was even going off. I reached over and turned the thing off and examined life for a second. The sinus infection that had been kicking my butt for the past week had finally started to subside, but I still felt very rough. My stomach was turning a little, and I was still struggling to breathe through my nose.  This was no way to start a vacation

I laid in bed for a moment and thought about what was coming up. We needed to wake up and get to the airport for our VACATION!  Suddenly, the aliments began to fade away.

I jumped up and started to fiddle around hoping to wake up Nova. I hated waking up her up, especially after celebrating her birthday day so hard the night before. Ultimately she finally started to stir, and we both started to get ready.

We got on the road fairly early today. I’m still pretty paranoid that the line through the check out at the airport was going to be really long, so we got there extra early. It was Spring Break after all, and I’ve been burned before.  There was no way I was going to miss this much needed trip.

Checking in and Secuirty didn’t last that long though, and we got through with ease.  Thank goodness

The A terminal at IAH is fairly small, and there weren’t that many options for breakfast, so we got some Wendy’s.  It was mediocre, and we hit the ATM. With our busy schedules it had been hard to find time to get cash.  Who really carries cash anymore anyway?  The only reason I ever carry it around anymore is for tips.  That made finding change for all the twenties I just withdrew difficult.  It was difficult to find any shop at 8 in the morning in the airport that would make change for a twenty. So we had to over spend on  something small, like gum, to make change for tips. Note to self for next time, make time to take care of that before you get to the airport.

We had never flown Spirit airlines before, and we weren’t sure what to expect. It wasn’t all that bad, but know that they nickel and dime you on options. Plan early, and pay early.  You’ll save lots of money. The flight was crazy though. It was the bumpiest flight I have ever been on. Someone screamed on one bump. Luckily, it was a short flight (less than 2 hours from Houston to Cancun).  The entire time, I kept imagining the first few minutes of LOST.  It was that bad.  It wasn’t the pilots fault or anything at all, but bad weather it seemed like.

The line to get through customs was really long. I’ve been through this airport a couple time in the past and this was by far the longest I had ever seen it. So many spring breakers.

Don’t forget to fill out the lower part of the immigration form.  There were tons of us that didn’t realize we had to fill that part out too.  Also, don’t lose it, they will ask for that lower part when you leave.

We made it through, the agents were very friendly, and eventually got out luggage. Then we had to push the button of Death. Nova pushed the button and got red so she had to have her suitcase searched. I pushed it and got green, but they wouldn’t let me wait on her. They shuffled me through the building, and I had to wait on her past some doors so I couldn’t even see what they were doing. A few minutes later and she finally made it through, all in one piece.

The next obstacle was finding our ride to our hotel. As crazy as customs was, the race  and mess to get to the hotels was worse. There were people everywhere. A few of the workers at the airport tried to grab us and get us to the right place, most likely just for a tip, they continued to ask us if we were honeymooners. After about twenty minutes, and thanks to Nova’s ability to speak Spanish, we finally found the right place for our shuttle; unfortunately, there were already five other people on the shuttle that had already claimed their space so we weren’t able to sit together for the ride there.

Once again, the ride was short and we arrived at our hotel!  The grounds are immaculate, and the entry way into the hotel was longer than expected. We were the first in the van to be dropped off and the others were in awe of  what they were seeing.

We walked into the building, and I saw one of the fanciest lobbies the in all my hotel experience. The place exuded class. We were promptly directed to a desk to check in. Of course the guy tried to up-sell us on our room. For only $52 a night we could upgrade to a fancy beach view room, or for $30 we could have a room with access to the lazy river. We debated for a while and even asked if there was a discount because we were on our honeymoon (oops. We had talked about pretending to be different people when we met new people at the resort, but this was fun too). There wasn’t a discount, but the hotel guy made sure to note that it was our honeymoon, and we played along. Ultimately, we decided to upgrade to the beach front room.

They collected our bags and put them and us on a golf cart and drove us to our room. They gave us a quick tour of the place on the way to our room and a tour of the room and then let us go.

I have been to seven resorts in the past, and this view has beat every single one of them. The view from our porch is unreal. there is also a hammock swing which we definitely  will use.

We explored the beach, which out in front of our room is slightly disappointing despite the view. The entire coast by us is rocky so you can’t get in. But further down and
away it looks nice, however we were impeded by a wedding ceremony on the beach.

We walked around the resort and tried to get the lay of the land, but the resort is pretty giant. We did get in the giant pool and got a drink from one of the two swim up bars.  The blender was already shut down for the night (It was past 5pm by the time we got to the bar).  Nova ordered a Mojito, and I panicked and ordered a rum and coke.  Both drinks were nice and strong, so a good way to begin the trip.

We went back to the room to unpack and clean up and then went to grab dinner. It was a 4 course meal at the Mexican restaurant. There are 7 different places to get dinner at night at the resort, and we wanted to start authentic.  All dinners are al a cart style. The food was amazing. Some of the best resort food I’ve ever tasted. In the mean time, they had a mariachi group playing for us.

We left the restaurant and went to the main square where a live band was playing blues music. We ordered drinks and watched them until the nightly show started, and then we and most of the others in the square headed into the theater.

The show was crazy impressive. It was a troop of urban circus performers. It was a mix of dancing, break dancing, and feats of strength. It was very entertaining, and we found out that the show was like their audition for a spot on a nightly rotation. I hope they got it because it was the best show we saw the entire vacation.

After that, we were pretty tired so we went back to the room to lay in the hammock. At first, The hammock was so low that we dragged on the ground, but we tightened it and made it just right. We laid there listening to the waves on the beach and drifted off for a while.

It was a pretty good day.