Scenes from Playa del Carmen

Our last two days in Mexico were spent in Playa del Carmen, just an hour south of Cancun where we'd need to catch a late-morning flight home.  Our small hotel was just 7 blocks from the beach so we walked down the first evening and again the next morning hoping to catch the sunrise.  We missed it by about 15 minutes, but it was still a lovely time to walk along the shore before the crowds.  I've collected a few scenes to share. . . .

                  

Thank you for coming along with me on my Mexico adventure!  Be sure to check out my Take Joy Society post where I share more of my experiences in Mexico.

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Take Joy!

Mayan History and Culture - Part 1

Today I will be taking you to the Mayan ruins in Izamal and Uxmal, but first we'll visit el Gran Museo del Mundo Maya de Merida (the Maya Museum in Merida). . . .

Eats Shops and Buildings

Proper punctuation makes all the difference.  I did not eat shops and buildings!  This post is about eating and shopping and the beautiful buildings in Mexico.  And when you're in a foreign country the way you pronounce a word can make all the difference, too.  For instance, Bebe means "it drinks" and bebé means "baby."  Fortunately, Ken knew enough Spanish to get us around and our son and daughter-in-law speak it fluently and were with us on several occasions.  Other times a stranger would help us translate.

Getting around Merida was easy and inexpensive with the readily available cabs.  Understanding how to shop and what to eat was another matter.  I've shown you where we slept in Merida.  Now I'll show you where we ate and shopped, as well as the architecture we passed on the street as we walked to the shops and restaurants.  I've already mentioned we shopped at a Mexico-made guaybera shirt shop the first night we arrived.  We were soon to learn that overly-helpful people were receiving commissions to steer customers to certain shops where the prices were often higher.  My first advice on shopping is look around before you buy so you can compare.  You will see many of the same items in most of the shops or in the street markets like the market set up in the Grand Plaza every Sunday.  You may also want to have a calculator on hand to help you compare the pesos price to dollars.  I was constantly trying to divide the price by 18 (the exchange rate) in my head.   These slippers were  $180 pesos--$10 USD, an easy calculation. . . .

This & That - August 2016

The month of August was all about the trip we took from the 13th to the 23rd.  Gabriel had gotten pretty shaggy, but I was waiting to have his hair cut because he was going to be staying at Olivia's house for the 10 days we were away.  This way they wouldn't have to brush him everyday. . .